News in brief

The Rev. Robert L. Bauer dies May 7 in Llano at 77
Raquel Martinez to speak at June 7 UM Women lunch
UM Men chief to address June 8 conference event
Author to have dinner June 7 with UM leaders
Connectional giving runs $254,000 ahead of ’06 totals
Special Sunday offering supports peace, justice
UMs can get scholarships for restorative justice event
1st native Congo bishop dies May 9 in Kinshasa
UMs begin storm response to May 4 Kansas tornado
UM diaconate celebrated, challenged at convocation
Africa University chancellor to step down by end of ’07
Bishop urges leadership on homosexuality stance
Planning moves ahead for Latvia, Lithuania bodies
Proposal would pave way for U.S. regional conference
Team develops strategy to call people to ministry
CORRECTION

The Rev. Robert L. Bauer dies May 7 in Llano at 77
The funeral for the Rev. Robert L. Bauer was May 10 at Trinity UMC, Castell.
A retired Southwest Texas Conference clergy member, Bauer, 77, died May 7 in Llano.
Bauer began his ministry in 1975 as a licensed local pastor. He was ordained a deacon in 1976. He served congregations in Bandera, Castell, Eola, Hilda, Rio Grande City and Wall.
Bauer went on disability leave in 1993 and retired in 1998.

Raquel Martinez to speak at June 7 UM Women lunch
The editor of the UM Spanish hymnal and wife of Bishop Joel N. Martinez is to address the UM Women’s luncheon June 7 in Corpus Christi.
Raquel Martinez is to speak on the topic “I am a UM Woman.”
The luncheon at Corpus Christi’s American Bank Center is part of the June 6-9 Southwest Texas Annual Conference session.

UM Men chief to address June 8 conference event

The top staff executive of UM Men is to address the June 8 UM Men’s luncheon in Corpus Christi.
The Rev. David Adams, general secretary of the General Commission on UM Men, leads an eight-member staff in Nashville, Tenn.
Former president of Tennessee Conference UM Men, Adams said he received his call to ordained ministry while attending a 1994 UM Men meeting. He served First UMC, Lynchburg, Tenn., before joining the UM Men staff in June 2006.
The UM Men’s luncheon at Corpus Christi’s American Bank Center is part of the June 6-9 Southwest Texas Annual Conference session.



Author to have dinner June 7 with UM leaders
A featured speaker at next month’s Southwest Texas Annual Conference session is having dinner with UM leaders
June 7 in Corpus Christi.
The Rev. Martha Grace Reese, author of Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism, is to attend a 6 p.m. gathering at Water Street Seafood Co. The Council on Ministries is sponsoring the event. Seating is limited.
Reese is to address the conference session June 8 as part of the Council on Ministries report. She is to lead a dialogue session about evangelization from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
For June 7 dinner reservations contact cloeb@sbcglobal.net. Fee is $19 per person.

Connectional giving runs $254,000 ahead of ’06 totals
Southwest Texas congregations gave $254,229 more to connectional causes through April than they did during the first four months of 2006.
Contributions to apportioned funds totaled $3 million. That’s 30 percent of the $10.1 million asking for the year. The remittance rate is up 1.5 percent from April last year.
The San Angelo District had paid the highest percentage of apportionments through April—36.14. Other district percentages were Kerrville, 33.94; Victoria, 32.54; McAllen, 31.05; Corpus Christi, 30.13; San Antonio, 28.38 and Austin, 27.65.

Special Sunday offering supports peace, justice
Southwest Texans can join UMs around the globe June 3 in collecting a special offering for Peace with Justice Sunday.
The offering is one of six special offerings on the UMC calendar each year. Causes supported by special offerings don’t receive funds from church apportionments.
Half the Peace with Justice offering stays in Southwest Texas. That money pays for Social Principles workshops, restorative justice training and other church-and-society initiatives.
The other half of the money supports initiatives by the General Board of Church and Society. Those include work with homeless populations, youths at risk and college students.

UMs can get scholarships for restorative justice event
Scholarships are available for a national conference on restorative justice next month in Kerrville.
The Hardt Fund for Peace and Board of Church and Society will help Southwest Texas UMs pay registration fees for the June 24-27 gathering at Schreiner University.
The first-ever program includes 34 workshops and presentations by state and federal judges.
The General Board of Church and Society is co-sponsoring the conference.
For information on the meeting, check www.restorativejusticenow.org. For scholarship information contact Wanda Holcombe at wholcomb@umcswtx.org.

