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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
Next week, it’s our virtual Annual Conference
Pentecost video features scripture in multiple languages
Retirement reception honors Rev. Nancy Lambert
Leadership expert to speak at July retreat
Finance board gets update on giving, reserves
CLERGY EXCELLENCE
Great Plains seminarians receive Saint Paul honors
Three-part series on pastoral transitions available in video, podcast
EQUIPPING DISCIPLES
Registration open for Virtual Institute, July 19-23
Video about class meetings available from conference
MERCY & JUSTICE
Is this normal where you live?
Micah Corps leader going to Estonia on fellowship
DISASTER RESPONSE
Flood response, mask questions, COVID test/vaccine sites in Kansas
ADMINISTRATION
Camp is focus of Nebraska Foundation's 'Lunch & Learn'
RESOURCES
Racism workbook is released for Heritage Sunday
Celebrate Peace with Justice Sunday on May 30
5 reasons why smaller numbers may be better
ACROSS THE CONNECTION
Leavenworth pastor creates calligraphy for church members
In other news
Newsletters
Commentaries
Classifieds
Next week, it’s our
virtual Annual Conference
The Great Plains Annual Conference session will be virtual next week, with events taking place via Zoom.
The deadline for registration is Friday. No registrations can be made beyond that day.
The clergy session will be from 9 a.m. to noon (all times CT) Tuesday, with the memorial service at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 27. The Rev. Mitch Reece, Wichita East and West districts superintendent, will give the sermon.
On Friday, May 28, the laity session will be from 8:30-10:30 a.m., followed by the opening worship, with a sermon by Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. The annual conference session will be from 1-5 p.m., and the retirement service and celebration at 7 p.m.
The remainder of the annual conference session will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 29.
The new laity page of our website includes information on the new lay member orientation, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 26; the social bingo mixer for clergy and laity, at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 27; invitations for laity ministry success stories to share with the conference; information on participating in the Laity Slam, where participants share their hopes and dreams for the local church.
Download the conference workbook here.
We are gathering virtually, but we still can connect with each other in the following ways during the Annual Conference this year! Click on the link below for more details. https://www.greatplainsumc.org/achospitality
Save the date! A Virtual District Prayer Meeting over lunch at 12:15 p.m. Friday, May 28, will be a wonderful opportunity to share lives and prayer concerns with each other. Find a Zoom link for each district on the Annual Conference District Rooms page and a designated host will lead a prayer meeting.
https://www.greatplainsumc.org/acdistrictrooms
Annual Conference in a Box: What is Annual Conference? Who is the bishop? What does abide mean? Kids can explore the answers to these questions with Annual Conference in a box. The downloadable packet includes a variety of activities that kids can do at home with minimal supplies, including taking Bishop Saenz on some adventures.
From UM News Service: Annual conferences worldwide plan online, hybrid events.
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Pentecost video features
scripture in multiple languages
For Pentecost Sunday this weekend, consider reading scripture in multiple languages, using this video from the Great Plains featuring the conference staff and clergy: Rev. Kathy Williams (English), Rev. Alice Shomari (Kiswahili), Rev. Changsu Kim (Korean), Rev. Eduardo Bousson (French), Rev. Dr. Anne Gatobu (Kiswahili), Rev. Nathan Stanton (text-to-speech software), Rev. Rogers Chishiba (Bemba), and Rev. Melissa Collier Gepford (with Nebraska Wesleyan student Claire Carter interpreting in American Sign Language).
Download the video here.
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Retirement reception
honors Rev. Nancy Lambert
About 50 people attended a retirement reception for the Rev. Nancy Lambert on Friday at the conference office in Topeka.
Lambert is retiring after 23 years in ministry, the last eight as director of clergy excellence and assistant to the bishop of the Great Plains Conference.
At the reception, which included cupcakes and flavored popcorn, a donation in her name was announced for Habitat for Humanity, contributed by the clergy excellence staff and the bishop's office.
See more photos here.
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Leadership expert to
speak at July retreat
Ken Willard is visiting the Great Plains Conference to lead certified lay ministers, along with those discerning or in-support, and those who participated in the recent “Time Management for the Christian Leader” book study. Gather the evening of Friday, July 23, to Saturday, July 24, at the Saint Benedict Center in Schuyler, NE. The conference will reimburse mileage and is providing room and board at a significant discount. A recorded sermon by communications director Todd Seifert, certified lay minister, will be made available for use at your local church for Sunday worship on July 25.
Willard is a Christian leadership coach, certified church consultant, author, speaker and developer of curriculum used by pastors and laity leaders. He is an associate certified coach with the International Coach Federation and a member of the faculty with Coaching4Clergy. He is the director of congregational vitality for the West Virginia UMC Conference. Ken works with pastors, laity leaders, local churches and other church organizations all over the country. As owner of Leadership4Transformation, his mission is to help equip God's people to expand God's Kingdom. Learn more about Ken on his website.
Register here.
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Finance board gets
update on giving, reserves
Giving to United Methodist ministries was lower in the first three months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. However, collection rates varied widely among church funds, the General Council on Finance and Administration board was told last week.
Read more from United Methodist News Service.
Scott Brewer, conference treasurer and director of administrative services, said that as of the end of April, remittances in the Great Plains were 25.11% paid, 1.18% ahead of this time last year.
