TENNESSEE CONFERENCE REVIEW September 4, 2009
Articles in the September 4, 2009, issue of THE REVIEW
1. Responding to the Crisis of At Risk Children and Youth
2. Data Base established for listing of VIM teams, large or small, Youth and Adults,
3. Native Moccasins Rock: Festival, Workshop, Spiritual Retreat, and History Lesson
4. Calling all Miriam’s Promise Friends and Supporters!!
5. Teens reach out in mission -- Jeans from Teens
6. Children of Grace UMC go hands-on to end hunger for local kids
7. Kansas pastor laments presence of phantom fathers
8. City Kids visit to farm offers first-time contact with horses, sheep, and chickens—Oh my
9. Six awarded Ingram Scholarships, article with one captioned photo
10. Death of former pastor compels sharing of article about hospital ministry
11. Professional Association of United Methodist Church Secretaries (PAUMCS) 2009 Institute, article with no graphics or photos.
Responding to the Crisis of At Risk Children and Youth
By Patty Smith*
These startling lists have prompted educators, politicians and government agencies to label up to 90% of our children as “at-risk” and in need of help. The “at-risk” label carries many connotations. An Online Dictionary defines at-risk as “being endangered, due to exposure to disease or from a lack of parental or familial guidance and proper health care.” Other resources categorize at-risk children as those kids who face nearly insurmountable challenges due homelessness, poverty and other environmental factors. What does at-risk mean to the church?
Jesus defined “at-risk” in Matthew 25:35-36. His words, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me,” clearly reference situations that modern-day at-risk children face today.
We could sadly replace the word “I” with names of children in our midst. For Sarah was hungry. Tommy needed clothes. Teresa was sick. Alex was in prison.
The harsh reality of this verse is more visible every day in our local churches. With a national unemployment rate of 9.4%, a global economic crisis, skyrocketing food costs, and lack of health care, the number of at-risk children is increasing exponentially. How can the church respond to this crisis? Where do we start? Start with Jesus and his words in Matthew 25. Jesus gives the church a detailed blueprint for reaching at-risk children. We need to meet their immediate physiological needs of food, clothing, shelter, education, and support utilizing a systematic approach—all centered in the life-changing, abundant love of Jesus Christ.
Many churches in the Tennessee Conference are meeting the immediate needs of at-risk kids. We are blessed to have churches that feed the homeless, house the poor, provide after school care, donate school supplies, offer grocery coupons, and so much more.
For example, Epworth United Methodist Church in Franklin offers Fuel Bags for the students at Bethesda Elementary. These sacks are filled with nutritional treats such as protein bars and juice to provide sustenance for kids over the weekend. The Lamplighters women’s group assembles approximately 22 bags each week. Church member and local pediatrician Dr. Michelle Fiscus sees the impact these bags have on families firsthand. She states, “We know that children who don’t have ready access to nutritious foods will reach for high-calorie, nutrient-poor convenience foods that contribute to poor nutrition in general and our rising rate of childhood obesity in particular. Programs such as this one offer healthy, easily accessible food items to meet these children’s needs.”
Other churches reach out to at-risk children by providing educational opportunities. Hillcrest UMC in Nashville offers ESL (English as a Second Language) classes to Hispanic adults each week. While parents attend these English classes, their children enjoy ministry experiences that focus on creative expression and Bible study. Educating at-risk kids is also a priority for Springfield First United Methodist in the Clarksville District. On Wednesday nights Springfield First offers the Heart program. Members of the Heart team work with local elementary teachers to identify first and second graders who face academic challenges. Each Wednesday night these kids travel to the church, enjoy a hearty meal and then dive into their schoolwork with passionate tutors by their side.
