News Briefs

Traffic in Corpus Christi rerouted during conference
Dialogue sessions to talk about ways to offer Christ
Georgia youth choir to sing at Windcrest UMC June 3
Junction pastor named citizen of year for 2005
UM Men to raise money for Brownwood center
Coker UMC co-sponsors July play by Paula D’Arcy
Disciple gets makeover, adds two 8-week classes
UM Men launch new effort to reduce hunger in America
Conference cancels trial of pastor, drops charge
Bishops pass resolutions on hunger, other issues
Bishops sharpen focus on making disciples of Christ
UM relief committee works with churches on recovery
Evangelical Lutheran body wants to share Eucharist 

Traffic in Corpus Christi rerouted during conference
Participants in next week’s Southwest Texas Annual Conference session must follow a different route from past years to First UMC, Corpus Christi.
Shoreline Boulevard is one-way north in front of the church because of seawall reconstruction. Access to the church is from Water Street.
The work affects access to the Holiday Inn Emerald Beach as well. To get to the hotel from the convention center, drivers have to go south on Water Street behind First UMC to Buford. Traffic can go east on Buford to Shoreline and then north to the hotel.

Dialogue sessions to talk about ways to offer Christ
Southwest Texas Annual Conference participants can join in a two-way exchange next week about “Offering Christ to All.”
The Council on Ministries is sponsoring seven dialogue sessions June 3 from 2 to 3:15 p.m. Each session is to address a different ministry topic.
“The emphasis is to be truly on dialogue,” said Carol Loeb, chair of the Council on Ministries.
A 23-minute video presentation at 11:30 a.m. June 3 is to set the stage for the dialogue sessions. It is to show the cultural context in which UMs are offering Christ.
During afternoon sessions, representatives of conference agencies are to seek feedback on ministry needs and share ways boards and commissions hope to empower ministries to offer Christ.

Georgia youth choir to sing at Windcrest UMC June 3
A senior high youth choir from Georgia is to present a free concert at 7 p.m. June 3 at Windcrest UMC.
The stop is part of a nine-day tour through Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas by the group from Park Avenue UMC, Valdosta, Ga.
The program is to feature traditional and contemporary music as well as testimonies about God’s work through Jesus Christ.

Junction pastor named citizen of year for 2005
The Kimble County Chamber of Commerce honored the Rev. Scott Bradford last month as Citizen of the Year for 2005.
Bradford, pastor of First UMC, Junction, and London UMC since 1997, was cited for his accomplishments and contributions to the community
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UM Men to raise money for Brownwood center
Tri-County UM Men plan a fish fry fund-raiser June 24 at the Methodist Campground in Bend.
Proceeds from the 6:30 p.m. event are to support the Aldersgate Education Center in Brownwood. The Aldersgate choir is to provide entertainment.

Coker UMC co-sponsors July play by Paula D’Arcy
Coker UMC, San Antonio, is teaming with St. Luke Roman Catholic Church to sponsor two performances of “On My Way Home” in July and a retreat with the playwright.
Performances are scheduled for July 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. in San Antonio at Our Lady of the Lake University main chapel. Tickets cost $10 per person.
A retreat with playwright Paula D’Arcy is scheduled for July 16-17. Fee is $60 per person.

Disciple gets makeover, adds two 8-week classes
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Editors at UM Publishing House are changing Disciple Bible study to give more people access to the program.
Changes include eight-week sessions and new videos for Disciple I. Training seminars for facilitators are being shortened and will become optional for churches offering the study. Ordering procedures are being simplified, and copies will be available in Cokesbury stores.
“Disciple has become an integral part of the faith formation process in many congregations in this country and around the world,” said Harriett Jane Olson, senior vice president for publishing. “We hope that these changes will open that possibility to even more congregations.”

UM Men launch new effort to reduce hunger in America
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Annual conference presidents of UM Men are trying to involve 9,600 men in hunger relief and create 800 local church units for men’s ministry.
The effort is to begin with a gleaning, a potato drop, and a dried and canned food collection at the July 15-17 National Gathering of UM Men at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
UM Men from around the globe gather at Purdue every four years for a time of spiritual renewal, fellowship and instruction.

Conference cancels trial of pastor, drops charge
INDIANAPOLIS—An agreement among South Indiana UMs averted a May 19 church trial for a clergyman charged with sexual harassment.
Bishop Michael J. Coyner announced May 18 that the church trial of the Rev. Larry Martin of Jeffersonville has been canceled. Martin, who had been charged with sexual harassment—a chargeable offense for ordained ministers—was to be tried May 19 at Trinity UMC in New Albany.
In an announcement to trial participants, Coyner said, “By mutual agreement of the parties involved, the charge of sexual harassment against the Rev. Larry Martin has been withdrawn by the South Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church. No church trial will be held. There are no charges or complaints against Rev. Martin.”

Bishops pass resolutions on hunger, other issues
ARLINGTON, Va.—UM bishops adopted resolutions on several issues May 1-6.
Bishops recognized Hunger Awareness Day (June 7); called for an immediate moratorium on capital punishment; recognized the pending 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japan and called for an end to nuclear weapons worldwide; and demanded justice for surviving “comfort women” from Asian nations who were enslaved by the Japanese military during World War II.

Bishops sharpen focus on making disciples of Christ
ARLINGTON, Va.—UM bishops worked May 1-6 on their primary focus: Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
Bishops adopted the 2005-08 emphasis last fall as their quadrennial focus, one that points directly to the UMC’s primary mission of disciple-making.
Bishop Peter Weaver, council president, said he has “been hearing in congregation after congregation the desire to reach out into their communities to make disciples of Jesus Christ, but often they don’t know how to do that.”
Those congregations, he said, are “looking for resources and training and examples that they can go and visit. And there are many of those examples among the congregations in our connection, so we need to reconnect congregations that are yearning to make disciples of Jesus Christ in 21st century ways.”

UM relief committee works with churches on recovery
NEW YORK—Methodist churches in southeast India and Andaman Island are paving the way for long-term recovery in their regions following a Dec. 26 tsunami.
The Madras Regional Conference raised about $100,000 to serve tsunami-affected communities, said the Rev. Kristin Sachen of the UM Committee on Relief. Sachen visited the region at the end of April to find ways to support relief efforts that the churches there have already mounted.
The UM relief committee is partnering with the Churches Auxiliary for Social Action and the Christian Medical Association of India to operate mobile health clinics through a grant of $320,000 to be delivered in installments over the next four years.
Besides India, the committee is funding tsunami work in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Somalia and Thailand, after receiving unprecedented donations of $32.4 million.

Evangelical Lutheran body wants to share Eucharist 
CHICAGO—The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recommended that its 2005 churchwide assembly approve an Interim Sharing of the Eucharist relationship with the UMC.
The council, which serves as the ELCA’s legislative authority between churchwide assemblies, met April 9-11. With an interim commitment, congregations and judicatories of both churches will be encouraged to study theological documents, participate jointly in Holy Communion and explore new opportunities for shared ministry.
Eventually, the two churches hope to achieve a relationship of full communion, which allows for clergy of one church body to serve in congregations of the other church and creates opportunities for joint ministry.