December 2008

a monthly e-news publication

Merry Christmas from Floppy and the Farm!

Did You Know?

We were blessed with a visit this month from our dear friend Al Zook, who lived here from 1968-76. Al was part of the meeting with Clarence Jordan, Millard Fuller, and others in Atlanta to decide if they should sell Koinonia and start discipleship schools. The group decided that Koinonia had too much history to just sell the farm and move on. As a result of the meeting, Clarence asked Al to come partner with our neighbor Bo Johnson to do the farming and pecan processing. During his recent visit, Al told us stories of our co-founder Clarence Jordan, the community during those years, and shared several details of our history that many of us newer folks had not yet heard. He told us that Clarence had a hard time with new tools that went missing or were mistreated, left out in the fields or in the rain. So even though he believed in and lived a life of sharing and holding all things in common, he would hide the new tools under his bed! Al also told us the story of Clarence’s death and burial. They worked on digging his grave from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., then resumed at 6 a.m., digging the grave with the very same tools used to plant the pecan trees. During the service, as they filled the grave with dirt, Faith Fuller—Millard and Linda’s two-year old daughter—stepped to his graveside and began singing, “Happy birthday to you.” What an amazing history we carry. Thank you for passing on these stories, Al.

We’d love to help you find the perfect gifts this holiday season. Our Honeynut Peachcake is a popular gift item, and for those hard-to-buy-for loved ones, you can always give an honor donation in their name. Order through our Online store, mail in your order using the forms found in the catalog, or place your order by phone. Call us toll-free at 877-738-1741 Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 1-6 p.m. EST. To make things easier for everyone, please plan ahead: To guarantee that your packages arrive by Christmas, place your order by December 10. Thanks for partnering with us!

Give Koinonia a Christmas present this year by doing your Online shopping with IGive.com! As you shop Online, you can—at no extra cost to you—donate a percentage of your dollars spent Online to Koinonia. Just go to www.igive.com/koinonia, register or login (it’s a free service), make your purchase from over 600 Online stores, and know that you are also helping to support the Koinonia community and ministries. Thanks for keeping us in mind as you do your Online holiday shopping.

In an effort to strengthen the partnership between Koinonia, Fuller Center for Housing, Café Campesino, and other local businesses, in November we co-sponsored a bicycle ride fundraiser for the Fuller Center. The cyclists made a 28-mile loop through Americus and Plains on Saturday, stopping at Koinonia for some of our homemade Mini Pecan Pies and drinks provided by Café Campesino and stopping by Plains Trading Post for pecan ice cream. It was wonderful to work with such good friends on this fundraiser!

Koinonia hosted nearly100 visitors again this year as the School of the Americas Watch Vigil took place in Columbus, Ga. Several of our community members joined with thousands, calling for the closure of the School of the Americas and speaking aloud the names of all the victims of the School of Americas violence and oppressive U.S. foreign policy. The school has a well-known history of teaching torture and other violent techniques often to be used on the poor or those working for the poor in Central and Latin America. Below, Koinonia novice Nash Chantal, carries the Study War No More banner. See more photos of the SOA Watch at soawkoinonia.blogspot.com.

Under the guidance of Koinonia steward Kathleen Monts, the Circle of Friends prepared and delivered Thanksgiving meals for the home-bound earlier this month. In all, they served 51 meals. The Circle also hosted a Candlelight Worship Service. The chapel was filled with candles and sweet music as the Circle led us in a service of remembrance for those in the Koinonia family both near and far who have passed on. During the service, we named and lit a candle for each person, giving thanks for her or his life and friendship. In December, the Circle will have their annual Christmas dinner at Mom’s Kitchen, then deliver Christmas presents to the home-bound seniors and nursing home residents.

As part of the fall internship program, our interns retreated to Jubilee Partners for a weekend of relaxation and relationship building. Jubilee Partners is our daughter community that ministers to refugees. They’ve hosted over 3,000 refugees from more than 30 war-torn countries around the world. Jubilee began in 1979 when Koinonia became so large that we commissioned three families to go forth from Koinonia and begin a new community. We’re still accepting applications for the next internship, which begins in February. Visit our site or e-mail Elizabeth Dede at hospitality@koinoniapartners.org for more information about the internship.