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Clergy Excellence
Great Plains seminarians
receive Saint Paul honors
Seven seminarians with ties to the Great Plains Conference were among those receiving recognition at the Honors and Awards Ceremony at Saint Paul School of Theology, conducted online May 11.
Receiving the United Methodist Seminary Award were Cameron Miller, Olathe Aldersgate UMC; and Brenda Hogan, Wathena-Troy (Kansas) UMCs. Miller also received the Bishop Eugene M. Frank Scholarship.
Jenifer Schultz, a certified candidate for ministry, received the William K. McElvaney Award.
Changhyun Kim, pastor of Leavenworth Trinity UMC, received the McClean/Wallen Peace and Justice Scholarship.
Jinhee Han received the Emilie M. Townes Scholarship.
Lacey Wheeler, pastor of Marquette (Kansas) UMC, received the Fellowship Seminarian Award and the Roy M. Brady Award.
Karissa Miller, who will be commissioned as a provisional elder this year, received the Hoyt Hickman Award.
More information about the individual awards is available here.
The ceremony is available on the Saint Paul YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/saintpaulschooloftheology.
The Saint Paul community will come together once again in celebration at 11 a.m. CT Saturday, May 22, for the premiere of this year’s Commencement website. Friends and family of the graduates are invited to share congratulatory messages on its Commencement website: https://spst.commencementreimagined.com.
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Three-part series on pastoral
transitions available in video, podcast
A three-part "At the Threshold" series on pastoral transitions is now available, with each episode available in either video or podcast format.
Part One features Rev. Nancy Lambert, retiring Director of Clergy Excellence and Assistant to the Bishop, and Rev. Dee Williamston, who will assume that role in July.
Part Two includes Rev. Michael Tomson-DeGreeff and Rev. Stefanie Hayes, both of whom made transitions to new congregations last year.
Part Three has Rev. Charles Nyamakope, who made a transition last year, and Rev. Berniece Ludlum, who is preparing for a move this year.
All episodes are available here.
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Equipping Disciples
Registration open for
Virtual Institute, July 19-23
Registration is now open through Camp Chippewa for United Methodist Youth Virtual Institute 2.0, “The Struggle,” July 19-23.
Youth who have finished the 8th grade through high school seniors who have just graduated can participate. Youth workers can also register their youth group for the week as a group too.
There is no cost to register for the week. Online content will be available each day along with a time to meet online each evening. Additional details will follow soon.
Click here to register or for more information.
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Video about class meetings
available from conference
Want to know more about class leaders and how this is working in the Great Plains? Check out a copy of a 25-minute training video on what is a class meeting is. Passcode is .W1&c2RB
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Mercy & Justice
Is this normal
where you live?
March 2011 was the first time that I stepped off a plane at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. I was so excited and looking forward to all the things I would be seeing on my trip to this place that we call the “Holy Land.” I had been at a church fundraising dinner a few months prior, and my pastor asked me if I would be interested in going on a Volunteer in Mission trip to the Holy Land. Little did I know that this trip would instill in me a passion for working for justice in the region.
After meeting our United Methodist missionary, Janet Lahr-Lewis, and our Palestinian guide, Issa, at the airport, we started our journey from Tel Aviv to Bethlehem. After traveling for a while, our guide got on the intercom and pointed out the remains of a Palestinian village on the right side of the road that had been depopulated in 1948 and stood in ruins. “What?” I asked myself. During our two-week stay, we toured many of the holy sites, but the time we spent among the “living stones” (the Palestinian people themselves) was the real treasure that I returned home with. I was amazed at how ignorant I had been regarding the current day situation in this land where Christianity was born.
Since then, I have returned to Palestine several times, participating in and leading Volunteer in Mission groups, and continuing to learn more about the current struggles of the Palestinians and how the Israeli Occupation of Palestine affects their lives. I have developed lasting friendships with several people that I have met during this journey and have been caused to reflect on how fortunate I was to have been born in the United States where we take so many of our rights for granted. During one of my trips, I asked my good friend, Issa Gharib, what his thoughts were regarding whether peace in the region would happen. His answer to me was, “I have no hope for myself, but I have hope for my children.”
Can you imagine having to get up in the wee hours of the morning to get to a “checkpoint” in time to get in line in to go through a humiliating ordeal in to get to work? Or being pregnant and in labor trying to get to the hospital only to find that the “checkpoint” has been randomly closed, and you are forced to have your baby while standing in line waiting for the soldiers to decide to reopen the gates? Can you imagine living in a 141-square-mile area filled with approximately two million people, unable to ever leave the area because occupation forces have imprisoned you with their blockade of the area? Can you imagine getting too close to the fences and area surrounding the fences and being shot by an Israeli soldier? Can you imagine having your electricity and water resources controlled and destroyed every few years? Can you imagine holding your children as the bombs rain down, and knowing that you have nowhere to escape to because you are imprisoned in this space?
Please ask yourself, “IS THIS NORMAL WHERE YOU LIVE?” and pray for peace and justice for all.
Kairos Palestine has published a statement to call The Holy See (Vatican), The World Council of Churches and Church Leaders Worldwide for Solidarity and Action in response to the current violent attacks on Palestinians in Jerusalem and Israel’s deadly assault on the people of Gaza.
Please read the full statement at this link:
https://www.kairospalestine.ps/index.php/resources/statements/kairos-palestine-call-to-the-holy-see-vatican-the-world-council-of-churches-and-church-leaders-worldwide-for-solidarity-and-action
-- Carol Garwood
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