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June 26, 2009
Volume 155, Number 60
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Youths repair, refurbish homes for needy
Sea City Work Camp encourages
students to ‘look beyond themselves’
By Rachel L. Toalson
Managing Editor
 Students at Sea City Work Camp fill bins
with trash collected from home sites.
More than 100 students gave up a week of their summer vacation to help repair homes in the Corpus Christi area during Sea City Work Camp June 14-19.
“Sacrifice is giving,” said Liana Gonzalez, who has done the camp for four years and was a youth dean this year. “You gave up your fun in the sun, and you completely changed someone’s life,” she told students during the Thursday night open mic night.
It was Sea City Work Camp’s week 2. The first week was June 7-12 in Portland.
During the week, students spend the day painting, roofing, renovating and repairing homes for underprivileged homeowners in the area. At night, the youths gather for a worship service and activities like swimming, karaoke and playing video games. Students and adult volunteers stay in host churches overnight.
“Students learn how to be servants and how to be selfless,” said Kathy Rios, camp director for week 2. “It’s not just their own little center anymore.”
The work camp has been in existence since 1993, when local church youth directors organized it. Leaders wanted to help their community while sharing the message and love of Jesus.
But they also wanted a way for their students to “look beyond themselves,” Rios said.
Homeowners say the youths who participate in Sea City Work Camp help give them what they need but could never afford or do themselves.
Youths are broken into teams of 10 to 13. Adult home supervisors and foremen are assigned to each team.
The ecumenical camp is open to high school youths in grades 9 through 12. Youths can participate for the first time during the summer after eighth grade. May graduates can also participate.
College students, Rios said, can volunteer to help.
Morgan Cope encouraged students to keep the “feeling” of Sea City all throughout the year during his short speech on open mic night.
“I’ve done Sea City for five years,” he said. “Every year has been amazing. I wish it could be longer. I wish it could be two weeks or a month or a year. But we can’t have this (feeling) all year just because of Sea City. We have to do it ourselves.
“Sea City is an annual reminder. Are we living the way we should be? Are we doing the things we should be doing? It’s gotta stay with us throughout the year. We have to carry it with us, no matter where we are. It’s easy to be a Christian here, where everyone feels the same. But we have to show people that we love God and we love Jesus all the time.”
Cost for each camper is $150. To register as a participant, complete the student application at www.seacityworkcamp.com and return to Sea City Work Camp, PO Box 10449, Corpus Christi, TX, 78460.
For more information about the camp, call (361) 946-9675.
 Participants in week 2 of Sea City Work Camp re-roof a home in Corpus Christi.
More than 100 students worked on 10 sites around the area. Students take a break from working on a roof and cool down with a water fight. The average temperature during Sea City
Work Camp was 102 degrees.
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Youth Choir Rally to change name, purpose in 2010
For the past 48 years, Youth Choir Rally has been a standard for youth ministry within the Southwest Texas Conference. A choral-based youth event, involving thousands of participants, Youth Choir Rally is undergoing some changes in both name and purpose. Beginning in 2010, Youth Choir Rally will be known as the “Youth Worship Conference.”
The change comes when traditional youth choirs are waning in participation and modern youth groups are growing and seeking new experiences with music and worship. The new Youth Worship Conference is designed to help meet the needs of a new trend in contemporary worship styles.
“For the past several years, Youth Choir Rally has seen a decrease in attendance and participation by youth directors and local churches,” said the Rev. Rusty Freeman, conference director of youth ministries. “It is time we shift to offer students what they long for – a diversity in worship styles and music.”
“Students love music, but the styles have changed. Many youth enjoy choral music, but many want to explore new areas and ideas for worship. The Youth Worship Conference (YWC) will not only focus on worshipping God, it will also have a purpose in teaching new young worship leaders.”
The YWC plans to move away from hiring an outside clinician and instead use more conference resources and leaders. The YWC will continue to rotate districts, but the directors of each event will include a local church choir director and a youth director. Both will be needed in order to maintain relevance between music and youth ministry.
