News Briefs
Southwest Texans send items to relief committee
San Antonio pastor joins board at Southwestern U.
Connectional giving runs $157,000 ahead of ’04 totals
3 UMs begin fall classes at Austin theological school
74 UM congregations pay ’05 apportionments in full
Clergywomen to explore spiritual path at retreat
Texas UMs assist evacuees, assess damage from Rita
Houston church becomes ‘ark’ for stranded family
Giving for Katrina relief passes $7 million mark
Confessing Movement issues statement on unity


Southwest Texans send items to relief committee
Southwest Texas UMs sent some 7,600 health kits, 250 school kits and 170 flood buckets to the UM Committee on Relief depot in Louisiana Oct. 4.
Volunteers loaded disaster-relief items at collection sites in Austin, Corpus Christi, McAllen and San Antonio for the trip to Sager Brown Depot, Baldwin, La., said Susan Hellums, Southwest Texas Conference Volunteers in Mission coordinator. Volunteers carried the supplies in a trailer designed for two race cars.
On their return trip Oct. 5, volunteers delivered several generators from the relief committee depot to Vidor, Texas.


San Antonio pastor joins board at Southwestern U.
A San Antonio pastor has joined the board of trustees for UM-related Southwestern University, Georgetown.
The Rev. J. Michael Lowry, senior pastor of University UMC, San Antonio, is to help make policy for the undergraduate liberal arts school with 1,250 students. Southwestern is the oldest chartered university in Texas.


Connectional giving runs $157,000 ahead of ’04 totals
Southwest Texas congregations gave nearly $157,000 more to connectional causes through September than they did during the first nine months of 2004.
Contributions to apportioned funds totaled $5.81 million as of Sept. 30. That’s 61.54 percent of the $9.4 million asking for the year. The remittance rate is up 0.39 percent from September last year.
The Kerrville District had paid the highest percentage of apportionments through September—78.05.
Other district percentages were San Angelo, 72.4; Victoria, 66.61; McAllen, 61.95; San Antonio, 58.13; Austin, 56.60; and Corpus Christi, 56.27.


3 UMs begin fall classes at Austin theological school
The new 52-member class at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary includes three UMs. They are enrolled in the master of divinity degree program.
The fall semester began Sept. 6 with an Opening Convocation Service.
Forty-nine of the new students are pursuing master of divinity degrees. Two are working on master of arts degrees in theological studies. One is a foreign exchange student from a seminary in Hungary.


74 UM congregations pay ’05 apportionments in full
Seventy-four of the 350 Southwest Texas congregations had paid their 2005 apportionments in full as of Sept. 30.
The count of “100 percent” congregations by district was Austin, 15; Corpus Christi, 12; Kerrville, 11; McAllen, 5; San Angelo, 12; San Antonio, 5; and Victoria, 14.
Apportioned amounts represent a congregation’s share of expenses for ministries across the state, nation and world.


Clergywomen to explore spiritual path at retreat
Southwest Texas clergywomen are to gather next month on South Padre Island to seek their spiritual path.
The annual clergywomen’s retreat is scheduled from 2 p.m. Nov. 14 through 11 a.m. Nov. 16 at Howard Johnson Hotel, South Padre Island.
Theme for the event is “Our Personal Journey: Seeking the Spirit’s Path.” Beth Abel of Lifemaps is keynote speaker.
“The retreat is open to all women, even those who are not yet clergywomen but who think they might want to be in ministry,” said the Rev. Nancy Mossman, senior pastor, First UMC, Pflugerville. “Also, it is open to women of the Rio Grande Annual Conference.”
Registration fee $30 per person. Room rates are $30 per night. For information contact the Rev. Linda Kessie, pastor of Grace UMC, Austin, at gracepastorlk@ yahoo.com.


Texas UMs assist evacuees, assess damage from Rita
HOUSTON— In the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, assisting evacuees living in shelters has become an immediate challenge for UMs in Texas and Louisiana.
“Some of our most critical needs right now are in caring for thousands of people still in shelters in Lufkin, Longview, Carthage, Lakeview Conference Center and many other places,” wrote Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of Houston in a Sept. 27 letter to church members in the Texas Conference.
Because of a serious overcrowding problem at First UMC in Lufkin—580 people at a shelter meant for a maximum of 260— churches in Houston and nearby communities were delivering meals and working to transfer people to their own facilities.
Huie and several other church officials spent Sept. 25-26 visiting churches and parsonages in some of the hardest-hit areas of the Beaumont District. Flood damage to churches appeared to be minimal, she said.


Houston church becomes ‘ark’ for stranded family
HOUSTON—Members of Memorial Drive UMC, Houston, had begun to breathe a sigh of relief as Hurricane Rita made a turn to the east.
Little did they know their church would be called upon to become an “ark.”
The family of Kenneth and Cora Price from Rosharon was evacuating to Brenham but ran out of gas in Houston. The group included the Prices’ five children, five goats, two cows, three dogs and about 50 chickens. The Prices own Sweet Pea Farms in Rosharon.

Giving for Katrina relief passes $7 million mark
NEW YORK—UM cash contributions to Hurricane Katrina relief and rehabilitation passed the $7 million mark Sept. 26.
The figure represents online, telephone and mail donations to the UM Committee on Relief as of the morning of Sept. 26. The figure doesn’t include donations given directly in response to Hurricane Rita, which struck Sept. 24.
Checks can be put into any local church offering plate designated for “UMCOR Advance No. 982523, Hurricanes 2005-Katrina” or “UMCOR Advance No. 901323 Hurricane Rita.” Contributions may also be designated for a specific state affected by the hurricanes.

Confessing Movement issues statement on unity
CINCINNATI—The Confessing Movement within the UMC has issued a proclamation welcoming “serious attention to the denomination’s unity and the basis of that unity.”
The proclamation was approved Sept. 24 by the more than 300 participants at the Confessing Movement’s national conference.
The proclamation came as a reaction to discussion at the 2004 General Conference—which adopted a unity resolution—and the appointment of the Unity Task Force by the Council of Bishops.