At-risk teens are also a focus of churches’ efforts. Franklin First United Methodist Church reaches out to at-risk teens annually. Each winter the youth ministry partners with 61st Avenue United Methodist in Nashville to sponsor at-risk teens to attend Warmth in Winter. Director of Youth Ministries at Franklin First, Jacob Fasig, notes, “It’s important for these teens to experience fellowship with other youth around the Conference as they grow in their faith.” He adds, “It’s amazing to see youth from different walks of life come together as the body of Christ.”
Churches like these embrace whole-heartedly that “Faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” (James 2:17) Ministry to children at-risk is certainly a worthy deed that meets a growing need. In fact, given the staggering increase of at-risk children in our communities, new opportunities exist for people to live out their faith in service to these children. Is God calling your church to do something new or something different to reach at-risk children? Has God given the lay people in your church a heart for these very special kids?
If the answer is yes, you’ll need a place to begin.
Here’s a modified version of a simple strategic plan from The Annie E. Casey Foundation to follow as you determine what you’ll do:
1. Identify community needs.
Work with your Children’s Ministry team or group of passionate lay people to identify an immediate need in your community. Interview key individuals such as school principals, guidance counselors, and other stakeholders including parents of at-risk children to determine what ministry opportunities exist.
2. Explore solutions.
Create your ministry’s vision by brainstorming what the positive results would be for your at-risk audience. Your vision will identify an immediate need and tangible ways to meet that need utilizing both secular and faith-based avenues. For example, your vision might be to create an after school program for elementary-aged children to develop strong relationships with adults in a faith-based community to reduce the growing number of latch-key children in your neighborhood. Be sure to include key influencers and stakeholders in these sessions. They’ll provide key empirical and anecdotal information that can shape your vision.
3. Build a strategy.
Identify the goals and outcomes for your ministry to provide a clear blueprint and measure success. Define your program’s expectations, how you’ll meet these expectations through programs and activities, and what resources are necessary to execute the programs and activities.
4. Put your strategy into action.
Follow your blueprint. Remember to keep Jesus central to everything you do. Make adjustments to your strategy as needed. Be flexible and expect that some aspects of your plan will be modified.
5. Measure the outcomes.
Prepare a written evaluation based on your goals. Gather empirical and anecdotal information. Have ministry participants, servants, parents and other stakeholders complete these evaluations. Conduct personal and family interviews to document the strengths and weaknesses of your ministry. Collecting the right data will enable you to clearly determine the success of your ministry.
6. Publish your results and recommendations.
Compile a comprehensive report of your ministry to at-risk children. Distribute it to your key stakeholders and seek their input. Share your report with other churches serving children and other at-risk populations so they can learn from your efforts.
We must remember the critical role that faith development and a growing relationship with Jesus can have in making a positive impact on the lives of children at-risk. Each ministry and moment spent serving children at-risk should be an intentional God connection. Without placing emphasis on Jesus for what, why and how we meet the needs of at-risk children, our efforts are the same as any social service program minus the life-changing, eternal promise a relationship with Jesus provides. As followers of Jesus, we have the blessed opportunity to shape the future of the world’s next authors, teachers, speakers, preachers, scientists, etc. in the name of Jesus. With God’s help we can reduce the at-risk circumstances and challenges too many children face. At-risk may become at-hope, in-Christ, at-heart---something new, something relevant, something hope and faith-filled. It’s possible in your community, the Tennessee Conference and around the world.
*Patty Smith is the Conference Director of Children and Family Ministries
Data Base established for listing of VIM teams, large or small, Youth and Adults
By Jason Brock and Brad Fiscus
The Tennessee Conference is creating a strong data base of local church, district, and conference Volunteers in Mission teams scheduled for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010 and 2011. Teams that have already completed their mission are also listed and there is a strong request that both youth and adult teams be listed in the data base.
“Why,” some have asked, “should we list every local VIM experience large and small?” What’s the reason for creating such a data base?” Glad you asked!