Whereas Youth Choir Rally involved sectional practice in order to prepare for a choral performance on Sunday morning, the YWC will offer several tracks and breakout sessions involving youth in a multiplicity of worship styles. Some of these may include: song writing, worship leading, bass and guitar, piano and keyboard, choral, dance, visual arts, brass, percussion, handbells, drama, and video production.
“The purpose of YWC is not only to meet growing needs of students, but to become a generation of worshippers that seek the Lord in Spirit and in truth,” said Mark Swayze, worship leader at University UMC, San Antonio. “We hope to train up leaders for a new generation to continue making disciples and bringing honor to God through worship.”
Students will choose between taking a track (such as song writing) under the leadership of a leader like Mark Swayze. Others might want more diversity and take a “general studies” track, which exposes them to several different types of music/worship elements like dance offered by Karen Andrews, assistant director to music at University UMC.
“I’m so excited about this new opportunity for the youth of our conference,” Andrews said. “God has given our students extraordinary gifts of all kinds. Now we get to teach them that those gifts can be used for worship and not just entertainment.”
The Youth Worship Conference will be April 16-18, 2010, at the First UMC, Boerne, under the leadership of Russell Miller, music director, and Tim Day, youth director. YWC will be open to all students 6th to 12th grade and will remain at the same cost, $50 per person per participant.
“Youth Choir Rally has been a loved and wonderful tradition in our conference,” said J’Nevelyn Lloyd, education and music director at First UMC, McAllen. “I want to make sure we thank all those who made it great and for giving us a wonderful platform for which to grow and expand this ministry. Forty-eight years is a wonderful achievement and a blessing to all who have contributed in the past.”
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Leader offers 10 practical steps to effective year-round stewardship
By Byrd Bonner
Chair, Southwest Texas Conference Commission on Stewardship
The Southwest Texas Conference Commission on Stewardship recently developed ten practical steps to year-round stewardship. The hope behind these suggestions is to assist congregational lay and clergy leadership in visibly modeling faithful Christian stewardship as a way of life. Regular testimonies and seasonal giving can turn autumn from a season of stress to the time of thanksgiving that it is intended to be.
Ten Practical Steps to Year-Round Giving:
1. Weekly mention of giving stories to tell how lives are changed because of giving through the offering plate.
2. Worship leaders talk directly about the spiritual discipline of tithing and presentation of offerings when calling for the offering during worship services.
3. Pastors preach on giving at times other than during the fall, e.g., plan sermons about giving in January, April and August.
4. Emphasize the opportunity and joy that is a part of faithful giving in newsletters and worship services.
5. Plan specific testimonies by lay people, including youth, about prayer, presence, gifts, service and witness at least once each month.
6. In taking an offering in worship, be specific about a ministry enabled and follow up with an update on that ministry.
7. Intentionally interpret, verbally and visually, how United Methodist apportionments extend the ministry of the congregation around the world.
8. Put faces on the lives that are changed through apportionment and congregational giving.
9. Seek creative ways to remit apportionments on some regular or periodic basis throughout the year.
10. Promote special offering opportunities in creative ways for several weeks during Lent, Eastertide or Pentecost.
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Local, conference ministries focus on developing Christian leaders
 Conference events
Throughout our connection, a movement has been set in motion to sharpen our mission and direct critical aspects of our ministry together as a church rooted in the Wesleyan tradition. The movement has led to the creation of four “areas of focus:”
- Developing principled Christian leaders for the church and the world
- New places for new people and renewing existing congregations
- Engaging in ministry with the poor
- Stamping out killer diseases of poverty by improving health globally
This movement started as a conversation, led by the Council of Bishops, and spread to the Table of General Secretaries, the Connectional Table, annual conferences and local congregations. Delegates to annual conference have already heard about it. The four areas call us forth to apply ourselves and our resources to bring them to life in a wide range of ministries—not just for the next four years and beyond, but for the sake of the Gospel.
