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October 8th, 2010
Volume 157, Number 10
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Dean from East Africa dies in San Antonio
Rwanda grieves the loss of a loving, passionate leader in church
By Rachel L. Toalson
Managing Editor
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might, and love your neighbor as yourself.”-Jesus
Love God. Love the people walking the streets, living in mud-brick homes, dying of AIDs and disease and a sorrow no one could see. Love the orphans wandering homeless, sleeping hungry, still smiling joyfully. Those who knew the Rev. Louis Segond Bwanakweli, dean of Rwanda in the Eastern Africa Conference, say if the 48-year-old left the world anything at all, it was his legacy of love. Sixteen orphans lived in his home. Countless community members were changed by his preaching and his care. Churches were revitalized under his leadership.
Born on May 4, 1962, Bwanakweli died while visiting the Southwest Texas Conference in hopes of building partnerships for his Rwandan churches. He had planned to itinerate around the conference, presenting information about the district he led and asking for the help of American Methodist in areas like leadership development, church finances, saving the orphans.
 The Rev. Louis Segond Bwanakweli, dean of Rwanda in the Eastern Africa Conference, loved the people he led, leaders say. The 48-year-old died in San Antonio after a massive stroke.
“He expected to be here doing ministry, connecting with people in the Southwest Texas Conference all the way until Oct. 20,” said Val Sansing, pastor of Covenant UMC, Austin, who met Bwanakweli during a mission trip this summer. She spoke at the San Antonio district professionals meeting Sept. 23 at which Bwanakweli was supposed to speak.
Sansing pointed to a picture of Bwanakweli on a screen. “I want you to look into the eyes of brother Louis, the man who was and always will be,” she said those sitting in the sanctuary at Alamo UMC, San Antonio. “These are eyes that have seen the height of love and beauty, the land of a thousand hills right in the middle of Africa, the beautiful faces of children everywhere you look. Such beauty those eyes were able to see in his lifetime.
“Look into his eyes and you see a man who also saw the depths of evil, of sin, of tragedy, of horror. Those eyes not only looked upon the beauty of the land of Rwanda, they saw unspeakable horror.”
In 1994, she said, his country went through a genocide, and Bwanakweli was the only surviving member of his family. His parents, his siblings and even his fiancé were all massacred, most of them by machete.
 The Rev. Karen Horan, pastor of Gruene UMC, pauses to snap a picture with the Rev. Louis Segond Bwanakweli, dean of Rwanda, during an Africa mission trip this summer. Bwanakweli died of a massive stroke while visiting Texas.
“Look into his eyes and you see a man who, despite all the horror and agony and suffering and pain, became even more committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the work and the mission of The United Methodist Church,” Sansing said. “These are the eyes of a man who committed to sharing the love and compassion that he knew in his Lord and Savior. Thank God that we have a brother in Christ who lived his life so well.”
Sansing said Bwanakweli was born, baptized and ordained in The United Methodist church. He was “at the height of his ministry when he was struck down, but not destroyed,” she added.
Bwanakweli had come to the conference as a result of a mission trip that she, the Rev. Karen Horan, pastor of Gruene UMC, and eight others had taken to Rwanda. For three weeks they were immersed in Rwandan culture, and there they met Bwanakweli. A connection was made, Sansing said. Bwanakweli told them about the projects in his district and showed them the places of greatest need.
“He talked about his heart for the people and his desire to see the ministry grow there—women’s ministries, the orphans,” Sansing said. “He talked about the drug abuse that was beyond our imagining, that so many people have been suffering after the genocide without adequate counseling or adequate care to process all they had been through. So many people were turning to drugs and alcohol to suppress the pain and the memories.”
He arrived in Texas Sept. 16. On the morning of Sept. 17, in Horan’s home, Bwanakweli had a massive stroke, a bleeding stroke, said San Antonio District Superintendent Carl Rohlfs. He died at Metropolitan Methodist Hospital.
“We are uniquely connected to this district superintendent,” Rohlfs said. “Though as far as I know only one of us in this room has set eyes on him. He died in our embrace, and he is one of us because being able to see is not necessary, is not what makes us one. It is the common bond we hold as United Methodists in the representative ministry of the church.
“I want all of us to have this sense of connectedness, of what it means to be United Methodists and what it means to be called and sent and to live in the world where we may be called and sent and what it means to be a global church.”
The Rev. Virgilio Vazquez-Garza, assistant to the Episcopal office, said he’s been in contact with Methodist Hospital so the expenses for Bwanakweli’s medical fees could be paid. He’s also been working with a local funeral chapel that will help send Bwanakweli’s body back to Africa.
It’s a complicated issue, Vazquez-Garza said, but he expects to have the body on its way in a week or less, depending on when all the paperwork is finished. The conference has absorbed all costs for shipping the body, he added. Bishop Wandabula of the Eastern Africa Conference remembered Bwanakweli as a “servant and leader who has died as a soldier.” He said the dean worked hard to change his community.
