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In this edition:
THIS WEEK'S NEWS
Podcast celebrates Church of the Resurrection’s 30th birthday
Pastor-coach balances life in church, football field
2nd Laity Summit for Great Plains is scheduled virtual for March 20
Great Plains among conferences adjusting sessions for COVID-19
More stories about coronavirus pandemic from beyond Great Plains
News about stand against racism from beyond the Great Plains
CLERGY EXCELLENCE
Holton, Lakeside receive Culture of Call grants from conference
Clergy Faith & Wellness: Appreciating our clergy – especially this year
Corrections to Business of Annual Conference report are due by Friday
EQUIPPING DISCIPLES
About 100 attend concert for Chippewa sustainability campaign
NOMADS spend three weeks volunteering at Camp Lakeside
Webinar on holiday planning for kids, youth leaders Oct. 27
During month of Thanksgiving, families can think about gratitude
Youth panel discussing impact of COVID-19 scheduled for Nov. 17
Fresh Expressions' ‘Steeple to Street’ webcast takes place this Friday
DISASTER RESPONSE
Four from Great Plains help with relief in Alabama after Hurricane Sally
ADMINISTRATION
Churches urged to consider proofs of claim in Boy Scouts bankruptcy
RESOURCES
Three ways to encourage giving amid pandemic
A ritual to help kids cope with stress
Texas pastor offers devotionals for anxious times
ACROSS THE CONNECTION
Derby Woodlawn’s new prayer fence offers color, hope
KC’s Giving Grove, Big Garden combine to help rural communities
In other news
Newsletters
Classifieds
Podcast celebrates Church of
the Resurrection’s 30th birthday
In October 1990, a relatively small group of people met for worship for the first time — in a funeral home. With a name that was somewhat tongue-in-cheek because of its location but also a theological statement because of its dedication to Jesus Christ, United Methodist Church of the Resurrection was born.
The congregation made a pitstop at an elementary school before settling in the first of what is now a five-campus church in Leawood, Kansas, campus. Led by a then 25-year-old pastor and now world-renowned author, Rev. Adam Hamilton, from that humble beginning started a congregation that is now the largest in the entire denomination.
The congregation is celebrating its 30th anniversary in October 2020, so Hamilton and a few leaders in the congregation sat down with Todd Seifert for a new episode of the “In Layman’s Terms” podcast.
Download the podcast and listen to their story.
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Pastor-coach balances
life in church, football field
There's not much difference between being a pastor and being a football coach, according to Nick Talbott, who is pastor of Salina University UMC as well as working with wide receivers on the Kansas Wesleyan football team.
“No one cares how much you know if you can’t round people up to follow,” Talbott said. “That’s the business of coaching, and that’s the business of being a pastor, to be able to move people from Point A to Point B. I don’t think I would be the pastor I am if it wasn’t for those years of coaching.”
Read the story about Talbott and University UMC here.
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2nd Laity Summit for Great Plains
is scheduled virtual for March 20
The Laity Summit will take place virtually on Saturday, March 20, 2021 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This is for lay servants, speakers, ministers, leaders and anyone discerning a call to leadership. It will be a one-stop virtual leadership event for church and community leadership.
Conference Director of Lay Servant Ministries Mary Feit, Conference Lay Leader Lisa Maupin, Gateway District Lay Leader Kathy Pierce, and Conference Coordinator of Lay Leadership Shane Warta have been planning this gathering since the first Laity Summit in March was complete.
The planning team is aiming for 300 people walking away with learning and resources for lay leadership. The overall theme for the gathering is “Building a New Normal.” The keynote speaker is Rev. Dr. Junius Dotson, General Secretary for Discipleship Ministries. Worship, workshops, registration and website are currently being developed.
Registration details and website launch coming soon!
If you have questions about Great Plains 2021 Laity Summit contact:
Great Plains among conferences
adjusting sessions for COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused nearly all U.S. annual conferences of The United Methodist Church – including the Great Plains Conference, shown here in its telephone version of the sessions in May -- to take their big yearly meetings online. Some have gone smoothly, with others struggling technologically. All over, delegates reported missing in-person time with colleagues.
