"A Million Reasons" - a yearlong Florida Conference mission to pack 1,000,000 meals to fight hunger - will be launched at Annual Conference in June with a Stop Hunger Now meal-packaging event.

Click here for a video story from Pam Carter, Bishop Carter’s wife, about how meeting the million reasons goal will have positive impact on families worldwide.

The goal during the AC event is to package 100,000 meals with volunteers on Wednesday and Thursday before the business sessions begin. “We invite our AC members, local church groups and our youth groups to help make "A Million Reasons" happen,” said Janet Kelley, East Central District Administrative Assistant.

Over the course of Wednesday and Thursday, there will be 10 one-hour opportunities for attendees to participate in meal-packaging, Kelley added. Stop Hunger Now estimates that we can package 10,000 meals per hour if enough people sign up and lend a hand, she said.

To register CLICK HERE for one of the 10 meal packaging shifts. These have been scheduled to fit around the various events at AC 2013.

 * Shifts that accommodate those taking 2:00PM workshops, or getting out of workshops at 5:30PM
** Shifts immediately preceding Clergy/Laity/Joint Sessions
*** Shifts immediately following Clergy/Laity/Joint Sessions

Shifts will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Organizers encourage volunteers to register early to get the time that best fits their schedules.

Everyone can participate in Stop Hunger Now’s meal packaging process – there are roles that cater to every set of skills and circumstances, from children to seniors,” Kelley said.

At the registration site, there is also an option to make a donation to the effort.   Along with one-third of this year’s Annual Conference Offering, additional direct donations will help to support the 25 cents/meal cost.

To learn more about STOP HUNGER NOW, please visit their website.
 

Imagine a waiting list of 100,000.

On it are people whose legs never existed, never worked right, were destroyed by accident or just plain wore out from grueling physical labor. People with eager faces, others who barely dare to hope, all waiting to be lifted up. 

PET Project, Zambia, gives away about 50 hand-cranked mobility carts each month. Plans are to double that output this fall.	A man who has lost his legs can move across country again, thanks to a PET mobility device. Photos from New Life Center, Zambia.

And that list covers just one corner of the world, a place in Africa called Zambia. There are other lists, just as long, in less-developed countries in Asia and Central America, places where land mines, polio, birth defects and animal attacks leave people unable to walk in regions where walking is the only way to get around.

Rev. Delbert Groves, a Florida Conference missionary assigned to Zambia with his wife, Sandy, has seen the faces behind the names.

He remembers a 13-year-old boy whose paralysis from illness affected all of his limbs. Groves gave him a special wheeled device called a PET, or Personal Energy Transportation, that offered a way for him to get around without being carried. The boy was accompanied by his parents and sister.

"The little kid was so excited, and Mom and Dad were so excited," Groves recalled. "I heard the father lean over to him and he said, 'Are you happy?' And I could hear the boy say, 'Yes, Dad, this is my Hummer.'" Click here for video of Groves discussing the PET Zambia ministry.*

Groves also recalled a young man who had a job in one of the mines and was making plans to get married. He was walking along a railroad track from the mine to his village with his pay in his pocket when he was beset by robbers who beat him and left him unconscious. The attackers cruelly left his legs draped over the tracks, where they were severed when the next train came along.

"All kinds of things like that happen over here," Groves said.

Retired missionary Larry Hills wheels a finished mobility cart into place at the PET Project facility he founded in Penney Farms. Photo by Susan Green.

Zambia's PET Project traces its beginnings to retired missionary Larry Hills, who helped develop the heavy-duty devices and founded a PET Project plant in Penney Farms, Fla., where he retired after 33 years in Zaire, now called Congo. Click here for more photos.

While in Africa, Hills saw plenty of injustice and poverty, but the sight of people crawling or dragging themselves on the ground tugged at his heart more than anything else.

Worse, many who ventured outside their homes were shunned or spat on in a culture that believes such bad luck as loss of limbs can spread to others. In societies where walking is the primary mode of transportation, people with withered or severed legs were, at best, a burden to others.
Hills referred to Matthew 25, where the righteous and unrighteous are distinguished by their willingness to help "the least of these brothers and sisters."

"I thought, there wasn't anybody 'leaster' than these folks, and we ought to be helping them," Hills recalled.

How to help posed a dilemma. Traditional wheelchairs wouldn't suffice because they wouldn't stand up to the rough terrain and primitive dirt roads of the developing world.

In 1995, Hills teamed up with a friend in Missouri, Rev. Mel West, and a young product designer named Earl Miner to create a sturdy, hand-cranked cart on three wheels. The first prototype was given in 1996 to a fisherman who lost a leg to a crocodile, Hills recalled. 

Above, volunteer Ted Emack of Leesburg places the seat of a PET mobility unit in a box for shipping. Below, former missionary Sid Rooy, a longtime volunteer at PET Project Penney Farms, talks about how the unit will be assembled. Photos by Susan Green.

Since then, the PET design has been modified a few times, but it remains a relatively simple conveyance that can be partially assembled, boxed and shipped to developing countries where final assembly and distribution occurs. The vehicles come in adult and child sizes and there's one called a Pull PET for people who don't have use of arms or legs but have family or friends that can pull them along in a cart.

Today, about two dozen PET assembly sites exist in the U.S., including three in Florida.  Local churches often help with more than donations. For example, Keystone UMC near Penney Farms has a workshop where volunteers do partial assembly of PET vehicles and St. Andrew's UMC, Brandon, provides a place for parking and loading of a tractor-trailer that carries steel and wood needed to make PET carts in Zambia, the only PET facility outside of the U.S.

Altogether, the PET sites have produced and distributed more than 38,000 of the specialty vehicles in 100 countries, according to PET International Inc. About 700 to 800 are produced each year at Penney Farms, and the New Life Center mission in Zambia is hoping to double its output from 50 to 100 later this year.

Building and expanding the mission has not been without obstacles, but Hills said he never really doubted the idea would bear fruit.

"The Lord got hold of it and it exploded," Hills said.

He retired from the PET board in 2010 but still reports to the warehouse and assembly facility he founded in the Penney Farms retirement community. He and his wife, Laura, settled there after leaving mission service in Africa in 2001, and there he trains volunteers interested in opening new PET facilities in order to increase the output.

Many of the materials needed to make the PET units are donated, and assembly depends entirely on volunteers.

Sid Rooy, another retired missionary who spends a lot of time at the Penney Farms PET plant, said it costs an average of $125 apiece to ship the partially assembled carts to ports for distribution.

Although each PET is assembled according to a pattern and parts are designed to be interchangeable, the seats and boards are painted in different rainbow colors so that no two are the same. 

"Bright things bring a bright spot into their [recipients'] lives," Rooy said. "And every one is different, so when you get one, you're unique in your village." 

For recipients in Zambia, that aspect is more important than an American might realize, said Delbert Groves of New Life Center.

"When they get a PET from the U.S., it changes their whole social status," he said, adding that often they are no longer shunned as having "bad juju."
 
"Somebody in America loves this person. God loves this person." 

PET Penney Farms volunteer Barbara Chase holds a photo of a little girl who can get around with the help of her PET mobility device. Photo by Susan Green.

Joe Harless of Valrico, a member of St. Andrew's UMC, is the volunteer procurement officer for PET Project Zambia. His most recent shipment in May included 14,000 pounds of steel and 1,500 tires, as well as 100 boxes of Bibles and other books. 

"It's a wonderful calling for all the folks who are involved in it," said Harless, who remembered seeing one recipient crawl along a ditch to New Life Center, his approach signaled only by a bobbing head. It turned out to be a man whose legs were blown away by a land mine.

"When you pick up somebody who doesn't have any legs … it's a heart ripper, I tell you," Harless said.

"When someone crawls in and you put them on one of these [PETs], it's giving them a new life."

* PET Zambia video by Icel Rodriguez, Global Missions director for the Florida Conference. Click here to see her blog about a recent trip to New Life Center, Zambia.

-- Susan Green is the editor of Florida Conference Connection.

It's been a long school year, and summer calls. Where can you find a one-stop shop to unwind, get wet and go to worship?

The summer camps offered by the Florida Conference Camps and Retreat Ministries, of course. There are four to choose from, each offering a unique experience but all emphasizing ways to build or strengthen a relationship with God. 

Registration for Christian-themed summer camp opportunities at all four Florida Conference sites is available at www.flumcamps.org. Each camp has a different focus, so be sure to click the links for each one before you decide.

Registration is open at Warren W. Willis Camp and the Life Enrichment Center, both near Leesburg; Centenary Camp in northwest Florida; and Riverside Retreat in South Florida's rural wilds near LaBelle. Information about summer camps and links to each camp website can be found at www.flumcamps.org.

Young people can sign up to spend a week or spend a day, stay in Florida or travel to the Appalachians, hang out with peers or have fun with family.

"Now's a perfect time to do that," said Mike Standifer, director of Warren Willis Camp and executive director of Camps and Retreat Ministries.

He said almost 4,500 people, mostly kids and teens, took part in summer camp programs offered by the Florida Conference last year. Although the majority come from United Methodist churches in Florida, young people from other Christian denominations and out of state are welcome, Standifer said.

The son of a UMC preacher, Standifer grew up attending what is now Warren Willis, formerly the Florida United Methodist Youth Camp. He loved the experience so much that he made camps his career, joining the staff in 1993.

Some things have changed, like the shift to air conditioning and contemporary music praise bands. But the purpose of the Florida Conference camps remains the same, described by Standifer as providing a safe place to have fun "but also experience a relationship with Jesus Christ, whether a brand new one or a deepening of the faith they have."

"I think that camp, and summer camp specifically, has the ability to change people's lives," he said. "That's why I do what I do, because it changed my life."

To encourage more UM churches to promote the Florida Methodist camp experience in their youth groups, the conference Board of Camps and Retreat Ministries offers a $400 scholarship for a camper from any church that has not sent any kids or teens to a Florida Conference camp in the past three years.

Here's a quick look at the four camps and what they offer: 

By day or night, the cross on the water at Lake Griffin is an icon that Warren Willis summer campers remember year after year. Photo from Warren W. Willis Camp staff.

Warren W. Willis: This shady spot on the shores of Lake Griffin is where the Florida Methodist camp experience began, and it remains the most visited of the conference's retreat centers.

Last year, nearly 3,900 youngsters spent some of their summer at Warren Willis. Two giant waterslides make the site's newly renovated pool a popular place for splashdown, and there's a ropes course for those who like it up in the air. The camp also offers canoeing and sailing.

The summer program will offer eight separate weeks of "classic camps," with programs and lodging tailored to different age groups. Rising fourth- and fifth-graders play, stay and worship together, as do rising sixth- to eighth-graders. High school students have their own program, and this is the third year that the camp will extend an invitation to this year's high school graduates to come back for a final summer camp with other high school students.