“He first of all reconciled all the groups and individuals who had defected the church,” Wandabula said. “He even led the campaign against corruption in churches in Rwanda and Burundi and indeed, he has left the church in a better situation.
“He had entirely devoted his life to church, and he even sold off his vehicle to generate money for the church. The conference will miss him because he has died at a time when we needed him most. The question, therefore, is, ‘How can we maintain the good legacy Louis has left behind?’”
The Rwanda District of the East Africa Conference consists of four districts with 84 churches and a total membership of 90,600. It has 85 pastors, 32 of them ordained.
Sansing said Bwanakweli was going to speak to the San Antonio district professionals about his desire for partnership between his churches and the churches of the Southwest Texas Conference and share about the rapid development that’s happening in Rwanda.
The city, in an attempt to make it a safer place, has forbidden meeting in buildings made of mud-brick and instead required businesses and churches to build cement block buildings. There are Methodist churches in Rwanda that are started to be destroyed, and if a cement block building is not put up within a year, the land is taken away, Sansing said.
He was going to share about the Rwandan need for pastor training. They were going to ask clergy members to visit the country and train pastors so “they might be able to preach the gospel more effectively,” Sansing said.
 The Rev. Louis Segond Bwanakweli was known for the love he had for the people of Rwanda and the positive changes he made for The United Methodist Church there.
He wanted to emphasize the need for the support of women. The majority of the women in Rwanda are genocide victims, and if they didn’t watch someone in their family be hacked to death, they were raped, Sansing said. Many of them are dealing with HIV and AIDs but have a lack of resources to live and develop themselves. He was going to talk about the orphans.
“There’s the direct service of supplying food to low-income folks,” Nerio said. “But in addition to that, the effort is in large part using the church facilities as an outreach, as a point of connection with the community as well as drawing upon church members who volunteer and receive clients and process them and distribute food to them.” Nerio said what makes the partnership so successful is the many volunteers who are invested in it. Leaders would like to see it happen in other areas as well.
“There are beautiful children everywhere,” Sansing said. “When we were on the work site and digging holes and putting up a fence, we were surrounded by often 50 children who were not in school, in rags with dirty little faces and beautiful smiles. They need help from the church.
“His presence here was to be asking us to join in the struggle. We’re one body in Christ. At the end of his notes, he wrote, ‘I am not ashamed of sharing this story with you.’ He knew the connection runs deep between us. Something significant started in July in Rwanda. Relationships were forged.
“I am proud of our Methodist friends who were with him to the bitter end. They were with him when he began to be ill, with him all night in the hospital, with him when he was pronounced dead. I’m proud of our conference for stepping in to make sure he will be returning home to the people who are grieving horrendously for him.”
During the district professionals meeting, Rohlfs had those who attended write notes to the orphans who lived in Bwanakweli’s home. “Louis may be gone, but the body of Christ is not,” Rohlfs said. “They have been orphaned again, but the Lord said, ‘I will not leave you.’”
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Connection of The United Methodist Church is blessing
It has been my great pleasure to realize, again, the importance and blessing of being connected with other United Methodists. I know and understand this blessing, but I don’t always experience it firsthand. Elsewhere in this edition of the Witness you will read about the Rev. Louis Segond Bwanakweli. He was a United Methodist pastor and leader in the United Methodist Church of Rwanda. He died in San Antonio after being transferred from another hospital. He was visiting some of our pastors and churches. He suffered a massive stroke in the home of one of our pastors.
I am thankful to God for all those persons who have been involved in ministry to this brother from a distant land.
I’m grateful to Karen Horan, Val Sansing and other pastors who knew him, ministered to him during his dying and experienced the grace of God in the shock of an unbelievable reality. I’m grateful to God for Austin Frederick and the staff at Metropolitan Methodist Hospital who made sure that he was well treated physically and with the greatest attention and respect.
I’m grateful to Jamie Weslowski and the administration of the Methodist Healthcare System who provided his care. I’m also grateful to Virgilio Vazquez-Garza, David Seilheimer and the conference staff for their willingness to represent the Southwest Texas Conference and The United Methodist Church in attending to the details of arranging for the return of his body to his home in Rwanda.
The Connection is a blessing and a powerful tool for ministry. Bishop Wandabula of the East Africa Central Conference is also grateful. Our Cabinet heard this week from the Executive Director of the Global Health Initiative and the UMCOR Director of Ministries in Africa. They shared with us about the progress being made in eradicating malaria. Theirs was a powerful testimony and report. The Connection is a blessing and a powerful tool for ministry.
In the past week I’ve had the occasion to speak with several friends and colleagues regarding various matters in the life of our Area and the total church. They were receptive, gracious and responsive to my concerns. The Connection is a blessing and a powerful tool for ministry.