Read more from United Methodist News Service.
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More stories about coronavirus pandemic from beyond Great Plains
News about stand against
racism from beyond the Great Plains
Clergy Excellence
Holton, Lakeside receive Culture
of Call grants from conference
A church and a camp have been awarded Culture of Call grants for the fall of 2020:
Holton (Kansas) First UMC— Rev. Kathy Williams, pastor
The project will involve creating a space for a high school senior to serve as Congregational Care Intern for 28 hours a month who will explore her gifts for pastoral ministry and participate in the continuum of spiritual and mental health care for children, youth and adults.
Camp Lakeside — Ross Janovec, camp director
Guide a young person to discern their call to ministry through an exploration of how to be a non-anxious leader while serving as an intern at Camp Lakeside.
“We are planning on releasing some opportunities for groups within the conference (churches, campus ministries, camps, other entities, including previous grant recipients) to receive some other resources (including a webinar) on cultivating a culture of call, even during our season of being socially distant,” said the Rev. Ashlee Alley Crawford, clergy recruitment and development coordinator. “We’ll release more details in early 2021.”
More information can be found at www.greatplainsumc.org/culture-of-call and its resources page, www.greatplainsumc.org/cultureofcallresources.
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Clergy Faith & Wellness: Appreciating our clergy – especially during this year
There are not enough words of appreciation that can be offered to you, the clergy of the Great Plains Conference. You have learned more, given more, pivoted more, prayed more, served more, and grieved more than ever anticipated this year. Thank you for living out your call in ways that truly make a difference in the lives of so many. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your ministry of word, order, sacrament, service, compassion and justice. Thank you for ministering to others even on days when you are carrying personal burdens of your own. Thank you for loving God. Thank you for loving your neighbors. Thank you for loving the strangers among you. I see in you the light of Christ. You bring this light to all the places where you are called ... to celebrations of new life, baptisms, holy communion, confirmations, professions of faith, weddings, outcasts, the hungry, the poor, the imprisoned, the impaired, the lost, hospitals, funerals, the grief-stricken and so many unseen moments. Thank you for allowing God to be made known in and through you.
As you are reading this, I invite you to take a moment and give thanks for one another as well. Maybe say a prayer, send a note/text/email, or make a phone call to a colleague who has made a difference to you in this year. I have seen you be the church for one another. You are journeying together, supporting one another, resourcing each other, praying for each other. Thank you for living out your covenant and commitments to one another. I give God thanks for you.
--Rev. Shelly Petz
Clergy Faith & Wellness
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Corrections to Business of Annual
Conference report are due by Friday
Corrections for the Business of the Annual Conference (BAC) report for 2020 must be made by Friday, Oct. 23. A “BAC Corrections” button is available at this page.
Corrections submitted after that date will be listed (after verification) in the corrections question of the 2021 BAC report.
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Equipping Disciples
About 100 attend concert for
Chippewa sustainability campaign
Despite chilly mid-October temperatures, about 100 people attended in person and many others watched online Sunday a performance by the Christian group Stars Go Dim at Camp Chippewa, a fundraiser for the camp's sustainability campaign.
The fund is more than 25% of the way to its goal of $65,000. To contribute, go to campchippewa.campbraingiving.com. For more information, call 785-242-6797.
Watch a video of the 90-minute concert.
View a photo gallery.
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NOMADS spend three weeks
volunteering at Camp Lakeside
Seven volunteers spent three weeks at Camp Lakeside in September and October, finishing more than 20 projects at the Great Plains camp near Scott City, Kansas.
Read more about the group and what they accomplished.
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Webinar on holiday planning
for kids, youth leaders Oct. 27
A webinar for children’s and youth ministry leaders in the Great Plains, "Holiday Planning in a Pandemic," will be offered in two sessions on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Mystified at what to do to make children's/youth ministry happen this holiday season? You need practical plans, and you need them fast! Join this free webinar designed to give you ideas, processes, templates, plug-and-play, coaching, etc.
Stephanie Caro, senior consultant at Ministry Architects, is facilitating the hour-long webinar and question-and-answer session. Each church registering will receive access to a Google Drive filled with helpful tools. Register by going to the 2 p.m. CT or 7 p.m. CT links.
