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May/June 2013 Together

Cover Story

OC celebrates 25 years of mission

Former OC student keynotes event

5/2/2013

INDIANAPOLIS – “Your donations made me what I am today,” said Edward Kawa, Second Secretary of the Sierra Leone Embassy in Washington, D.C., to more than 120 supporters, during a commemorative dinner April 28 for Operation Classroom and marking 25 years of service to Sierra Leone and Liberia. Kawa is a living example of the Indiana Conference-related Operation Classroom, Inc. (OC), and its 25 years of service to the people of Liberia and Sierra Leone. That partnership was... -- more --

From the Bishop

Missions and the mission of the church

5/2/2013

Sunday, April 28 was a busy one for me. After Sunday morning worship with my wife, I drove up to Epworth Forest to participate in the dedication of the new entrance and road into that camp and conference center. Then I rushed back to Indianapolis to participate in the banquet celebrating our Operation Classroom missions partnership with the Liberia and Sierra Leone Conferences in Africa. It was a long day, but it was a good day of celebrating two of our core values as Indiana United... -- more --

Conversations

Bishop hears Hoosiers speak out about future four years

5/2/2013

INDIANAPOLIS – This past fall, Indiana Bishop Mike Coyner visited all 10 districts across Indiana for “District Days,” which included a welcome-back reception for him sponsored by the Committee on Episcopacy. During those receptions, Coyner shared his hopes for these next four years and asked for responses. Those responses came to his office through index cards and other messages from across the state. Coyner reports, “I have worked with a small team from the Committee... -- more --

Letters to the Editor

Concerned clergy

5/2/2013

The undersigned clergy are responding with concern about the proposal to be presented at the Indiana Annual Conference session this June eliminating the health insurance benefit for clergy retiring after July l, 2013, and their spouses. We believe it will injure the spiritual and emotional health of the annual conference by breaking our covenant of ministry and failing to honor the faithful service of retired pastors and spouses. It will adversely affect the recruitment of future clergy,... -- more --

Health care reform

5/2/2013

I am writing to express my concern over the church’s support of the federal Affordable Care Act. While I believe initial intentions of the United Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran and Christian Church clergy were to support a mechanism that provides quality health care to the residents of Indiana, I believe the Affordable Care Act (Medicaid expansion in the State of Indiana) is not that mechanism. I believe the Affordable Care Act will do the direct opposite of what you wish, and I believe... -- more --

Annual Conference

Agenda, copies of Information Booklet now available online

5/2/2013

The agenda for this year’s Indiana Annual Conference Session is available online at www.inumc.org/ac13agenda. The information booklet sent to clergy and lay members of Annual Conference also is available online at www.inumc.org/ac13booklet. Please note the contact change for the United Theological Seminary lunch on Friday, June 7, to the Rev. Jean Brindel 317-503-2655 or jbrindel@united.edu.... -- more --

Art Fair 'Changing the World with the Gift of Art' new to annual conference

5/2/2013

God has blessed us all with our own unique gifts, talents and passions. How do we use these gifts to change the world? We may feel that art is not our “gift,” but we all have the passion to share this amazing gift with many. A group of Indiana artists will come together to share how they have used their art as a service to all God’s people, while growing their own passion. From a local artist that teaches art in our prison system and allows the inmates to express their deep... -- more --

Chamber group of AU Choir coming to Annual Conference Session in June

5/2/2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The chamber group pictured here and comprised of 15 members of the Africa University Choir and choir director from Mutare, Zimbabwe, will be in the United States from May 25 to June 17. The choir’s 2013 tour schedule includes itineration in local churches, as well as performances at the Oklahoma Annual Conference and Indiana Annual Conference (June 6-8) sessions. A list of concert locations in Indiana will be posted at www.inumc.org/ac13 and in the... -- more --

Clergy, lay member portraits to be taken during conference session

5/2/2013

Lifetouch Church Services will be taking individual clergy and lay member portrait pictures this year at the Indiana Annual Conference Session. Each member having his or her picture taken will receive a complimentary 8x10 inch photo and a printed Indiana Conference Directory. The Lifetouch studio will be set up in Room 232, in the Indiana Convention Center, close to the conference session registration area. No appointment is necessary. Studio hours will be Wednesday, June 5, 5 to 7:30 p.m.;... -- more --

Community Prayer Breakfast to feature Senator Lugar

5/2/2013

All Hoosier United Methodists and guests are invited to the Indiana Conference and Community Prayer Breakfast Saturday, June 8 from 8 to 9 a.m. at the Indiana Convention Center, 100 South Capitol at Georgia Street in downtown Indianapolis. Following the theme of the 2013 Annual Conference, “Be a World Changer,” the prayer breakfast will focus on how changing the world begins with prayer. Bishop Mike Coyner will welcome former U.S. Senator Richard Lugar as the keynote speaker.... -- more --