Here are the top eight reasons why such a listing of teams and dates is absolutely essential:
1. It becomes a witness to the living out of our faith in Christ together. Our conference in 2008 sent out a minimum of 2,702 adults, children, and youth on 201 mission trips with an estimated 108,000 volunteer hours (hours valued at a little over $2,000,000).
2. It provides an opportunity for local church groups to know if other churches are willing to partner with them on a given mission trip – there are some churches who want to be involved in a youth-related trip but don’t feel they can because they only have a couple of youth, or not enough available adults for an adult VIM experience.
3. It allows the Conference to create a mission database of the projects in which churches are participating, and will let us know what they did and what they experienced. It also gives us an opportunity to know how the sponsoring agency (i.e. Mountain TOP, UMCOR, REACH, Team Effort) sets up programs—and this information can be utilized by others.
4. Starting to plan a mission trip to a designated location. It might help you to make contact with the team leader of a group that has already served in that location.
5. We live in an electronic age. A team that might wish to partner with a Tennessee Conference VIM team on a mission trip could very well be outside the Tennessee Conference, i.e., in Oklahoma, or Maine.
6. A local team trying to determine a destination for its mission can check out several opportunities with previous mission teams—and from those conversations KNOW if they have the equipment and skills needed for a specific situation?
7. Local churches exploring Volunteers in Mission may wish to arrange an informational meeting for the congregation featuring several experienced group leaders from other congregations.
8. Planning a first VIM trip out of the country? Previous teams can teach you a great deal about the history and culture of the people you will be serving.
To view the master listing of Youth and Adult teams we KNOW about so far for 2009-2010 go to the Volunteers in Mission website. Start by going to the Annual Conference website http://www.tnumc.org, visually scan the listing on the left side of the page and click on “VOLUNTEERS IN MISSION.” On the VIM page you will see a number of options in the left hand column under “Volunteers in Mission.” Click on the option “2009 TN TEAMS”
http://www.tnumc.org/VOLUNTEERS_IN_MISSION/2009_TN_TEAMS/
If your past or planned trip does not appear, PLEASE share your information through one of the following QUICK online surveys.
For Youth Groups under VOLUNTEERS IN MISSION click the option “Youth In Mission Survey.” http://www.tnumc.org/VOLUNTEERS_IN_MISSION/Youth_in_Mission_Survey/
Adult (if mostly adults) Groups click on the option “Volunteers in Mission Survey.” http://www.tnumc.org/VOLUNTEERS_IN_MISSION/Volunteers_in_Mission_Survey/
You will also note the Volunteers in Mission Home page provides ways for teams to share their experience through pictures and stories.
Contact information for Jason Brock and Brad Fiscus: 304 South Perimeter Park Drive, Suite 1, Nashville, TN 37211, 615-329-1177, 615-329-0884 (fax). jbrock@tnumc.org; bfiscus@tnumc.org
Native Moccasins Rock: Festival, Workshop, Spiritual Retreat, and History Lesson
The Tennessee Annul Conference Native American Ministries has regularly presented a training event and retreat for local church leaders. Now called Native Moccasins Rock the event has emerged into a nationally recognized festival and workshop held annually in August (projected August 13 to 15, 2010) at Camp Lake Benson in Bon Aqua, Tennessee.
Not only is Native Moccasins Rock attracting top leadership from different Native American tribes around the country, but a growing number of Tennesseans, children and youth as well as adults. Native American traditions and history are explored over three days and participants have opportunity to learn pow wow drumming, Native dance traditions, storytelling, and various Native crafts from flintknaping to basket weaving to soapstone carving, beading, and the creation of dance shawls.
Performances are stunning whether they come from storyteller Ragghi Rain, flutist Jamie Russell, Warriors Path drummers, or the Choctaw Social Dancers, But, the event is also a spiritual retreat—a time of prayer, meditation and exploration, a moment in time when spiritual healing can take place.
