Millwood --If you are planning to compete in a beauty pageant any time soon, Dr. Charles "Chuck" Call suggests that you listen to his talk at Old Bethel’s annual meeting Sunday morning.

     Call's talk is part of the traditional service at the church, once a Baptist congregation and, prior to that, the site of a Quaker meeting house that is one of the earliest religious structures in the Shenandoah Valley.

     The historic building is now kept in trust for the people of Clarke County.

     Call is assistant professor of international relations and peace and conflict resolution in the School of International Service at American University.

     Before joining AU in 2004, he was a full-time staff member of the United Nations' Secretariat, where he worked in post-conflict peace-building.

     "I will be speaking on 'World Peace: Are We Making Progress?'" Call said.

     "Basically, if you plan to be a beauty pageant contestant and would like to see 'world peace,' this talk will be a primer on the basics you need to know."

     Call will reflect on his time working with the UN in its peace-building efforts, and give an overview of the worst forms of warfare and violence in the world today.

     "We've made remarkable progress in negotiating an end to wars and in reducing the number of wars over the past 15 years," Call noted, "but warfare has taken new forms and seems concentrated in certain regions."

     Call can use specific examples from his travels, he said, since he has conducted field research on post-conflict peace-building in Central America, Haiti, Afghanistan, West Africa, the West Bank and Gaza, and in Bosnia and Kosovo.

     Call was the only foreigner to live in a rural village of displaced persons in El Salvador during that country's civil war and in 2000, he and a colleague from Human Rights Watch were the first non-governmental human rights team to enter the guerrilla-controlled zone in Colombia to gather testimonies about war crimes.

     As part of the traditional service, with the Rev. Anne Manson of Cunningham Chapel Episcopal Parish as officiant, Dr. James Laster -- now starring in "Tuesdays with Morrie" with the Wayside Theatre -- will serve as organist.

     Ian R.D. Williams, president of The Bethel Memorial Inc., urged visitors to bring a lawn chair and a covered dish to share at the picnic following Call's talk, to be held, rain or shine, under the oaks surrounding the old brick structure.

     Donations will be accepted, Williams said, to help defray the $15,000 cost of repairs on the building's windows.

     The second annual event at Old Bethel is the traditional Christmas Lesson and Carols Service, scheduled for 5 p.m. Dec. 23, Williams said.

     Old Bethel is on Swift Shoals Road, just southeast of the Long Branch Historic House.