Developing Principled Christian Leaders for The Church and the World is the first of the four focus! Countless ministries related to this focus area take place every day in the local church and annual conference and through such channels as children, youth, young adult, older adult, family and campus ministries, spiritual formation, Christian education, volunteers in mission, religion and race, church and society, UMW and UMM, and countless more.
How can we refocus the lens of our ministry eyes through this first area of focus? Just look at its transformational aspects.
Developing—Preparing, equipping, training, teaching, encouraging, mentoring, nurturing, supporting.
Principled—Values, ethics, courage, perseverance, trustworthiness, spiritually disciplined, mature, wise.
Christian—Christ follower, example for others, fruits of the Spirit, theologically sound, means of grace, authentic, cross-bearing, sacrificial.
Leaders—have followers, instill confidence, advocate for others, promote inclusiveness, are self-differentiated, visionary, accountable, servant.
Church—Body of Christ, universal, body of believers, programming, personnel, trustees, finance, administration.
World—Society, culture, ecology, politics, economics, science, technology, arts.
Making disciples for the transformation of our world can happen by starting small. Pick one aspect of the above and commit it to prayer and ministry. And they left their nets and followed him.
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August ‘Left Behind’ seminar helps unlock mystery of Revelation
By Rachel L. Toalson
Managing Editor
The Rev. James Mickey Efird hopes to unlock the mystery of Revelation.
At his “Left Behind” Seminar at Mt. Wesley in Kerrville, to be Aug. 11-13, Efird will examine what the Bible really says about the end times and give attendees a chance to separate fact from fiction.
The Book of Revelation is an apocalyptic book, and because it was the only one of its kind, people have misinterpreted it for many years.
“Ever since I was in seminary, I’ve been a Bilbical interpreter,” Efird said, “and my basic stick is understanding and interpreting the Bible because there’s so much bad Biblical interpretation. The Book of Revelation is the most abused and misinterpreted part of the whole Bible, and that tweaked my interest.”
He says it’s because of all the “wild schemes” and the ideas linking the book to the return of Jesus and the end of the world that he began teaching it.
He said the book is “highly symbolic literature” that has to be understood and read in the context of its historical setting and theological pattern.
“If you don’t know any of those things, you can get in the twilight zone in a hurry,” Efird said.
Efird has a Ph.D. from Duke University and is a member of the Duke Divinity School faculty. He is fluent in the Hebrew and Greek languages. He’s the author of more than 13 books and has published more than 60 articles and papers.
During his seminar, Efird will dispel myths about the end times texts; discuss the mindset, thought process and historical background of the people to whom Revelation was addressed; teach about the symbolism used by early Christians to keep their faith going; and help attendees reclaim the Christian hope that exists in the book of Revelation.
“Any time you say we’re going to study the book of Revelation, you tweak people’s interest,” Efird said. “It’s fun to study. It really is. All those weird symbols and images, if you understand the literary genre and its historical setting, there’s not really a whole lot of mystery about it.”
For more information about the seminar, contact the Rev. Steven Sweet at (325) 944-4041 or e-mail him at ssweet@sierravista.org.
Registration forms must be filled out no later than July 1. Mail the registration form to Cynthia Bedford, Conference Registrar, 16400 Huebner Road, San Antonio, TX, 78248-1693, to be received by July 6. You can also register at www.umcdata.com.
Cost of the seminar is $45 for commuters and $120 for lodging and meals.
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Travis Park’s giving sends 274 nets to Sierra Leone
Faith, not fear
Abundance, not scarcity
Giving, not receiving
Caring, not crisis
Long term, not short term
Spirituality, not materiality
Grace, not greed.
Travis Park continues in a long history in mission by demanding CHANGE FOR CHANGE for a better world by giving more than $1,370 to buy mosquito nets for children in Africa.
The nets will prevent the spread of the killer disease of malaria. Given as second-mile giving in baskets during worship services on the Sundays between Easter and Pentecost, the funds will be matched by the Anne Ryckman Fund of UMCOR to buy a total of 274 insecticide-treated nets to save the lives of as many children in Sierra Leone.
