February is Black History Month
For Friday, February 26, 2010 – Sunday is the second Sunday in Lent (purple)
This newsletter is paid for through your annual conference tithe. Thank you.
Edited by Dan Gangler, director of communication
At that same time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “You must get out of here and go somewhere else, because Herod wants to kill you.” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell that fox: “I am driving out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I shall finish my work.” Yet I must be on my way today, tomorrow, and the next day; it is not right for a prophet to be killed anywhere except in Jerusalem.
– Luke 13:31-33
Good News Translation
www.americanbible.org
For the latest news about the Haiti Emergency, visit www.umc.org/haiti, www.umcor.org and www.churchworldservice.com.
INDIANAPOLIS – The 30-member Indiana Conference Leadership Table is scheduled to meet Saturday, Feb. 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Indiana Conference Center first-floor conference room. Members of the Leadership Table will join Indiana Bishop Mike Coyner and conference staff in a formal “Blessing of the Indiana Conference Center” during their lunch break at noon. The order of that worship experience is available as a PDF document here. In other business, the Leadership Table will hear reports, review the progress of the new Indiana Conference, begin the process of settling the 2011 conference budget, hear and review reports from connectional ministries, church development, administrative services and communication. The Leadership Table continues the work of the Indiana Conference between conference sessions. The Second Session of the Indiana Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church will be held June 10-13 on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie.
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Bishop Mike Coyner announces the employment of three new Indiana Conference Center staff members in financial services.
Heidi Player joined the conference center staff this month. She will serve as acting controller until March 31. She continues her work in finances, which began in the former South Indiana Conference Center 11 years ago. She has an associate’s degree in Accounting from Ivy Tech and will complete her B.A. in Business Administration from Indiana State in the summer of 2010.
Emily Burkhart began serving as an accounting/database clerk on Feb. 15. She previously worked as an office assistant in Nicholasville, Ky. and as a project coordinator for the March of Dimes in Lexington, Ky. She also served as an intern with Outdoor Ministries in the former South Indiana Conference. She is a graduate of Indiana University with a bachelor’s degree in public affairs.
Anne Hayton will join the conference staff as an accounting/database clerk on March 1. She comes to us from the Messiah Lutheran Church in Brownsburg, where she has served as financial administrator since 2004. She holds an associate degree in accounting from the University of Phoenix. – e-HUM
Friends of the Orphans, a Chicago-based charity with Roman Catholic roots serving South America and the Caribbean, and Children of Abraham, an Indiana Conference Advance Special with offices at Hammond First UMC, have been resupplying the Saint Damien Children’s Hospital in Haiti. Children of Abraham have been supplying medical supplies and many additional beds, as well as food.
A community of more than 6,000 people is now living in the open or in cardboard boxes and lean-tos in the area around the hospital, many of them family members of patients.
Children of Abraham is partnering with other concerned relief agencies to supply ten-person mosquito netted tents complete with rain tarps. We have multiple suppliers willing to provide these tents for $150 each. It will take 1,200 tents to accomplish this task. We ask Indiana United Methodist congregations to assist us by making a donation to cover the cost of one or more tents. Transportation will be through Children of Abraham. The tent city will be organized by Friends of the Orphans and Saint Damien Hospital. Donations can be sent to Children of Abraham, 6635 Hohman Avenue, Hammond, IN 46324. If you have questions, please contact David Schrader, pastor of South Bend Grace UMC and Children of Abraham board member, at 574-288-4789, or by e-mail at pastordavidschrader@yahoo.com. Visit Children of Abraham at www.coa-worldwide.org.
Calling all Indiana clergy – How did your call begin? The theme for the 2010 Our Life Together clergy retreat is “A Lively Sense of Call.” During the two days together on April 26-27, the emphasis will be on nurturing the call to clergy ministry, celebrating one’s own call stories and encouraging others to hear the call. As a part of the time together, clergy will be sharing call stories. What the event planners would like to hear from clergy is in 100 words or less, “how did your call begin?” Clergy, if you are willing to share the story of how your call began with the Our Life Together Worship Planning Team, please e-mail it to the Rev. Jennifer Pollard by Friday, March 12. Thanks for your help with this event, and your partnership in ministry. The Our Life Together clergy retreat will be held April 26-27 at St. Luke’s UMC in Indianapolis. For more information, click here.
