| March 27, 2009
Volume 155, Number 47
|
| National expert to help train instructors
Victoria District commissions Diana Hynson to educate teachers
By Rachel L. Toalson
Managing Editor
Diana Hynson believes discipleship can happen in Sunday school classrooms— but not without equipped and informed teachers. The director of learning and teaching ministries at the General Board of Discipleship is going to offer a teaching
academy for beginning and experienced teachers.
“I want to help teachers be someone who is well informed, well formed, so that they can help transform people from whoever they are into the best disciple Jesus that they can be,” Hynson said. “Discipleship is a lifelong process. It never ends. Churches must want the very best people to do this.
“I want folks to capture a vision of what it means to have really good teachers because of the importance of Christian formation. This is not just some body in the classroom, there to teach our children stuff. It’s a mature Christian believer who can nurture
children, youth and adults to become the very best people of God they can be. That’s a very different task than to learn this psalm or memorize this Bible verse.”
Hynson will offer the 2010 academy to the Victoria District. The Rev. Terrence Hayes, Victoria District superintendent, said he asked Hynson for help because he realized many of his district churches needed help training their leaders for teaching.
A “taste and see” demonstration workshop will happen April 18 and April 25 in the Victoria District. Hynson said she will skim over the six modules the academy will cover. She is hoping that both inexperienced and experienced teachers will attend the event.
The focuses of the six modules of the academy include:
Module 1: The purposes of Christian education, having a plan and gaining an identity as a teacher.
Module 2: Basic learning issues, like multiple intelligences and what it means to “do no harm” and
do “all the good you can” in a classroom.
Module 3: Basics of classroom management and teaching for discipleship and transformation.
Module 4: Specific United Methodist issues, like what it means to be a UM teacher and how
the small group experience should show grace rather than just teach about it.
Module 5: Curriculum, detailing how teachers should select it and adapt it to the confines of
their classrooms.
Module 6: Teaching without curriculum, which Hynson said often happens in adult classrooms.
Hynson said she hopes to create a “cadre of teachers who have enough basic information to do no harm.” “I hope they’ll gain greater appreciation of the ministry of teaching and that they’ll be motivated and more confident in their abilities as a teacher,” Hynson said. “Some people feel called to teach. Some people accept that role reluctantly because it’s the right thing to do, but they may not be equipped.
“I believe that a person who says yes to teaching in his or her heart wants to do the very best he or she can. And some people just have no confidence and very little background.” Each module will be about three hours, Hynson said. The Victoria District has not yet solidified dates for the 2010 modules, she added. A native of Maryland, Hynson has been with the General Board of Discipleship since 2001. Prior to that, she spent almost 14 years as an editor at a UM publishing house. She is a graduate
of Wesley Seminary and an elder in the Baltimore-Washington Conference.
She hopes the teaching academy will eventually expand throughout The United Methodist Church. “Well get something good going, practice it and offer it to the Church,” she said. “It’s my job to try to equip all of our teachers, wherever they are.”
|
| Seventeen individuals to be ordained, commissioned
Seventeen individuals are to be commissioned or ordained during a special service June 5 inside Selena Auditorium of the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi during the Annual Conference session June 3-6. The service, which used to close the annual conference session, is to start at 6:30 p.m.
Those to be ordained as elders in full connection include:
• Barbara Kutac Aziz, 43, of First UMC, Bishop.
• Christine (Chris) Coffey Bistline, 52, of Bertram UMC.
• Michael Christopher Mumme, 32, of Faith UMC, Woodsboro.
• Charles “Richard” Selke, 61, of Lago Vista.
• Tamara Jean Strehli, 43, of Jefferson UMC, San Antonio.
• Leslie Ann Smith Tomlinson, 31, University UMC, San Antonio.
• Kyle Robert Toomire, 34, The Journey UMC, Kyle.
• Veda Glover White, 59, Manor UMC.
Those to be ordained as deacons in full connection include:
• Deana Denae Kirby, 48, of St. Hedwig.
• Kristopher (Kit) Jay Tomlinson, 33, of University UMC, San Antonio.
Those to be ordained as deacons in full connection include:
• Deana Denae Kirby, 48, of St. Hedwig.
• Kristopher (Kit) Jay Tomlinson, 33, of University UMC, San Antonio.
Commissioned members elected to probationary/provisional membership include:
• Paul William Allan, 37, of Wilmore, Kent.
• Ray Joseph Altman, 25, of Kerrville.
• Wade Leroy Lindstrom, 47, of New Braunfels.
• Jeana LeAnn Martin, 29, of Austin.
• Mark Adam Montgomery, 25, of Corpus Christi.
• Kelli Lee Willamson, 27, of Seadrift.
