SCHEDULE FOR OPEN DOOR COMMUNITY CHURCH'S ANNUAL FALL CONFERENCE - 2009
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16
Rudy and Juanita co-founded the Bread of Life, Inc. (a not for profit corporation) in December of 1992 and began serving dinner to the homeless in the sanctuary at St. John’s. Seventeen years later the Bread of Life has become a lighthouse of love providing an array of services to homeless men and women seven days a week in the Daybreak Community Health Center on the campus.
The project:
Serves 7,000 hot meals each month to the homeless men and women
Distributes over 9 tons of fresh food weekly to hungry families.
Provides housing for 30 men in Resurrection House, a substance abuse treatment and transitional living program.
Provides HIV testing and prevention services through C.O.P.E. (counseling, outreach, prevention, and education) to over 3,000 individuals annually and offers HIV testing after Sunday services each month.
Thanks to a generous donation from Kelly Rowland and Beyonce Knowles of the pop singing group Destiny's Child, the campus includes the $1.2 million Knowles-Rowland Center for Youth, an exciting, multipurpose recreational complex for youth in our community.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, efforts began to construct Phase I of the $4 million Temenos Place Apartments. The housing development is the result of collaborations with House of Dereon founders Tina Knowles and Beyonce Knowles - The Survivor Foundation. and the City of Houston. The project is a 43 unit Single Room Occupancy development designed to provide permanent living accommodations for women and men who are taking significant steps in improving their lives after the traumatic effects of personal and natural disasters.
Pastor Rudy is the author of a new book entitled “ Touch: Pressing Against the Wounds of a Broken World” which profiles his unique brand of faith sharing and radical hospitality and a new music project (the book’s sound track) entitled “The Pastor Rudy Experience” on Spirit Rising Music. Rudy also contributes monthly to "O The Oprah Magazine" in the "What Do I Do Now?" column and Epitome Magazine's "Ask Pastor Rudy" column.
Rudy and Juanita have been married for 23 years and are the proud parents of two daughters, Morgan and Ryan, who are both in college.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17
Born and raised in suburban Philadelphia, Bart graduated from Brown University in 1985. From 1986-1989 he worked with young people in South Minneapolis, where he met and married his wife, Marty. In 1989 Bart and Marty moved to West Philadelphia to found Kingdomworks, the urban ministry which later became Mission Year, and to begin raising their children, Miranda and Roman, who are now teenagers.
In 2005, after nearly two decades of organizational leadership, the Campolo family moved from Philadelphia to the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, hoping to love their neighbors in a more personal way as part of an inner-city faith community. News of the Walnut Hills Fellowship can be found online at thewalnuthillsfellowship.org and Bart’s popular and provocative blog, can be found at http://www.bartcampolosblog.com/.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17
“My main purpose in this music is to win the lost and uplift the downtrodden, Cash says of her brand new career-spanning compilation Gospel. “I don’t think we have much time left before Christ comes again and I want to be everything I can be for Jesus. I’ve seen so many people try and build their kingdom in music, but I don’t worry about any of that earthly gain. When you let God do it, that’s when the real effectiveness happens.”
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18
A nursery will be available each night
as well as Sunday morning.
The conference is free and open to the public.
Love offerings will be taken for our
speakers and musical guests.
There will be information available for sightseeing in the Little Rock area for our out-of-town guests.
7:00 P.M.
SPECIAL SPEAKERS PASTORS RUDY AND JUANITA RASMUS
Pastors Rudy and Juanita Rasmus have led the St. John’s United Methodist Church for 17 years. In this brief span of time the couple has transformed the spiritual landscape and the face of povertyin Downtown Houston. Beginning with 9 existing members in 1992, St. John’s has grown to over 9,000 members (3,000 of the total either are or were formerly homeless) in seventeen years into one of the most culturally diverse congregations in the country where every week people of every social and economic background share the same pew. They attribute the success of the church to a compassionate congregation who has embraced the vision of tearing down the walls of classism, sexism, and racism and building the bridges of unconditional love, and universal recovery.
10:00 A.M.
JUANITA RASMUS
Juanita Rasmus will be speaking this morning and take questions from those attending. Everyone is invited. Come a little early for coffeee and donuts!
Following Juanita's presentation, a brunch will be served at the church.
1:30 P.M.
WORKSHOP WITH BART CAMPOLO
Bart Campolo is a veteran urban minister and activist who speaks and writes about grace, faith, loving relationships and social justice. Bart is the leader of The Walnut Hills Fellowship, a local ministry in inner city Cincinnati. He is also founder of Mission Year, a Christian ministry which recruits committed young adults to live and work among the poor in inner-city neighborhoods across the country, and executive director of EAPE, which develops and supports innovative, cost-effective mission projects around the world.
7:00 P.M.
CONCERT BY JOANNE CASH.
With twenty-six historic recordings under her belt, the acclaimed autobiography My Fears Are Gone, continuous concert appearances and lineage to one of music’s most famous families, Joanne Cash has countless tales to tell. But more than artistic accolades, her slew of collaborations with brother Johnny Cash and having spent several years working at the historic House of Cash hit making factory, the singer/songwriter extraordinaire is driven by a deeper sense of eternal purpose, despite times of trial and seasons of straying.
8:00 P.M.
PRESENTATION OF THE PEGGY CAMPOLO CARRIER PIGEON AWARD.
The 2009 recipient is Jay Bakker!
10:30 A.M.
SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP FEATURING A MESSAGE FROM BART CAMPOLO
Bart Campolo will be our guest speaker this morning, and LuLu Roman will be singing. A Pot-Luck meal will close out the conference immediately following the morning worship service.
There will be lively praise and worship music each service and a bountiful spread of food following each event.
