Delegates across the Midwest from congregations in the Central District Conference of Mennonite Church USA will be in Bluffton Thursday through Saturday, June 22-24 for the conference's annual meeting.

Drew G. I. Hart, professor, author, activist, and former pastor, who is author of "The Trouble I’ve seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism," is a guest speaker.

Doug Luginbill of Bluffton is the conference minister of CDC. Three area CDC churches are First Mennonite, Bluffton; Grace Mennonite, Pandora; and First Mennonite, Lima.

One of the events at the annual meeting is a presentation by RAWtools blacksmiths, a non-profit organization based in Colorado that uses performance art to illustrate the vision of biblical prophet Isaiah who penned those words, and to encourage conversation about what it means in modern society.
 
Set for Thursday, June 22, at Bluffton University, the center of the event is a three-hour blacksmith demonstration starting at 3 p.m. The public can watch as guns are forged into garden tools.

The finished garden tools will be on display in a multi-media art exhibition called "From Swords to Plowshares; Our Process of Transformation..."  in the Grace Albrecht gallery of the Sauder Visual Arts Center at Bluffton University.  

The gallery is open June 22 - July 30, Thursday -Sunday, 2-5 p.m. Original illustrations from Swords Into Plowshares are part of the show.

The gallery will feature artist Judith Greavu’s installation piece "May They Grow Up," made from fused glass, fabric, oak, and brass This piece started as a reaction against the 2003 war in Iraq, with six small fused glass images of Iraqi children in the cross hairs.