Deacon candidates for probationary/provisional membership include:
• Ronald T. Bentley, 38, of Charlottesville, Virginia.
|
| Victoria District honors its laity members
Fifty-one individuals and 12 groups were honored March 14 during the Victoria District laity awards celebration at First UMC, Yoakum. Ileen Ferguson Foley of Webster Chapel, Victoria, was given the Bishop’s Exemplar Award for serving her local church as a lay leader, chair of Christian education and Sunday School superintendent.
Foley, who grew up in Victoria, earned a bachelor’s degree and later pursued her master’s and doctorate. She began a career in education in 1974, leaders said. She taught in public school classrooms and served as a school administrator in curriculum and an elementary school principal. Leaders said she has been involved in community, civic and cultural groups as well. Her ministry has included serving as a lay speaker, serving on the conference Council on Older Adult Ministries. In the past, Foley has served on the Futures Committee and the District Superintendency Committee. She is the lay delegate to the Annual Conference session for her church. Leaders said Foley’s adult life has been “committed to family, education and service to her church.”
|
| Others nominated for the Bishop’s
Exemplar award include:
• James Bryant, Scruggs Chapel, Edna.
• Clara Clemons, First UMC, Gonzales.
• Jimmy Neeley, Palacios UMC.
• John Behrens, Point Comfort UMC.
• Jody Weaver, Port Lavaca UMC.
• Coleta Byrd, Wesley Harper UMC, Seguin.
• Glenn Myers, First UMC, Shiner
• Tina Luna, Kingsbury UMC.
• Nancy Farris, First UMC, Victoria.
• Lonnie Diedering, John Wesley UMC, Victoria
Those given discipleship awards include:
• Ron Langford, Bloomington UMC.
• Ricki McKinney, Nursery UMC.
• Howard Evans Jr., St. Paul UMC, Columbus.
• Jay Knight, Wesley Altair.
• Jan Respondek, First UMC, Edna.
• Gloria Nordeen, First UMC, El Campo
• Russell Bergstrom, St. Paul UMC, El Campo.
• Linda Peters, First UMC, Ganado.
• Bill Sanders, Louise UMC.
• Christina Menking, First UMC, Gonzales.
• Sarah Clark, Elroy Johnson and Calvin Callis,
Hallettsville circuit.
• Sharon Hooten, First UMC, Hallettsville.
• Jackie Kidd, Belmont UMC.
• Thelma Holloway, Palacios UMC.
• Mary Francis Harrington, Point Comfort UMC.
• Debi Althaus, Lolita UMC.
• Annette Pfeil, Port Lavaca UMC.
• Joyce Hanselman, Austwell UMC.
• Christy and John Holt, First UMC, Seguin.
• Linda Redix, Wesley Harper, Seguin.
• Barbara Tieken, First UMC, Shiner.
• Greg and Reba Moore, Kingsbury UMC.
• Betty Tullos, Telferner UMC.
| • Deborah Gamblin, Fannin UMC.
• Phyllis Fissel, First UMC, Victoria.
• Janet Myrick, John Wesley UMC, Victoria.
• Julius Whitby, Webster Chapel, Victoria.
• Eva Boscamp, Waelder UMC.
• Steve Gabler, Freyburg UMC.
Those given young disciple awards included:
• Megan Knowlton, First UMC, Ganado.
• Kevin Bird, First UMC, Gonzales.
• Zachary Robinson, Oakman Chapel,
Hallettsville.
• Brooke Terry, Belmont UMC.
• Nolan Oldham, First UMC, Palacios.
• Sarah McClellan, Port Lavaca UMC.
• Kara Lindeman, First UMC, Seguin.
• Youth Usher Board, Wesley Harper UMC,
Seguin.
• Derek Thigpen, Webster Chapel, Victoria.
• Andrew Sullivan, Waelder UMC.
Those given Spirit of Christ awards included:
• Building Committee Go-to Guys Bill Muns
and Allen Hurst, First UMC, El Campo.
• Intercessory Prayer Group, First UMC, Gonzales
• United Methodist Men, Palacios UMC.
• The Chancel Choir, Port Lavaca UMC.
• Feed My Sheep Ministry, Seadrift UMC.
• Faith-In-Action, congregation of First UMC,
Seguin.
• Congregation of Wesley Harper, Seguin.
• Twice Blessed Showroom, First UMC, Victoria.
• Hospitality Crew, John Wesley UMC, Victoria.
• United Methodist Men, Webster Chapel, Victoria.
• Waelder Methodist Ladies, Waelder UMC.
• Mother’s Day Out Council, Yoakum UMC.
|
|
Can we still praise God during dry times?