Above all though, I’ve realized once again that our common connection to our Lord Jesus Christ is a blessing and a powerful tool for ministry. I pray you will experience the blessing of the reality of all these connections in your life and the life of your church. It’s what we’re all about!
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Distant drums are pounding: much in the works for the general church
In preparation for a recent speech, I read again the paragraph in the Discipline (Paragraph 251) that sets out the duties of the local lay leader. Prominent among those duties, of course, are the requirements to “...foster awareness of the role of laity ... in the home, workplace, community and the world...”, and to “...serve as an interpreter of the actions and programs of the annual conference and the general Church.” Almost from the first moment I took the role of Southwest Texas Conference Lay Leader, it has been evident that it is VERY difficult for local church lay leaders to fulfill those expectations. It’s something we, at the conference level, have to offer lots of help to do. That help is coming.
The Rev. David Seilheimer, secretary of the conference (whose day job is treasurer of the conference), hosted the fall meeting of the Conference Agenda Committee Sept. 28; the main task of that group is to advise Bishop Jim Dorff on how best to schedule the various tasks that must be handled every June at annual conference. The Rev. Seilheimer has spent 27 summers shepherding us through the annual conference experience and has very little hair left from those efforts. He continues to search each year for just a few more good ideas of how to make annual conference a better experience for all of us. This year is no different. The meeting on Sept. 28 bore fruit, the sweetness of which is yet to be determined.
This is relevant to the duties of local lay leaders, first because to interpret the actions of the annual conference, it’s good for lay leaders to serve their church as its lay member of annual conference, and to attend. Many local lay leaders have not been able to accept that opportunity because annual conference in the past has begun on Wednesday and run through Saturday. However, the Agenda Committee voted this past Tuesday to recommend to Bishop Dorff (and he signaled his willingness to try this) that in 2012, annual conference begin Thursday afternoon and run through Sunday noon. The hope is that many of our working laity will be able to get two days off to come to annual conference, rather than having to ask for the three days necessary in the past.
There is more that we can do, we hope. Much happens at annual conference that is worth sharing back in your congregations, and we have encouraged lay leaders and annual conference members in the past to make notes of items to tell the home-bodies about—those note cards will be available again this year for that purpose. We are also negotiating with the staff on ways to get you some edited bits of annual conference action from the floor and worship on CD/DVD for showing in your churches. If it works as we are discussing it now, those discs will be mailed out to you the week after annual conference, in time for the information to be up-to-the-minute.
There is more in the works for happenings in the general Church, so that your congregations can grasp the enormity of what is being discussed. It is unlikely that The United Methodist Church will continue to do ministry at the general Church level in the near future as it has done in the past. As we know more, we will share it, and we hope you will share it too. What it means to be a United Methodist is wrapped up in that ministry, and Mr. Wesley would want us to care about that!
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Harvest festivals reach out to surrounding communities
By Rachel L. Toalson
Managing Editor
Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors. That’s what churches around the Southwest Texas Conference hope to communicate by hosting “harvest festivals”—some yearly events, some offered this year for the first time—in their own back yards. But for Spring Creek UMC, the Fall Fun Fest Sept. 25 had an even greater purpose.
“We want to have fun together as a congregation—get together and play together and have fellowship with our community,” said Stephen Sanders, pastor of the church. “But we’re also inviting people from our community, particularly those 75 to 100 families that left Spring Creek several years ago.”
Sanders said the church went through some “major turmoil” five or six years ago, when about two-thirds of the worshiping congregation left the church. He and leaders decided to invite those families back to the church by sending handwritten notes about the festival and following up with personal phone calls.
Margi Sauder, a member of the church since its beginnings several years ago—even through the turmoil—said the people she contacted on the phone were “very, very gracious and excited that we had taken the time to get in touch with them.”
“Whether they come or not, they felt good that we had reached out,” she said. “I’m hoping this will be a healing process for anyone who might still be hurting from some really tough stuff we went through—those who spent a lot of time and energy on Spring Creek. We want to show them we’re going to be okay because there were times we weren’t sure.
“We are a vibrant new start. We started over. We’re hoping people can come and see the good side again. If people want to come back because they’ve not found a church home, that’s fine, but that’s not really our intent—for me, anyway. We just want to show them we’re doing well and that they were a part of a great thing.” Sanders said the harvest event will be followed up by a launching of a second worship service Oct. 10 and a mission immersion day Oct. 23.
 Spring Creek UMC held its Fall Fun Fest Sept. 25 as a way to reach out to the community and former members who had left the church.
“We’re trying to build toward something,” Sanders said. Other churches are involving community members in their harvest festivals. The Fentress Church, a United Methodist congregation in Fentress, will be honoring the two oldest residents of the Fentress community during their 5th annual fall festival Oct. 23. Annie Munk, 93, is a member of the church, but Andy Llanas, 88, is not.
