Koinonia Briefly

February 2007
a monthly e-news publication

To keep you up-to-date with news from the farm, we’ll be sending Koinonia Briefly to you each and every month.

Did You Know?

We welcome our youngest community member, Kellan Marie! Parents Sarah and Brendan Prendergast and big sister Ida ushered Kellan into this world on January 16th. The family is happy and healthy, and working on adjusting to the newest one’s unique sleeping habits. Kellan’s grandparents, visiting the farm, and her fellow community members one and all are walking around grinning from ear to ear, and there has been a lot of oooing and ahhhing from all sides!

The majority of Koinonia’s earned income comes from the sale of our pecans, bakery goods, books, CDs and crafts during our holiday “boom” months, November and December. We are making an effort to increase sales during the other ten months of the year to ensure a more constant income for the farm. We thank you for visiting us at www.CottonPatchStore.com to place an order. The cause is a good one, and the benefits are delicious!

Reaching Out

Koinonia is thrilled to be partnering with the New Monastic Movement by hosting our first “School for Conversion” (SFC) this April 13-15, 2007. Participants will interact within the daily routine of Koinonia while studying the biblical and theological foundations of new monastic communal demonstrations. Christianity will be articulated in new and vibrant ways while intentional community will be explored as a model for discipleship. Whether you are a new believer, a seasoned follower of Jesus, or a spiritual seeker exploring the Christian way of life for the first time, we invite you to join us for this special weekend of encountering, deepening and renewing relationship with God.

Mrs. Doris Pope, an active member of Koinonia’s Circle of Friends, our fellowship for elder neighbors, lost her daughter last month. Circle members, led by Koinonian Kathleen Monts, paid their respects. They also prepared a meal (turkey and fixings) and delivered it to the Pope residence. Our prayers are with Mrs. Pope and her family during this time of sorrow.

The Circle of Friends has already been decorating for the upcoming Sweetheart Dinner and Dance at the Koinonia Community Outreach Center… updates next month!

Sometimes unseen, but never forgotten, is the work that Koinonia members do in the greater community. Norris Harris is an on-call chaplain for Sumter Regional Hospital, often spending nights in vigil with patients and family members. Dave Castle continues his post with SAMA, the Sumter Area Ministerial Association, an ecumenical, multiracial group whose outreach includes a food pantry and assistance with utility bills. And Ellie Castle mentors a young lady each week at the public school, serving as a listening ear and a grandmotherly friend. These are just a few of the folks whose service we honor—perhaps we’ll share more next time.

Koinonian Ann Karp recently returned from a fruitful and catalyzing trip to Illinois, which included visits to Reba Place Fellowship, Hope Meadows, and the St. Jude Catholic Worker House. What a wonderful reminder that small groups of people all over the country are quietly and faithfully performing works of community, justice and service!

After much prayer, the Heart to Heart home repair ministry has been blessed with a dozen skilled workers this month, all of whom were easily kept busy! Just this month the team compiled an impressive resume: electric work, painting, dry wall, cabinets, insulation, drywall, plumbing, water filtration, and much more. Pictured, homeowner Tonya Anderson and Heart to Heart guy Brendan Prendergast work on Tonya’s bathroom—doesn’t the finished work look wonderful? A home to be proud of!

At the Farm

We recently welcomed a dozen students from Wofford College, peacemaker Joy Pryor, enthusiastic young travelers Megan, James and Cinnamin, and many others! We’ve been especially blessed so far this year by folks from the SOOP program—Service Opportunities for Older People—whose energetic and thoughtful Mennonite members tend to come in pairs. Game nights, film nights, and all-age gatherings in the cozy lobby of Jubilee House have helped us get to know all these new folks and share fellowship. We even had a wonderful “bus stop” party at a neighbor’s house… for all those too young to remember, the Bus Stop is a dance similar to the Electric Slide!

A new range hood and vent adorn the ceiling of our humble dining hall—which ought to make cooking much more bearable in the hot summers, as well as keep us “up to code.” The noon meal is the center of our fellowship each day, with all coming together to share good food, devotions, prayer, joys and concerns.

The fruits of the Adopt a Tree program are becoming visible in the pecan orchards and processing plant. The orchards, which are kept free of limbs by Rich, Kurt and Michael, are “sprouting” little white signs, hand-painted by Jo and hung by Jim Dubay, bearing the names of those who have adopted trees. And the pecan plant is newly wired, cleaned and painted, thanks to Paul, Norris, Jim Marble, and others. For more information about our efforts visit our website.

Coming Soon

We’ve finished all the pruning in our organic blueberry and grape orchards for the season, so we hope for a bountiful harvest come May (for blueberries) and August (for grapes). If you’d like to be here to enjoy (and work with) our organic fruit crops, give us a call at 229 924 0391, and we’ll arrange a visit during our harvest times.

Bren Dubay will be visiting Arizona and California in late February and early March. Tentatively, she’ll also be in Illinois and Ohio in mid-March and around Dallas, Texas in late March or early April. She is happy to speak to groups (she gets good reviews), or to simply stop by and meet Koinonia friends. Give Bren or Marilyn a call at (229) 924-0391 or e-mail dubay@koinoniapartners.org to set up a visit.

We are praying for gardeners and auto mechanics! Are you being called? Let us know.

We hope you enjoy Koinonia Briefly and share it with your friends. You receive these monthly updates by request, because you placed an order from Koinonia, or because one of our community members added your name. If you have suggestions for improvements, please let us know at . If you would like to be removed from the list, please follow the instructions below.