By mid-February, the deer in my back yard were scrawny. By March 1, I saw them eat from the cedar (juniper) trees and bushes in my back yard. The back yard is stripped down to dirt patches where the deer nibble every stubble of grass that tries to make a comeback. They are eating every plant that is classified as “deer resistant.” I have witnessed more dry tanks and have seen our area lakes and rivers lower than ever before. For months and months, the animals, plants and land have suffered. I hear people comparing this to the awful drought of the 1950s. Ranchers are selling their livestock because there is no hay that is available for purchase. There is no grass in their fields. The cost of putting out sack feed is very expensive. Discouragement and hopelessness is creeping into the very fabric of our being.
We have prayed and prayed and prayed for God to bring rain to our parched land. As the drought prolonged, some grew closer to God and some turned away. Anger and resentment began to seep into some. Discouragement placed a pall over many people. You could see the look of hopelessness creep in as the drought fanned the flames started by the stock market. “Oh Lord, how long will this go on,” as they looked down and stirred up dust with their boots. Yet in spite of all of this, I saw faithful people softly ask God for mercy on our land. I heard the saints of the church call out on Sunday morning, “preacher, pray for rain. We’re hurting.” Two weeks ago, I saw two umbrellas leaned against the cross in the sanctuary, as confession was made, “have our sins caused You to withhold the rain?” People are reaching out and stretching out to where many have never gone before. They are asking for God’s mercy.
And on March 11, the rains began to fall. I simply went outside and stood in the drizzle. I let myself get completely soaked. My shirt was dripping as I praised God for his acts of mercy. On March 12, we heard loud clapping thunder and the skies opened up. By the 13th, there was four-and-a-half inches of rain in the gauge in my back yard. I am simply amazed at how fast the green began to spring up all around me. This morning I saw farmers and ranchers grinning from ear to ear. There was mud on their boots and hope in their eyes! Lord, give us exactly what you know we need! Thank you for showering us with these blessings!
We are blessed for the gift of rain and new life. The question remains, can we still remain a praising people when the rain doesn’t come? Can we praise him during the droughts of life? May we live with grateful hearts when it does and does not rain. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
|
| Traffic problems at MOMS program in Johnson City
Brady Odiorne knows where he wants the car to go, and he’s pretty sure how to make it go there, but he hadn’t counted on Hanna Hudler having other ideas about speed and destination. Happily, moms were in easy reach to make sure no major conflict broke out. They’re all part of the MOMS program at the First UMC, Johnson City, where the preschoolers have an unstructured play-day in the church playground every Wednesday morning. Whether church members or not, all kids are welcome to join the fun, while learning essential skills like playing with others and how to make the see-saw go. Meanwhile, their mothers swap essential data like what’s new in the child-snack line and where they found those great sunglasses. The church is planning to accommodate the growing number of children by doubling the size of the playground and adding new toys and play-structures. Brady will be happy if they just add another car, so he can drive without traffic hazards. You can find the Education Beyond the Walls handbook in your church office or at www.umcswtx.org.
|
| District happenings
Forming and Firming Families of Faith to happen March 28
Join the Kerrville District as leaders explore ways to help families find time to share faith, learn how to model faith and enable them to teach children to be “in the world, but not of it.” The spring workshop will run from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s UMC, Kerrville. Lunch will be provided at a nominal cost. To register, call or e-mail the Kerrville District Office at (830) 896-6400 or kdumc@texxa.net.
Lakehills UMC plans to celebrate 50 years in ministry June 14
The Lakehills UMC anniversary event will include a special worship service that will have a skit about the past, present and future of the church, a mortgage burning and guest speaker, the Rev. Sue White, a dynamic speaker and evangelist. After the service, the Dyre Family Band will play, and BBQ brisket plates, catered by Nancy McMillan, will be offered. Tickets for the anniversary dinner will go on sale March 22 at the church and will be available through May 31. The cost of tickets is $9 each. For more information call Diana Cluck at the church office: (830) 751-2404.
Fredericksburg UMC to host spring Youth Rally March 29
Fredericksburg UMC will host the spring District Youth Rally March 29, from 4-7 p.m. Music will be provided by Burgundy Road. There is no cost for the event, but leaders do need a count for dinner. Contact the District office at (830) 896-6400 or kdumc@texxa.net. The event will start with games at 4 p.m., followed by food fellowship and worship so mark your calendars and plan to come.
Highland Lakes UMC reaches out to newcomers in new way
Highland Lakes UMC is reaching out to newcomers through DirectConnect. The church receives a list of all people within a 10-mile radius of the church who have signed up for utility hook-ups. Since the assumption is that these people are new to the area, members of the congregation’s Card Workshop are mailing a decorated, handmade cards inviting those individuals to “Coffee with the Pastor.” After a brief time of fellowship, guests who attend the coffee will be invited to attend the worship service.
|
| Summer interns hope to learn about ministry
Youths chosen to lead, support, teach students during events throughout 2009
By Rachel L. Toalson
Managing Editor
In the heat of the summer, in the middle of a worship session at a Southwest Texas Conference camp, Shadia Rezaie said yes to God’scall.