For high school students willing to wander a bit to experience the beauty of God's creation, there are out-of-state trip camps to hike, rappel and do white-water rafting. Warren Willis offers two weeklong wilderness camps and two weeklong opportunities to hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail. These camps have limited capacity and fill up fast, as does the one-week Suwannee River Canoe Trip.

There's also Creative Spirit Camp, scheduled for June 10-15, for rising fourth-graders through just graduated high school students who like to worship God through the arts. Students prepare a performance to share with other campers and their parents at week's end.

For younger children within driving distance, Warren Willis offers weeklong day camps all summer long. Youngsters who will be in first through sixth grade in the fall are eligible. 

Hiking trails and canoe opportunities help summer campers at Riverside Retreat explore God's wilderness wonders. Photo from Riverside Retreat.

Riverside Retreat: Formerly the South Florida United Methodist Camp, this site on the Caloosahatchee River will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year with special events planned for October. Before that, though, youngsters will celebrate with three weeks of summer camp, tailored to elementary, middle and high school ages.

This site is ideal for youngsters who like smaller crowds and lots of space. Riverside's 150 acres of pristine wilderness offer campers a chance to disconnect from daily routines, explore the environment and search for a spiritual connection, said camp director Martha Pierce.

“There is so much beauty and wildlife here, so we try to get them [campers] unplugged so they can meet animals like the otters that are here," she said.

"Small groups in this intimate setting can really experience spiritual growth.”

Three weeklong residential camps are scheduled in July. Each week, 40 high school, 40 middle school and 20 elementary school students will be housed in the camp’s lodges, said Chelsey Hernandez, program coordinator.

Riverside also is organizing its first fishing day camp, slated for July 29 to Aug. 2 and co-sponsored by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission for rising third-graders through rising eighth-graders.

“They’ll be learning all about fish habitats and biology and ecology, about fish stocking and regulations and how to choose bait and tackle,” Hernandez said.

For students in grades six to 12, a mission trip to Key West to build a Habitat for Humanity house is planned for June 30 to July 6.

About 80 percent of campers last year were Methodist, and participants provided a picture of Florida's growing ethnic diversity, with more than 40 percent Hispanic, African American or Haitian. Almost half received scholarships, said Hernandez, adding that the aim of the camp is “never to turn any campers away." 

Grandparents & Me is the flagship family summer camp at the Life Enrichment Center. Photo from the Life Enrichment Center staff.

Life Enrichment Center: Families that want to beat the heat and build connections with God and one another should consider summer camp at this retreat on Lake Griffin, just across Picciola Road from Warren Willis.

"We offer an experience that none of our other camps do," said program coordinator Melissa Cooper. "All of our camps have their own personalities, and ours happens to be intergenerational."

For years, Grandparents & Me summer camps have been building in popularity, with about 80 participants signing up for a summer session last year. Three sessions – two in June and one in July – will be offered this summer.

"That's sort of our flagship program," Cooper said. "A number of grandparents have been coming here for years."

The LEC added a Family Camp last year. The programs are designed to help adults and children release the stress of modern living and devote time to fun and faith formation.

"It's hard to get everybody to come and sit in the same room and spend time together," Cooper said.

And there's another perk: "All of our rooms are hotel-style and have their own private bathrooms," Cooper said. "It's family-oriented in programming and lodging."

Check out http://lecprograms.org/ for signup and a sample camp schedule. 

Swimming lessons, above, and archery, below, are among activities offered at Centenary Camp in northwest Florida. Photos from Centenary Camp.

Centenary Camp: Located 40 miles west of Tallahassee, this camp has experienced a lot of growth and change since 2009, when the conference acquired it and adapted it from a district-run facility.

Before that, its natural setting was used by various groups, but there were no ongoing programs, said Donna Bruns, camp director.

As the site continues to build its programs and outreach, campers can not only soak up the atmosphere provided in the peaceful environment but participate in traditional camp fun in the pool and on a multipurpose field for volleyball, basketball and other games.  There are two dorms that hold 40 campers each; a lodge with six private sleeping quarters to sleep four, each with a private bath; a multipurpose room for large gatherings; and a half-mile nature/prayer walk.

Wireless Internet is available, but campers are encouraged to use it sparingly.

“One of the things we try to get them to do is to focus on what the camp has to offer,” Bruns said.

Day camps for kids will include swim instruction as well as crafts, songs and Bible stories. Camp instructors also provide a bullying prevention program.

“We have the traditional treasure hunts and games, and we know the kids on a one-to-one basis. … We don’t have all the zip lines or high ropes like some of the other camps, so this is a good fit for kids from a more rural background,” Bruns said.

A weeklong residential summer camp, separated by ages, is scheduled for July 7-13.  The programs, one for ages 9 to 11 and one for 12 to 14, can accept up to 50 participants each.

Most Centenary campers come from the North West District and almost all are Methodists, Bruns said. Many campers return year after year, drawn by the wilderness setting and the deer, wild turkeys, bald eagles and other wildlife.

-- Anne Dukes is a freelance writer based in Atlanta. Susan Green is the editor of the Florida Conference Connection.
 

An Invitation from Bishop Ken Carter

During our Annual Conference meeting this June, the agenda will include “Telling Our Stories,” which will feature conference members telling their stories about how they are becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.

We want stories about who we are and what God is doing in our lives. About how we are ordinary people trying our best, with God’s help, to point our feet toward being Jesus’ disciples every day. And, how we don’t get it right every time, we aren’t perfect, and we also have mountaintop experiences. Those are the details that provide inspiring, rich and diverse stories about our lives and our faith.

• Length: 300-400 words
• Focused on your own discipleship journey
• Questions for a jump start, if needed:

Annual Conference 2012 Offering Letter from Bishop Whitaker.

Annual Conference 2012 Offering  Bulletin Insert

2012 Treasurer’s Laity Address by Mickey Wilson

My wife and I spent the Christmas holidays in Nashville, TN with our children and grandchildren.   We drove because we took so many presents we could not possibly have shipped them. 

In fact we had to rent a bigger car because we don’t own a car large enough to carry all the presents we took.

When we returned from the holidays, all the presents WE received from our children fit neatly in the glove compartment of our car.

I suspect some of you feel that way about your own church.

You bring a carload of gifts in the form of your tithe and talents.

Always volunteering, providing cakes for the bake sale, bringing  your car to the youth car wash, contributing extra on camping Sunday and Children’s Home Sunday, digging deeper when there is an earth quake in Haiti or a tsunami in Japan or hurricane here in the states.

Yet, metaphorically speaking, what you get in return fits nicely in the glove compartment of your car.

Some of the people in our churches are like my children.

They could do more, more than simply dropping off a box of fried chicken at the covered dish supper.  They could come early and help set up or stay late to help clean up.

But they don’t.

For some their financial situation has changed and they simply don’t have the resources they once had.

Others are getting older and don’t have the physical ability set up tables or even to bake from scratch their famous “orange juice cake”.

They wish they could do more and contribute more but they can’t. They simply aren’t able.

But for others: it is a different story.

This isn’t the Methodist Church they once knew, it is very different than the one they grew up in…Their new pastor is a different gender or color than they are used to…the new pastor is too young or too old.

They don’t see the benefit and in some cases even resent being part of a connectional system.

We need to help these people understand what it means to be a UM, with membership comes responsibility.

You see:   I’m proud to be Methodist…When I’m having a conversation with others and the subject of religion surfaces… I’m always proud to say I’m a United Methodist.

I’m a member of First Lakeland UMC….First Lakeland has the words United Methodist on every sign and the cross and flame are predominately displayed throughout the church.  I’m not ashamed to be a UM, I’m proud to me a member of the UMC. 

But I became a member of the UMC first because my parents were Methodist. Initially I didn’t have a clear understanding of why I was a Methodist. I even wondered why my parents were Methodist and not another religion. After all their friends were Jewish, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians (even Baptist).

When I was young I liked that we were Methodist because of very superficial things; frankly the Methodist girls were prettier than the other girls and they could go to the school dances while the Baptist girls couldn’t.

I liked receiving communion at the altar, rather than having The Sacraments passed among the congregation while sitting in the pews.

When I was in college, I became aware of other beliefs which made us different than some other denominations. 

I first understood “open communion “ when I was refused communion at my “girl friend’s” church.  At the UMC I attended, our pastor would always say…”this is GOD’s table, not the table of this specific church and not the table of the UMC.” Everyone is invited to receive the Lord’s Supper.

At my girl friend’s church, their pastor said “only those who have been baptized are invited to the Lord’s Table and by baptized, I mean fully submerged not a little water sprinkled on your head and then the congregation giggled.

Although that wasn’t the reason we quit dating, I’ll never forget that day and I can’t imagine attending any church but The United Methodist Church.

I’m proud to be a United Methodist.

As I got older I learned about connectionalism and how our local church couldn’t by itself do what all our churches together are able to do. 

My local church couldn’t have founded Boston University, Bethune-Cookman, Duke, Emory, Florida Southern, SMU, Syracuse, University of Denver nor Meharry Medical College:  the first medical school in the South for African Americans founded in 1876 and is still the largest private historically black institution solely dedicated to educating healthcare professionals. It is the largest producer of African American with Masters in Public Health and Ph.D.s in biomedical science.

These schools and 270 others are current beneficiaries of our apportionment system.

I’m proud of this.

There are hundreds of other schools that were founded by UMC, Vanderbilt and Northwestern as examples.

In fact:  The original nick name of the football team of Northwestern was the “Fighting Methodist.”

They dropped that nick name because no one would attend the games, for fear they would be assigned to a committee and asked to bring a covered dish for the half time intermission.

United Methodist Institutions of higher learning are not just in the US, but worldwide…with African University in Zimbabwe founded in 1992 having an enrollment of 1200.

Methodist hospitals are some of the most renowned hospitals in the world.  Steve Jobs, who certainly could have gone anywhere in the world, received his liver transplant from Methodist Hospital in Memphis.  Methodist Hospital in Houston is recognized throughout the world.

I’m proud to be a UM.

I’m also proud of the long list of famous Methodists. The list includes former US Presidents, the current President of Liberia, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the current US Secretary of State and celebrities like William Holden, James Arness, Donna Reed and Beonce. 

They all are/were United Methodist. 

Fictional characters are also portrayed as UMC. Two Jewish writers, wanting to depict their main character as having been raised in a wholesome Christian environment, had the main character’s parents worshiping in a Methodist Church.   The Kents worshipped at Smallville MC -- Superman’s parents. 

I remember thinking as a child, when I first saw the Kents entering SMC with Superman, how proud I was that Superman was also a Methodist.

I’m proud to be a UM.

As I became more involved in my church and developed a better understanding of UM beliefs I understood why my parents were UM.

Now:  As I reflect on my description of the gifts we received from our children, fitting nearly in our glove compartment, I may have been a little harsh.

In retrospect, the gifts we receive from our children far exceed the gifts we give; they may be in the form of grandbabies, or in the manner in which our children live their lives as good husbands and wives and parents and being  good Christians. Yes they give us joy in countless ways. Their gifts they give us just keep giving.