Look for CHANGE FOR CHANGE again in late summer to relieve the plight of refugees fleeing atrocities in the Darfur region of the Sudan.
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Methodist volunteers mobilize people around the world with PET project
 Tom Hardy, left, and Merlyn Saxton, both from the First UMC, Johnson City, work
on a Personal Energy Transportation vehicle, or PET, at the workshop in Luling.
Member of First UMC, Johnson City
For years, a group of friends in the First United Methodist Church, Johnson City, has been helping put people “on the road” all over the world.
The vehicle for their ministry is the PET, or Personal Energy Transportation, a three-wheeled cart powered by a hand-crank for people whose legs cannot take them where they need to go.
Many of those people were born without the use of their legs. Others lost that power to disease or injury, or land-mines when their homes became war zones for long-departed armies.
In undeveloped, rural areas, wheelchairs would quickly crumble on rough streets and rocky roads, assuming the users could afford them.
The solution to the personal mobility problem for those 21 million people is the PET, made in Luling, Texas, by volunteer builders. They are funded by donations.
Mickey Little, Jeanne and Tom Hardy and Nina and Merlyn Saxton are regulars in the little PET shop. Like other volunteers on other days, they cut, assemble and paint the carts in sizes for children and adults.
They and their fellow workers have shipped more than 13,000 PETs to countries around the world where the ability to move around means the difference between personal independence and having to lean on friends and family for bare existence.
With a PET, a person who used to be a burden becomes a mother who can go shopping for her family, a merchant who can deliver goods to customers or a craftsman who can sell products in the market.
The creation of that independence begins with a church or church member who sends a gift to the PET Project through Advance Special 2269. Any amount can put a wheel on a cart or a seat behind the hand- crank. A gift of $250 lets the team build and ship a whole PET.
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Texas Methodist Foundation announces special
conference clergy appreciation interest rate
oundation recently introduced a program designed to thank United Methodist clergy for their commitment to ministry through an exclusive “clergy appreciation rate.”
This special offer entitles clergy with primary residence in Texas or New Mexico to receive an additional one-half percent interest above the Foundation’s already competitive rates, which consistently surpass returns on most CD and money market investments. The Foundation is extending this special investment rate to active and retired United Methodist clergy (deacon, elder, diaconal or local) who open or renew fixed rate Individual Fund accounts during the remainder of 2009.
“Countless lives have been transformed through the leadership of our clergy in building strong communities of faith that share the love and compassion of Christ,” said Foundation President Tom Locke. “We wanted to find a way to give something back in a tangible way to show our appreciation for all they do to strengthen The United Methodist Church.”
Pastors interested in taking advantage of this offer can download an Individual Fund Offering Circular and application, and obtain current rates by visiting the Foundation’s Web site at www.tmf-fdn.org. The Foundation’s Investor Services staff is also available at (800) 933-5502 to answer questions.
Individual Fund investments build and expand United Methodist churches through the Methodist Loan Fund, the funding source for the Foundation’s loan program. Individual Fund investments also provide conscientious investors a way to connect their faith and money through an investment that empowers God’s mission and ministry.
The Texas Methodist Foundation is making an effort to extend this clergy appreciation offer to as many active and retired clergy members as possible. If you know of clergy who would appreciate this opportunity to invest in the future of the Church while earning additional interest, please have them contact the Foundation for more information.
The Texas Methodist Foundation, located in Austin, is a statewide non-profit organization offering assistance to United Methodists through investments, loans, stewardship services, grants, endowment services and the TMF Institute for Clergy and Congregational Excellence.
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Kerrville - seems like heaven to me
Kerrville is very important to me – always was and always will be. This is the home of my fraternal grandparents. This is where my dad grew up and where he received his education.His love for Kerrville planted love seeds just below the surface of my soul. I spent some happy days in this country. As a boy I looked forward to coming to Mount Wesley because it was in the land of my earthly father. Some of my most memorable and important faith journeys happened for me at Mount Wesley from my commitment to Jesus Christ at sixth grade camp to my Walk to Emmaus in 1986.
