Download the printable version of the May 16 issue of GPconnect.
In this edition:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
What's in store for youth this year at annual conference?
Black pastors invited to gathering during annual conference
Bishop Saenz grateful for Pentecost Sunday
ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Three offerings to benefit camps, youth, mercy and justice experiences
GENERAL CONFERENCE
Special Session registration fees to cover $700K budget gap
Special Session to meet at The Dome in St. Louis
CLERGY EXCELLENCE
Church of the Resurrection hosts Young Preachers Festival
EQUIPPING DISCIPLES
Great Plains camps are in need of counselors for summer
You have the power to strengthen a young person’s faith
Which high-schooler do you wish good things for in life?
MERCY & JUSTICE
Peace with Justice Sunday – we're called to be peacemakers in the world
Palestinian ‘Nakba’ anniversary coincides with U.S. Embassy opening
Micah Corps celebrates a decade of making a difference
Carrying out our call to ‘Love One Another’
In cities or farms, raising chickens makes sense ecologically
DISASTER RESPONSE
UMCOR truck will be at annual conference; cleaning, school kit updates
ADMINISTRATION
Fusaro to retire after 17 years with conference
Resource Center suspending operation during relocation to Topeka office
Council of Bishops invites applications for three ecumenical program
ACROSS THE CONNECTION
Bishops disagree over which plans will be put to vote
Wichita First UMC to close Mead’s Corner coffeehouse ministry in July
In other news
Newsletters
Resources
Blogs and opinion
The week ahead
Classifieds
What's in store for youth
this year at annual conference?
Shane Hinderliter, our local church youth ministries coordinator, continues our Great Plains Annual Conference session preview video series by sharing information about what youth will see when they come to annual conference.
And a special gift this year for the youth when you check in: a bracelet that has the cross and flame on one side and our theme "Proclaim Christ" on the other.
Watch Shane’s video.
Everything you need to know about the Great Plains Annual Conference Session.
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Black pastors invited to gathering
during annual conference
A gathering of black pastors and their families in the Great Plains Conference has been scheduled for 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday, June 14, at the Southeast campus of Saint Mark United Methodist Church, 856 S. Green St., Wichita.
A catered meal and a time of fellowship and praise is scheduled.
The cost of the meal is $12 for adults, $6 for 10 years old and younger. The meal is not included with annual conference registration. Dinner registration is due by May 25 by mailing a check to the Salina District Office, 100 E. Claflin St., Kansas Wesleyan University Box 101, Salina, KS 67401.
The dinner is organized by Rev. Dee Williamston, Salina District superintendent; Rev. Kalaba Chali, Great Plains Mercy & Justice coordinator; Rev. Dr. Anne Gatobu, incoming Kansas City District superintendent; and Rhonda Kingwood, lead pastor of the Saint Mark Southeast campus.
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Bishop Saenz grateful
for Pentecost Sunday
Pentecost, which will be celebrated by churches worldwide this Sunday, is one of the most treasured Christian milestones for Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr.
“My mind and my heart are just so full at Pentecost,” Bishop Saenz said.
Read more about the meaning of Pentecost, and its importance for Methodists and Christians.
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Annual Conference
Three offerings to benefit camps,
youth, mercy and justice experiences
The Great Plains Annual Conference session will feature three offerings this year. Churches are encouraged to take up a special offering so either the pastor or a lay member to annual conference can bring the offering with them.
This year’s offerings include:
- Wednesday evening service of remembrance will include an offering for Christmas camps. Each of the conference’s six affiliated camps will host such an event, which are designed to reach children who otherwise would not have the opportunity to participate in a camp experience. The goal is for 20 campers at each location, with a $5,000 need for each location. The offering would be divided equally between the six camps.
- Friday morning’s offering is for the Youth Service Fund, a grant program administered by the Conference Council on Youth Ministries. Seventy percent of the funds raised stay in the Great Plains, while the rest are shared with Discipleship Ministries for a global grant program.
- Friday evening’s ordination service offering is for seminary students to be used toward a mercy and justice experience, with approval of the scholarships decided by the Clergy Excellence team.
Check out a video previewing the Century II Convention Center, the home of the annual conference.
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General Conference
Special Session registration
fees to cover $700K budget gap
The Commission on the General Conference has voted to utilize registration fees in order to make up a $700,000 budget shortfall to cover the costs of the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference—expected to be $3.7 million. The other $3,000,000 is being funded by the General Council on Finance and Administration from various funds under its supervision.