HMMMM; Now that I think about it:  Our church is like that, the gift we all received from GOD, HIS son Jesus,  was probably the size of our glove compartment when he was a baby, but it is the greatest gift of all.

As  Methodists we follow the teaching of GOD’s gift , we share, we take care of each other….we believe in sharing  our gifts and as a result have hundreds of hospitals , schools, children’s homes, outreach ministries which feed and clothe and educate and care for millions. None of which we could do by ourselves.

I’m proud to be a United Methodist.

Amen

Video Intro to Treasurers Report.

Annual Conference video a parody of Bishop Whitaker’s farewell

Rev. Bill Barnes of St. Luke’s UMC in Orlando, FL, plays the role of Bishop Whitaker in a parody of the Bishop’s farewell to the Florida Annual Conference in June 2012.

The Florida Annual Conference and First United Methodist Church of Lakeland are pleased to offer child care for Elementary and Pre-school age children, Thursday, June 14, through Saturday, June 16. There will be age appropriate programming as a part of the care for the children during Annual Conference sessions.  In order to provide this service, it is imperative that the child is pre-registered. If you have not pre-registered, there is a very good possibility that spaces will be filled and you may be turned away. Pre-registration ensures that there are an adequate number of child care workers on duty to meet the child/worker ratio (required by law) and also prevents too many workers on duty, which hurts this program financially.   If your need for child care changes from your pre-registration request, please notify FUMC Lakeland so they might offer childcare for others needing this service.

Deadline:  May 20, 2012 Pre-Registration Is Required

Click Here for more information and registration form.

CAMPUS HOUSING RESERVATION DEADLINE:  MONDAY, MAY 28, 2012

The Chaplain's Office at Florida Southern College will coordinate campus housing.  To make your stay at Florida Southern College as comfortable as possible, please read this letter carefully and follow the procedures. 

IMPORTANT:  The Office of Church Relations coordinates only campus housing and campus meals.  All other information or materials should be obtained from the Florida United Methodist Conference Center.

The Lakeland Center requires advance notice to reserve rooms. Those requiring a room for their group meals, and those groups planning meals outside of The Lakeland Center, are asked to submit this form so we can publish the day and time of each meal function on the Annual Conference webpage.  Deadline - March 15, 2012

Group Meal Coordinator Form

Imagine a waiting list of 100,000.

On it are people whose legs never existed, never worked right, were destroyed by accident or just plain wore out from grueling physical labor. People with eager faces, others who barely dare to hope, all waiting to be lifted up. 

PET Project, Zambia, gives away about 50 hand-cranked mobility carts each month. Plans are to double that output this fall.	A man who has lost his legs can move across country again, thanks to a PET mobility device. Photos from New Life Center, Zambia.

And that list covers just one corner of the world, a place in Africa called Zambia. There are other lists, just as long, in less-developed countries in Asia and Central America, places where land mines, polio, birth defects and animal attacks leave people unable to walk in regions where walking is the only way to get around.

Rev. Delbert Groves, a Florida Conference missionary assigned to Zambia with his wife, Sandy, has seen the faces behind the names.

He remembers a 13-year-old boy whose paralysis from illness affected all of his limbs. Groves gave him a special wheeled device called a PET, or Personal Energy Transportation, that offered a way for him to get around without being carried. The boy was accompanied by his parents and sister.

"The little kid was so excited, and Mom and Dad were so excited," Groves recalled. "I heard the father lean over to him and he said, 'Are you happy?' And I could hear the boy say, 'Yes, Dad, this is my Hummer.'" Click here for video of Groves discussing the PET Zambia ministry.*

Groves also recalled a young man who had a job in one of the mines and was making plans to get married. He was walking along a railroad track from the mine to his village with his pay in his pocket when he was beset by robbers who beat him and left him unconscious. The attackers cruelly left his legs draped over the tracks, where they were severed when the next train came along.

"All kinds of things like that happen over here," Groves said.

                                                                                    *** 

Retired missionary Larry Hills wheels a finished mobility cart into place at the PET Project facility he founded in Penney Farms. Photo by Susan Green.

Zambia's PET Project traces its beginnings to retired missionary Larry Hills, who helped develop the heavy-duty devices and founded a PET Project plant in Penney Farms, Fla., where he retired after 33 years in Zaire, now called Congo. Click here for more photos.

While in Africa, Hills saw plenty of injustice and poverty, but the sight of people crawling or dragging themselves on the ground tugged at his heart more than anything else.

Worse, many who ventured outside their homes were shunned or spat on in a culture that believes such bad luck as loss of limbs can spread to others. In societies where walking is the primary mode of transportation, people with withered or severed legs were, at best, a burden to others.
Hills referred to Matthew 25, where the righteous and unrighteous are distinguished by their willingness to help "the least of these brothers and sisters."

"I thought, there wasn't anybody 'leaster' than these folks, and we ought to be helping them," Hills recalled.

How to help posed a dilemma. Traditional wheelchairs wouldn't suffice because they wouldn't stand up to the rough terrain and primitive dirt roads of the developing world.

In 1995, Hills teamed up with a friend in Missouri, Rev. Mel West, and a young product designer named Earl Miner to create a sturdy, hand-cranked cart on three wheels. The first prototype was given in 1996 to a fisherman who lost a leg to a crocodile, Hills recalled. 

Above, volunteer Ted Emack of Leesburg places the seat of a PET mobility unit in a box for shipping. Below, former missionary Sid Rooy, a longtime volunteer at PET Project Penney Farms, talks about how the unit will be assembled. Photos by Susan Green.

Since then, the PET design has been modified a few times, but it remains a relatively simple conveyance that can be partially assembled, boxed and shipped to developing countries where final assembly and distribution occurs. The vehicles come in adult and child sizes and there's one called a Pull PET for people who don't have use of arms or legs but have family or friends that can pull them along in a cart.

Today, about two dozen PET assembly sites exist in the U.S., including three in Florida.  Local churches often help with more than donations. For example, Keystone UMC near Penney Farms has a workshop where volunteers do partial assembly of PET vehicles and St. Andrew's UMC, Brandon, provides a place for parking and loading of a tractor-trailer that carries steel and wood needed to make PET carts in Zambia, the only PET facility outside of the U.S.

Altogether, the PET sites have produced and distributed more than 38,000 of the specialty vehicles in 100 countries, according to PET International Inc. About 700 to 800 are produced each year at Penney Farms, and the New Life Center mission in Zambia is hoping to double its output from 50 to 100 later this year.

Building and expanding the mission has not been without obstacles, but Hills said he never really doubted the idea would bear fruit.

"The Lord got hold of it and it exploded," Hills said.

He retired from the PET board in 2010 but still reports to the warehouse and assembly facility he founded in the Penney Farms retirement community. He and his wife, Laura, settled there after leaving mission service in Africa in 2001, and there he trains volunteers interested in opening new PET facilities in order to increase the output.

Many of the materials needed to make the PET units are donated, and assembly depends entirely on volunteers.

Sid Rooy, another retired missionary who spends a lot of time at the Penney Farms PET plant, said it costs an average of $125 apiece to ship the partially assembled carts to ports for distribution.

Although each PET is assembled according to a pattern and parts are designed to be interchangeable, the seats and boards are painted in different rainbow colors so that no two are the same. 

"Bright things bring a bright spot into their [recipients'] lives," Rooy said. "And every one is different, so when you get one, you're unique in your village." 

For recipients in Zambia, that aspect is more important than an American might realize, said Delbert Groves of New Life Center.

"When they get a PET from the U.S., it changes their whole social status," he said, adding that often they are no longer shunned as having "bad juju."
 
"Somebody in America loves this person. God loves this person." 

PET Penney Farms volunteer Barbara Chase holds a photo of a little girl who can get around with the help of her PET mobility device. Photo by Susan Green.

Joe Harless of Valrico, a member of St. Andrew's UMC, is the volunteer procurement officer for PET Project Zambia. His most recent shipment in May included 14,000 pounds of steel and 1,500 tires, as well as 100 boxes of Bibles and other books. 

"It's a wonderful calling for all the folks who are involved in it," said Harless, who remembered seeing one recipient crawl along a ditch to New Life Center, his approach signaled only by a bobbing head. It turned out to be a man whose legs were blown away by a land mine.

"When you pick up somebody who doesn't have any legs … it's a heart ripper, I tell you," Harless said.

"When someone crawls in and you put them on one of these [PETs], it's giving them a new life."

* PET Zambia video by Icel Rodriguez, Global Missions director for the Florida Conference. Click here to see her blog about a recent trip to New Life Center, Zambia.

-- Susan Green is the editor of Florida Conference Connection.

LAKELAND – In a world where change seems to accelerate like a stuck gas pedal, it may be easy to forget that the road to improvement often depends on small steps, one at a time.

So make no mistake: When delegates break into small groups to discuss discipleship at next month's Annual Conference, the ultimate goal will be greater than just getting people to talk to one another about following Jesus Christ. 

Russ Graves

"I wanted to find a way to begin a movement among the laity to step up to be what God called us to be," said Lay Leader Russ Graves, who is co-coordinating two series of small-group breakout sessions dubbed the "Wesleyan Discipleship Experience" at this year's annual  conference.

"There has become a disconnect between what God is calling us to do and what we as the church are doing, and pastors in general have convinced us of what we needed to do, which is not much."

The experience will bring together laity and clergy from all districts in more than 180 groups of about 10 each. The groups will contemplate scriptures about cultivating disciples and discuss how individuals and congregations can be more intentional about that biblical commission.

The first session will occur Thursday, June 13, after the keynote address by Rev. Jim Harnish of Hyde Park UMC, Tampa. The second session is scheduled for mid-afternoon Friday, June 14.

Graves, a Catholic-turned-Baptist-turned-Disciple of Christ-turned-United Methodist, has been pondering the decline in the institutional church since he became lay leader last year. For answers, he looks to the examples of John Wesley's small groups of the 1700s, and even further back, to the house churches of the early Christians. 

"The hope is a culture change that in some ways takes us back to our roots," Graves said, adding that participants will be encouraged to take the practice of intentional small groups back to their congregations.

The idea for the Wesleyan Discipleship Experience at Annual Conference also grew out of discussions with Bishop Ken Carter as Graves accompanied him on visits to the nine districts in the conference.

As a result, Graves settled on a model of small-group sessions developed by retired Bishop Dick Wills, who is helping Graves coordinate the Wesleyan Experience at Annual Conference 2013.

That model can be adapted to individual church and community needs, but Graves listed five essential ingredients: 

•  Fellowship
•  Worship
•  Study
•  Accountability
•  Mission 

John Wesley, one of the founders of Methodism, was a believer in the power of small groups.

Graves said the Wesleyan Experience largely targets laity with a challenge to evangelize and connect with others trying to walk in Christ's footsteps. It won't work without a buy-in from clergy, though, he said.