Connecting Your Congregation and Your Conference

3/15/2013

Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation 2013-2016 now available for Lay Leader/Lay Member The Lay Leader and Lay Member to annual conference are key roles in linking the vision and plan of the congregation with the ministry of the annual conference and in nurturing cooperation and coordination of the pastor and congregation in leadership. These two roles are complementary, yet there are responsibilities unique to each role. The greatest distinction is the connections they forge with and on... -- more --

Festival of Young Preachers to be featured Thursday morning

5/2/2013

INDIANAPOLIS – The INUMC Festival of Young Preachers will showcase and encourage young people (14-28 years old) who aspire to be preachers of the Gospel. Conference session attendees are invited to attend the Thursday morning sessions June 6, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in one of the Indiana Convention Center’s breakout rooms to celebrate, be inspired, and encourage these young preachers as they deliver their sermons. The celebration will continue with the Eat, Preach, & Praise... -- more --

Indiana Conference board recommends changes to retiree health funding

5/2/2013

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Conference Board of Pension and Health Benefits has received the report of the conference’s Retiree Health Funding Task Force and will be making related recommendations to the 2013 Indiana Annual Conference Session meeting June 6-8 in Indianapolis. The task force was created by the 2012 Indiana Annual Conference in response to reductions in funding of its Retiree Subsidy by the Annual Conference Tithe budget. The task force sought to design a subsidy,... -- more --

Plan for Power, Praise Night out with Indiana Fever

AU Choir to sing

5/2/2013

INDIANAPOLIS – The WNBA champion Indiana Fever are playing Saturday, June 8 at 3:30 p.m. at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis against the Phoenix Mercury and number one draft pick Brittany Griner. The Africa University Choir will sing immediately following the game. Tickets to the game are $20 each and include: A free T-shirt, Hot dog, chips, soda, plus the Power and Praise concert beginning at 6:30 p.m. featuring: the Judah Band, Patrick Dopson,... -- more --

Who is Tendekai Kuture?

5/2/2013

Tendekai Kuture is head of the music department, and choir director at United Methodist-related Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. He joined AU in 2008, and he describes the Africa University Choir as one of the choral wonders of the world. Kuture’s music career and experience spans 40 years. His first assignment as a choir conductor was in 1971 at Nyamuzuhwe High School, a United Methodist Mission school in Zimbabwe’s north-eastern district of Mutoko. He continued to do choir... -- more --

Worship Leaders Day workshop open for registration

5/2/2013

INDIANAPOLIS – Worship Leaders Day is a workshop that is designed to celebrate, educate and motivate worship leaders, music directors and worship musicians throughout the state of Indiana. It will be held Friday, June 7 from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Indiana Convention Center, 100 South Capitol at Georgia Street, downtown Indianapolis. The workshop will be led by David Santistevan and hosted by the Indiana Annual Conference Worship Design Team Chairperson, Marion Miller, along with Greg Graham... -- more --

Indiana

Archives & History announces two Historians of the Year

5/2/2013

The Indiana United Methodist Conference Commission on Archives and History announces two individuals have been selected for recognition as a local church Historian of the Year. Edith Smith has been the church historian for Wayside United Methodist Church in Clinton, Ind., for many years, and has devoted lots of time volunteering to go through and sort out the records of multiple predecessor congregations. Dr. Jan Shipps of First United Methodist Church in Bloomington is a professional... -- more --

Bishop appoints Anderson as transitional senior pastor to Fort Wayne church

5/2/2013

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Bishop Mike Coyner announced April 19 the appointment of the Rev. Dr. Doug Anderson to serve as the Transitional Senior Pastor of Sonrise United Methodist Church in Fort Wayne, effective July 1. The title “Transitional Senior Pastor” reflects a unique design for providing senior leadership for the Sonrise UMC in its three campuses for the next two to three years, following the death this past November of founding pastor, the Rev. Dr. Stan Buck. Anderson... -- more --

Bishop dedicates new entrance to Epworth Forest

5/2/2013

NORTH WEBSTER, Ind. – Indiana Bishop Mike Coyner dedicated the new entrance to the Epworth Forest Conference Center Sunday, April 28. Participants literally moved through history as they entered the conference grounds through the former entrance and left through the new entrance. In the dedication service, Coyner used two passages of Scripture – “…God will open a door for the world so we can preach the plan of Christ to everyone” from Colossians 4:2-3 and more... -- more --