Moses Kumar, General Secretary and Treasurer of the General Council on Finance and Administration advised the Commission that it was its decision whether to cut the budget or raise income from another source to cover the difference. Unlike the regular session of General Conference, there are no significant sponsorship opportunities to offset the costs – and no additional money was apportioned by the 2016 General Conference for this purpose.
The Commission on the General Conference made the decision to charge registration fees, which it anticipates will make up the additional funding needed. “After much discussion, registration fees seemed like the best alternative,” said Duncan McMillan, Commission chair. “This was a difficult decision because we want the event to be fully accessible to all who want to participate.” McMillan said that free live streaming of the General Conference would be available.
Read more about the Special Session planning.
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Special Session to meet
at The Dome in St. Louis
The Commission on the General Conference has announced that the 2019 special session of the General Conference will be held in The Dome, part of the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis. The meeting of The United Methodist Church’s top policy-making body will be Feb. 23-26, 2019.
Read more about the location.
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Clergy Excellence
Church of the Resurrection
hosts Young Preachers Festival
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection will host the Young Preachers Festival, June 27-28 at its Leawood, Kansas, campus.
The gathering is designed to engage and empower young people across the country to pursue their call to ministry and to further inspire and develop preaching gifts in those who have already answered that call. The festival is intended for persons age 18-34 who are graduating high school seniors, college-aged ministry participants, seminary students, declared candidates for ordination, youth directors and young clergy already serving in churches.
The festival’s featured preachers/speakers include: Adam Hamilton, Sarah Heath, Kevin Murriel, Jerusha Neal, Charley Reeb and Scott Chrostek.
Experiences for festival participants include:
• Learning about the craft of preaching, sermon preparation and preaching skills from a panel of featured speakers
• Participating in inspiring worship and hearing some of today’s denominational leaders preach the Gospel
• Preparing and presenting a sermon and receiving feedback
• Meeting and connecting with other young church leaders
The Great Plains Annual Conference is providing scholarships for any participant from Kansas or Nebraska. Email Ashlee Alley Crawford, aalleycrawford@greatplainsumc.org to let her know your interest; no further application is necessary.
Do you know a young leader who should attend the festival? Share information and invite a young leader to attend.
Additional details and registration can be found at www.youngpreachersfestival.org. Contact sharechurchevents@cor.org or 913-232-4139.
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Equipping Disciples
Great Plains camps are
in need of counselors for summer
Camping season in the Great Plains Conference starts later this month, and three Great Plains camps are still in need of counselors.
Camp Comeca, near Cozad, Nebraska, is in need of one female and one male counselor. Contact Justin Hoehner, jhoehner@greatplainsumc.org.
Camp Norwesca, near Chadron, Nebraska, is in need of one female and one male counselor. Contact Meg Mayle, mmayle@greatplainsumc.org.
And Camp Lakeside, near Scott City, Kansas, is possibly in need of a female counselor. Contact Meg Anderson, manderson@greatplainsumc.org.
Applications for camp employment are available here.
More information on Great Plains camps is available here.
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You have the power to
strengthen a young person’s faith
Your conversation with a young person means more to them than you know.
Learn how to have conversations with a young person about their faith, their interests, and their calling in the online Timothy Circle mentor training course. Learn how to mentor a young person through exercises and discussion spread over a three-week span online. For the next few months, this training is free to members of the Great Plains Conference through a special conference grant.
Don’t miss this opportunity. Go to www.beadisciple.com/timothy to enroll and use code CCGP18 to receive the waiver of the regular $45 cost.
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Which high schooler do
you wish good things for in life?
A life filled with meaning is a life filled with joy. But young people often struggle to find their sense of purpose. The Summit Youth Academy is helps high-schoolers hear God’s voice, identify their passions and gifts, and make a plan to apply those gifts in service to others, whether through their career or their volunteer time.
Which high school sophomore or junior do you hope has a meaningful, God-filled life? Nominate them for the Summit Youth Academy at Southwestern College this summer. For one week in July, youth worship with peers, learn to hear God’s voice, and think about how to use their unique gifts in the world. They’ll also learn about Wesleyan concepts of grace, and practice spiritual disciplines that will keep them connected with God throughout their lives and will help them live a life full of meaning and purpose.
Young people must be endorsed by an adult to attend! Nominate a current sophomore or junior for the Summit today at www.summityouthacademy.org/register.
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Mercy & Justice
Peace with Justice Sunday – we're called to be peacemakers in the world
When Peace with Justice coordinators from across the United States gathered at the General Board of Church and Society in April, we engaged with several difficult issues and situations of injustice and conflict at home and around the world. We also shared about peace with justice work happening in our conferences and how we encourage churches to observe Peace with Justice Sunday.
