From church to church, amen!


AMEN to our Wesley Nurses who provide lessons in good health. El Buen Pastor UMC, Falfurrias, heard about diabetes and diabetes prevention recently at a “Food for Thought” program. Nurses provide information on mental illness, safety, nutrition and exercise, among other topics.
AMEN to reaching out through informative brochures. First UMC, Weslaco, has a summer sermon series brochure. First UMC, Raymondville, has an activities brochure, and our District Reporter has a Web site awareness brochure.
AMEN to the Valley Praise band of First UMC, Harlingen, for inspirational and lively music during the annual conference session in Corpus Christi. The band provided special music during the service confirming pastoral appointments.
AMEN to the futures committee at First UMC, Edinburg, for a questionnaire that seeks input from the congregation and encourages thoughts of transformation. By coincidence or design, that questionnaire was given out on a Sunday when part of the future was in front of the congregation. Six young people were confirmed Pentecost Sunday, and six high school and college graduates were honored.
AMEN to First UMC, Brownsville, for a thorough, thoughtful and respectful discussion about an emotionally charged issue of what to do with beloved property. The church decided to risk transformation, sell the property and go with a housing allowance for the pastor.
AMEN to First UMC, Harlingen, for moving from study of 40 Days of Purpose to transforming personal lives and the community. Many of the 27 groups will continue to meet during the summer for Christian study, accountability and community mission. One group has painted the living area for the Family Crisis Center.
AMEN to Donna Clark of San Juan UMC for making sure the church can be found on the Find-A-Church United Methodist Web site.
AMEN to our district for providing great district camps. We provide four camps each year at our own Camp Thicket near Weslaco. We lead the conference on the number of district camps. We have painted at Camp Thicket, which the kids notice, and we are praying for the money to be able to make more improvements so we can expand our ministry and reach out even more to our community.
AMEN to comforting ministries. More of our churches are adopting the Prayer Shawl ministry, and some are using the Prayer Bear Ministry to provide a physical reminder to the sick or bereaved that the church has them in our thoughts and prayers.
AMEN to physical and spiritual fitness. The Southwest Texas Conference Wellness Program is recommending an activity called Walking With Jesus. In a recent sermon First UMC, Donna, was challenged to walk 120 miles this summer. The congregation will read scripture from Acts and chart a walking distance on a wall chart at the church.

Do you have an AMEN to share for next month’s edition? If so, contact Mary Howard at (956) 421-3630 or yard23@aol.com.