Community Outreach expanding before Indiana annual conference session

5/2/2013

INDIANAPOLIS – United Methodist Metro Ministries will again take the lead for the Wednesday, June 5, Community Outreach the day before the Indiana Annual Conference Session in Indianapolis. Fletcher Place Community Center has been added as a new outreach during annual conference. Other ministry sites for volunteers to be involved include: Brightwood Community Center, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Indianapolis, Neighbor-to-Neighbor repairs in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood and... -- more --

Eleven graduate from 2013 License to Preach School

5/2/2013

Gathered from throughout Indiana, eleven United Methodist certified ministerial candidates met to attend License to Preach School this past spring. The candidates traveled to Springville for classes from across the state. This License to Preach School met for four weekends in February, March and April at Camp Indicoso near Bedford. License to Preach School was established by the Indiana Conference to provide a dynamic means of study to fulfill the strict requirements for the Local... -- more --

Professor speaks at Showers Lectures about God's mission

5/2/2013

INDIANAPOLIS – “It’s not that churches and schools have missions on behalf of God, but God is the one who has a mission,” said alumnus and former Professor of Religion at the University of Indianapolis, the Rev. Dr. Steven O’Malley. He continued, “And sometimes God uses schools as vehicles of that mission.” O’Malley, the J. T. Seamands Professor of Wesleyan Holiness History at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., spoke these words of... -- more --

Reed appointed to GBGM position

5/2/2013

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Bishop Mike Coyner has announced the appointment of the Rev. LeKisha Reed to the staff of the New York City-based United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, effective May 1. She now serves as Executive Secretary of Networks and Constituencies for the Mission and Evangelism Unit. She will continue her status as a clergy member of the Indiana Conference in Extension Ministries. Upon the announcement of her new appointment, Coyner said: “Lekisha has... -- more --

University of Evansville receives largest gift in its history

5/2/2013

The late Dr. William L. Ridgway has left $39 million to the University of Evansville, establishing the largest single gift ever made to UE from an individual or corporation. The lifetime trustee and retired ophthalmologist now is the largest donor in UE’s 159-year history, with a total of $52.6 million given to the University. UE President Thomas A. Kazee recently announced the gift at the Ridgway University Center. “Dr. Ridgway was a passionate believer in the importance of... -- more --

Warsaw church re-enacts Holy Week in drive-through drama

Glory Sightings

5/2/2013

WARSAW, Ind. – Pastor Cindy Gackenheimer of Celebration United Methodist Church in Warsaw, Ind., shares this Glory Sighting. She writes: I want to tell you about an exciting event that we, at Celebration UMC, offered this past Maundy Thursday. The congregation created a drive-through passion re-enactment. Our church, which averages about 58 worshipers each Sunday, had more than 50 people involved with the planning and re-enactment, and we ended up having more than 100 cars come through.... -- more --

Wesley Heritage and Jerusalem tours planned for 2014

5/2/2013

Indiana Educational Opportunities representative Norm Nellis promotes two EO tours coming next year, 2014. The first is an invitation to travel with Indiana Bishop Mike Coyner for a 9-day Wesley Heritage Tour to England. The dates are July 23-31, 2014, and the all-inclusive price from Indianapolis is $3,746 per person. Join Hoosier United Methodists in learning more about our Wesleyan heritage as United Methodists on this travel-study opportunity. A London pre-tour and Ireland post-tour also... -- more --

Wesley Village holds commitment promotion through May 31

5/2/2013

FRANKFORT, Ind. – UM-related Wesley Manor is running a commitment promotion now through May 31 as a bonus for those who want to move into a Wesley Village home. In order to make retirement living more affordable, vacant Village homes have a new reduced entrance fee with reductions ranging from $16,500 to $24,500. Not only are new Wesley Village residents receiving reductions on entrance fees, but those who place a deposit on a home, as a commitment, in the month of May will receive one... -- more --

Global and Missions

Mission u announces the school's Hands On Project

5/2/2013

Here’s a question for United Methodist Women across Indiana. Do you need a program idea for your unit or circle? You might consider having a sew-in to make the Hands-on Project for 2013 Mission u of the United Methodist Women of Indiana. Mission u will be held at DePauw University in Greencastle July 23-27. If you don’t sew you could just cut the pieces for the project and Mission u participants will work to sew them together. Instructions and patterns for this project can be... -- more --

South Bend congregation brings clean water to African villages

5/2/2013

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – In 2009, Clay Church, A United Methodist Community of God’s Love, identified “clean water for the world” as one of our goals for the annual Christmas Eve “Love Offering for a World in Need,” designed to meet the requirements of Matthew 25. One of those goals was to respond to the cry, “I am thirsty.” That offering was wildly successful and that year Clay Church provided funds for 11 wells in Africa. Since then, Clay Church has... -- more --