WASHINGTON (UMNS) – Bishop Gregory V. Palmer, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, joined with thousands of other people of faith to send a letter to President Barack Obama and Congress urging them to "complete the task at hand on behalf of the millions who are left out and left behind in our current health care system." The groups also ran a full-page print ad in The Hill. The letter and ad were also endorsed by local churches and the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.
RALEIGH, N.C. (UMNS) – After a recent worship service at Branches UMC in Florida City, Fla., the Rev. Audrey B. Warren returned to the sanctuary to turn off the lights. There, draped in Warren's stole and with the microphone in hand, was 4-year-old Cassandra. “I didn’t catch what she was saying, but I have to believe that she was ‘playing pastor,’” Warren recalls. “If that is not progress ... I don’t know what is. How amazing for young girls to dream of being pastors.” Read more here.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) – The Rev. Gary Shockley will succeed the Rev. Tom Butcher on July 1 as the new leader of the Path 1 Team of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship. Path 1 is a collaborative effort with the denomination’s Council of Bishops to train 1,000 new church planters who will start 650 new churches by 2013. Shockley has been serving as the new church systems strategist for Path 1. Butcher is taking an appointment in the Desert Southwest Conference.
The Indianapolis-area claims three of the four healthiest counties in the state, but also some of the laggards, according to a new report by New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Hamilton, Hendricks, Boone, Warrick and LaGrange counties ranked first through fifth, respectively. The rankings were based on such things as death rates, insurance rates, socioeconomic factors and environmental influences. However, Marion County ranked 80th out of Indiana’s 92 counties. Starke and Scott counties ranked 91 and 92. The complete list is online here. – Indiana Business Journal
Efforts to aid the gambling industry in Indiana hit a snag Tuesday when action on several amendments angered the author, who then withdrew the bill from consideration (Kelly, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette). The trouble began when the House rejected an amendment that would have allowed the city of Gary to move one of its riverboat casinos to an inland location nearer highway access. The vote was 57-42. Several amendments to help the struggling racinos in Shelbyville and Anderson still lingered, which prompted Rep. Bill Crawford, D-Indianapolis, to withdraw the bill. House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, later said the issue of land-based gambling is “pretty much” dead this legislative session. “It’s pretty clear that won’t happen this year,” he said. – Howey Politics Indiana
PHILADELPHIA (UMNS) – About 20 members of historic St. George’s United Methodist Church attended the Feb. 14 worship service at Mother Bethel AME Church in celebration of Richard Allen’s 250th birthday. Allen was a founder of Mother Bethel after St. George’s attempted to segregate him and other African-American members some 200 years ago.
KORHOGO, Côte d'Ivoire (UMNS) – There is every reason for a church to fail in this rebel-held area in the mountainous north central region of this African nation. It has been the scene of many armed conflicts between government and rebel forces. Nevertheless, the United Methodist Church in the district has increased from 300 members in 2005 to 2,065 members today.
The State Senate approved a proposal Monday that urges the creation of a legislative study committee to help local communities better address the needs of aging residents. Senate Resolution 22, authored by State Senator Vi Simpson (D-Ellettsville and a United Methodist), directs the committee to identify best practices in providing community infrastructure, features and services to locally support residents through the aging process (Howey Politics Indiana). “Our goal is to provide a community model for enabling citizens to continue to be active, engaged members of their hometown throughout the aging process,” said Simpson. “Hoosiers of all ages would benefit from a comprehensive plan to move local communities toward sustainable development and quality of life for aging residents.” Simpson said the study was inspired by Communities for a Lifetime, an initiative by several advocacy groups in the state, including AARP Indiana, IU Center on Aging and Community, and Indiana Association of Area Agencies on Aging.
One Day the News Was Grim: new hymn for the Third Sunday in Lent
Rethink Church is offering sermon starters for the Lenten season to help you reach seekers and connect in new ways with your community. A Journey to Hope, begins on Ash Wednesday with an invitation to travel with Jesus to the cross. As participants encounter real life issues along the way, we see that God's light is sometimes even brighter in the darkness and that hope can be found even in the most unlikely places.This Lenten season, take a journey to hope and share that hope with the world.