"It's a laity-driven and led movement, but it's got to be connected with the pastor," Graves said. Pastors are critical to holding people accountable by asking them if they are engaging in prayer and reading scripture regularly and guiding them to a relationship with Christ, he said.

Graves believes small groups grow Christians in ways that large-audience Sunday sermons cannot. Their success depends on the willingness of individuals to invest time, talent and discernment in one another.

"It's a place that you can be real … you can be honest," he said. "It's a place where you can receive love and encouragement and exhortation and rebuke in a way it's acceptable to you."

Annual Conference 2013 is scheduled for June 13-15 at The Lakeland Center, 701 W. Lime St., Lakeland. Preconference workshops and other opportunities will begin June 12.

The small-group breakout sessions are among new features this year. Others include food-packaging for those in need that delegates and guests are invited to volunteer for and a reconfigured Ministry Expo that emphasizes connectional relationships.

-- Susan Green is the editor of Florida Conference Connection.
 

The Florida Conference launched its own “wiki” website to help set the stage for this year’s Annual Conference theme, “Becoming Disciples of Jesus Christ.” Its name is Florida Conference Wiki, and its address is www.flconferencewiki.org.
 
Bishop Ken Carter invites Florida laity and clergy to contribute to a web-based open discussion for defining what it means to “Become Disciples of Jesus Christ in the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church.” To join the online conversation and help create the definition, click here. The wiki site has a help section to guide novices step-by-step in how to participate.

“The purpose is to have varied people bring definition to and identify resources that will help members of local churches and seekers in understanding our calling as Christians,” Bishop Carter said.

What’s a wiki? See the text box for a definition and pronunciation. The most famous of all “wikis” is Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that is collaboratively written and edited by volunteers. Almost all of its
articles can be edited by anyone with access to it.
 
If you’re new to wikis, check out this video, “Wikis in Plain English."

And, you can read Wikipedia’s definition of a wiki here.
 
By the Numbers: Tweet Meet Recap
 
On May 14, laity and clergy members of the conference engaged in an online Twitter conversation with Bishop Ken Carter about their journey or their church's progress toward becoming disciples of Christ. The tweet meet was the first for the conference, and the discussion was lively and thoughtful.
 
By the numbers:

• 34 participants tweeted during the meet;
• 89 tweet meet-related tweets on May 14, the day of the conversation;
• 147 related tweets May 15, the day after the meeting;
• 11,811 accounts reached by one or more tweet meet tweets, the total reach (audience) for the event.

LAKELAND – You've heard that the best churches have left the building.

Now Florida Conference ministries have a chance to follow suit, shedding the walls and tables of traditional display booths at Annual Conference for a more welcoming approach reminiscent of a cozy family room at home.

As part of this year's Ministry Expo at Annual Conference, nearly half of The Lakeland Center's Exhibit Hall will be devoted to The Gathering Area, where volunteers will be on hand to discuss and promote various ministries of the conference and the United Methodist denomination. Representatives of seminaries also will be there.

Visitors to Annual Conference 2013 will find a new look at Ministry Expo, with less of a booth-to-booth experience and more emphasis on relationship-building in The Gathering Area.  Graphic depiction by Dave Walter.

Guests will find refreshments and clusters of comfy furniture, along with laptop computers set up to check websites and send questions by email to conference departments if answers are not readily available.

"Think of it as being in your living room," said Pam Garrison, who is organizing the expo with Greg Harford, both of the Florida Conference Disaster Recovery Ministry. Garrison said the idea was to bring the traditional exhibit hall experience more in line with the theme of building relationships and becoming disciples.

"We wanted it to be less about walking from booth to booth," Garrison said. "It's really about starting a relationship. … The idea is for it to be fluid and welcoming."

On the other side of the hall will be booths for commercial vendors, including Lifetouch Photography, the Cokesbury bookstore, the Florida United Methodist Foundation and the United Methodist Connectional Federal Credit Union.

The conference registration table will be in the center of Ministry Expo on Wednesday, June 12, and at the opening of Annual Conference the following morning. It will move out of Ministry Expo to Guest Services Thursday afternoon, June 13.

All pastors, lay and clergy, are encouraged to visit the Lifetouch display to have their picture taken for the Clergy Directory. District superintendents are particularly eager to see that this year because they find it helpful to put faces to names during the appointment process, said Rev. Charles Weaver, assistant to Bishop Ken Carter.

The photographs will be taken for free by Lifetouch as a promotion and can be used in other settings, including the Florida Conference website, Weaver said.

Volunteers are being recruited to circulate in The Gathering Area, welcome guests and talk about Florida Conference ministries. For information or to sign up, contact Garrison at pgarrison@flumc.org or Harford at gharford@flumc.org.

The new concept for Ministry Expo is among other innovations delegates and guests will find at Annual Conference 2013, set to start with preconference workshops on Wednesday, June 12. Expo hours are as follows:

• Wednesday, June 12:  2 to 7 p.m.
• Thursday, June 13:  8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Friday, June 14:  8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Also new for this year's Annual Conference are opportunities to volunteer to package food for Stop Hunger Now, part of the Florida Conference's "A Million Reasons" campaign. Volunteer shifts are available Wednesday afternoon, June 12, and the following morning. Click here for information or to sign up.

In keeping with the event's theme, "Becoming Disciples of Jesus Christ," conference delegates also will be invited to participate in breakout sessions to discuss the discipleship experience. In addition, individual storytellers will be scattered throughout the agenda to share their journey to discipleship.

For more information about Annual Conference 2013, click here.

-- Susan Green is the editor of Florida Conference Connection.

"A Million Reasons" - a yearlong Florida Conference mission to pack 1,000,000 meals to fight hunger - will be launched at Annual Conference in June with a Stop Hunger Now meal-packaging event.

Click here for a video story from Pam Carter, Bishop Carter’s wife, about how meeting the million reasons goal will have positive impact on families worldwide.

The goal during the AC event is to package 100,000 meals with volunteers on Wednesday and Thursday before the business sessions begin. “We invite our AC members, local church groups and our youth groups to help make "A Million Reasons" happen,” said Janet Kelley, East Central District Administrative Assistant.

Over the course of Wednesday and Thursday, there will be 10 one-hour opportunities for attendees to participate in meal-packaging, Kelley added. Stop Hunger Now estimates that we can package 10,000 meals per hour if enough people sign up and lend a hand, she said.

To register CLICK HERE for one of the 10 meal packaging shifts. These have been scheduled to fit around the various events at AC 2013.

 * Shifts that accommodate those taking 2:00PM workshops, or getting out of workshops at 5:30PM
** Shifts immediately preceding Clergy/Laity/Joint Sessions
*** Shifts immediately following Clergy/Laity/Joint Sessions

Shifts will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Organizers encourage volunteers to register early to get the time that best fits their schedules.

Everyone can participate in Stop Hunger Now’s meal packaging process – there are roles that cater to every set of skills and circumstances, from children to seniors,” Kelley said.

At the registration site, there is also an option to make a donation to the effort.   Along with one-third of this year’s Annual Conference Offering, additional direct donations will help to support the 25 cents/meal cost.

To learn more about STOP HUNGER NOW, please visit their website.
 

I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me. – Matthew 25:36 (The Message)

East Naples UMC hosted a sewing party for the "Dress a Girl Around the World" ministry. Photo from East Naples UMC.

It’s hard to imagine that a simple pillowcase or T-shirt could impact children around the world, but thanks to sewing ministries at Florida United Methodist churches, it does.

In March, the Florida Conference posted a story about East Naples UMC's “Dress a Girl Around the World” ministry on the conference Facebook page. The church hosted a sewing party that brought teenagers and "golden agers," winter visitors and volunteers from the East Naples' Hispanic ministry together for four hours to make dresses out of pillowcases for the Christian organization Hope 4 Kids International.

The party yielded 30 dresses for the organization, which distributes them to impoverished girls around the world. Volunteers there planned to complete another 120 dresses for the cause.

Several other churches responded to the post with stories of their own.


First UMC, Baldwin

At First UMC, Baldwin, the Tuesday Toilers are making their mark on the world by sewing dresses for girls, shorts for boys and backpacks out of child-friendly fabric. They started two years ago, making dresses for girls in Africa, and more recently took their latest designs to their sister church in San Antonio de los Banos, Cuba.

“They were so grateful for everything, especially the backpacks,” said Jane Sheppard, 71.

“There are so many homeless children there, and they don’t have a bedside table or a dresser drawer to put their personal things in. The backpacks give them something that is their own,and what is in them is their own. They can have their own personal space.”

The sewing group is made up of about six regular women from First UMC and other local churches that just get together for the love of sewing and serving.
 

“We don’t set a goal of how many things we are going to make," Sheppard said. "Wherever the need arises we will donate our things.”

And that includes needs closer to home. Sheppard said the Toilers plan to send some dresses and shorts to a local homeless shelter. This past Christmas, they donated their colorful backpacks to a class of children with autism in the area. A grandmother in the class filled each backpack with toys and crayons.

“Some of our ladies don’t even sew, but they iron or cut or just make lunch,” Sheppard explained.

“It’s something that we can do at our age that’s hopeful. It makes me feel useful.”


First UMC, Williston

Nancy Vallario from First UMC, Williston, is part of a small but dedicated sewing group at her church that makes dresses out of pillowcases and boys' shorts out of gently used T-shirts. 

“We originally started this last September, Labor Day,” said Vallario, 78. “A team from our church took a mission trip to Nicaragua, and we gave them 50 dresses and 50 pants for the local children.”

Since then, the group has made and sent 50 more dresses to Zambia and East Angola with a local missionary, and an additional 82 dresses as part of Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child program.

 “Some of us can’t go on mission trips because we are too old, so this is a way that we can help, with these gifts,” Vallario said.

“It’s more fun than anything I have ever done before. And it’s an inexpensive way to give hope and happiness to kids who don’t have much.”

Pastor Will Clark, who pitched in and stitched a dress himself, has a different perspective.

“It was hard. But Nancy mentored me through it,” said Clark, who plans on making more.

“This is an important ministry. I’ve been on foreign missions and know that clothes are a real need,” he said.  “Plus it’s important that we support the ministry of people in the church.”

The women plan to send more dresses and shorts with their church missions’ team to Nicaragua this September.

They consider it an easy task when they have had such a generous outpouring of donations, both fabric and financial, from their church community.

“When we first started, we put on a fashion show with the little children from our church modeling our clothes and we raised $5,000,” Vallario said. 
 

Garments made by Arlington UMC volunteers for children in Haiti and the Dominican Republic line the sanctuary walls of the church. Photo from Arlington UMC.

Arlington UMC

What started as a project to honor the memory of a dear friend two years ago turned into an international operation at Arlington UMC, Jacksonville.