1st native Congo bishop dies May 9 in Kinshasa
NEW YORK—The first indigenous bishop in Congo died May 9 in Kinshasa.
Retired former Bishop John Wesley Shungu became a bishop in 1964 and had been retired for many years. His eight years as leader of the Central and Southern Conferences coincided with the tumultuous early days of the Republic of Congo after it gained independence from Belgium in 1960. The country later came to be known as Zaire and is now the
Democratic Republic of Congo. 
Shungu was one of two Africans elected to the episcopacy in 1964 by the African Central Conference. Previously, most bishops in Africa were Americans named by the Council of Bishops.

UMs begin storm response to May 4 Kansas tornado
GREENSBURG, Kan.—The pastor of Greensburg UMC choked back tears and shook his head in disbelief as he saw, for the first time, the church’s tornado-shattered building with its cross-topped steeple gone, its sanctuary exposed and pews filled with debris.
“It is just painful,” the Rev. Gene McIntosh said.
At least 10 people died when an F-5 tornado tore through Greensburg May 4, destroying 90 to 95 percent of the residences and commercial buildings in the town of 1,400.
The UM Committee on Relief is aiding the Kansas Episcopal Area with tornado response. To contribute financially, drop checks into any local church offering plates with “UMCOR Domestic Disaster Advance No. 901670” written in the memo line.

UM diaconate celebrated, challenged at convocation
ORLANDO, Fla.—Images of light entering into dark places and calls to use varied gifts of God permeated “Celebrating Diakonia,” a convocation of the UM diaconate.
The April 19-22 event, sponsored by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, marked the 10th anniversary of the ordained Order of Deacon and 30 years of diaconal ministry in UMC. Some 350 attended.
In the UMC, diaconate refers to those whom the church has commissioned, consecrated or ordained to lead in servant ministry. Diaconate comes from the Greek root diakonos (servant).

Africa University chancellor to step down by end of ’07
OLD MUTARE, Zimbabwe—Bishop Ntambo Nkulu Ntanda is stepping down as chancellor of Africa University at the end of 2007 because of conflicting legislative and episcopal schedules and duties.
Ntambo, 59, announced his resignation to the university’s board of directors April 14. Since 1996, he has been bishop in the Democratic Republic of Congo and led the denomination’s North Katanga Area.

Bishop urges leadership on homosexuality stance
SPRINGMAID BEACH, S.C.—A retired bishop told colleagues May 3 that any plan that could address homosexuality in the denomination would “be superior to prudent silence.”
Bishop Jack Tuell of Des Moines, Wash., urged the Council of Bishops to exercise leadership on the emotionally charged issue.
Tuell offered his comments after an episcopal committee voted to table a recommendation to change the
denomination’s stance on homosexuality.
Tuell told bishops he believed the council should lead the church in the debate. He said there should be a better way to “express the mind of our United Methodist Church than the language we have at present.”

Planning moves ahead for Latvia, Lithuania bodies
FARGO, N.D.—The 2008 General Conference in Fort Worth is to consider a provisional conference for Latvia and Lithuania.
Lithuanian UMs approved the proposal at their annual conference in April, and their counterparts in Latvia are expected to do the same in August, said Bishop Oystein Olsen, who leads the Nordic and Baltic Episcopal Area. Currently, the two countries are a mission of the General Board of Global Ministries and districts within the Estonia Conference.
Olsen reported the action to mission supporters of the Latvia-Lithuania initiative during an April 27-29
meeting at First UMC in Fargo.

Proposal would pave way for U.S. regional conference
SPRINGMAID BEACH, S.C.—A task force has proposed four changes to the UMC constitution to make regional and jurisdictional structures similar worldwide.
The constitutional changes, to be presented to the 2008 General Conference in Fort Worth, would make the church in the United States a regional body, similar to the church’s units in Africa, Europe and Asia. The current structure gives the U.S. church greater influence in the denomination than its overseas counterparts.
The proposals were part of a May 3 report approved by the Council of Bishops.

Team develops strategy to call people to ministry
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—A new advisory team has mapped out a strategy to create a churchwide "culture of call"—especially among young people. The goal is to attract more young people into ordained ministry.
The National Leadership Development Advisory Team is expediting information about the ordination process to district superintendents, boards of ordained ministry, candidacy mentors, pastor/staff parish relations committees and district committees.
The group plans to create a “tool kit” that can foster sensitivity and support for young adults and those involved in the candidacy process.

CORRECTION
A May 11 story on welcoming congregations (“4 more congregations join welcoming list,” Page 8) put Kingsbury UMC in the wrong district. Kingsbury was the 10th local church in the Victoria District to be certified as a welcoming congregation.