He wants her to be a youth director, she said, and even though she doesn’t know exactly what it will look like, the 22-year-old is taking steps to embrace it. The call is why she applied to be one of this summer’s two youth interns with the Rev. Rusty Freeman, conference director of youth ministries. It’s also why she was chosen, Freeman said.
“Shadia is exploring a call to fulltime ministry,” he said. “She is a great leader among the girl counselors at camps, and they love her enthusiasm for life and for the Lord. She will be a tremendous asset at the conference summer youth events.” Freeman also chose Brock Bomkamp, 20, of Dripping Springs UMC.
 Youths wait for a morning worship service to start at a Southwest Texas Conference summer camp in 2008. Brock Bomkamp
(red shirt, green bandana around head) is one of this year’s youth interns, along with Shadia Rezaie. The students will
work with the Rev. Rusty Freeman, conference youth ministries director, and the Servant Team to help organize events.
“Both of them are remarkable students who have a strong call upon their lives to serve the Lord in full time ministry.”
The summer interns will help oversee the summer Servant Team and will attend the Annual Conference session in Corpus Christi, My Mission and the conference’s four summer camps.
Bomkamp, a sophomore at Baylor University, said he’s been attending Midwinters since he was 14 years old. He was part of the servant team last year and got to see the youth interns in action. That’s what encouraged him to apply, he said.
Rezaie, a senior at Texas State University, said she had “such an amazing experience being in the presence of God’s spirit and working in the young people’s lives” of her community and church that she wanted to apply.
She’s been involved in conference youth events since last year, when she was in the theme rooms at all the summer camps. She said she is a “born leader” who has learned that leading is “building from the bottom and lifting others up” so that they can do what she does—lead youth to Christ. She has a passion for the youth of the world, she said, but she still hopes to larn more in her position as intern. “I hope to learn how the camps function and how to facilitate and, in the future, direct,” Rezaie said. “And always, I wish to learn more and more about our Savior. “I am praying that I will see what god has in store for my future and that I will have the wisdom and knowledge to do him justice. As for the kids, I pray that I can be a good leader and bring excitement to their hearts so that God can do his wonders.”
 Brock Bomkamp and Shadia Rezaie were chosen as this year’s summer youth
interns. They pose here with the Rev. Rusty Freeman, conference youth ministries
director.
Rezaie plans to graduate May 16 from Texas State University with a bachelor’s in criminal justice. She is hoping that her internship with Freeman will lead to a job as a youth director in a church, but she also has a passion for troubled teens and young adults, she said. “I hope that I can eventually use my passion to lead young people who are in the criminal justice system to Christ,” she said.
Bomkamp plans to attend Asbury Theological Seminary after graduating from Baylor and then has no idea what he’ll do after that, he said. He hopes to be back in the Southwest Texas Conference.
Both Rezaie and Bomkamp said they enjoy everything about conference events. “I enjoy seeing God work through me and the changes I see in others from it,” Bomkamp said. “I love worship, seeing middle school kids praising God,” Rezaie said, “talking to high school girls about god, being part of a support system for teens, learning how to lead for Christ, knowing that these camps have such a bigger purpose than I do. I love it all.”
|
| Lago Vista leader spends retirement in service to his congregation
By Rachel L. Toalson
Managing Editor
He spent years trying to figure out if he believed in the existence of God. Now Jim Roberts, member of Rolling Hills Community Church in Lago Vista, teaches a men’s group—almost like a Sunday school class, he says— that focuses on proving the existence of God.
“I became a Christian as a teenager,” Roberts said. “My belief was based strictly on faith. I went to college, and the scientific method creates a lot of doubts. I started looking to see if I could show God existed scientifically. I went through that for many years.”
His class, he said, has just finished studying Lee Strobel’s the Case for a Creator, which examines a journalist’s scientific proof of a creator. Prior to that, the men’s group studied Strobel’s The Case for Christ, which examines the evidence of Jesus’ existence not just as a man but as a Savior.
Roberts, 72, said the books mirrored his experience with faith. He was a “perennial school boy” and couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted to do. After marrying his high school sweetheart, he spent some time bouncing around in majors, he said, and then he found he had a knack for math. He settled on engineering and earned a bachelor of arts in mathematics and a master’s degree in control systems.
After he and his wife listened to John F. Kennedy’s speech about sending a man to the moon and bringing him back safely, Roberts decided to go into the space business. Both native Texans, they moved to Los Angeles, and Roberts was hired on by Rockwell. He spent his career with the company, the last nine years of it in Houston operating the space center there.
Roberts and his wife joined Rolling Hills Community Church, a multi-denominational church predominantly comprised of United Methodists, in 1996, after he retired from Rockwell as the director of engineering. They traveled for a couple of years and then started getting involved in 1999.