Eleanor Kelly, 85, was asked to make and donate some dresses in memory of her friend, Pat Haney, who also loved to sew. She wasn’t sure where to get the fabric from, so she put a notice in the church bulletin and was surprised by the outpouring that came in.

“Everyday material showed up at church, including the tape and thread. It was coming out the woodwork,” Kelly said. “It was just mind-boggling.”

With the material donated, her team of seven was able to make 94 garments (dresses or pairs of shorts) for children in the Dominican Republic and another 90 that were sent to an orphanage in Haiti. The ministry has continued but shifted to making blankets for children that are distributed wherever the team sees a need.
 

Dorothy Moore volunteers her time and talent to Jumpers for Joy, a ministry that benefits schoolchildren in need. Photo from Harris Chapel UMC.

Harris Chapel UMC

Featured last year on Florida Conference Connection was the Harris Chapel UMC sewing team, Jumpers for Joy. 

Juana Jordan, church pastor, said the ministry is still going strong, and she is thankful that the volunteers continue to bless kids in the surrounding community with new school uniforms.

“There are a number of families here who can’t afford to purchase these clothes for their children,” Harris said.

“These women are answering the prayers of these parents and truly being the hands and feet of Jesus.”

-- Tania Spencer is a freelance writer based in Sunrise.

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ORLANDO – St. Luke's UMC has launched a pioneering Community Transformation Initiative to help break the cycle of poverty for many of its neighbors. 

Estelle Lee of Catholic Charities in Pensacola shares information about the Circles Campaign approach to ending poverty during a "Mission Possible" conference April 27 at St. Luke's UMC, Orlando.

The 4,600-member congregation, rooted in an upscale suburban part of Orlando, will partner with a nearby low-income neighborhood in a holistic approach that empowers residents and tackles socioeconomic problems with assistance from church members.

The ministry has been in the talking stages for about a year, said Lynette Fields, St. Luke's executive director for servant ministry. Last week, the church kicked off the effort with a two-day "Mission Possible" conference, inviting about 100 people to hear about economic development models from as far away as Northern Ireland that focus on giving people the tools to help themselves instead of just infusing funds.

"This is an absolutely fundamental shift,” Fields said. “A lot of church missions in past generations have been charity-oriented and have been designed for those who have the resources rather than those who need the resources.

“We are doing more of a development model because everyone, even if you are poor, has assets.”

Instead of taking on a single issue like unemployment and dictating solutions from the outside, St, Luke’s plans a place-based approach that makes residents of the low-income neighborhood part of the solution. Church leaders recently began discussions with influential members of a local low-income community that they hope to partner with.

The initiative is at “the cutting edge of ministry,” said Bob Lupton, author of "Toxic Charity" and president of the nonprofit FCS (Focused Community Strategies) Urban Ministries Atlanta, who spoke at the conference. The meeting also included workshops on neighborhood and family stabilization.

Founded by Lupton in 1976, the Atlanta effort has developed two mixed-income subdivisions, organized a multiracial congregation, started a number of businesses, created housing for hundreds of families and initiated a wide range of human services in the surrounding area.

Lupton said entrepreneurs can use their skills to better the lives of others. 

Rev. Corey Jones,  community minister at St. Luke's UMC, left, looks on as Bob Lupton of Atlanta and Rev. Gary Mason of Belfast, Northern Ireland, discuss their respective economic outreach efforts at a "Mission Possible" workshop at St. Luke's.

“God has entrusted that gift to you for Kingdom purposes, and you can have a transforming impact on your world," Lupton told conference attendees. In Atlanta, for example, business people helped buy empty lots in a blighted neighborhood, which led to economic improvement there. 

An outpouring of giving from churches over the years has done little to help impoverished people, Lupton said.

“We have led the way in clothing and feeding the poor with millions [of people] sent on short mission trips at a cost of about $4 billion," he said. "The question we now need to ask ourselves is, for all that work, are we moving the poverty needle?"

In most cases, Lupton said, "the poor are getting poorer, more dependent, their work ethic is being eroded and their dignity is being depleted.”

The real need is for “economic missionaries," he said. "The highest form of charity is to provide a person a job.”

He predicted the St. Luke's initiative will take a decade or more to bear lasting fruit, but he was talking to church members with a history of building community partnerships and tackling seemingly intractable social problems.

In 1996, St. Luke's lead pastor, Dr. Bill Barnes, heard God's call to help low-income people in need of care. Six months later, with parishioners' support, the first volunteer-operated Shepherd’s Hope Health Center opened. Today, Shepherd’s Hope operates four clinics staffed by more than 2,000 volunteers and medical professionals who serve more than 20,000 patients a year.  

"One of the things we believe God was leading us to was to do something in the lives of children in poverty, but in order to do this we realized we had to work with a family and then we realized we had to work with a community,” Barnes said.

“So God has led us, and a community has invited us, to be part of a systemic change and transformation.”

As a blueprint for the ministry, the church adopted a model from the Dayton, Ohio-based Circles Campaign that identifies skill sets and assets, creates goals and builds relationships. Each circle starts with a family that sets the direction for activities. The circle includes middle- and upper-income allies to befriend and support the family, according to the Circles Campaign website.

Matching allies and families is key to the process, said Estelle Lee, a Circles coordinator with Catholic Charities of Pensacola who spoke at the Mission Possible conference.

Barnes said he also draws on the expertise of a friend, Rev. Gary Mason, a Methodist minister who founded an urban renewal project called Skainos in East Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mason conducted a workshop with Lupton and also led a worship service as part of Mission Possible. 

Lynette Fields, executive director of servant ministry at St. Luke's UMC, addresses a packed house at the church's Community Transformation Initiative conference on April 27.

Mason believes there are lessons for the Orlando congregation in the Skainos project 4,000 miles away. The Belfast effort responds to some of Northern Ireland's worst socioeconomic troubles in a society riven by the lingering effects of a 30-year civil war. Skainos works to address unemployment, homelessness, conflict resolution and family issues.

“Sometimes there’s a tendency among my own congregation to sit back and let the paid professionals spearhead this," Mason said. "But [the St. Luke’s initiative] will never happen without you being part of that journey.

“The St. Luke’s worshiping congregation has to be the spiritual heartbeat of everything that happens. It’s crucial.”

The Belfast pastor believes the project will have implications far beyond Orlando.
 
“You are not just paving the way in community transformation," he said. "You are leading the way denominationally and saying to other large churches, 'You too need to follow this model.’”

The next steps include more discussion with members of the low-income community, allowing them to tell their stories, identifying leaders, forming a joint task force, mapping assets and building relationships. Fields said the church wants to be sensitive and avoid taking a paternalistic approach.

“It is an amazing effort,” said Susan Stauffer, a member of St. Luke’s for 20 years who attended the conference.

“It goes to the core of what we believe about making our world better. It goes beyond the benefactor-beneficiary paradigm. They are teaching that everyone has value and assets.”

-- Kevin Brady is a freelance writer based in the Tampa area.
 

It's been a long school year, and summer calls. Where can you find a one-stop shop to unwind, get wet and go to worship?

The summer camps offered by the Florida Conference Camps and Retreat Ministries, of course. There are four to choose from, each offering a unique experience but all emphasizing ways to build or strengthen a relationship with God. 

Registration for Christian-themed summer camp opportunities at all four Florida Conference sites is available at www.flumcamps.org. Each camp has a different focus, so be sure to click the links for each one before you decide.

Registration is open at Warren W. Willis Camp and the Life Enrichment Center, both near Leesburg; Centenary Camp in northwest Florida; and Riverside Retreat in South Florida's rural wilds near LaBelle. Information about summer camps and links to each camp website can be found at www.flumcamps.org.

Young people can sign up to spend a week or spend a day, stay in Florida or travel to the Appalachians, hang out with peers or have fun with family.

"Now's a perfect time to do that," said Mike Standifer, director of Warren Willis Camp and executive director of Camps and Retreat Ministries.

He said almost 4,500 people, mostly kids and teens, took part in summer camp programs offered by the Florida Conference last year. Although the majority come from United Methodist churches in Florida, young people from other Christian denominations and out of state are welcome, Standifer said.

The son of a UMC preacher, Standifer grew up attending what is now Warren Willis, formerly the Florida United Methodist Youth Camp. He loved the experience so much that he made camps his career, joining the staff in 1993.

Some things have changed, like the shift to air conditioning and contemporary music praise bands. But the purpose of the Florida Conference camps remains the same, described by Standifer as providing a safe place to have fun "but also experience a relationship with Jesus Christ, whether a brand new one or a deepening of the faith they have."

"I think that camp, and summer camp specifically, has the ability to change people's lives," he said. "That's why I do what I do, because it changed my life."

To encourage more UM churches to promote the Florida Methodist camp experience in their youth groups, the conference Board of Camps and Retreat Ministries offers a $400 scholarship for a camper from any church that has not sent any kids or teens to a Florida Conference camp in the past three years.

Here's a quick look at the four camps and what they offer: 

By day or night, the cross on the water at Lake Griffin is an icon that Warren Willis summer campers remember year after year. Photo from Warren W. Willis Camp staff.

Warren W. Willis: This shady spot on the shores of Lake Griffin is where the Florida Methodist camp experience began, and it remains the most visited of the conference's retreat centers.

Last year, nearly 3,900 youngsters spent some of their summer at Warren Willis. Two giant waterslides make the site's newly renovated pool a popular place for splashdown, and there's a ropes course for those who like it up in the air. The camp also offers canoeing and sailing.

The summer program will offer eight separate weeks of "classic camps," with programs and lodging tailored to different age groups. Rising fourth- and fifth-graders play, stay and worship together, as do rising sixth- to eighth-graders. High school students have their own program, and this is the third year that the camp will extend an invitation to this year's high school graduates to come back for a final summer camp with other high school students.

For high school students willing to wander a bit to experience the beauty of God's creation, there are out-of-state trip camps to hike, rappel and do white-water rafting. Warren Willis offers two weeklong wilderness camps and two weeklong opportunities to hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail. These camps have limited capacity and fill up fast, as does the one-week Suwannee River Canoe Trip.

There's also Creative Spirit Camp, scheduled for June 10-15, for rising fourth-graders through just graduated high school students who like to worship God through the arts. Students prepare a performance to share with other campers and their parents at week's end.

For younger children within driving distance, Warren Willis offers weeklong day camps all summer long. Youngsters who will be in first through sixth grade in the fall are eligible. 

Hiking trails and canoe opportunities help summer campers at Riverside Retreat explore God's wilderness wonders. Photo from Riverside Retreat.

Riverside Retreat: Formerly the South Florida United Methodist Camp, this site on the Caloosahatchee River will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year with special events planned for October. Before that, though, youngsters will celebrate with three weeks of summer camp, tailored to elementary, middle and high school ages.

This site is ideal for youngsters who like smaller crowds and lots of space. Riverside's 150 acres of pristine wilderness offer campers a chance to disconnect from daily routines, explore the environment and search for a spiritual connection, said camp director Martha Pierce.

