Report of membership loss doesn’t tell whole story
In the Feb. 25 Witness, First UMC, Seguin, was shown as experiencing a membership loss in 2004 (“Southwest Texas churches with 1,000-plus members”). While that certainly is true, that is only one statistic.
Also during 2004 we received 28 new members by profession of faith (12 from our sixth grade confirmation class), 17 from other UMCs and 24 from other denominations. We baptized 31 people, including several adults. Our worship attendance increased by 5 percent.
These statistics show that we are far from being a declining congregation.
We simply felt compelled to say that the health of a congregation can and should be based on several factors, not just one.
Lonnie Phillips
Linda Montgomery
Seguin

Article on legislative event doesn’t name Texas Impact
That was a nice long article on the United Methodist Women’s Legislative Event in the Feb 11 Witness (“UM Women press agenda with lawmakers”).
However, whoever wrote it failed to mention Texas Impact anywhere in the article. 
As a Texas Impact board member, I know that Executive Director Bee Moorhead and staff work all year to make sure that the Legislative Event is a first-class legislative conference. 
They receive very little financial support for their efforts and really depend on articles and reports about the event and its ever-growing success to be part of Texas Impact’s organizational development.
Martha Rogers
Austin

Letter about church court expresses my feelings, too
Thank you for Dan Adam’s very good letter (“Action by church court sickens, embarrasses me,” Jan. 28). Such action against people God created sickens and embarrasses me, too.
I would think United Methodists could have put all that behind them. But unfortunately most of them have not.
James J. Billings
Las Cruces, N.M.