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During month of Thanksgiving,
families can think about gratitude
What’s on the menu for November? Gratitude!
This month’s faith formation resource is a gratitude “menu” to encourage families to earn as many points as possible as they cultivate gratitude together.
Download it here.
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Youth panel discussing impact of COVID-19 scheduled for Nov. 17
“Youth Tell All! A Virtual Panel: How COVID-19 has affected GenZ” will be at 7 p.m. CT Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Wondering how COVID has affected your youth? Have questions you’re a little uncomfortable asking GenZ? Want to know how to best support young people in a pandemic?
Join Conference Council of Youth Ministries (CCYM) for this online discussion. You can register and submit your questions before or during the webinar. Register here.
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Fresh Expressions' ‘Steeple to Street’ webcast takes place this Friday
A webcast designed for the Great Plains Conference by Fresh Expressions US, “From the Steeple to the Street: A New Kind of Local Church for a New Kind of World,” will be offered from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT Friday, Oct. 23.
From the Fresh Expressions website: “Across the United States and beyond, the God who ‘makes all things new’ is up to something. Amid a Christian landscape that looks and feels like a desert of decline, new oases of the Spirit are springing forth. Inherited congregations, with long histories, deeply rooted in their traditions, are experimenting with new ways of being church. When these congregations commit to introducing new people to Jesus, new leaders (both lay and ordained) are discovering that they can start fresh expressions of church to reach those outside of the church AND that our existing congregational systems can be retro-fitted for a new future through a process of ‘remissioning.’
“Matt Lake and Michael Beck employ very different approaches, but their congregations are finding new life. They will explore the theological underpinnings for becoming a new kind of local church, as well as share practical tools, practices, and processes to help local congregations cultivate a new future.”
The cost is $5. Register at this link.
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Disaster Response
Four from Great Plains helping with relief in Alabama after Hurricane Sally
 
The Great Plains Conference has been represented by four members of the Emergency Response Team in Gulf Shores, Alabama, this week.
The Rev. Hollie Tapley, disaster response coordinator, Jerry Feese, Larry Beeson and Robelia Swindell left Friday morning and will return late this Sunday.
The crew from the Great Plains was working to repair homes that were devastated by Hurricane Sally last month.
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Administration
Churches urged to consider proofs
of claim in Boy Scouts bankruptcy
Pastors and Trustees chairpersons of all local churches in the Great Plains Conference received an email notice today regarding an important legal matter that may affect them and requires response by churches’ Boards of Trustees by November 4, 2020.
On February 18, 2020, the Boy Scouts of America (“BSA”) and its affiliate, Delaware BSA, LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a case styled In re Boy Scouts of America and Delaware BSA, LLC, case no. 20-10343, pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. BSA filed their bankruptcy case to address the significant liability it faces from sexual abuse claims asserted (or to be asserted in the future) by Scouts and former Scouts.
BSA, which has numerous affiliated Local Councils, ultimately operates through the organizations authorized to operate scouting units as “Chartered Organizations,” pursuant to Charter Agreements between the organization and a Local Council. Many of the Churches in The Great Plains Annual Conference currently serve or have served as a BSA Chartered Organization. Historically, BSA has indemnified, reimbursed, insured against, or otherwise covered any sexual abuse claims asserted by Scouts against Chartered Organizations. It is too early in the bankruptcy case to tell how the claims of Chartered Organizations will be addressed and what types of protections Chartered Organizations will be provided with respect to any abuse claims that may be asserted by Scouts in the future. These important issues will likely be addressed through negotiations in the bankruptcy case among various constituents, including BSA, BSA Local Councils, insurance carriers, personal injury attorneys for sexually abused Scouts, a court-appointed future claimants’ representative, and Chartered Organizations.