When the event was completed, Mary T Newman, coordinator for Native Moccasins Rock, received a note from Susan Parker King. The note sums up the total three-day experience: “How can I thank you for the gift of providing this past weekend? I came with dark, roiling clouds in my soul. Life felt gray and hollow; discord jumbled my thoughts; I carried a lot of grief and mourned great losses in my heart. I believe it was God's plan and timing that brought me to this weekend just when I so needed it. I came thinking it would be a diversion from my sadness and a learning experience, but it proved to be SO much more.
“Increment by increment, God brought healing through Jamie's songs, Ragghi's stories, Boe's dancing, John and Emerson's singing and drumming, and Freeman's incredibly insightful words. Layer by layer the clouds in my soul began to dissipate. I came to rest in that balance of which Freeman spoke. Each of these people--as well as all the others--gave generously of not only their gifts, but of themselves. I think that is what makes Native Moccasins Rock so great--it is a weekend of utter acceptance and selfless giving. And THAT is a genuine healing balm. Where before I felt trapped, now I see a path before me--perhaps only the first few steps, but a path that I will follow one step at a time--and it WILL lead somewhere! Finally peace rests within me again. And I think I discovered that while my blood is not Native, my heart is.
“Please share this along with my love and thanks to all who were a part of this weekend. Will be back next year!!!”
Calling all Miriam’s Promise
Friends and Supporters!!
The 2009 Golf/Walk Challenge is quickly approaching and the Miriam’s Promise Staff and Board wanted to make a special plea for your support during this very important fundraising event. We are acutely aware that raising funds for any non-profit is challenging this year. While economic conditions seem to be making some improvement, corporate giving, private foundation support and church giving are still extremely below normal levels. According to experts at the Center for Non-Profit Management, the only area of giving still remaining strong is individual giving. They report that when individuals are given the opportunity to give to a cause they feel is important, they are still willing to donate!
The current economic situation presents unique challenges to agencies like Miriam’s Promise and requires that we become more creative in the areas of fundraising and development. With this in mind, we ask that you consider active participation in the 2009 Golf/Walk Challenge on October 12, 2009 at Nashville Golf & Athletic Club! Here’s how you can help:
1. Put together a foursome golf team to enter the CHALLENGE and seek sponsorship
2. Sponsor a single golfer for participation in the Golf CHALLENGE
3. Sponsor a foursome golf team to meet the Golf CHALLENGE
4. Gather a team of your friends to participate as a group in the Walk CHALLENGE
5. Sponsor a Walker in the Walk CHALLENGE
6. Underwrite, your choice, of several overhead cost items involved in making the Golf/Walk CHALLENGE happen (these costs cut into the overall realized funding of the event)
We want to continue providing a safe “oasis” for women experiencing crisis pregnancies and for children who need “forever” families. For these women, the upcoming birth of a child brings anxiety and despair. They struggle with the reality that the love they feel may not be enough to provide for all their baby’s needs. Some of women assisted by Miriam’s Promise are pregnant inmates in jail; many are already parents. We are providing more services every year to families adopting older children who need attachment coaching and therapeutic services to help those children heal.
Your support during this time of CHALLENGE will allow Miriam’s Promise to continue to meet the needs of the precious populations we serve. Visit our website at http://www.miriamspromise.org/ for more details and to find out how you can participate in this awesome fundraising event!
Many thanks for your support!
Debbie Robinson, Executive Director, Miriam’s Promise
Teens reach out in mission -- Jeans from Teens
“Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.” Romans 12:13
A couple of years ago, Carly Hobbs, a youth at Lewisburg First UMC, had a vision for teens to share their excess jeans with others. She realized that not all teens have the privilege of shopping for jeans. She wanted to collect jeans that had only been slightly worn to donate to teens that needed them. Carly and her friends have collected over 75 pairs of jeans this summer. She also incorporated the collection of jeans as part of the summer Vacation Bible School mission project. In mid-August, Carly gave out 50 pairs of jeans to children, youth and adults at the Care Kitchen, a weekly meal provided for the community. She is continuing to collect jeans with plans to offer “Jeans from Teens” on a regular basis.