Kerrville is indeed a beautiful place to live. For me it is a place of heritage from my father’s side of the family to my Father’s heavenly family. This is where I first got connected to Jesus. Can you imagine what it meant to me when Bishop Martinez called me to be on the Cabinet and he said, “Bob, I believe that the Kerrville District would be the right place for you to serve in my behalf.” After two years in this place, we still believe that we don’t live in the District Parsonage. We earnestly believe that we live in the Kerrville Bed and Breakfast. We have the world’s most beautiful and peaceful deck that today is surrounded by hummingbirds. Our backyard is open where we have 45 deer, four squirrels, one roadrunner, two raccoons and all kind of birds that come to our bird feeding station. Someone said, “Bob, you are so lucky to have gotten to be in the Kerrville District.” I couldn’t disagree anymore. I am not lucky . . . I am blessed. I thank God for allowing me to return to my roots.
From our deck, Irene and I enjoy breath-taking sunsets in which multiple hues abound. A friend recently commented, “it’s the only place where burnt orange and maroon can be together and make a beautiful picture.” We love living in the Hill Country where God’s beauty and grace radiate. Dear friends, you are invited to come sit on our deck and soak it all up.
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Lay leader offers reflection
on transformational experiences
By Bob Molder
Kerrville District Lay Leader
The natural outcome of meaningful experiences is the transformation of the person who has had the experience. The reason worship is a critical part in the life of faith for a believer is that worship changes us. Through the experience of worship, we are drawn closer to God, we are challenged to love one another and we are called to be in ministry, to go into all the world telling of the joy of knowing Jesus Christ.
The artful combination of music, Word, sacrament and interaction with fellow worshipers creates a life-changing experience that compels us to desire an even deeper experience of God. Worship is not simply an experience of a learning event of a time for fellowship. At its best, worship moves the believer forward and deeper into the life of faith.
Let us celebrate together,
Lift our voice in one accord,
Singing of God’s grace and mercy
And the goodness of the Lord.
- Sper
AT THE HEART OF WORSHIP IS WORSHIP FROM THE HEART.
Watch this column each month for words of encouragement, joy, hope and peace.
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Beth Moore to simulcast live event Aug. 28-29
 Beth Moore
On Aug. 28-29, Moore is returning to her hometown of Green Bay, WI, for a very special Living Proof Live weekend. And thanks to simulcast satellite technology, Moore can spend that weekend near your hometown. This will provide your area communities with the same insightful and inspirational teaching, the same soul-stirring worship that Moore and her team bring to their live events — in real time! Living Proof Live, right where you live.
The event happens Aug. 28 at 7-9:30 p.m. and Aug. 29 from 8:30 a.m.-noon. It will be at First UMC, Lampasas. The cost is $20, which includes a meal on Saturday.
For more information contact the church office at 512-556-5513 or Regina Muse at 512-556-1054 or at ronmuse@sbcglobal.net
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District training events teach leades to serve
By Linda Morrow
Director of District Ministries
As summer comes upon us and we begin another conference year, we join hands to minster in this district. All of us are called to offer Christ to all. We do that through welcoming, learning, working together and serving those in need.
The Corpus Christi District is excited to welcome six new clergy members to our district, who will join hands with those who are serving here already. Four of these six have already begun their appointments in the district. They are: the Rev. John Nicolson, serving Fashing UMC; the Rev. Karen Jamison, pastor at Jones Chapel UMC, Beeville; the Rev. Barbara Dyke, serving a two-point charge of First UMC, Robstown, and Banquete UMC; and the Rev. Phil Robberson pastoring First UMC, Bishop.
In July, the Rev. John Valles, who will serve Wesley UMC, and the Rev. Anita Valles, pastor for Oak Park UMC, both in Corpus Christi, will take their places. As a district, we are excited to welcome each of them to their new churches and to ministry in the Corpus Christi District.
As we look for ways to welcome, learn, work together and serve those in need, we find we need training events to help us in this journey. With this in mind, several opportunities have been placed on the calendar. During the month of August, the Corpus Christi District is offering two workshops for our district and surrounding areas.