“We were just giving back in general after we retired,” Roberts said. “I became president of the homeowner’s association, commissioner for the emergency services district, board member of the water district…so it was natural that I would work my way into the church.”
He started out as a leader in the church’s Stephen Ministry. He and his wife still do that, Roberts said. They also teach classes to train new Stephen Ministers. He took over the finances and stewardship committee about four years ago. Every year, Roberts said, the church sponsors a mission trip down to the Valley, where volunteers work with Susan Hellums, conference volunteer in mission, and churches in the area. This past year, he said, they did some roof, wall and light repair for First UMC, Port Isabel, which had gotten damaged by the hurricane. In the past, he said they’ve rebuilt parsonages and refurnished places. He and his wife have been on all six of the mission trips.
Roberts stays involved outside of the church, too. He lives in a neighborhood that was formed in the late 1930s and worked for several years to get treated water in the neighborhood. He raised 3,500
among the residents to build a treated water system.
He also helped get a fire station built in the community, Roberts said. He said he’s had lots of experience leading conferences and meetings, but running a church is very different than running a company.
“In a company, you have a budget and people working for salary,” Roberts said. “In the church, you have volunteer giving, and the volunteers do the work. It’s very satisfying to get things done. It’s very satisfying for me, personally, just being able to volunteer.”
|
| UM Army builds ramp, trains for summer’s service opportunities
This article originally appeared in the Castroville Anvil.
In January volunteers of the United Methodist Army constructed a ramp at the home of Catherine Tschirhart so that she might return to her home from the Medina Valley Health and Rehabilitation Center, where she had been living for several months due to a cracked pelvis. Because she will need to use a walker for some time, she would not be able to use her front steps, so the Army came to her aid and built her a ramp.
 Because of the ramp, Catherine
can live in her own house once
again.
This group, under the direction of Jim Peters, planned and constructed a sturdy ramp up to Tschirhart’s porch. Peters’s wife, Mary, came with the group and cleaned all the mud dauber nests off the porch walls and ceiling while her husband and
Andy Smith, pastor of Medina Valley UMC, supervised the young men. Three other volunteers, Janet Cook, Dorothy Witherell and Kelly Sonnen, worked on the porch and cleaned the house to ready the home for Tschirhart’s return. Cook made sure the refrigerator was well-stocked and everything was in order before Tschirhart came home.
|
| The cross reminds us of self-sacrificing
For as long as I can remember, someone has said to me: “It’s my cross to bear,” spoken with a deep sigh and a weary face. Usually what preceded naming something “a cross to bear” was a story about an alcoholic child, or an abusive or mentally ill spouse, or a mean boss, or an inconsiderate neighbor or maybe something less dramatic, like being the chair of an ineffective church committee. Whatever the circumstance that led to the burden being likened to a cross to bear, the implication was usually that this circumstance, this burden, was God-given. God, who gave Jesus of Nazareth a cross to bear to Golgotha, where he would be crucified and die on it, also gave me a cross to bear in my child, my spouse, my boss or my neighbor.
You might say that Lent is the season of the cross. During this season, if during no other, we reflect on what it means to bear the cross of Christ, since at the end of the season, we imagine and reflect on the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday. Can we know who Jesus is if we don’t know what the cross signifies in his living and dying? Can we know who we are as Jesus’ followers, his disciples, if we don’t know what the cross means in our living and dying?
When Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do others say that I am?,” Peter proclaims, “You are the Christ.” In response, Jesus begins to teach his disciples that as the Christ, he will be persecuted, rejected by the religious authorities, experience suffering, and then die. He also adds that he will rise again after three days, but none of this computes for Peter, who tries to correct Jesus for saying such an awful thing as this-the Messiah, the Christ, who will save Israel will actually have to suffer and die!
If we are honest, we understand why Peter was appalled at what Jesus said. Like Peter, we prefer what Martin Luther referred to as a “theology of glory.” We like the idea that there is a Savior coming who will be mighty and powerful, putting an end to evil, and offering us mansions of glory on golden streets to reward us for all our goodness. Today, some folks can’t wait until the second coming of Christ and even refer to the end of time as “the rapture.”
For generations, the Israelites wished for a miraculous Savior who would give them the political status and material well-being that they believed they deserved. Today, we still speak and act as though what we want from God is the status and material well-being we think we deserve.
Jesus as the Christ will become vulnerable to those who despise him and willingly go to the cross to sacrifice his life, not save it. This is not a theology of glory, but a “theology of the cross,” a theology of self-sacrificing love of which the cross is a sign.