Children of Grace UMC go hands-on to end hunger for local kids
Every day, all over this country, school kids lug home backpacks stuffed with books and papers and gym clothes and pencils. But on any given Friday in Mt. Juliet, TN, a startling number of those backpacks contain something else. Food to get that child through the weekend.
Right here in the Mt. Juliet area a significant number of children eat no dinner at night or breakfast in the morning, living off the food from their schools’ free lunch program. And when they trudge home Friday afternoon, many are unsure where their next meal will come from because school lunch is two days away.
Determined to help wipe out hunger for area kids, the children of Grace United Methodist Church in Mt. Juliet have partnered with W.A. Wright Elementary and Nashville’s Second Harvest Food Bank in a “BackPack” program that provides each participating child in need with a pack of food on Fridays. BackPacks include small pop top entrees, such as beans and franks and chili, cereal, applesauce, a fruit cup, 100% fruit juice, shelf stable milk, and snacks like peanut butter crackers.
The Grace BackPack initiative serves 45 elementary school children at W.A. Wright every weekend throughout the school year. Participants are identified by teachers and guidance counselors. Through its partnership with the Second Harvest Food Bank, Grace UMC can help feed that many children for $5,400. This partnership also ensures the quality of the food because Second Harvest has stringent requirements for its BackPack partners.
Helping the BackPack program takes place in many ways at Grace. During the summer’s Vacation Bible School, daily offerings were committed to the BackPack program and a total of $4,300 was raised. Additional contributions from the congregation have brought that amount up to the necessary $5,400. Wednesday programming begins with Pizza with a Purpose where, after pizza, children stuff the bags of food to be distributed the following Friday.
“This program has really touched the hearts of the children of Grace,” explains Amy Buttrey, Director of Children’s Ministries. “They were shocked to learn that children they know, children they sit next to and play with, might not have enough to eat. It has brought home the issue of hunger in a way they can understand and they want to do whatever they can to help. And it has allowed them to have a “hands on” role in doing God’s work.”
To learn more about the Grace UMC initiative and what you can do to help, contact Amy Buttrey at amy@graceumc.net. To learn more about the BackPack program in general check out http://www.secondharvestnashville.org/.
Kansas pastor laments presence of phantom fathers
NASHVILLE, Tenn.––The pastor of a Wichita, Kans., congregation that increased from 25 members in 1998 to 800 members today, addressed the July 11th session of the Tenth National Gathering of United Methodist Men.
Following an exegesis of Paul’s second letter to Timothy, the Rev. Kevass Harding stated that although Timothy’s father was in his house he was a “phantom father.”
“Although he was in the house, Eunice, the mother, was doing what he, the father, was supposed to be doing,” said the pastor of Dellrose United Methodist Church. “Publicly he did all the things that would bring great status to his name, but privately he couldn’t even lead his family to Christ.”
“And even today, 2009, we still have phantom fathers,” said Harding. “Making a baby does not make a man a father––mentoring, leading, guiding, and passing on our faith, makes us father figures as God called us to be.”
Noting the devastating effects of phantom fathers, Harding said that a decade ago the number of murders committed by teens was approximately 1,000 a year; today it is over 4,000 a year.
“In the past 30 years there has been a 550 percent increase in violent crimes; 400 percent increase in unmarried births; 200 percent increase in teen pregnancies, and a 300 percent increase in teen suicide.”
Harding believes that Timothy became a church leader because Paul passed the faith on to him, and he recalled how Cliff Fanning, his big brother under the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, passed the faith on to him. “I was 10 years old when I met Cliff,” said Harding. “I was trying to liberate a candy bar from a candy machine.”