“There is so much beauty and wildlife here, so we try to get them [campers] unplugged so they can meet animals like the otters that are here," she said.

"Small groups in this intimate setting can really experience spiritual growth.”

Three weeklong residential camps are scheduled in July. Each week, 40 high school, 40 middle school and 20 elementary school students will be housed in the camp’s lodges, said Chelsey Hernandez, program coordinator.

Riverside also is organizing its first fishing day camp, slated for July 29 to Aug. 2 and co-sponsored by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission for rising third-graders through rising eighth-graders.

“They’ll be learning all about fish habitats and biology and ecology, about fish stocking and regulations and how to choose bait and tackle,” Hernandez said.

For students in grades six to 12, a mission trip to Key West to build a Habitat for Humanity house is planned for June 30 to July 6.

About 80 percent of campers last year were Methodist, and participants provided a picture of Florida's growing ethnic diversity, with more than 40 percent Hispanic, African American or Haitian. Almost half received scholarships, said Hernandez, adding that the aim of the camp is “never to turn any campers away." 

Grandparents & Me is the flagship family summer camp at the Life Enrichment Center. Photo from the Life Enrichment Center staff.

Life Enrichment Center: Families that want to beat the heat and build connections with God and one another should consider summer camp at this retreat on Lake Griffin, just across Picciola Road from Warren Willis.

"We offer an experience that none of our other camps do," said program coordinator Melissa Cooper. "All of our camps have their own personalities, and ours happens to be intergenerational."

For years, Grandparents & Me summer camps have been building in popularity, with about 80 participants signing up for a summer session last year. Three sessions – two in June and one in July – will be offered this summer.

"That's sort of our flagship program," Cooper said. "A number of grandparents have been coming here for years."

The LEC added a Family Camp last year. The programs are designed to help adults and children release the stress of modern living and devote time to fun and faith formation.

"It's hard to get everybody to come and sit in the same room and spend time together," Cooper said.

And there's another perk: "All of our rooms are hotel-style and have their own private bathrooms," Cooper said. "It's family-oriented in programming and lodging."

Check out http://lecprograms.org/ for signup and a sample camp schedule. 

Swimming lessons, above, and archery, below, are among activities offered at Centenary Camp in northwest Florida. Photos from Centenary Camp.

Centenary Camp: Located 40 miles west of Tallahassee, this camp has experienced a lot of growth and change since 2009, when the conference acquired it and adapted it from a district-run facility.

Before that, its natural setting was used by various groups, but there were no ongoing programs, said Donna Bruns, camp director.

As the site continues to build its programs and outreach, campers can not only soak up the atmosphere provided in the peaceful environment but participate in traditional camp fun in the pool and on a multipurpose field for volleyball, basketball and other games.  There are two dorms that hold 40 campers each; a lodge with six private sleeping quarters to sleep four, each with a private bath; a multipurpose room for large gatherings; and a half-mile nature/prayer walk.

Wireless Internet is available, but campers are encouraged to use it sparingly.

“One of the things we try to get them to do is to focus on what the camp has to offer,” Bruns said.

Day camps for kids will include swim instruction as well as crafts, songs and Bible stories. Camp instructors also provide a bullying prevention program.

“We have the traditional treasure hunts and games, and we know the kids on a one-to-one basis. … We don’t have all the zip lines or high ropes like some of the other camps, so this is a good fit for kids from a more rural background,” Bruns said.

A weeklong residential summer camp, separated by ages, is scheduled for July 7-13.  The programs, one for ages 9 to 11 and one for 12 to 14, can accept up to 50 participants each.

Most Centenary campers come from the North West District and almost all are Methodists, Bruns said. Many campers return year after year, drawn by the wilderness setting and the deer, wild turkeys, bald eagles and other wildlife.

-- Anne Dukes is a freelance writer based in Atlanta. Susan Green is the editor of the Florida Conference Connection.
 

ENTERPRISE --When Becky Dotson takes over May 1 as chief executive officer and president of The Florida United Methodist Children’s Home, she’ll have her hands full leading a century-old organization that provides care and services to hundreds of Florida’s abused, abandoned or orphaned children.

Despite the usual uncertainty of a new job and the stress of moving her 5-year-old son and household from Mississippi, she is not worried. 

The main campus of the Florida United Methodist Children's Home is in Enterprise, near DeLand, but the organization has satellite offices and is building a second residential site near Tallahassee. Photo from the Florida United Methodist Children's Home.

“This is what God has called me to do,” says Dotson, who knows what to expect. She has served a decade as CEO and president of United Methodist Ministry with Children and Families, which oversees the United Methodist Children's Homes of Mississippi.

“I make it a point to get to know every child in our care," she says. "I know them by name.

"When they come in our care, I bring them in my office and I tell them that we prayed and we selected them to be with us, that it just wasn’t happenstance, that 'we wanted you to be in our care.’ I made, not just a professional, but a personal commitment, to be the voice for children who have no voice.”

Her previous experience and her personal mission will come in handy at the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home, which was established in Enterprise in 1908 as an orphanage.

During its 105-year history, the organization has grown through a merger and evolved as children’s needs and philosophies of care changed. Now that more children come to live at the home, not as orphans, but because of abuse, abandonment and family breakdown, the organization has expanded its mission and added services.

Today, the Children’s Home includes residential care for more than 100 children, therapeutic group care, foster care, emergency shelter care, independent living assistance and a community child care center.

The Children’s Home main campus remains in Enterprise, but construction is underway at a new campus in Pinetta. The extension, called Madison Youth Ranch, will include residential and therapeutic care and plans for equine-assisted therapy. Foster care services are available in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Hillsborough, Flagler and Volusia counties.  

Becky Dotson

Dotson takes the helm from Mike Galloway, who is retiring as the organization's president and CEO. Galloway is credited with adding expanded residential care, family foster care and early childhood education services during his nearly seven-year tenure.

“What we saw in Becky were many of the same qualities and skill sets that made Mike Galloway so effective and successful,” says Evans Hubbard of St. Luke's UMC, Orlando.

Hubbard is the chairperson of the Florida Children’s Home Board of Trustees. He served on the committee that launched a months-long search for Galloway’s replacement and culled Dotson’s name from more than 100 applicants.

Dotson stands out, he says, as someone who will strengthen the foundation while also forging new ground.

“Throughout the process, we worked with an executive search firm to narrow down the list to eight candidates, then to four for committee interviews, and we invited candidates to spend a couple days on campus,” explains Hubbard.

“We were very impressed with Becky’s interaction with our staff and her obvious affection for the children in our care and her commitment to helping them become successful in their lives.

“At the same time, we recognize that she will be the first female CEO in our history and we are excited to hear about her vision for where we might go as an organization.”

Already Dotson has begun familiarizing herself with her new responsibilities through daily online access and weekly calls with Hubbard.  Along with a $13 million annual operating budget that is more than three times what she had to work with in Mississippi, Dotson is gearing up for the opening of the Madison Youth Ranch, expected in 2014, and learning more about plans to expand services into Palm Beach County.

Rather than being daunting, the workload and mission inspires Dotson, who originally became an accountant on her father’s advice.

“In 20 years of accounting, I did not have one inkling of a passion for a single tax return," Dotson says. "But working with children, I feel privileged and honored that God has given me the opportunity to see His hand at work every day.

"I am humbled that He has granted this sacred responsibility to me. When I see their promise and I watch their progress, it renews my spirit.”

-- Colleen Hart is a freelance writer based in Cocoa.
 

Global Ministries seeks missionaries to serve within the global Methodist connection in a variety of roles and ministries around the world. Global Ministries sends missionaries from everywhere to everywhere. Missionaries vary in age, trade-skills and occupations, and they serve in ministry with others as teachers, pilots, lawyers, agriculturalists, dieticians, physicians, nurses, administrators, accountants, pastors, photographers, journalists, community organizers, and Christian educators – just to name a few. They desire to learn about and to share God’s love in Jesus Christ in tangible, everyday ways.

Currently, we are seeking qualified candidates who wish to explore a call to mission service in the Latin American and Caribbean regions with the following gifts and graces:

• Lives out a sense of vocation and call to work among those within the church and outside the church.
• Has a passion for agricultural development as it relates to community development
• Has demonstrated competency in teaching and training
• Has experience in office administration, budget preparation and financial management.
• Has demonstrated the ability to learn, develop and implement new and creative approaches to ministry.
• Able to coordinate volunteer work and study teams from partner churches
• Knowledge of planning and implementing construction projects
• Proven effectiveness in oral and written communication in both English and Spanish

Nate and Elinda Steury were both born and raised as MK’s (Missionary Kids) in Africa.  Elinda was born in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and Nate in Kenya.  They met at boarding school in Kenya, where they fell in love and have lived happily ever after…so far…

Elinda got her B.S. and Masters Degree in nursing from the University of Central Florida (UCF), and has worked in critical care for over 20 years.  She has taught at Brevard Community College Nursing School and hopes to finish up her doctorate at UCF in 2013-14.  She will be working on her dissertation in Zambia - on the use of text messages to remind malaria patients to take their medications – one of the big issues affecting malaria recovery rates.

Nate got his accounting degree from UCF then went on to seminary and has served in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church for 20 years and served at Kendall UMC in Miami (’93-’95), Community UMC in Marathon (’95-’00) and St. Mark’s UMC in Indialantic (’00-’13).    Nate will continue to be a member of the Florida Conference and has been appointed (way) “beyond the local church.”  They are going out under the umbrella of UMVIM (United Methodist Volunteers In Mission).

Their two oldest children, David and Kristen are currently attending the University of Central Florida and are living here in the U.S. in Indialantic.  Mark graduated from high school in May, 2013 and is taking a “gap year” in Zambia.  Lindsey is going into the 10th grade and will be attending an international school in Zambia.

They are very excited about God’s call to ministry in Zambia.  Nate has been traveling there for the last 13 years to participate in Pastors’ School as often as he is able.  Through these contacts, God has called him to be in ministry as a part of the team at Kafakumba Training Center ( www.Kafakumba.org ), where Pastors’ School is held.  They hope to serve the Church there in whatever capacity is needed.  Some of that will be in support of the pastors.  Some will be in developing a new discipleship training school of transformation for some of the workers in the businesses that have been started.  They will be working closely with John and Kendra Enright as well as Lorraine Enright, all of whom have served as U.M. missionaries.

You are welcome to support Nate and Elinda’s ministry through prayer (you can never have too much of that!) and through encouragement by contact.  If you would like to receive updates by e-mail, please contact Nate at nesteury@me.com with your preferred e-mail. You can also support them through financial partnership. 

Please send any financial support to (checks made out to Enright Flight Ministry):
Enright Flight Ministry
1919 Jackson Lane
Pt. Orange, FL 32128

Please be sure to include a code on the subject line of the check designating where you would like your funds to go.  Please put one of these codes in the subject line:  Code NS – Salary for Nate and Elinda Steury, Code G – Kafakumba Pastors School, OR Code TM –Transforming Ministries

Watch Nate at Kafakumba!