In Jesus’ day, of course, the cross was a sign of execution. Those who were condemned by the Romans for whatever reason had to carry the instrument of death to the place of execution, if nothing else than the crossbar on which their arms would be attached. The cross was a Roman symbol, you might say, of a unique means of cruel and unusual punishment in that Empire. Today, no Christian place of worship is without the cross somewhere in its sanctuary, whether in stained glass, or brass or wood. Christians around the world wear the sign of the cross. Such crosses are plain and rough or elaborate and valuable. In our day, this symbol, more than any other, signifies Christ or Christian.
In this season, when we see a cross, when we wear a cross, may we reflect on what that cross meant in Jesus’ living and dying. Jesus was executed, and from what the gospels tell us, he chose to accept both his persecution and this cruel form of death to fulfill his mission of self-sacrificing, saving love. May we also reflect on what that cross means in our living and dying. Are we not called to continue the mission of Jesus Christ to demonstrate to the whole world this same self-sacrificing, saving love? “Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.
|
| District happenings
Lay Speaker training to be April 17-18 in Beeville
Lay Speaker training will be held in Beeville at the First UMC, 106, E. Cleveland April 17 and 18. The training ecompasses the Basic and Advanced training. For more information, contact Sharon Cooke at Szcooke@aol.com or Sheila Campbell at (361) 852-8268.
Don Nations coming to Asbury UMC, Corpus Christi April 25
Asbury UMC would like to invite the Corpus Christi District to a special training by Don Nations April 25 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.. The church is located at 7501 S Staples, Corpus Christi. Nations will be sharing on “Creating Discipleship Systems.” The cost of the event is $5 and will include lunch. For more information contact Asbury UMC at (361) 992-7501.
St. John’s UMC to host District Confirmation Rally April 18
The District Confirmation Rally is scheduled for April 18 at St. John’s UMC, 5300 S. Alameda, Corpus Christi. The check in will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Narthex, followed by praise music by Debra Scott and Prophecy at 9:45 a.m. The Service of Celebration and Commitment is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. -11:30 a.m. Confirmands, parents and mentors are all invited to this very special worship service. For more information, call St. John’s UMC.
District Conference to be held May 3 at First UMC, Beeville
The District Conference will be held May 3 from 3-5 p.m. at First UMC, Beeville. All clergy, lay delegates and lay alternates are expected to attend.
|
| District has good news in tough times
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.” (NRSV)
--Exodus 20:8-9
God knew way before we did that work could be overwhelming. So, at creation, God modeled for us the taking of a Sabbath: a day for renewal, refreshment and reflection. In the Ten Commandments, God challenges us to remember and honor such a Sabbath— for us and for God.
I know what it is to work long and hard days. When I was a senior pastor of a large church, I regularly worked 60 hours or more per week. Many of you know about long days, too. You may have or still regularly work that many or more hours each week.
The truth that I affirm now, after coming through those busy days, is this: I can work long hours only if I take time to remember and to rest— that is, only if I take a Sabbath. I must stop working long enough to remember for whom I am working hard. It is not just me and my needs (one of which is to keep me from being embarrassed in public; another of which is to prove my worth to the world). It is not just my family (their welfare and support). It is God. It is important for me to remember and honor the God who has made me and knows me.
God knows that we humans cannot work all the time and continue to be faithful. On the one hand, when we work constantly and succeed, we begin to believe that “it” is all up to us and we are providing for all our own needs. That is, we think that the world really does revolve around us. I know about this attitude personally. And, I know that it gets increasingly harder to maintain that world by hard work. But, thank God, God enters that world. Often through our own conceit and our injury of others, God shows us the divine love that truly convicts us, heals us and gives us strength to be true to God as well as ourselves. Jesus is the proof of God’s desire to enter our world.
On the other hand, when we work constantly and fail, we do so because our bodies and minds are so worn out that we literally don’t think straight. We are not our best selves—the self that God desires you and I to be with rest and refreshment. I know about this, too. So, taking a Sabbath, a break for renewal of the body, refreshment of the spirit and reflection upon God is crucial for our best selves so that we can give our faithfulness and work to God.
I would recommend that you discover the activities or the silences or the “doing nothing moments” that refresh you. Some people rest while running. Some when reading silently. Some when just sitting still. Whatever gives you renewal, find a time during your week to practice that Sabbath.
During this Lenten season continue to work hard, but remember the Sabbath…and God who gave it to us. You will find that you grow closer to God and sense God closer to you. Both can give you the energy and strength to work hard and to trust in God even more.
|
| From church to church, amen!
AMEN to our Wesley Nurses who emphasized Heart Health in the month of February.
AMEN to Los Fresnos UMC, which worked with all denominations in the community to form Los Fresnos Christian Youth Fellowship. The church also has a confirmation class that includes neighborhood youth.
AMEN to the McAllen District, which hosted at least 10 Nomad Units this year.
