Greetings congregational coordinators in Champaign County!

We've been relatively quiet recently, but need to get things going for the new year. I'm sure you have been receiving letters and email from Thrivent regarding your position as a congregational coordinator of your church. If you have any questions about anything please contact me or any of the other Chapter leaders (you can view them at http://champaignchapter.org/leaders ). Check out our website for information on your local chapter at http://champaignchapter.org

First offs -- Congrats to the churches that are already doing events, including Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Peace Lutheran Church (Thomasboro), Grace Lutheran Church in Champaign and St John's Lutheran Church in Champaign. Bethlehem and Peace have already allocated all their Care in Congregations funding for 2004.

Be aware that there is funding available from your chapter for community oriented projects. You can find out more about this as well as print out an application form at: http://champaignchapter.org/apply Near the top of the page is a Care in Congregations and Care Abounds in Communities program guidelines. These are copies of booklets that you may have already received.

There will be a training session held locally in the near future -- watch for further emails regarding this and how to RSVP for it. Get together with other Thrivent Congregational Coordinators and share information on how to make the system work for you.

The Chapter has additional funding available for projects that meet the Join Hands Day guidelines. These are intended to get youth "joined together" with adults to accomplish things in the community. You can visit http://joinhandsday.org for more information on the national program, or http://www.thrivent.com/jhd (you may have to login as a member to view this) to find out more about the Thrivent-specific program. You request funds from your local chapter in the same manner as any Care Abounds in Communities project. A box is available for each church and should be delivered to your church in the next few weeks for you to pick up that provides more information on this as well as a sample T-Shirt and Cap that can be purchased for your project.

Are you making use of Baptismal Medalions and Confirmation rosses? You can now order these on-line in the Thrivent congregational coordinator administration section of the webpage ( http://thrivent.com , click on Members Only, then Congregational Coordinator Administration on the left bar)

Watch for more information from your Chapter.