Harding said Fanning gave him three gifts as a mentor: spiritual kinship, prayer and encouragement. “I was ready to bite into my quarter pounder with cheese, when Cliff said, ‘Let us pray – you don’t know what they were doing with that cheeseburger.’
“Cliff Fanning encouraged me to be the man I am today,” said Harding. “I was about to throw in the towel, but Cliff said, ‘You can’t stop what God is trying to do with you.’ That got hold of me and I realized I had come too far to turn around now.”
Harding encouraged the men at the national gathering to mentor boys. “There is a boy who needs you as I needed Cliff Fanning.”
Harding is the author of Can These Bones Live? a book that traces the growth of Dellrose United Methodist Church from a 25-member congregation to over 800 members in six years. He attributes the growth to the fact that Dellrose is a place where everyone will feel the love of God, find the joy of Christ, and experience the power of the Holy Spirit. The church sponsors a youth center that includes a tutoring and mentoring program; a counseling center; and sermons and studies that address the needs of a multi-ethnic, blue-collar working community.
City Kids visit to farm offers first-time contact with horses, sheep, and chickens—Oh my
On Thursday, July 30th a group of 13 children, youth, and advisors from the Nancy Webb Kelly United Methodist Church in Nashville, TN, arrived at the Pelham United Methodist Church ready for an adventure, and they were not disappointed.
As the “City Cousins” arrived, they were greeted by their “Country Cousins” from the congregation and everyone had a snack. After being warned of the everyday hazards that one finds in the county – poison ivy, snakes, and possibly unfriendly farm animals – the group was reluctantly ready to embark on their trip to 4 local farms.
The first stop was the Ralph & Helen Meeks farm, which offered a look at calves, a vegetable garden in full production, blackberry vines loaded with luscious, ripe berries and a large cantaloupe and watermelon patch with basketball sized melons. At the Larry & Reeda Shelton Farm, the group was able to see cows and hold the little yellow puffs of chickens freshly hatched. Then, the David & Melda Jacobs Farm held yet another first for most of the participants as they came into close contact with curly, fluffy, white sheep.
However, the majority of the day was spent at the farm of Jerry and Judy Walling where first-time opportunities abounded. These included a beekeeping exhibition, horseback riding, horseshoes, croquet, and catching fish from the farm pond. Most caught fish, but few dared remove the hook. That worked out well enough because volunteers from Pelham UMC were there to lend a helping hand. Then there was the favorite part of any Methodist gathering, the food. Lunch was a covered dish extravaganza with the church members supplying much of the food from their farms and gardens, and dinner was held in front of an open campfire where everyone cooked their own hot dogs and “real” smores to the delight of one and all.
The day brought smiles, laughter, and blessings to the children, youth, and advisors who came to “farm-city day” as well as to those who served as their hosts.
Six awarded Ingram Scholarships
Pomona United Methodist Church in Cumberland County presented 6 scholarships on Sunday, July 12, during the worship service. These scholarships are made possible though the generosity of the late Rev. Clifford Ingram and Shirley Ingram. They are administered through the Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation office.
The committee members who selected these recipients were Teresa Graham, Julia Dixon, Judy Green, Harvey Green, Jill Hall and Randy Smith. They received over 70 applications.
Shirley Ingram spoke during the worship service of why her husband decided to set up the scholarship program for needy students and challenged the students and the congregation to make the most of their lives. Teresa Graham introduced each of the recipients who were all able to attend the service. Rev. Jerry Mayo presided during the service.
The recipients were Brandon Cooper, Kaitlyn Seiber Lake, Heather Tackett, T. J. Noel, Jessica Wilson, and Laura G. Swallows.
A bountiful luncheon honoring these students and their families was served following the service.