The first workshop is RETHINK CHURCH. Pastor Michael Mumme and Faith UMC, Woodsboro, are hosting the workshop on Aug. 8 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. with lunch included, for the cost of $5 per person. On that day, the Rev. Danette Howell, a representative of Igniting Ministries, will help those attending to think about what it means to “redefine the church experience beyond the church doors and invite people to become engaged in the world.”
RETHINK CHURCH and its advertizing campaigns aim to spark a global conversation around the rhetorical question, “What if church were a verb?” What does it mean to reach out to those in need in the world and in our own communities?
The second workshop called Stewardship Summit 2009 is scheduled for Aug. 29 at Grace UMC, Corpus Christi. This workshop is presented by the Texas Methodist Foundation. The day will begin with a gathering at 9 a.m. and four morning workshops from which to choose. These include: Celebrating the Offering, Making Your Budget Come Alive, Capital Campaigns and One Sunday Giving and Planned Giving–Cultivating Estate Plans and Future Gifts. A plenary session on Year-Round Stewardship, More than an Annual Campaign will be offered right before lunch. The afternoon session will include: Your Building Project: From Start, to Finish, The Will Program and a repeat of Celebrating the Offering and Making Your Budget Come Alive. The cost of the event, including a catered lunch, will be $20 per person.
Besides learning about hospitality and ways to connect people to church and mission through the RETHINK CHURCH and stewardship through the Stewardship Summit, the Leadership Development team of the district has planned a spiritual retreat for Nov. 20-21 at the Mustang Island Retreat Center. This overnight retreat will feature an evening with artist and musician Jennifer Hartsfield Pinchinson and a day with the Rev. Michael Rice Saxton as we focus on the topic “Finding God in the Stories of Our Lives.”
Brochures and registration forms for each of these events will be mailed to your church office in the coming week. So the question is, “Whom will you invite to be a part of the team?” Begin now asking others to join their hands with yours as we seek to minister in the Corpus Christi District.
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Corpus Christi District happenings
Asbury UMC, Corpus Christi begins Vacation Bible School
Asbury UMC, Corpus Christi began its Vacation Bible School June 15.
At SonRock Kids Camp, students learned how to build their lives on the rock--Jesus. Children participated in creative crafts, exciting games, upbeat singing, skits and had tasty snacks.
The VBS program was offered for free and was open to students from pre-kindergarten to sixth grade.
It was held every morning, June 15-19, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
For pictures or information, visit www.asburycc.org or call (361) 992-7501.
For more information about the church’s adult and youth ministries, children ministries and Bible Bonanza, visit
www. asburycc.org.
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21st century not at all what it was predicted to be
By Jim Curran
Pastor Falfurrias FUMC and Premont UMC
Whatever happened to “Our Lives in the Twenty-First Century” visions? Back in the 1960s I remember watching on “The Wonderful World of Disney” and other television shows their ideas of how life would be in the 21st century. I remember being assured that flying cars would be in every garage. Poverty, hunger, and sickness would be things of the past. I distinctly remember my family discussing, after one of these shows, how different things would be. The show that week had discussed how robots and something called “computers” were going to be doing most of our work for us. That show predicted that the major concern of people in the 21st century was going to be what to do with all of their free time. People would only have to work a few hours a week because all these machines were going to do the work for us. It promised that recreation would fill our time. WHAT HAPPENED? Everywhere I look, people are busier than ever. Much of the technology, while wonderful in many ways, tends to demand more of our time instead of saving us time. This is not an attack on technology...technology has made our lives better in many ways. This is a call to see what is controlling us.
My wife and I finished a Lenten season with no electronic entertainment. That is, no television, no DVDs, no CDs, no “surfing the net” for fun. We did use the internet for business and listened to the radio in the car (our only source of news). Being a pastor, I would have told you honestly and righteously that I really did not watch that much television anyway. Boy, I sure would have been lying to you and not realizing it. After giving the TV a rest, I realized how much I did watch. I realized how I had been using the television to fill in slots of time during the days. Adding these “slots of time” together, it amounted to a major waste of my time. I now must admit that television was or is somewhat of an addiction to me.