According to the Book of Discipline, Peace with Justice Sunday falls on the Sunday after Pentecost. This year, it will be on Memorial Day weekend. Congregations are also free to choose a different Sunday to observe it. But Memorial Day weekend offers the opportunity to reflect on the urgent need to work for peace and justice to end ongoing wars and prevent future wars. Christ calls us to love our enemies. God created all of humanity and griefs when God’s children go to war against each other. How can we honor veterans and fallen soldiers and at the same time work passionately for peace with justice so we do not kill and get killed? How can we ensure that returning soldiers receive the help and support they need when they come home injured in body and mind?
Our Social Principles state strongly that “war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ. We therefore reject war as an instrument of national foreign policy. As disciples of Christ, we are called to love our enemies, seek justice, and serve as reconcilers of conflict.” ¶165.C
In 2017, about one-third of our churches in the Great Plains Conference participated in Peace with Justice Sunday through their prayers and offerings. There is a lot of room for growth. Fifty percent of the offerings stay in our conference and 50 percent go to GBCS. In April, several representatives from our conference received PWJ scholarships to participate in Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington D.C. They returned with new knowledge, passion and encouragement to continue working for peace and justice.
Please observe Peace with Justice Sunday. A wealth of resources can be found here.
-- Andrea Paret, Peace with Justice coordinator
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Palestinian ‘Nakba’ anniversary coincides with U.S. Embassy opening
Today, as I sit to write this article, the date is May 15, 2018. Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian “Nakba” (catastrophe), when hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated as the Israeli military forced the Palestinian people out of their homes. Some Palestinians were killed as they refused to leave their homes and their land. Others fled as refugees to other countries or to refugee camps.
On May 14, 2018, the day before the Nakba anniversary, the United States opened the new embassy in Jerusalem and President Donald Trump has declared Jerusalem the capital of the State of Israel. Meanwhile, in Gaza the Palestinian people have been conducting peaceful protests along the border fence since March 30 in order to call attention to their plight. As the embassy was opened, Palestinians participating in peaceful protests were suffering the effects of tear gas dropped by Israeli drones in to Gaza, over 50 people were shot and killed, and nearly 1,000 injured by the Israeli military stationed on the Israeli side of the border fence.
As Christians let us not only pray for peace in the world and for the humane treatment of all of God’s children, but let us take action and openly advocate for equality for all people.
-- Carol Ekdahl-Garwood, Holy Land Task Force chair
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Micah Corps celebrates a
decade of making a difference
The Micah Corps internship program will be celebrating its 10th year at the Mission Partnership Lunch on June 14 during annual conference. All former interns are invited. Carter Oberheu, 2014, and Ama Anyabeng, 2015, and Micah Corps founder, the Rev. Carol Windrum, will be speaking.
When Windrum started the Micah Corps in 2009, it was just four interns, one state and a few host families.
Windrum, now retired, was the director of Peace with Justice Ministries of the former Nebraska conference. Starting in 2000, she worked with one or two Peace with Justice interns per summer. When the Nebraska conference reorganized and funding for innovative, new ministries was available, Windrum had an idea.
Read more about the 10th anniversary of Micah Corps, and plans for a celebration.
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Carrying out our
call to ‘Love One Another’
Katie Lamb, an intern with the Risk-Taking Mission and Justice Ministries Team of the former Nebraska Conference and a former Micah Corps intern (here pictured with her mother, Pastor Karen Lamb), works in Omaha as a case manager for a rapid re-housing program where she assists homeless individuals in obtaining and maintaining housing. She was one of the Peace with Justice scholarship recipients attending Ecumenical Advocacy Days in April in Washington D.C.
“Along with the plenary sessions presented at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, attendees were able to choose from over 45 different workshops and skills trainings. The workshops covered everything from issues in the United States to Peace and Global Security. However, during our first break out session I chose to attend a skills training titled Community Organizing 101: Effectively Listening and Mobilizing Communities. This training was led by an ordained staff member of the Washington Interfaith Network which is an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation. The workshop began with our facilitator asking us what community organizing had to do with our faith. The Bible verse that was mentioned over and over again was Micah 6:8 "What does the Lord require of you? To do justice, love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Starting off the workshop by showing us how our faith is imbedded with themes of social justice was very helpful, as it allowed us to see how we are called by God to do this work.
Read more from Katie Lamb.
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In cities or farms, raising
chickens makes sense ecologically
Whether you live in an urban or rural setting, you may wish to explore getting a few chickens (check your local ordinances to see how to apply for a permit).