NEW YORK (UMNS) – The United Methodist Committee on Relief and Church World Service are part of a coalition of faith-based relief and development groups endorsing a Lenten resource addressing the global water and sanitation crisis. The WASH (WAter Sanitation & Hygiene) for Lent Initiative has been set up to encourage getting involved with organizations responding to the crisis as a focus of their Lenten journey. A Web site, WASH for Lent (http://washforlent.wordpress.com), includes links to many groups, statistics and information about WASH, and offers weekly devotionals.
For more information, visit www.inumc.org/campusministry.
Have you noticed how many times you are reminded to save and spend money wisely? I am thankful that the message has changed from spend all you can to save as much as you can. Of course we United Methodists recognize that there is one other directive to live by – give away all that you can.
If you or someone you know is paying high fees to cash checks because you do not have a checking account, check out a great resource in the Indianapolis area, www.bankonindy.org
Through the Bank on Indy program, residents can open checking and savings accounts at no or low costs. The goal of this project is to help people save money.
If you do not live in the Indianapolis area, contact your local lending institution and ask the institution to provide such a service. – Michelle Cobb, director of the Rejuvenate project
What if…on one weekend all around the world, United Methodists came together to work with their local communities? What if…as we serve people locally, we unite globally to eliminate a preventable, treatable disease that kills one child every 30 seconds?
The Rev. Mike Slaughter, lead pastor at Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, Ohio, has written a book called Change the World: Recovering the Mission and Message of Jesus, set to be released in February 2010. He emphasizes, “As the United Methodist Church, we have worried too much about getting numbers into our churches instead of getting the people in our churches out into the world in relative ways. Even our smallest churches can have incredible impact when they leave their four walls to serve the needs of their neighbors, alongside of their neighbors.” Be one who makes a change and together, we can change the world. To get involved go to rethinkchurch.org/changetheworld.
GEORGE ALDRICH HILL, JR., retired Elder of the Indiana Conference living in Bradenton, Fla. south of St. Petersburg, died Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010. He was preceded in death by his wife, the Rev. Marguerite A. Hill, a retired Local Pastor of the Indiana Conference, who died in 2001. A memorial service was held Feb. 18 at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Montgomery, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. Condolences can be sent to his son, the Rev. Cannon George A. Hill III, P.O. Box 42143, 12035 Cooperwood Lane, Cincinnati, OH 45242.
PARKER PENGILLY, 96, a lay leader in the Indiana Conference for many years, died Feb. 4, 2010. He was a member of Broadway UMC in Indianapolis for more than 65 years, serving in many leadership positions both locally and in the District and Conference. A memorial service will be held at Broadway UMC, 609 E. 29th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46205 on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 2:30 p.m. Visitation will be at the church from 1 p.m. until the service time. Survivors include: sons, Morris, David and Mark; four grandchildren, Heather, Lauren, Jeremy and Miles; and three great-grandchildren. His wife, Isabel Morris Parker, died in 1955. In 1997 Parker married Margaret Hadley. Memorial gifts may be made to the Parker Pengilly Memorial Fund at Broadway UMC.
ZEKE R. SMITH, 90, former lay member of the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry during the 1970s and lay member of conference for 28 years, died on Monday, Feb. 22, 2010. He was a member of the Hillside UMC in Princeton.
Bishop Michael J. Coyner has announced the following changes within the Indiana Area. These appointments are based on Cabinet reports received by Indiana Area Communication the week of February 26, 2010.
The Central District of the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church (with its office on the north side of Indianapolis) seeks a SECRETARY/RECEPTIONIST (part-time), who will support the administrative operations of the district center, with primary responsibility for hospitality and general secretarial duties. In carrying out this process, the conference is seeking diversity in culture, race, and gender. A high level of skill and substantial experience is required. (Click for position description and application for employment form.) Letter of interest, application form, and resume must be sent electronically to human.resources@inumc.org. Applications received by Thursday, March 4, 2010 will be given first consideration.
Other employment opportunities previously listed can be found at www.inumc.org/classifieds.