Successful mission camp in Alabama for Hagerstown and other churches

5/2/2013

HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – Earlier this year, 23 men and 14 women travelled to Sand Mountain in northeast Alabama to help repair homes destroyed or damaged by the 2011 tornado. This was the eighth consecutive year First United Methodist Church of Hagerstown has organized a mission work team to assist in repairing storm damaged homes in the South. The work team included volunteers from Hagerstown, plus 14 additional churches and volunteers from four other states beyond Indiana. They worked in... -- more --

Viewpoints

Celebrate Older Adult Ministries in May

5/2/2013

As we read Acts 2:17, we can see God’s plan for the Family of God: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young will see visions. Your elders will dream dreams.” May is Older Adult Ministries Month in The United Methodist Church. This is a time to celebrate the gifts of God. Plan to hold an Older Adult Ministries Sunday in May to show appreciation and support for Older Adults who continue to... -- more --

Modeling Jesus' love

Peace with Justice Sunday, May 26

5/2/2013

Your Peace with Justice gifts Sunday, May 26 (or another day during the year), change lives in places where the joy of knowing Christ is mixed with the tragedy of violence. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bishop Nkulu Ntanda Ntambo assumed his post as a brutal civil war began in 1996. After nearly eight years of war, he helped to broker a peace settlement at a conference where 250 fighters committed not to fight again. United Methodists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo –... -- more --

The pastor as a person

Body, Mind & Spirit

5/2/2013

Parson – from Latin persona, meaning “person” Parsonage – from Latin, a house where a “person” lives For a pastor, the deepest levels of satisfaction and intimacy in a parish occur when others realize the pastor is a person, and this person (parson) is not immune from personal tragedies, or heartache, or even despair. The pastor is a person with hopes and dreams, loves and fears, joys and tears. This revelation is not easily obtained (pastors resist, too)... -- more --

Thoughts on Living Faithfully, #3 Our Mission is Change

Rejuvenate: Strengthening Leaders, Churches and Communities

5/2/2013

Our lives are filled with change. The mission statement of The United Methodist Church expects change. Our mission is to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” The purpose of Rejuvenate Ministry is to strengthen clergy excellence and enhance the viability of congregations. We do this in order to strengthen leaders, churches and communities for ministries that will be transformative. I have had the opportunity during the past nine months to be with... -- more --

Chronicles

Anoka church celebrates its centennial

5/2/2013

ANOKA, Ind. – In 1910, Mrs. Lottie Turnpaugh recognized a need in the small community of Anoka, southeast of Logansport on U.S. Highway 31. She responded to that need by organizing a Sunday school program for area children. Three years later her actions led to the birth of the Anoka United Methodist Church. Anoka UMC is celebrating its’ 100th birthday. The church, established in 1913 and located south of Logansport, is enjoying a year-long celebration. Activities and events... -- more --

Conference seeks creative social media communicator for mission, social advocacy

5/2/2013

INDIANAPOLIS – Wanted – A creative social media communicator with artistic skills who is passionate about Christians living a life engaged in mission and social advocacy causes. The Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church has an opening for an Associate Director of Missions and Advocacy to work in a team environment promoting growth in these areas of service and giving. This position is part time (20 to 25 hours per week) and requires being in the Indianapolis office one... -- more --

Hunger ministry presents VBS Mission Program for churches

5/2/2013

“Superheroes of the Faith,” the Society of St. Andrew’s Vacation Bible School Mission Program is designed to be used either as a stand-alone program or as a mission emphasis to compliment your church’s Vacation Bible School program. Free download and all details can be found at www.endhunger.org/vbs.htm. Each day, students will be introduced to a different Biblical character who did amazing things for God. “Superheroes of the Faith” is a complete VBS program... -- more --

New Christopher book navigates from finances to faithfulness

5/2/2013

We are living in a shift. With cultural changes in the U.S. and our global financial situation in turmoil, it is important that the work of the church expands to talk about every aspect of discipleship, including church finances. In Rich Church, Poor Church, Arkansas’ J. Clif Christopher addresses a transforming understanding of stewardship. Some may say that the economic condition of the church and community determine whether or not the church is poor or rich, but in Rich Church, Poor... -- more --

United Methodists mourn death of Bob Edgar, 69

5/2/2013

WASHINGTON – The Rev. Bob Edgar, 69, a United Methodist pastor and a “tireless defender of the poor and an advocate for justice,” died unexpectedly April 23 of a heart attack at his home in the Washington area. Edgar, who was top executive of Common Cause, also was the former executive of the National Council of Churches for four terms from 2000 to 2007; and a former six-term member of Congress from Pennsylvania. He was president of United Methodist-related Claremont... -- more --