Now that Easter has passed and the television is back on, I know that I am more in control. It also makes me wonder what else has been controlling me and my time. Are there other things that I do not recognize that have been controlling me? As Christians, we are called to examine what we are doing with our lives to contribute to the Kingdom of God.
There are many things that are going on, or need to be going on in our church that call for your time and mine. Will you and I have the time to contribute?
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From Church to Church, AMEN!
AMEN to Pharr Literacy Project, a mission supported by the McAllen District, for having completed the training to become a Community of Shalom.
AMEN to First UMC, Hebbronville, which celebrated their sunrise service ecumenically (St. James Episcopal and Baptist) at a member’s ranch. Following their regular worship service, the community was invited to share in their Easter meal whether they had come to worship or not.
AMEN to Pharr UMC which just started a UMW unit.
AMEN to Los Fresnos UMC, which had 53 at their Saturday night Spanish language service recently. The attendance has also increased in the Sunday Worship Service and Sunday School.
AMEN to Zapata UMC, which added seven new members in April.
AMEN to First UMC, Mission, whose construction on their welcoming center is coming along well.
AMEN to First UMC, Edinburg, which will soon have a portable office building for which members have been raising money. The building will allow the church to house their present offices of pastor, secretary and mental health provider and add a space for a Wesley Nurse. Present office space will then be designated space for children and youth.
AMEN to St. John UMC, which used proceeds of their annual ONION sale to help pay apportionments and purchase materials used by the Nomad groups to repair and refurbish homes.
AMEN to First UMC, Falfurrias, for installing a new sound system and a new video system. With the new system they were able to offer “Fireproof Your Marriage,” a major motion picture focused on making marriages stronger, as a free gift to the Falfurrias community.
AMEN to the Day School children at First UMC, McAllen, who combined a learning experience with a giving experience. They learned about tricycle and riding toy safety and then had their Trike-A-Thon to raise money for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
AMEN to the McAllen District Churches for their outreach efforts over the Easter Season.
AMEN to Zapata UMC for continuing their curb side welcome with new doors across the front of their building. The doors were installed as a memorial (to Maggie Burton) and will be dedicated at the end of May.
AMEN to ST. Mark UMC for holding a STUDY CAFÉ for their youth. Space will be available for study groups, individual studying, and study breaks as the youth begin their finals week.
AMEN to First UMC, Mission, for continuing their Dinner With Friends. Each Friday evening they serve the neighborhood a free meal.
AMEN to First UMC, Raymondville, for sponsoring an interdenominational (ecumenical) study group.
AMEN to San Benito for offering suggestions for better ways of helping the indigent: buy them breakfast at a local fast food, offer them a sack lunch, which is available in the church office, or refer them to the staff for ideas of agencies that can help meet unmet needs.
AMEN to St. Mark UMC, which is using their discussion of each aspect of the FIVE PRACTICES OF FRUITFUL CONGREGATIONS to inspire their planning and visioning.
AMEN to First UMC, Harlingen, which continues to offer choices in worship. Every Sunday they have two services in their sanctuary, one in their fellowship hall and two at Gutierrez Middle School.
AMEN to NuLife at First UMC, Harlingen, for including Journey Pre-K in their Palm Sunday Services.
AMEN to the Wesley Nurse at First UMC, Falfurrias, who is on the Nutrition and Fitness Committee. Wesley Nurses are developing new programs to use. Falfurrias is offering “Eat Well To Stay Well,” where healthy meals are prepared and discussed. The small group stays for Bible Study with the pastor.
AMEN to Zapata UMC for continuing their jail ministry. They include community volunteers in this ministry.
AMEN to Bruni UMC for continuing to be faithful to the Kairos Ministry, an Emmaus-like experience for the incarcerated. They were recently serving in Beeville prison.
Do you have an AMEN to share about the McAllen District? If so, contact Mary Howard at (956) 421-3630 or yard23@aol.com.
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