AMEN to Trinity UMC for stepping up their stewardship even in these tough times. The church’s pastor gives credit to meaningful worship where “God broke through and moved the people.” Trinity also is experiencing meaningful meetings that people actually like to go to, she said. She credits the good Christian Leadership training the church received at Mathis, where Worshipful Meetings was taught.
AMEN to First UMC, Kingsville, whose pastor modeled invitational behavior and invited his water aerobics class to church. They had 35 visitors on one Sunday. Fifteen were from water aerobics.
AMEN to First UMC, Raymondville, where the UM Women has had a college student loan program for 40 years. They lend $500.00 per semester interest free.
AMEN to Zapata UMC’s Annis Hicks for volunteering to coordinate help for Zapata school children in the purchase of school uniforms and other items important for school.
AMEN to First UMC, Harlingen, for reminding us to teach children to love all people. Iris Saenz, director of children’s ministries for First UMC and its campuses, NuLife and Valley Praise, suggests we let our children explore differences, interact with kids from other cultures and encourage them to look for positive qualities in people.
AMEN to First UMC, Harlingen, for planning a youth mission trip to improve the health and safety of Guatemalans by building stoves for people who usually cook over open fires.
AMEN to First UMC, McAllen, for being invitational and inclusive by offering Lenten studies set up in homes in different areas of the city at different times of the day.
AMEN to First UMC, Port Isabel, for its Adopt-A-Family ministry. This ministry works with two elementary schools that provide the list of the neediest families. These families are not only provided with food and toys at holiday times, but they also get vouchers for shoes and uniforms.
AMEN to First UMC, Edingburg, for funding a water well with their Christmas offering. The water well was built for a kindergarten in a poor village in Chiapas, Mexico.
AMEN to First UMC, Edinburg, for hosting a breakfast for local firefighters. They also collected bears and other stuffed animals for the firefighters to give to victims of fires and for Estrella House, a facility for battered children.
Do you have an AMEN to share about the McAllen District? If so, contact Mary Howard at (956) 421-3630 or yard23@aol.com.
|
| Bishop Jim Dorff to kick off Men’s Adventure 2009 April 24-25
Bishop Jim Dorff will kick off “Men’s Adventure 2009” April 24 at University UMC, San Antonio. This will be an adventure that will inspire, inform, empower and equip men in the Southwest Texas Conference to “Offer Christ to All.”
It will inspire men to know that one man can change the world. It will inform men that their life mission is more important than they could ever imagine. It will empower men with a new sense of mission in reaching out to other men. It will equip men to be committed to grow in Christ, so others can know Christ.
In this crucial and urgent time in the history of our church, men are being called upon more than ever to move beyond their comfort levels and embrace change. Resolution 2105, which was adopted by the 2008
General Conference, reported the dramatic decline in church membership in recent years and recognized the need for laity empowerment to help reform The United Methodist Church in the United States. This is the reason for Adventure 2009. It will take laity, working with their pastors to lead the church to reformation and growth.
Led by the Rev. Rob Renfroe, Pastor of Adult Discipleship at the Woodlands UMC, Houston, and a host of workshop leaders, participants will receive training, resources and encouragement in knowing they are made for more and not to settle for less.
A full day on Saturday offers plenaries and workshops led by Renfroe and Gilbert Hanke, past president of the National Association of Conference Presidents and the past president of the General Commission United Methodist Men. Other ministry leaders from University UMC, San Antonio, and other churches from the Southwest Texas Conference will also lead workshops.
The “2009 Adventure” is open to all men and women and their clergy members. The cost is $50 for individuals, $45 for two from the same church or $40 for three or more from the same church who register together.
This two-day event begins with registration at 6:30 p.m., Friday, and goes through Saturday. This event is being sponsored by the Southwest Texas Conference United Methodist Men. Ralph Thompson, the conference UMM president, and can be reached at ralph-t@wcc.net.
|
| Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary hosts Bishop Jim Dorff
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary’s President Theodore J. Wardlaw hosted Feb 24 the Southwest Texas Conference Bishop James E. Dorff, the Cabinet and the Board of Ordained Ministry at its campus in Austin for a day of fellowship and conversation. Elected last summer, Dorff was visiting the Austin Seminary campus for the first time.
As has become tradition, each year Austin Seminary hosts the conference bishop on “Fat Tuesday,” the day before the Lenten season gets underway. If Ash Wednesday is the door to Lent, Fat Tuesday is the threshold.
“Our strong relationship with the Southwest Texas Conference is important to us and we are honored each year to greet the Lenten season with the visit from the bishop, cabinet and Board of Ordained Ministry of the Conference,” said the Rev. Ann Fields, vice president for student affairs and vocation at the seminary.
While in Austin, Dorff preached on the lectionary texts for Transfiguration Sunday to a packed Shelton Chapel. After the service, Austin Seminary’s United Methodist students were able to take part in conversations with the bishop, cabinet members and members of the Board of Ordained Ministry.