By Shaun Nichols | Courtesy www.v3.co.uk

The use of social networking accounts by businesses for public relations and publicity is creating a fresh set of security headaches for users and service operators.

Recently, a spate of high-profile Twitter account hacks has put a focus on social networking security. News sites such as the Associated Press and The Onion have fallen prey to account thefts from phishing operations, while writer Candace Bushnell had her account breached by Guccifer, the same hacker who famously breached the account of former President George W Bush. In the case of Bushnell, the attack also led to a costly data breach as the first 50 pages of the Sex and the City author's new novel were leaked.

While Twitter is putting protection in place for individual users by adding measures such as two-factor authentication, such security precautions are less practical for corporate publicity accounts where multiple people share an account and require access independently.

The unique challenges posed by company accounts and the outbreak of attacks exploiting them is causing security experts to suggest a new approach to managing and securing accounts. Scott Hazdra, principal security consultant with Neohapsis, told V3 that in order to secure accounts where one person alone can't be responsible for access, measures have to be taken to mitigate risk.

Hazdra said that companies operating Twitter accounts designed to interact with the public should minimise the potential for a breach by keeping access to such accounts limited and by following best practices with passwords.

"They can keep the number of people who know the shared password and accounts to the bare minimum, don't involve people who post once a year. Figure out who the people are who are involved in the task and enable them," Hazdra said.

In addition, Hazdra noted that accounts that manage secured content, as in the case of Bushnell, should encrypt files before uploading to sharing sites and transmit keys to recipients via a secure medium such as a phone call.

For many firms, however, even the basic security practices are falling on deaf ears. Hazdra noted that the Bush and Bushnell attacks were likely performed by guessing recovery answers and passwords with publicly available information, while the AP and Onion attacks were apparently the result of a phishing operation. In such cases, even limiting the access of multiple users would be futile as the attacker would still be able to take over an account.

Hazdra added: "The battle cry to create strong passwords is still as relevant today as it was 10 years ago. The thing that is striking is still today phishing and guessing are attacks that succeed, some of the things we have been seeing for years still hold true."

Over the long haul, the service providers themselves may need to put business-specific protections in place. Hazdra suggests that companies such as Twitter could help to better protect corporate and publicity-oriented accounts by allowing varying levels of access and permissions.

In such a scenario, an administrator would be allowed to set up an account and set an email address for password recovery and reset. Such permissions would be limited to that administrator and other users would not have edit permissions. Lower-level users could then be added to an account and have permissions such as posting content or re-tweeting but would not be able to make the changes that would allow an attacker or malicious insider to hijack an account and prevent password recovery.

"Along with two-factor authentication social media sites should incorporate this notion of multiple levels of user access. That type of function would serve a lot of social media and broadcast sites well," Hazdra said.

Rev. Armando and Icel Rodriguez at the HSE event.

Jet lag usually is a significant inconvenience on mission trips to distant time zones. On our recent trip to Zambia (April 1-11), however, jet lag proved to be a major blessing.

We were there to participate in the Holy Spirit Encounter at Kitwe’s New Life Center. During one of those sleepless nights we had the opportunity to witness firsthand how our brothers and sisters in Zambia seek God’s presence in the early hours. Still awake at 4AM, I started to hear prayers being lifted up in the sanctuary nearby. I walked there to find two men praying on their knees. Not long after that, others started to join in prayer and praises to the Lord. By 4:30AM, around 20 people had gathered for a lively worship service and one of the pastors delivered a powerful message. When we heard prayers the next morning at the same time, we found out that the retreat began every day with this service, at 4AM! 

Not surprisingly, the church in Zambia has grown from 5 to 90+ United Methodist congregations in the last ten years. As they honor the call from 2 Chronicles 7:14 (“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land”), God is faithful to His promises and blesses them abundantly.

Rev. Delbert and Sandy Groves, missionaries at the New Life Center, Zambia.

Delbert and Sandy Groves founded the New Life Center 13 years ago when they began their ministry in Zambia. Since 2001 they sponsor the Holy Spirit Encounter, a gathering of young pastors and lay leaders who seek to strengthen their hands for the mission of “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”  In addition, the Groves’ holistic ministry includes many other outreach programs such as leadership training, tutoring, community health education, discipleship and evangelism, new church planting, a printing press center, and a PET ministry (Personal Energy Transportation).

We wanted Rev. Delbert Groves and Rev. Charles Mulemena (Director of the New Life Center) to explain some of these ministries themselves. The videos below are only a glimpse into what they do for the glory of God. As I bring back these wonderful memories, I pray that United Methodists in Florida will continue to join them in prayers and support. As in the campfire video below, I pray that the fire of the Holy Spirit will continue to fall upon our lives and churches in Florida as it is already happening in Zambia.

   ♦  PET ministry   ♦  Retreat and Conference facility   ♦  Sister church development

   ♦  New Life Press   ♦  Computer training classes   ♦  Campfire

To learn more about the Groves’ ministry and find out how to support them, visit their website at newlifezambia.com.

God bless and thanks for your continued support of our missionaries,

Icel Rodriguez

On March 7, 2013, Facebook announced its first major update to the news feed since the feature launched seven years ago.

The new look will be more visually-focused and based on Facebook’s research that shows almost 50% of news feed postings are rich in visual content.

What does this mean for how your church or organization shares content? We’ll guide you through some of the changes and leave you with takeaways to implement immediately.

Click here for the information courtesy the United Methodist Communications.

On the Day of Pentecost we celebrate God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to those gathered from all nations in Jerusalem (Acts 2). In reading this remarkable chapter in the New Testament, we encounter visible expressions of the power of God among the people of God: biblical preaching, hearing the Word, translating the gospel into our own languages, repentance, baptisms, new persons experiencing salvation, teaching the scriptures, deep community, shared meals, prayers, sacrifice, and the elimination of material need by the sharing among rich and poor.

When you come to the edge of all the light you know and are about to step off into the darkness, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly. -- Barbara Walters

Conference staff who are retiring or taking another appointment are feted during a luncheon at the Florida United Methodist Center. Photos by Susan Green.

LAKELAND – With whimsy, wit and platefuls of croissants, the Florida Conference staff bid farewell Wednesday to long familiar faces that will soon make their way around another bend in the path to discipleship.

Retiring after more than 40 years of ministry each are Rev. Charles "Chuck" Weaver, assistant to the bishop, and Rev. Dr. Mont Duncan, executive director of New Church Development. Also retiring is Dr. Phil Maynard, director of Congregational Excellence.

Also leaving the conference are Beth Knox, administrative assistant to Weaver, and Rev. Rick Bennett, who has been interim director of Justice and Outreach Ministries for more than a year.

Taking on a new appointment as lead pastor at Memorial UMC, Fernandina Beach, is Rev. Beth Fogle-Miller, director of Connectional Ministries. Dr. Jeff Stiggins, executive director of Congregational Excellence, will take the helm of First UMC, Vero Beach. Rev. Kim Griffith will move from her position as associate director of New Church Development to the Griffith Coaching Network.

Rev. Emily Oliver, associate director of Clergy Excellence, has accepted an appointment to Skycrest UMC, Clearwater.

All changes take effect at Annual Conference next month. 

Mont Duncan, standing with wife Martha Gay by his side, talks about his early days at the Florida Conference.	Beth Fogle-Miller talks about how her work at the Florida Conference office will serve as a bridge to her next appointment at Memorial UMC, Fernandina Beach.	Charles "Chuck" Weaver is among longtime conference ministers retiring this summer.

Several staff members, along with Bishop Ken Carter, shared memories of how their colleagues had left a mark on the conference.

Rev. Dr. Wayne Wiatt, East Central District superintendent who will soon become the executive director of Clergy Excellence, remembered serving on a committee with Fogle-Miller and listening to pastors give sermons on cassette tapes, then videotapes, then DVDs.

"Time marches on," he said.

The luncheon was arranged by the Florida Conference Human Resources Department. In honor of those retiring after so many decades of service, Florida United Methodist Center receptionist Starlene Rouse decorated the center's third floor with vintage items from her father's work career as a Pentecostal preacher. Books on theology served as table centerpieces, as well as an antique Underwood manual typewriter on which her dad typed his first sermon.

By Justin Wise

One of the most frequently-asked questions I get from the churches and ministries we work with is, “Do you have a social media policy example we could look at?”

There’s always a few laying around in Evernote, but I never took the time to compile them all into one spot. Until now.

Below is a dynamic list of all the social media policies and resources I can get my hands on. Thanks to my tribe for providing so many great examples I didn’t have access to. With every church and ministry we work with, this list will increase and change.

Click here for Justin's list.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church.  Courtesy of Think Differently http://justinwise.net.

I am writing from a corner in Jeff and Debbie's Copacabana, Bolivia, home overlooking Lake Titicaca and their lovely garden. The sun is just starting to peek out after a rainy start to February 9, the middle of rainy season here, and I can’t help but think this is a wonderful metaphor for the exciting year ahead: it is my hope to shed a bit of light, in the form of English education, to Copacabaniños while simultaneously learning from, about, and with this community of welcoming and wise individuals.

For the next 9 months, I will join Jeff, Debbie, and their impressive work with Misión Fronteras in the promotion of sustainable economic, agricultural—and now educational—growth in the Bolivia/Peru border region. I am thrilled to have an opportunity to launch a Teach the Teachers program, focused on training local teachers how to teach English to their elementary- and high-school-age students.

How and why did I come to this place? You might be wondering. “This place” is actually the intersection of three roads that have shaped my life: English education, Latin America, and overseas mission work. First, I have been journeying toward “this place” of English education since childhood, as a booklover. In college, I majored in English and minored in Spanish, then received a Masters in English and TEFL certification. I worked several years as a writer, teacher, editor, and educational coordinator.

Second, my arrival at “this place” of Latin America has been gradual. I grew up in South Texas and Florida, where Spanish is just as likely to be spoken as English. My father worked for U.S. Customs and traveled at least once a month to various places in Latin America. He told many stories about the poverty he observed during these travels. As a child, I remember wondering if I could possibly do something to help. In 2010, I participated in a short-term mission trip to Nicaragua. Since then, I have been interested in returning to Latin America.

In 2011, my father unexpectedly passed away. This sudden loss initiated the final change in my life that led to my arrival at this third place, Misión Fronteras in Copacabana, Bolivia. One day, I was a typical career-minded, single, busy—and admittedly stressed out! —young woman. The next day, prompted by the heartache over my father’s death and the realization of how very short life is, I found myself questioning the pace and focus of my life. In 2012, I decided to investigate education projects in Latin America, thinking this might be an answer to that childhood question (how can I help?) and a way to redirect my life in a meaningful way. I looked into many programs, but nothing clicked like Debbie, Jeff, and Misión Fronteras. There is a sense of rightness and peace about my joining them.

