CHINA – The Maine Fellowship of Christian Writers will sponsor its 11th annual Christian Writers’ Conference on Thursday to Saturday, Aug. 5 to 7, at the China Lake Conference Center.

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth Parker, founder of Maine Christian Writer’s Conference and Co-Pastor of First Baptist Church of Belfast, will be the featured speaker. Artist-in-Residence Jim Rogers of Bangor will present a concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, open to the public.

Each paid registrant can submit an original unpublished contribution to the Dorothy Templeton Writers’ Contest. Entries must be postmarked by July 14 and mailed to Dorothy Templeton Writers’ Contest, c/o Audrey Houghton, contest director, P.O. Box 6052, China Village, ME 04926. For more information, contact Houghton at 968-2629.

Registrants can also submit original unpublished manuscripts to be considered for inclusion in the conference anthology. Call or e-mail Beth Rogers.

Mail registration fee to MFCW Conference, c/o Beth Rogers, 720 Essex St., Bangor, ME 04401 or e-mail [email protected] by July 3 for early bird and/or alumni discounts.Call Rogers at 942-1616 for details.

Chaplaincy school

PORTLAND – The Chaplaincy Institute of Maine, an intensive two-year educational program for students, is accepting applications for students seeking to deepen their spiritual growth and practice and/or seeking ordination as interfaith ministers.

The institute was started in 2002 by the Rev. Jacob Watson, D. Min. in response to a growing need for support and training of individuals who wish to place more emphasis on their spiritual lives, as well as to meet the needs for community interfaith chaplains.

It is a post-denominational wisdom school for the education, ordination and support of interfaith community ministers and planetary chaplains. The institute is accessible for people with jobs and families, with classes scheduled for one night a week and one weekend a month.

For more information and/or an application, contact ChIME at 347-6740 or [email protected]. Applications can also be downloaded from the Web: chimeofmaine.org. The deadline is Aug. 1.