“Each year more and more people have been a part of (the festival),” said Patsy Kimball, organizer of the event that begins at 11 a.m. “Almost everyone in the community, including the Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department, participates in some way, regardless of denomination, ethnicity or age.” The first fall festival five years ago marked the church’s 100th anniversary, Kimball said. They decided to continue the tradition after its success.
The event includes a 5K run, a parade, live music and various other activities, Kimball said. It’s free to the public. Fentress Church will have its church homecoming the day following the festival, she added. First UMC, McAllen, will be hosting its third annual Trunk or Treat event Oct. 31—an event open to the community. Church members volunteer to park their cars in the church parking lot, decorate their trunks and fill them with candy. Children move from car to car, said Anna Martin, the church’s celebrations task force committee person.
The event, which begins at 4:30 p.m. on Halloween, will include a barbecue, a moon jump, a gigantic blow up slide, a dunking booth and a rock wall for children to climb. Live music by Abberdein will also be included.
 Spring Creek UMC offered hay rides, games and inflatables for the children who attended the church's harvest festival.
“The purpose of the event is to provide a safe place for the community to bring their children, have fun, fellowship, create new relationships and enjoy the evening,” Martin said. “In addition, we hope to provide ways for more members of our congregation to serve the community by helping with this event.”
Cathe Evins, associate pastor of the church, said the event will also have booths and photo opportunities for family photos.
Leaders of Corredor de Esperanza, a mission district under the Metropolitan Mission Board that includes Epworth, Aldersgate and Highland Terrace UMCs, plan to host the area’s first harvest festival Oct. 16, beginning at 4 p.m.
The event will include games; a jumping castle; music; face painting; food, booths/tables with representatives from the community organizations and activities; and information on all three churches. An area Walgreens has offered to take photos of participants and develop them, said the Rev. Dawn Baird, a part-time pastor for the Corredor.
“We decided to have a Corredor fall festival so that all three churches can be a presence in the surrounding communities,” Baird said, “so we can let them know we are here, that we love them and that they can be a part of our family and, most importantly, God’s family.”
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San Antonio District news
Moving Toward Excellence
In my last article I addressed the issue of the Guaranteed Appointment and the Focus on Clergy Excellence. In that article I wrote: Throughout my 37 years under ordination I have been evaluated, reviewed, assessed and critiqued by a variety of attempts to measure my level of clergy excellence.
One of the most effective paths to clergy excellence – to moving on toward perfection in my practice of my vocational call – is to afford myself of the invaluable gift of hearing from others how they perceive me.
One of the most providential moments of my childhood was the privilege of having the same 6th Grade Teacher at Laura Steele Elementary School on S. New Braunfels – in the same classroom – as my mother had some 26 years before! Miss Loftin was the classic schoolmarm who among other quotes would tell us that it was a “woman’s prerogative to change her mind.” (I’m not sure how that quote would go over in a 21st Century classroom, but she said it enough I never forgot it!)
Every week we memorized a poem to be recited before the class on Friday afternoon. (Talk about pressure!) Those poems throughout the year even included three Psalms from the Old Testament (1st, 23rd & 100th). Miss Loftin could well have been Scotch or Scotts-Irish because one of her other favorite quotes was from the Scottish Poet, Robert Burns, taken from the last verse of his poem “To A Louse: On Seeing One On A Lady’s Bonnet, At Church.” She often recited it in the Scottish brogue as Robert Burns wrote it:
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
Or, as it would be articulated in 21st Century English:
Oh, what some Power the Giver gives us
To see ourselves as others see us!
If we can momentarily remove from our minds Burns’ image of how the woman in church would see herself if only she could see the louse on her bonnet as seen by others; we can find some powerful assistance in the verse. What a powerful gift of grace it is, to see ourselves through the eyes of others who see us.
Any one of us can look in a mirror and see ourselves; and I suspect most of us spend a good deal of time in self-reflection. All of that is helpful in the pathway toward vocational excellence. However, another invaluable means of reflection is in the mirror of someone else’s perception – not simply as we look at ourselves – but to listen long enough, hard enough, close enough to see “ourselves as others see us.”
I believe this is the intent of all purposeful tools for evaluation. Break the word to its original Latin etiology and e-valu-ation is the “act of adding value.” The purpose of appropriate, authentic and helpful evaluation is to “add value.” However, no matter how much “value” is offered in evaluation, the value is manifested only as it is incorporated and integrated into my own self-perception.
The final result of any form of evaluation is the responsibility of the one vocationally called to move toward perfection and achieve vocational excellence. Quoting once again from my previous article, “Each of us representative ministers is accountable to the Annual Conference and to our congregations, but the responsibility remains our own to keep moving on toward perfection and becoming worthy of Christ in our professional presentations.” If I am committed to sanctifying my performance as a representative minister, there is little doubt I will seek the appropriate manners or means to do so.
