News Briefs

UMs respond to Katrina with outpouring of supplies
Churches band together for local storm response
Texas Conference camp aids special-needs evacuees
Judge cuts damage award in Missouri Conference case
Southwest Texas UMs give $494,000 for Katrina work
Southwest Texas UMs aid Hurricane Emily survivors
Conference post office box to be closed after Sept. 30
Connectional giving runs $116,000 ahead of ’04 totals
48 UM congregations pay ’05 apportionments in full
San Antonio pastor honored by school in Kansas City
Bishop establishes dates for ’06 clergy convocation
Clergy spouses to consider roles at event in Kerrville
‘Journey of Hope’ to stop at 2 UM sites next month

UMs respond to Katrina with outpouring of supplies
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Congregations across the denomination have responded in many ways to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast Aug. 29.
They have gathered relief supplies and opened shelters. UMs reacted quickly to an emergency appeal by Bishop Edward Paup, president of UM Committee on Relief, for health kits and blankets to stock the agency’s Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, La.
Sager Brown dispatched supplies to relief sites across the Gulf Coast areas following Hurricane Katrina.
Bishop Peter Weaver, president of the UM Council of Bishops, urged church members to pray for hurricane victims and to support denomination relief efforts.
UM churches and related organizations around the United States opened their doors to hurricane evacuees.


Churches band together for local storm response
MERIDIAN, Miss.—Four UM churches have worked together and with city officials to provide aid and support to those stranded by Hurricane Katrina.
Central UMC opened its Red Cross shelter Aug. 28, the day before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Later, Poplar Springs Drive UMC also opened as a shelter.
St. Paul and Haven UMCs have provided support for both shelters.


Texas Conference camp aids special-needs evacuees
PALESTINE, Texas—In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Lakeview Methodist Conference Center is providing shelter to 70 physically and mentally challenged children and adults.
The evacuees are from Volunteers of America group homes in New Orleans.
UMs are providing food, clothing and shelter, and volunteering their time to help. Lakeview is owned by the Texas Conference.


Judge cuts damage award in Missouri Conference case
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.—A Missouri circuit court judge cut a $6 million civil court judgment against the Missouri Conference by half Sept. 6.
That leaves a $3 million judgment in compensatory and punitive damages in place.
Greene County Circuit Court Judge Miles Sweeney reduced the conference’s civil judgment to Teresa Norris, a former local church music director, by $3 million. The conference had been charged with failing to supervise a pastor who was later accused of raping Norris.
The pastor, who was never criminally charged, turned in his clergy credentials and was ordained in another denomination.


Southwest Texas UMs give $494,000 for Katrina work
Southwest Texas UMs had given more than $442,000 as of Sept. 16 to the UM Committee on Relief for Hurricane Katrina recovery.
Another $51,800 had been given to the Southwest Texas Conference Disaster Response Fund (Advance 2050) for local work with hurricane survivors.
Denominationwide contributions for Hurricane Katrina totaled $2.6 million as of Sept. 13. Southwest Texas Conference Treasurer David A. Seilheimer predicted last week that giving for the Gulf Coast disaster would rival response to the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Southwest Texas UMs have contributed $599,967 for relief work in South Asia.
Gifts for Hurricane Katrina recovery can be put into any local church offering plate designated for Advance 982523 (Hurricanes 2005). One-hundred percent of all contributions go to relief work.


Southwest Texas UMs aid Hurricane Emily survivors
As many Southwest Texas UMs were responding to Hurricane Katrina Labor Day weekend, a McAllen mission team was helping survivors of Hurricane Emily.
Ten volunteers from First UMC, McAllen, worked with 11 Mexican volunteers to rebuild two homes destroyed by the July storm in Carbonera, Mexico. The fishing village lost more than 40 homes.
Additional volunteer teams are needed to work in the village, said Susan Hellums, Southwest Texas Conference Volunteers in Mission coordinator.


Conference post office box to be closed after Sept. 30
The Southwest Texas Conference post office box in San Antonio closes Sept. 30.
First-class mail addressed to that box will be forwarded but delayed. Other mail may not be delivered.
The new conference mailing address is 16400 Huebner Road, San Antonio 78248-1693.
The post office box is closing after a six-month transition period, which was announced in March.


Connectional giving runs $116,000 ahead of ’04 totals
Southwest Texas congregations gave $116,034 more to connectional causes through August than they did during the first eight months of 2004.
Contributions to apportioned funds totaled $5.2 million as of Aug. 31. That’s 54.8 percent of the $9.4 million asking for the year. The remittance rate is down 0.6 percent from August last year.
The Kerrville District had paid the highest percentage of apportionments through August—69.13. Other district percentages were San Angelo, 65.93; Victoria, 60.25; McAllen, 56.49; San Antonio, 51.34; Austin, 50.25; and Corpus Christi, 49.43.

48 UM congregations pay ’05 apportionments in full
Forty-eight of the 350 Southwest Texas congregations had paid their 2005 apportionments in full as of Aug. 31.
The count of “100-percent” congregations by district was Austin, 12; Corpus Christi, 7; Kerrville, 6; McAllen, 2; San Angelo, 8; San Antonio, 7; and Victoria, 6.
Apportioned amounts represent a congregation’s share of expenses for ministries across the state, nation and world.


San Antonio pastor honored by school in Kansas City
A San Antonio pastor was cited this week as an outstanding graduate of UM-related St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo.
The Rev. John Flowers, associate pastor of Travis Park UMC, San Antonio, received the 2005 Graduate Award from the seminary’s Graduate Council Tuesday in Kansas City. It was presented during the school’s fall symposium.


Bishop establishes dates for ’06 clergy convocation
Bishop Joel N. Martinez has set March 6 and 7 as the dates for the 2006 Bishop’s Convocation in Kerrville.
The gathering for all Southwest Texas Conference clergy members is to run from noon to noon at Mount Wesley Conference Center.


Clergy spouses to consider roles at event in Kerrville
Clergy spouses are to gather Oct. 7-9 in Kerrville to consider their responsibilities as mate, parent and employee.
The program at Mount Wesley Conference Center focuses on the importance of clergy families being themselves in a world with often unrealistic expectations of pastors and their relatives, said the Rev. Nanci Gibbons, chair. Theme for the event is “To Thine Own Self Be True!”
Registration fee is $75 per person, which includes meals. For more information contact (210) 240-4299.


‘Journey of Hope’ to stop at 2 UM sites next month
At least two UM sites are to be stopping points on the Oct. 14-17 “Journey of Hope from Violence to Healing” across Texas.
UM-related Huston-Tillotson University, Austin, has scheduled 1 and 4 p.m. events Oct. 26.
First UMC, Austin, is playing host to a 7 p.m. event Oct. 27.
Family members of murder victims are coming from around the country to share their stories and opinions about ending capital punishment. Family members of executed and exonerated inmates are also to take part.
The 17-day journey is to begin in Houston, travel through Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio, and end in Austin.