Death of former pastor compels sharing of article about hospital ministry
The Rev. Perry Parker
Jeannie Gleaves, and Hickory Bend United Methodist Church’s holiday ministry to families in the waiting room of a hospital ICU, was featured in an article reprinted in the August 21st issue of REVIEW, “Gleaves brings home cooking and love to ICU.” But the article would never have been submitted except for a promise made to Gleaves’ former pastor, the late Rev. Perry Parker. Gleaves explains Parker’s role in a letter to the Rev. John Collette, District Superintendent of the Nashville District.
April 14, 2009
Dear Mr. Collett:
When the enclosed article ran in the paper, Perry Parker called me. He strongly urged me to send it to the Conference for inclusion in “The Review.” I told him I thought it would be considered “tooting my own horn,” and that I’d be embarrassed to do that.
And now, our dear Perry is gone, and I remembered his call that day. Typical of his droll wit, he said that the next time he got sick, he was going to arrange his hospitalization tocoincide with our taking meals to the hospital so that he could have some of our good Methodist cooking!
And so, it is with a heavy heart that I finally fulfill one of his wishes. He thought the whole Conference should know about it, and that perhaps other churches would adopt this ministry. We have learned that two other churches are doing the same thing for other hospitals, and we are so happy to hear that.
Grace and Peace,
Jeannie Gleaves
Hickory Bend UMC
*Perry Parker died April 6, 2009. He was a chaplain in the Air Force, served several TN Conference Churches, and was for three years Wesley Foundation Director at Vanderbilt. One of the churches he served was Hickory Bend UMC.
Professional Association of United Methodist Church Secretaries (PAUMCS) 2009 Institute
By Lora L. O’Steen*
What is more precious than a cool day in July in Atlanta? Why, the fellowship of kindred spirits of the PAUMCS, of course! For a rare and special week, July 19-27, thirty-one participants experienced both, on the Emory campus, during the PAUMCS Institute.
The Institute provided outstanding advanced professional training and enrichment for United Methodist church secretaries from across the denomination. Rebecca Setliff, Ph.D., facilitated our interaction. Becky brought a wealth of team building experience from her background as director of the Office of Executive Programs in the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. As a professional consultant and coach, she invited us to explore better communication through introspection and reflection. She challenged us to work more effectively in groups as we confronted our weaknesses and leveraged our strengths in a “Desert Survival” workshop.
Dan Gary, Associate Council of the General Council on Finance and Administration, led us in a lively discussion of “Taxes and the Church”. Dan’s animated presentation actually made taxes fun, and funny; with his use of humor and storytelling skills. Jacqueline Gill, Assistant Controller, also from GCFA, led a timely module on “Dollars and Cents of Office and Management and Connectional Giving”. Dr. Robert W. Winstead, Assistant Professor in the Practice of Church Leadership and Director of the Office of Lifelong Learning, Emory University, gave us an overview of “Church Polity”. Bob was particularly tuned in to the divergent needs of the group, as many PAUMCS members are not UMC members. We all felt he made a valuable contribution to our experience, and we enjoyed his ability to weave history into our workplace. Rev. Dr. Ken Sloane, Director Communications Ministry, United Methodist Communications, shared the exciting work he is involved with and explained “The Connectional Thing”. We were all grateful for the web links and gifts (new calendars!) he brought.
Our PAUMCS President, Karen Albro, offered encouragement and insight, leadership and understanding. She made sure we all felt comfortable and with Director of Records and Statistics GCFA Staff Representative to PAUMCS, Cynthia Haralson’s support, we all felt free to be candid and receptive to new ideas and experiences. Cecile McGinniss, Administrative Assistant, worked behind the scenes, and her endeavors contributed to the success of our group.
The five-day PAUMCS Institute is designed to stimulate professional growth and development of the individual. In my experience, the goals were reached and surpassed. I came home renewed and eager to share new practices. I invite you to the PAUMCS Institute; come see how all members of the church body are in ministry together. It is a rare and precious opportunity.
*Lora L. O’Steen is Ministry Assistant, Hendersonville First United Methodist Church
posted by TN Conference UMC @ 12:43 PM
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