Happy Trails – as each of us moves on toward perfection – seeing ourselves as we – and others – see us.
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Floresville and Colonial Hills UMCs celebrate anniversaries
Floresville UMC celebrates 135 years of ministries
On October 23 and 24, the Floresville UMC Will be celebrating 135 years in ministry. Saturday’s activities will begin at 4 p.m. with food, music a Circuit Rider drama, and a Praise Service. The circuit rider is James Rogers, traveling as “Moses McCarley, Circuit Rider Preacher”, from Bonham, Texas. He presents an entertaining, humorous and exciting story about the circuit riding preachers of yesterday.
There will be celebration services at 8:15 and 10:45 on Sunday morning. A brunch will be held in the fellowship hall from 9:30-10:30. The Bell Choir will play, and the Children’s Choir will sing. There will be time for greeting old friends, and welcoming new ones. A display of the church history will be spread for viewing.
In 1875, Rev. Ichabod Kingsbury was sent to form a Methodist Church in Floresville. There were six charter members. For the first ten years, members met in homes, at the courthouse and a local school. In 1885, a frame building was constructed on the present site. The brick building, complete with stained-glass windows, went up in 1942. Over the years there have been additions and renovations, the last of which was accomplished in 2006.
Floresville has a long history of service and mission, not only to this community, but world-wide.
All are invited to come help us celebrate this wonderful occasion.
Colonial Hills UMC celebrates 50 years in ministry
Bishop Jim Dorff will participate in the 50th Anniversary celebration of Colonial HillsUMC, 5247 Vance Jackson Road, October 10, 2010.
One worship service at 11:00 a.m. will be followed by a catered lunch in the Gymnasium.
“A Small World” jazz band will provide entertainment.
The congregation has issued an invitation to all former members to join in the celebration. To make reservations, go to CHUMC.org or call 349-2401. Over 5,000 people have joined CHUMC by profession of faith, renewal of vows or transfer of membership during the 50 years of service to the San Antonio community. CHUMC’s vision: “to transform ourselves, our community and our world for Jesus Christ, one person at a time.”
The church was founded on 4.2 acres of what was then the far north fringe of San Antonio on November 1, 1960 as the Epiphany Methodist Church with 38 adults and 14 preparatory members and lead by Pastor William “Billy” Triggs (1960-1964). John and Jean McGarr, charter members and still current members (John was the first chairman of the Administrative Board), said the Congregation voted to change the name to Colonial Hills Methodist in 1964. It became Colonial Hills UMC (CHUMC) in 1968 when the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethern churches merged. The church grew to a membership of over 2,000 in the late 1980’s, acquiring an additional 3.6 acres in 1987, as the San Antonio community expanded to the Northwest.
The church was instrumental in establishing ministries continuing to serve the San Antonio community today, through its many areas of work with children, youth and the elderly. The church is in the midst of a capital fund drive, “Ignite the Vision,” to continue its expanding ministry to the San Antonio community.
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Victoria District happenings
Inviting special people to church
I was sitting in the barber’s chair. I saw a young woman on the street that could have been one of my daughters. She was between the age of twelve and eighteen. I asked the Barber who she was and he said that she was a prostitute. I felt as though someone had hit me with a stick! The barber said, “Reverend you don’t want to get involved. She might have a pimp who will do anything to keep his property. Reverend, you could get hurt.”
Well, after I got out of the barber’s chair I approached her. I told her she looked like one of my daughters. She asked me if I wanted a date? No, I am the local United Methodist Pastor! She told me that if I were not dating I needed to move on!
But she told me her name was Mary. I invited her to church. For the next several weeks I drove by her corner and would say, “hello Mary”, and invite her to church! Eventually, she started to smile and say “hello, Reverend!”
She asked me one day if she would be accepted in church! I told her yes! The church is God’s House. “They will love you!!! You would gain brothers, sisters and grandparents! Our people will love you just because you came to church!”
And so, one Sunday she came to church. It was a special Sunday with special music. We had special guests. And Mary came. As she entered the church I noticed that she was getting a lot of attention. She was wearing a pale chiffon dress probably, see through. When she saw me in the pulpit I smiled and she smiled. But then I notice that there was a disturbance and movement amongst the ushers. I saw an usher squeeze past several people. He whispered in Mary’ ear. She got up and she left. I never saw her again. I asked the barber if he had seen her. He had no idea what happened to her.
Mary haunts me to this day. I could have brought her forward as a special guest. Is she alive? Was she murdered? Did she die alone? Mary was special too! What are the theological implications for this true story?