To prepare for this year’s harvest season, Koinonia apprentice Craig Martindale designed an easier way to process our pecans. In years past, we had a strong man lift and dump barrels of pecans into the cracker. The new machine washes the pecans and sends them to a large hopper, which then sends them through the plastic pipes and distributes them into the cracker. We hope this conserves the backs of these men and saves us many hours. Thanks, Craig and helpers, for your hard work on this! Below is a photo of this new machine that Craig and his many helpers built. You cans see the hopper on the right and the cracker on the left.

We hosted five friends from Church of the Servant King, a sister community in Oregon. Board member Dave Owens returned for a third visit to the farm and brought Patrick, Dave Teresa, and Sherri to spend a week on the farm. While they were here, they prepared meals for us, hosted a discussion group and game night, and shared meals with many of our community members. We were grateful for their energy, insight, and fun-loving energy.

Koinonia undergoes an energy audit—and passes! The students in our homeschool did a study of our carbon footprint on the earth. What they found? Besides a few obvious problems, we’re doing pretty well at keeping our carbon footprint to a minimum, by comparison. Our average primary carbon footprint for our houses is 2.41 tons/year, well below the national average of 6 to 11 tons/ year. Of course, we could all take better care of our earth by cutting our consumption and increasing our recycling. As part of our recycling efforts, we now have two composting toilets, complete with colorful curtains for extra privacy! Don’t worry—we’re not getting rid of our conventional toilets just yet. We’re working to be mindful of ways to take better care of our Earth. Here are a few tips on reducing your carbon footprint and to save a few dollars each month: Turn off all computers, power strips, and other electrical appliances when they’re not in use. Remember to turn off the light when you leave a room, install double-paned windows and on-demand water heaters, insulate attics, and keep your thermostat at 68 in the winter, 78 in the summer. Below, our intern Dan Truesdale shows his excitement for the new toilets.

For Thanksgiving, our children prepared a labyrinth for us. Walking the labyrinth is a tradition passed down from the early Church. Once it became too dangerous to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem, churches began creating labyrinths on the floors of their buildings. As St. Augustine said, “It is solved by walking.” The labyrinth is a metaphor of our life, of our spiritual journey we’re walking. It has no dead ends or tricks. The path winds throughout the labyrinth and becomes a mirror for where we are in our lives. It touches our sorrows and releases our joys. The labyrinth fits well with our recent discussions of prayer and this life of prayer we seek to live. We hope to eventually have a more permanent labyrinth designed on the farm for visitors and community members to walk regularly. Come pray with us. We’d love to have you.

We continue to be thankful for your prayers for Sandy Thornburgh as she seeks treatment for breast cancer. Her surgery went well; it seems the cancer has not spread. The doctors plan to begin radiation after the new year begins. Pray for her continued healing and that God would grant peace and wholeness for Sandy, the Thornburghs, and all of Koinonia.

Coming Soon

We have lots of upcoming events for you to participate in. If you have any ideas of events for us, send them to us and we’ll add them to our list as we make plans for future events. Contact us at info@koinoniapartners.org

Register early for the February 12-22 Permaculture design course and receive a $50 discount. Early bird registration ends Dec. 29. Contact Sarah Prendergast at sarah@koinoniapartners.org or 229.924.0391.

Make plans now for the upcoming first Reiki training session February 28 and March 1. The workshop, “On Trust & Faith,” gives an introduction to this meditative type of healing. Cost for the weekend is $190 for out of town guests and $145 for commuters. For more information, contact Ana Navarro at 229-924-0391 or ana@koinoniapartners.org.

We’ll host A Marriage Enrichment Retreat February 6-8, 2009, led by Trent Dollyhigh, a certified marriage enrichment facilitator. Cost is $150 and includes lodging and meals.

The School for Conversion is making its way to Koinonia again! This year’s retreat SFC 101: Intro to Christianity as a Way of Life will be March 27- 29.

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