News Briefs

May 22 consecration event planned at Mount Wesley
UM Women slate bus trip to see border ministries
Education board chief says ‘thank you’ to conference
Cokesbury store to offer 25% discounts April 28-30
Contributions for tsunami reach $32.4 million mark
Bishop impostor targets black churches in scam
Pope embodied courage, love, UMC leaders say
Southwest Texas director elected to council board
Relief committee approves $1.5 million for Haiti work
Africa University appoints 2 women as new deans
Conference OKs settlement in 2001 camp abuse case
Indiana pastor set to face church trial May 19-21
Online course about UMC continues through May 25

May 22 consecration event planned at Mount Wesley
A May 22 ceremony is to consecrate the new Health, Wellness and Nutrition Center at Mount Wesley Conference Center.
Bishop Joel N. Martinez is to preside at the 5 p.m. event in Kerrville. A reception is to follow the consecration.
The 12,000-square-foot center opened Feb. 25. A $600,000 grant from Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas during the 1998-2000 Stepping Out in Faith capital campaign for Mount Wesley helped pay for the facility.

UM Women slate bus trip to see border ministries
UM Women are taking a two-day bus trip through the Rio Grande Valley next week to learn about border ministries.
The bus leaves Kerrville April 29 and makes stops in San Antonio and Alice before arriving in Brownsville.
Travelers are to visit the Good Neighbor Settlement in Brownsville, Melody Lane Christian Renewal Center and several Volunteers in Mission work sites in northern Mexico before returning home April 30.

Education board chief says ‘thank you’ to conference
The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry sent a special thank-you message this month to Bishop Joel N. Martinez and Southwest Texas Conference UMs.
The Rev. Jerome K. Del Pino, chief executive of the board, expressed “sincere appreciation and gratitude for the Southwest Texas Conference’s more than 95 percent payment to 2004 apportioned funds” in an April 4 letter to Martinez.

Cokesbury store to offer 25% discounts April 28-30
Shoppers at Cokesbury Bookstore in San Antonio can save 25 percent on books, Bibles and other merchandise April 28-30.
The sale is part of Cokesbury Celebration Days at the store, 1742 N. Loop 1604 East in the Northwoods Shopping Center.
Cokesbury is the retail arm of the UM Publishing House.

Contributions for tsunami reach $32.4 million mark
STAMFORD, Conn.—UMs have donated $32.4 million for South Asia tsunami relief.
The new total, which includes gifts received from late December through the end of March, was announced by Roland Fernandes, treasurer of the General Board of Global Ministries, at the start of the agency’s April 11-14 spring meeting.
UMs began to respond soon after the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami devastated parts of several South Asia nations, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead or missing.

Bishop impostor targets black churches in scam
NORCROSS, Ga.—A phone scam by someone posing as a UM bishop has cost three black congregations in Florida, Georgia and Maryland about $2,400.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation began looking into the matter April 6 at the request of Bishop G. Lindsey Davis, who oversees the North Georgia Conference.
In the scam, a man posing as the bishop contacts churches. He asks the church to wire money—usually between $700 and $800—to his niece, identified as Diane Williams, who is traveling in their area and having car trouble.
The Council of Bishops e-mailed a fraud alert to all bishops April 6 and asked that the notice be forwarded to all congregations.

Pope embodied courage, love, UMC leaders say
ROME—Pope John Paul II, who died April 2, was remembered by UMs as one of the great leaders of the Roman Catholic Church.
“John Paul II personified the Roman Catholic Church for more than a quarter-century,” said Bishop William B. Oden, ecumenical officer for the UM Council of Bishops.
The Rev. Geoffrey Wainwright, chair of the dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church, said the pontiff’s 1995 encyclical, “Ut Unum Sint” (“That They May Be One”), invited “leaders of other churches and their theologians to join with him in ‘a patient and fraternal dialogue’ concerning how the ‘ministry of universal unity’ traditionally claimed and offered by the (Holy) See of Rome could be exercised in new ways in a new situation.”

Southwest Texas director elected to council board
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—A Southwest Texan was among six UMs elected April 9 to the Governing Board of the Religion Communicators Council.
Douglas Cannon, Southwest Texas Conference communications and public witness director, is to serve on the policy-making body through 2008.
The 500-member council is an international interfaith association of religion communicators working in print, electronic communication and public relations.

Relief committee approves $1.5 million for Haiti work
STAMFORD, Conn.—In response to last year’s hurricane and resulting floods, the UM Committee on Relief is establishing an official presence in Haiti.
Elected directors of the aid committee approved $1.5 million during an April 11-15 meeting for start-up and program implementation costs on the Caribbean island.
Responding to continuing “Hurricanes 2004” recovery work in the United States, directors approved $1.9 million for the Florida Conference over the next two years; $900,000 for the Alabama-West Florida Conference; $180,000 for the Western North Carolina Conference; and $50,000 for the Western Pennsylvania Conference.

Africa University appoints 2 women as new deans
MUTARE, Zimbabwe—The board of directors of UM-related Africa University made school history April 5-7 by appointing two women among four new academic deans.
All four appointees came from within the university. New deans are Thokozile Chitepo, humanities and social sciences; the Rev. Beauty Maenzanise, theology; Fanuel Tagwira, agriculture and natural resources; and Jean-Gilbert Ilunga, management and administration.

Conference OKs settlement in 2001 camp abuse case
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Tennessee Conference approved a $952,027 settlement April 2 with the family of a girl who said she was sexually assaulted five years ago at a church camp.
The settlement followed a similar agreement in 2003 to resolve another case of abuse that occurred at the camp in 2001.
Both assaults were allegedly committed by the same camp counselor, Carl Steven Bentrup, 21, who was arrested after the 2001 incident. He later was found hanged in his cell in the Hickman County jail.

Indiana pastor set to face church trial May 19-21
INDIANAPOLIS—The Rev. Larry Martin, pastor of Wesley UMC, Jeffersonville, Ind., faces a May 19-21 church trial on charges of “immorality and sexual harassment.”
Martin was suspended from Wesley in March following the charges.
Retired Bishop Joe E. Pennel Jr., of Franklin, Tenn., is to preside over the trial at Trinity UMC in New Albany, Ind.

Online course about UMC continues through May 25
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—A new session of the online course “United Methodism 101” began April 6 and ends May 25.
This basic course, offered by UM Communications, is designed for new UMs and anyone wanting to know more about the denomination.
Registration remains open throughout the seven-week course. To register, go to http://training.umcom.org.