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District happenings
First UMC , Edna celebrates summer
First UMC in Edna enjoyed a summer filled with activities for all ages – both for the young and the young at heart. The church kicked off the summer with “Rock the Block”. It was a fun-filled family event. The church praise band played a two hour concert that incorporated both contemporary worship music and traditional hymns. They set their full stage of equipment and performers on the back of a red trailer at the sidewalk corner of Main and Allen Streets in downtown Edna. They truly “Rocked the Block” with great music! All ages came out to not only enjoy the concert, but also feasted on a hamburger and hotdog buffet and the kids played in a Moonwalk and on the playground equipment. This was truly a time of fantastic community fun and fellowship!
Two weeks later, FUMC Edna partnered with Pharr UMC on a mission project from June 6-11. The home work site was located in the greater McAllen area. Youth and adults from FUMC Edna worked on a family’s home who had been awaiting assistance for over 2 years. The church team worked tirelessly to replace the entire roof and all of the insulation. In addition, they replaced all of the ceilings in the home as well as sheet rocked the three bedroom walls and ceilings. Several of the rooms also received new windows and trim and FUMC Edna purchased much needed furnishings for the family. The family and the church team enjoyed good fellowship and truly worked hand in hand. The mission team members included Jeff, Sandy, Colleen, Allan Fellers; Josh Frankel; Blanche, Rachel, and Joseph Galvan; D’Ann Kuhlmann; Jacob Latimer; Mike Myers; Tia Patton; Ruston Raybon; Jennifer Storz; J. P. Strickland; Charles Williams; and Michael Wyman.
The summer fun, fellowship, and teaching continued with Vacation Bible School in late June, followed by a Youth Swim Party, and Disciples in Drama skit for both Sunday services. The Youth attended SWTC River Camp at HEB encampment. The Youth Praise band didn’t stop praising this summer – they led worship every Sunday morning during the early contemporary service. The band is comprised of junior high, high school, and college age students. The band rotates members and typically includes 2 vocalists, 2 guitar players, a keyboarder, and a drummer. FUMC Edna also hosted the year-round, the twice a month Soul Food program which begins with a thirty minute lesson in the chapel. The teaching is followed by a healthy lunch served in the fellowship hall and includes a short health/wellness program. The study this summer is covering each of the 12 apostles. The church also began an “in home” summer fellowship, dinner, and study. The evening would begin with fellowship and a meal and then conclude with a study.
It has been an action packed summer, and they are ready to roll right into fall….
Victoria District UMW Annual Meeting
Victoria District United Methodist Women gathered in Victoria for their Twenty-Eighth Annual Meeting on September 18th. About sixty women were in attendance at St. Mark’s UMC to celebrate with a theme of Faith, Hope, Love in Action, which is the new UMW logo.
The morning meeting started with worship focusing on “What Happens in Heaven When we Pray”. District “candle-burning” achieved twenty-two minutes, fourteen seconds for gifts in honor or gifts in memory assigned to mission giving. Units were then recognized for Mission Studies, Mission Today, Reading Program Awards, and Green Awards. Wanda Ritchea thanked those in attendance for their support of Campus Ministry and several members gave a report on their activities. An offering was taken to benefit Campus Ministry and Perpetual Help Home. The Traveling Cross Award was given to Webster Chapel UMW for having the most members in attendance.
The women then broke into three groups to get a flavor of the Mission Studies for 2010. Wanda Ritchea led the spiritual growth study, For the Love of God: the Epistles of St. John. The topical study, Joy to the World!: Mission in the Age of Global Ministry was led by Dr. Gloria Scott. The Courage and Beauty of Sudan, the geographical study was led by Nancy Maples.
After fellowship over lunch, business was addressed beginning with a greeting from Terry Schoenert, SWTC UMW President who visited and attended our meeting. Officers reports were followed by the installation of the new Officers.
Pastor of St. Mark’s, Chuck Smith, offered a blessing of gifts collected which are to be given to Kidz Connection as the meeting’s service project. Communion was offered by the Pastor and Oleen Cook, the Mission Coordinator for Spiritual Growth, closed the meeting with prayer.
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Partnership between churches increases resources
By Rachel L. Toalson
Managing Editor
Alone, the three churches struggled to connect with their changing community, to relate in a way that would make a difference to the hundreds of needy people living just down the street. Alone, the three churches could not afford a full-time pastor, someone who would revitalize their congregations in a way that would ensure survival.
Alone, the three churches faced a shortage of volunteers, people who could share their gifts in a way that would continue building the kingdom, block by block, in an area ripe with crime. But together they were strong. Multiplied. United. Yes, together they could do anything.
It was the brainchild of San Antonio District Superintendent Carl Rohlfs and Bishop Jim Dorff, begun in June and dubbed Corredor de Esperanza, or “corridor of the spirit.” The Corredor is a mission district in San Antonio that exists under the Metropolitan Mission Board with boundaries within Interstate 10 East, Interstate 37 South and Loop 410 Southeast, including the churches Aldersgate, Epworth and Highland Terrance UMCs.