There are many ecological reasons to have your own chickens. Read on to learn about just five!
Learn how your congregation can become a Creation Care Church by going to greatplainsumc.org/creationcare and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
--Creation Care Team
Photo: United Methodists Kathy Jeffers and Teri Drymalski check out Maureen Bausch’s chickens near Hickman, Nebraska.
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Disaster Response
UMCOR truck will be at annual conference; cleaning, school kit updates
The UMCOR truck will be outside the Great Plains Annual Conference sessions again this year, from 2-7 p.m. Wednesday, June 13, and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, June 14.
Only three kits will be accepted this year: Hygiene, Cleaning and School.
Please box kits and place an inventory list on top of the box. All kits must be compiled by UMCOR standards.
Updates on kits:
- Sponges have been removed from the cleaning kit list because the type needed are difficult to locate. Please include $1.50 to cover the cost of sponges.
- School kits should include a clear, gallon Ziploc bag. If cloth bags have been used and/or made, UMCOR will still accept them.
Donations can also be made to UMCOR. Make checks payable to the Great Plains Conference and write “901440 (UMCOR)” on the memo line. Donation checks to UMCOR can be dropped off at the truck at the times listed above.
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Administration
Fusaro to retire after
17 years with conference
After 17 years of service to the former Kansas East Conference and Great Plains Conference, Carol Fusaro will retire June 30. She is on a leave of absence until her retirement date.
“I am grateful for Carol’s ministry to the conference, and I know we all wish her well in her future endeavors,” said Scott Brewer, conference treasurer and director of administrative services.
Please direct benefits-related questions to Peggy Mihoover at pmihoover@greatplainsumc.org, and human resources-related questions to Susan Petersen, spetersen@greatplainsumc.org. They can both also be reached by calling the Topeka office at 785-272-9111.
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Resource Center suspending operation during relocation to Topeka office
The Great Plains Conference Resource Center will be closing temporarily to prepare for the move from Lincoln to the new Topeka conference office.
Starting the week of June 11 and continuing through July 31, the resource center will close to pack up and be relocated in its new location at 1207 SW Executive Drive, Topeka, KS 66615.
The new phone number will be 785-272-9111. If you will need resources during this time, please contact the current center location in Lincoln, so materials can be sent to you prior to the relocation.
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Council of Bishops invites applications for three ecumenical programs
The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church is inviting applications for the following three programs:
- The 2019 Local Ecumenical and Interreligious Ministries
- United Methodist Ecumenical and Interreligious Training: Young Adult Network
- Scholarship to attend The Ecumenical Institute at Bossey
More information about all three of those programs is available here.
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Across the Connection
Bishops disagree over
which plans will be put to vote
Did the Council of Bishops vote to put only their recommended One Church Plan before the special session of General Conference, or did the bishops vote to send two other plans for legislative consideration as well? Bishops have offered their own sometimes conflicting answers to the question of exactly what they meant with that vote in closed session earlier this month, leading to confusion within The United Methodist Church.
Read more about the disagreement.
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Wichita First UMC to close Mead’s Corner coffeehouse ministry in July
Mead’s Corner, a coffeehouse ministry of Wichita First United Methodist Church for the past decade, will close at the end of July.
"After long consideration and conversation, we decided not to renew the lease at the end of August," the Rev. Cindy Watson told Carrie Rengers of The Wichita Eagle, adding that its owners wanted a significant increase in rent.
The fair trade coffeehouse has donated thousands of dollars in tips to charitable causes.
"I know that lives have really been changed and transformed by our presence," Watson added.
A celebration of Mead’s ministry is schedule for July 29.
Read more from The Wichita Eagle.
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In other news
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Newsletters
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Resources
New Youth Boom study guide available: A four-part study based on the podcasts on The New Youth Boom can help church leaders and parents as they struggle with how to share the gospel of love and grace with Generation Z — those under 18. The guide can be used with adults, youth, or as a multigenerational experience.
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Blogs and opinion
Open for (church) business: The Rev. Chappell Temple writes that United Methodist Church leaders usually practice transparency when it comes to business of the church. “And in that respect, it’s truly unfortunate that the important tasks of both the Commission on the Way Forward and the Council on Bishops to produce a recommendation on human sexuality for the upcoming General Conference all took place in closed sessions where not even the denominational news service could observe,” writes Temple, lead pastor of Christ Church in Sugar Land, Texas.
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The week ahead
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Classifieds
Submit a classified and view other ads at greatplainsumc.org/classifieds.
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