There is a strong United Methodist presence at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Eighteen percent of the student body as a whole, and one in four students from its incoming class this fall, is United Methodist. Two faculty members and one administrator are ordained in The United Methodist Church, and Austin Seminary offers all the courses required by the Church. In fact, for at least the last five years, of those ordained in the Southwest Texas Conference, there have been more graduates from Austin Seminary than from all other seminaries combined.
|
|
|
In His Words choral work
to be presented April 5
The Chancel Choir and For Your Inspiration Youth Choir of First UMC, Corpus Christi, will present their premiere of the choral work “In His Own Words” Sunday, April 5 at 5 p.m. in the sanctuary of the church, 900 S. Shoreline Blvd. The choir, under the direction of Brad Kisner, will be accompanied by members of the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra. There is no admission charge, but a free-will offering will be taken to benefit the Cookson, Oklahoma Indian Mission and the First UMC Covenant Missionary, Meredith Whitaker. The concert is being presented in memory of longtime Corpus Christi Choral director, Aurelia Scogin. “In His Own Words is an aesthetic experience in which the listener hears the message of the Word proclaimed through both singing and narration,” Kisner said. “Both the narrative and lyric texts draw exclusively from the words of Christ. The musical composition consists of nine choral pieces, each intersected by underscored narratives and interludes. The various texts within the work are tied together thematically by the use of “I am” phrases.” Members of For Your Inspiration performed this extended work last summer as part of the Youth CUE National Youth Choir Festival in the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. The First UMC Chancel Choir, one of the city’s longest tenured musical groups, has toured across the United States and has appeared on stage in New York’s Carnegie Hall. In 2002 the choir was invited to participate in the International Church Music Festival held in Coventry, England.
| UM Men seek to meet needs
where they are
The Southwest Texas Conference United Methodist Men Steering Committee was looking for some ideas for “Intense Ministries,” a concept that will involve men giving a significant boost in starting up a ministry at local churches. The steering committee has chosen this opportunity to be a “Ministry Incubator” for the “Intense Ministry” concept. This is an ecumenical faith community support designed to meet the needs where they exist for the duration of three to nine months. This first “Intense Ministry” is for a small church in Bastrop, “New Beginnings,” that is located in a neighborhood where the neighbors have many needs. A real need to minister to the people exists, and the members of “New Beginnings” are eager to start a food bank of sorts to include food and baby supply needs like diapers and other products. Progress and life stories will be relayed from this effort and ministry. Attendees to the “2009 Men’s Adventure” slated for April 24-25, will be asked to support this ministry by bringing five cans of food and children’s items. These items will be collected and be delivered to the “New Beginnings” Church by the United Methodist Men. See the accompanying article about “2009 Men’s Adventure”. For more information, please contact Ralph Thompson, conference UMM president, at ralph-t@wcc.net.
|
District calendar
March
28 Families of Faith Spring Workshop,
St. Paul’s UMC, 9:30 a.m.
29 District Spring Youth Rally,
Fredericksburg UMC, 4-7 p.m.
31 District Committee on Ordained
Ministry, First UMC, Kerrville, 9:00 a.m.
April
10 District Office closed for Good
Friday.
18 Confirmation celebration, Hunt
UMC, 10:00 a.m..
24-25 United Methodist Men’s Adventure
at Mount Wesley, Kerrville.
28 District Professionals meeting,
Barnett Chapel UMC, Kerrville, 9:30 a.m.
District calendar
March
31 District Board of Laity meeting, 6:00 p.m.
April
2 Sea City Work Camp meeting,
District Office, 6:00 p.m.
7 Pastor’s report due.
10-13 District Office closed for Easter holiday.
14 Witness deadline.
15 Candidacy Mentor training at
District Office, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
16 District Nominations and Budget
Meeting, District Office, Noon.
17-18 Lay Speaking Course, Basic and
Advanced, Beeville.
18 District Confirmation Rally, St.
John’s UMC, Corpus Christi,
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
21-25 Don Nations in Corpus Christi.
25 UM Women Day Apart Retreat.
25 Don Nations Presentation, Asbury
UMC, Corpus Christi, 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
May
2 Coming and Going Day, Alamo
Heights UMC, San Antonio.
3 District Conference, First UMC,
Beeville, 3-5 p.m.
7 Sea City Workcamp, District Office, 6:00 p.m.
7 Pastor’s report due.
11-12 Cabinet Meeting.
12 Newsletter deadline.
17-29 Licensing School, Cathedral Oaks
25 District Office closed.
June
2 Cabinet Dinner, Corpus Christi.
3-6 Annual Conference.
3 Perkins Dinner, ABC Center, 5:30 p.m.
|
|