In three months, the churches have accomplished more together than they ever did individually.
“Each congregation has a unique personality and unique physical and financial resources,” said the Rev. Susan Porr, a part-time pastor of the Corredor. “But when they combine, they are dynamite! The sharing of ideas, prayers, faith experiences and more is amazing.
“The three churches are praying for one another, sharing meals and worship and developing ways in which they are in ministry to their communities. Already the Holy Spirit is moving us into faithful work in our area. Together, these three churches are already offering a variety of new ministry opportunities for their members and the community.
The Rev. Bob Clark, full-time pastor of the Corredor, said the need for the partnership arose when the churches members realized that their communities were changing drastically around them.
“They needed to explore ways to reach out to the community in really different ways,” he said. “And they’re realizing they need to look at some different ways to be church. They’re beginning to understand that we might have to take church to the people, instead of expecting people to come to the church.”
Three pastors are appointed to the Corredor—two part-time and one full-time. Clark, Porr and the Rev. Dawn Baird, the other part-time pastor, trade off at different congregations each Sunday. One Sunday a month, they conduct a joint worship service where all three congregations join together, Porr said.
Clark is responsible for administration, evangelism, youth and setting up partnerships with organizations like the San Antonio School District, the Good Samaritan Center and city, state and county governments. Porr said he “successfully revitalized two churches and expanded their community ministries” in the McAllen District, his appointment before the Corredor.
Baird is responsible for pastoral care and children’s ministries. She recently trained a group of pastoral partners—people trained to visit the sick and the homebound to let them know they’re still a part of the congregations, Baird said. She also offers Veggie Tales studies for children who come with their parents to the Highland Terrance food pantry.
Porr is responsible for worship and adult ministries. She said she is developing a joint worship team that will “broaden the worship scope to include areas like enhanced audio/video, coordinated worship events, musical variety/sharing among congregations and additional worship services.”
Clark said the partnership is “just getting off the ground” right now but he’s already begun to make contact with some of the other churches in the area and some local politicians and nonprofit organizations to discuss how the churches can work together to change their community—especially in the areas relating to children and crime prevention. Corredor’s first big event will happen Oct. 16, a fall festival that will include a community services fair. The future holds many promising successes, Clark and Porr said.
“There are so many ways in which our congregations can be in ministry with our communities in Southeast San Antonio,” Porr said. “By the end of three years we plan, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, prayer and faithful work, to have at least three, if not more, indigenous ministries partnering with our congregations.
“The possibilities are endless for reaching into our communities and being catalysts for this traditional Christian work.”
“We want to work together with the community to help bring the kingdom of God to realization in this place,” Clark said. “To bring a proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to bring good news to the people, to do that not only through the word but also through our actions.
“The heart of Christianity is community. That’s the core. That’s one of the things that’s distinctive about Christianity over Buddhism or Hindiusm. The Judeo Christian experience is a communal experience, not an individual experience. It’s just Biblical that we build community. Moses and Abraham, their call was to be a blessing to all people of all nations. That really is the job of the church.” Although the three leaders are still trying to figure out what their ministry looks like, Clark said he hopes the Corredor will become a model for other areas within the Southwest Texas Conference.
“A lot of other churches could pool resources and work together in order to do what God wants us to do,” he said. “Each one of these churches is now paying one-half of what they paid for pastoral support, and instead of one pastor, they have three. We do things like share the office expenses. Financially, it just really makes good sense.”
“There is great strength in the partnership with other Christian congregations,” Porr said.
A culture of grow: Let’s get busy being who Christ called us to be
I realize I am not perfect. (It’s hard for me to admit that, I know!) I fall. I fail. I stumble. I also realize I am not the whole Body of Christ. I’m not sure why it just dawned on me but I was trying to be all things for all people. Conservative for the conservatives, liberal for the liberals, moderate for the moderates. I was trying to program and do youth ministry for the whole of the Body.
Now some of you may think that’s ok—but I think it weakens who I am and what I have been called to do. I strive for diversity, but in all honesty, the Southwest Texas Conference as a whole is not diverse. I have speakers and leaders and students from other ethnicities, but I still take the folks who are sent to me by our local churches. (But that’s another issue all together!)
I guess what I am trying to say is that I am not all things to all people. The youth ministry of the conference is going strong for three reasons: 1) we put Jesus at the center through worship and purpose, 2) we love students and encourage them to live life in the Spirit, 3) we reach out and care for the needs of the least, the last, and the lost.
I know we don’t do this perfectly but we are trying. We are trying to be the face of Christ. However, I am going to stop trying to be the entire body of Christ. I don’t know if I am an arm or a foot. Maybe I’m the ear and I hear what the Spirit is saying. And sometimes I act like a backside! But I need to be who Christ has called me to be in the body—and so do you. You are not the entire body - you are one piece. So do that part well.