The final deadline for filing proofs of claim in the BSA bankruptcy case is November 16, 2020 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. If your Church was at any time in the past, or is currently, a Chartered Organization for the Boy Scouts, then your Church may potentially be named as a defendant in future litigation as the result of its operation of a Scouting unit. Even though such litigation has not yet been, and may never be, filed, your Church has what is considered a “contingent and unliquidated” claim against BSA for the as yet undetermined amount of damages that might be awarded in future Scouting-related abuse claims asserted against your Church. If your Church was at any time, or is currently, a Chartered Organization, a proof of claim should be filed in the bankruptcy case with the court-appointed claims agent in order to preserve the Church’s claim and protect the Church’s rights. If your Church is or has been a Chartered Organization, your Church may lose valuable rights if it fails to timely file a proof of claim in the BSA bankruptcy case by the November 16, 2020 Bar Date for filing proofs of claims.
To facilitate the proof of claim filing process, the Great Plains Annual Conference has retained the law firm of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP (“Bradley”) to file proofs of claim on behalf of any Church in the Great Plains Conference that is or has been a Chartered Organization for the Boy Scouts. To have Bradley file a contingent and unliquidated proof of claim on your Church’s behalf in the BSA bankruptcy case regarding future Scout abuse claims, you must Click Here to indicate that you authorize the Bradley firm to file a proof of claim on your church’s behalf and to provide ongoing representation of the church in the BSA bankruptcy proceedings. Please consider this matter as requiring urgent action and respond before November 4, 2020.
Attorney Ed Rice (read his bio here), in Bradley’s Bankruptcy Practice Group, has been retained to serve as lead counsel in this matter. You will be kept informed with periodic updates.
If you have any questions on this procedure, please contact Scott Brewer, Great Plains Conference Treasurer and Director of Administrative Services at 877-972-9111, 785-272-9111, or sbrewer@greatplainsumc.org.
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Resources
Three ways to encourage
giving amid pandemic
Talking about giving may be uncomfortable for church leaders as effects from the COVID-19 pandemic continue. Every person's reality is different. United Methodist Communications offers three ways to encourage those who can to continue donating to their local congregations.
Read more here.
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A ritual to help kids
cope with stress
Children are not immune to the stress caused by the pandemic and other events in their lives. The Rev. Leanne Hadley, a longtime United Methodist children's minister in Louisville, Kentucky, suggests a weekly three-step healing ritual to help children navigate their anxieties.
Find out about the healing ritual.
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Texas pastor offers
devotionals for anxious times
The Rev. Robert Hasley Jr. has written a book of encouraging devotionals for anxious times, including the COVID-19 pandemic. "Everything Is Gonna Be All Right" is scheduled for release next month from Invite Press. Hasley is the longtime senior pastor of St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas, one of the denomination's largest.
Read about the book.
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Across the Connection
Derby Woodlawn’s new
prayer fence offers color, hope
There’s a colorful addition to Derby Woodlawn UMC – a wooden prayer fence, where people are asked to tie ribbons with their prayers onto it.
Church member Julie McMinn told KAKE News she saw a similar prayer fence while on a trip to Wyoming. “I read the top of it, and it said, say a prayer and tie a ribbon, everyone is welcome. I thought, wow, what a great concept,” she said.
The Rev. Lori Patton-Aguilar, Derby Woodlawn associate pastor, said that while church services have not taken place because of COVID-19, the fence provides a way of connection for church members and the community.
Watch the video here.
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KC’s Giving Grove, Big Garden
combine to help rural communities
 
The Kansas City-based Giving Grove is expanding into rural Kansas thanks to a partnership with Omaha’s The Big Garden.
A grant from the United Methodist Ministry Health Fund will serve rural communities with food insecurities.
Read more from The Pitch.
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In other news
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Newsletters
- Leading Ideas, October 21, 2020
- Mission Moments and More, October 21, 2020
- Discipleship Ministries: Generous Living, October 20, 2020
- A Sermon for Every Sunday, October 20, 2020
- Discipleship Ministries: Worship Planning, October 19, 2020
- United Methodist Now, October 19, 2020
- Nebraska United Methodist Foundation, October 2020
- United Methodist Communications (Korean), October 16, 2020
- GBHEM Resources, October 15, 2020
- Discipleship Ministries: Offertory Prayers, October 15, 2020
- Faith in Action, October 15, 2020
- Ministry Matters, October 14, 2020
Classifieds
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