Which brings me to the Bishops’ theme of “Developing a Culture of Growth.” As a part of the Body, I am committed to this because this theme has been central to the Christian life forever. Bishop Dorff is rooting us, grounding us, seeking to plant within us who we are and where we have been. But I believe he also wants us to move ahead and get busy – to begin to grow rather than simply maintain life as a status quo Christian.
What am I doing about developing a culture of growth, you ask? We are doing four intentional things this fall. First, we have Discovery Zone on Oct. 9 for youth who feel called to ministry. Second, we are planning the very first Methodist Youth Tent Revival Nov. 6-7 for youth who want to engage in a 24-hour prayer and worship revival experience. Third, we are offering Dive N Deeper Dec. 3-5 for leadership youth to go deeper in faith and grow into the person Christ has called them to be. And fourth, we are starting a new resource arm of our Web site, reachingyouth.org called Re-Connect, an online help for adults who work with youth.
Friend, my question to you is, “What are you doing to develop a culture of growth?” Are you giving to your church your time, your money, your prayers and your service? Are you dusting-off your Bible and diving-in to God’s Holy Word for the betterment of your soul? Are you praying with your family, your spouse and your friends at school? Are you serving the homeless, the hurting, and the blessed?
It’s time to get busy. You don’t have to do it all, you are not the entire Body of Christ, but you might be a hand, a foot, an eye, an ear or a mouth. Be who Christ has called you to be without reserve and without hesitation. Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed. Don’t retreat or give up. For if the Spirit of God lives in you then you can help develop a culture of growth. It’s a culture that begins and ends with Christ in you.
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Briefs
Colonial Hills UMC to
celebrate 50 years of ministry
Bishop Jim Dorff will participate in the 50th
Anniversary celebration of Colonial Hills UMC,
5247 Vance Jackson Road, Oct. 10. One
worship service at 11 a.m. will be followed by
a catered lunch in the gymnasium. “A Small
World” jazz band will provide entertainment.
The congregation has issued an invitation to
all former members to join in the celebration.
To make reservations, go to www.CHUMC.org
or call (210) 349-2401
Contacts needed
for next few Witness issues
Several articles are planned for the next few
issues of The United Methodist Witness, but
we can’t write them without you! Please let
us know if you have any contacts for the
following themes:
Thanksgiving—What kinds of activities does
your church plan for Thanksgiving or to spread
the Thanksgiving spirit to the needy?
Giving—What does your church do to give to
the poor during the Christmas season?
Advent—What does your church do for Advent?
Send us names and numbers of people in charge
of the events at your church.
Epiphany—What special events do you offer
during the Epiphany season? Send us names
and numbers of the people in charge.
Send information, including contact names
and numbers to rtoalson@umcswtx.org or call
(210) 408-4524.
San Antonio District
The San Antonio District staff has compiled
the information for Page 3 and paid to use
the space as a district newsletter.
Carl Rohlfs
Superintendent
carlds@umcswtx.org
Kathy Kafora
Admin. Assistant
ksk@umcswtx.org
Terry McCandless
Program Director
tmccand@umcswtx.org
Address:
16400 Huebner Road
San Antonio, TX 78248
District Office
(210) 408-4520
Fax: (210) 408-4521
Program Office
(210) 408-4533
www.unitedmethodistsadistrict.com
District Calendar
October
5 Interpretation of the Bible begins,
UM Center Community Room,
6:30-8:30 p.m.
November
13 Lay Speaker Training,
Oxford UMC,8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
Thank you, District Professionals, for the
love notes you wrote to the “orphaned
orphans” – the children of Rev. Louis
Bwanakweli. May we all lift our prayers for
these sweet children who have not only
lost their parents, but have now also lost
the person who stepped in to raise them.
Victoria District
The Victoria District staff has compiled the
information for Page 6 and paid to use the
space as a district newsletter.
Terrence Hayes
Superintendent
Linda Curl
Admin. Assistant
Judith Johnson
Program Director
judith@satx.rr.com
Lori Koonce
District Editor
lflemingkoonce2003k@yahoo.com
Address:
5606 N. Navarro, Ste. 217
Victoria, TX 77904
District Office
(361) 573-4233
Fax: (361) 573-4392
Program Office
(361) 573-4233
District Calendar
October
1-2 SWTC UMW, Lockhart
16 Lay Speaker Beginners Course,
Monthalia UMC, 8 a.m.
19 Committee on Ordained Ministry,
District Office, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
26-27 Cabinet
November
9 Pastors & Professionals Meeting,
John Wesley UMC, 9:30 a.m.
16-18 Cabinet.
24-26 Thanksgiving Holidays, Office
Closed.
30 Pastor’s/PPRC Consultation forms
due in to District Office.
December
20-28 District Office Closed.
More Victoria District News
www.umcvictoriadistrict.org
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