I have been visiting for a week now, and have had the chance to adjust to the altitude, get to know Jeff and Debbie (and their amazing gourmet cooking!), scope out housing, and most importantly—get oriented to Misión Fronteras and how I can fit in. I am now familiar with the needs, goals, and motivations behind this community’s desire for English education. I have eaten lunch with an Aymaran church community, visited a local school, learned about the many projects the mission has underway, and have gazed on the beauty of Lake Titicaca. I have seen God at work here.

Yes, there is indeed a sense of rightness and peace about my being here. I have so many ideas for the Teach the Teachers program, and cannot wait to join this caring community!

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Katie Yaun

For more information about Katie and ways in which you can support her ministry, email her at katie.yaun@yahoo.com
 

Killearn UMC in Tallahassee is seeking to hire a part-time Associate Director of Children's Ministry. This part-time position (24 hrs/week) requires computer proficiency and strong relationship skills. We currently use the Orange curriculum to serve approximately 200 children each Sunday. The applicant’s family must be in agreement with their call to serve in ministry. For a complete job description, please contact upstreet@kumconline.org. Salary range is $13-$16/hour, depending on experience.

First Untied Methodist Church of Cocoa Beach is hiring a Director of Youth Ministries.  We currently have about 15 involved in the youth ministry with hopes of enlarging the group through a focus on missions and outreach.  The vision of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.  We do that through radical hospitality, intentional discipleship, passionate worship, salty service and extravagant generosity.

Pianist and/or Organist needed to play for Sunday Worship @ 10:30 a.m. - be there for Prelude 10:15 and Postlude.
Service lasts approximately 1 1/2 hour. Call Office Mon-Thrus., 8:30 am-1:30 pm.

First UMC of Fort Lauderdale is looking to purchase children's acolyte robes.  We need both the cassock and the cotta (black and white parts of the robes).

Please contact Pastor Monique McBride at mmcbride@flumc.org.

Trinity United Methodist Church in Prattville, Alabama is receiving applications for the position of full-time student minister. The student (youth) minister would be responsible for leading ministry to teenaged youth aged seventh through twelfth grades. Trinity is a growing congregation with a ministry to 40-60 teenagers in the growing community of Prattville, just outside of Montgomery, Alabama. Interested persons contact Mrs. Rhonda Sibley at rsibley@abcpa.com.

Job Description

The Wesley Child Development Center (WCDC) was created as a means of expressing Jesus’ love for children, and in the belief that it is First United Methodist Church of Orlando’s (First Church) congregational responsibility to provide, in an environment of love and trust, a place to develop and nurture each individual child’s growth and learning. The center strives to meet the varied needs of today’s families and to provide an atmosphere where children, from all backgrounds, can flourish and grow physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially and spiritually.

As an Assistant Director you will be trusted with a wide range of tasks that will be essential to the smooth running of the center as well as to the educational development of the children.
Some of the exciting things that you will do as an Assistant Director include, but are not limited to:

Make a difference every day!
Assist Director in implementing the goals and philosophy of the center in keeping with its role as a ministry of First Church.
Assist the Director with the operation of the center, ensuring that the school is operating in accordance with company and state licensing standards.
Be responsible for ensuring an educational, caring and safe environment for the children and parents.
Spark imagination, build self-esteem and help children discover new things each day.
Teach, educate and monitor children as needed.
Assist Director in staff development and training.

Job Requirements

In order to be considered for this position, you must meet all state licensing requirements, including:

Associate’s Degree or higher in early childhood education or child development with at least two years of child care experience in a preschool setting
Director Credential (must be maintained at all times)
Complete forty-hour Introduction to Introductory Child Care Training Course and five hour Early Literacy and Language Development Course and Child Development Associate Degree (CDA)
VPK Director Endorsement
To apply

Email your cover letter and resume to Kimberly@FirstChurchOrlando.org.

This post will accept applicants until May 29.

Trinity United Methodist Church of Gainesville, FL is seeking a Missions Director. Prefer Bachelor's degree and 5 years of experience. Must have proven leadership, team building and volunteer development. Lead short and long-term mission opportunities, lead mission programs and trips. Develop relationships with mission organizations, community leaders, and other area churches.
Background check required.
Application Deadline 06/07/13.
No phone calls please.  Send resume to jobs@trinitygnv.org.

Licensed Mental Health Counselor seeking an opportunity to help families find stability and happiness. Able to lead family development trainings, and develop a viable counseling center.

The Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church is seeking a full time Sr. Administrative Specialist for the Episcopal Office of the Resident Bishop.  The successful candidate must be a self-starter with ability to handle diverse tasks in a professional and timely manner. Responsibilities include handling phone and email correspondence, creating and maintaining spreadsheets and reports, scheduling meetings and maintaining electronic department records as well as meeting and event planning.

 The ideal candidate will be a mature, detail oriented individual who has 7 to 10 years of progressively responsible administrative experience with advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office products such as Word, Outlook and Excel.  Strong verbal and written communication skills are required. Must be able to draft routine correspondence. Knowledge of The United Methodist Church desirable.  EOE. Salary commensurate with education and experience.  E-mail letter of interest and resume to employment@flumc.org no later than May 31, 2013.

About a year ago, a young woman in her 30s began attending our church. Rebecca had traveled a great deal, and most recently had lived in Brazil. She had moved to Miami for her job and was excited to get to know the city. I was excited to see her enthusiasm about finding a church home.

Rebecca first became involved in our homeless outreach ministries by signing up to serve breakfast at 7:30 a.m. on Sundays. She also volunteered to help at the holidays. Although she traveled quite a bit for work, Rebecca always made it a point to let me know where she was and when she’d be back. She was a regular worshipper and joined the congregation in membership about three months after first visiting.

Rev. Dr. Cynthia Weems

I found myself beginning to dream, as pastors do, of the ways Rebecca’s many gifts could be utilized in our congregation. I prayed for how the Lord might open possibilities for her growing involvement in our church.

Six months after Rebecca joined, however, she approached me after worship with excitement in her eyes. She had been offered a promotion and would be moving to Tokyo. Easter would be her last Sunday with us.

“It’s been so great to worship here this last year,” she said that day. “I’ll miss you,” she lamented as she hugged me. Not as much as I will miss you, I thought to myself.

And so it has gone with more than half a dozen young adults since I arrived to serve this downtown congregation four years ago. Another six young couples have arrived, and left, in this four-year window. Graduate school and job opportunities call them away.

But it is not only the young. Empty nesters who moved downtown to experiment with condo living have decided to move on to another adventure. Others have moved because of job and family changes.

Is this sounding familiar?

It used to be that these scenarios were common only in urban churches. People, it was thought, do not stay long in the city. They come and go. Churches in these areas, of course, will feel the weight of these transitions. “Tough luck,” a colleague in the suburbs once told me.

My sense is that many congregational leaders are struggling with the same tough luck these days. The nature of all our communities is fundamentally changing. In 2010 alone, more than one in 10 U.S. residents moved within the previous year, according to the U.S. Census. Are churches, and church systems, ready to adapt to these changes?

Historically, churches could absorb short-term members, because the majority of congregants were long-term residents. These permanent members would serve on committees, lead stewardship drives, sing in the choir and chair committees. The short-timers could fill in as they were able without significantly affecting the overall operating system.

Today, however, more and more church members do not have deep roots in the community and may never grow them. But they do desire a relationship with a church.

Rebecca was as active as any of our “regulars” during the nine months she lived in Miami. She even paid her annual pledge up front the week she moved to Tokyo -- a greater commitment than some longtime worshippers. Commitment, desire and faithfulness are not the questions at the heart of this struggle. A changing way of life is.

My initial assessments draw some conclusions about how the current church operating system must change. First, we can no longer anticipate that people with long years of church membership will be the only ones in leadership positions. If the current model continues, there may be no one left who qualifies!

In a new model, leaders will constantly be lifted up, rather than joining committees that remain intact for several years. Projects may be managed by a more mobile group of people who are willing to meet, problem-solve and strategize for the time they have to give to that task.

Second, more responsibility will be given to church staff. In my opinion, this is unfortunate. However, in many cases a church staff person will know as much of the history of the church’s functions -- bookkeeping, historical records, facilities -- as any parishioner. Church staff will provide structure and documentation for what has long been carried on through oral memory. Resources will have to be allocated to staff with these expectations in mind.

Third, pastors will be relied on for longevity and continuity. This is, potentially, the most perilous of the possibilities before us. In my own tradition, The United Methodist Church, most pastoral appointments are not lengthy. What will it mean for the pastor to be a fundamental part of the fabric that holds churches together when laypeople are the ones coming and going? In order for faith communities to withstand the growing transience of the larger community, I believe longer pastoral appointments are increasingly important.

In the past, our churches have experienced growth and vitality precisely because they have been churches representing communities of people who have stuck around. This lifestyle is fast declining among every age group in congregational life. If we continue to provide ministries and encourage structures that cater primarily to long-term residents, we are in big trouble. Where will faithful passers-through like Rebecca find a church home?

Rev. Weems is senior pastor of First UMC of Miami.  Reprinted with permission by "Faith & Leadership" www.faithandleadership.com. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church.

My wife is a pastor. Specifically, she’s the senior pastor of a prominent church in downtown Portland, Ore. I’m on staff too, but only part-time, and she enjoys telling people she’s my boss. Technically, I answer to the church board, but people get a laugh about the reversal of “typical roles.”

I get my share of “preacher’s wife” jokes, to which I have a handful of rote responses. No, I don’t knit or make casseroles. No, I don’t play in the bell choir. Generally, the jokes are pretty gentle, but they all point to the reality that few of us will actually talk about: We see the traditional roles of women as less important than those of their male counterparts. And so, to see a man who works from home most of the time and takes the kids to school while his wife has the “high power” job brings everything from the man’s masculinity to his ambition into question.

But regardless of the teasing I get, Amy has it a lot worse. One time, when she was guest preaching at a church in Colorado, a tall man who appeared to be in his 60s came up to her after worship. “That was pretty good,” he said, smiling but not extending his hand, “for a girl.”

Amy and I planted a church in southern Colorado 10 years ago, and we actually kind of enjoyed watching people’s expectations get turned on end when they met us. A newcomer would walk in the doors of the church and almost always walk up to me and start asking questions about our congregation.

“Oh, you’re looking for the person in charge,” I’d say. “She’s over there.” Then would come the dropped jaws and the wordless stammers as they reconfigure everything they assumed walking through the door. Amy’s even had people stand up and walk out in the middle of worship when they realize she’s about to preach.

Sex, faith and power have been long-time, if not always productive, bedfellows within organized religion. And from what I’ve seen as a “preacher’s wife,” Christianity is at least a generation behind the rest of the United States in figuring out our respective roles and limitations. Some churches would sooner shutter their doors forever than allow a woman to preach, and soon enough they’ll probably get that chance, given that the vast majority of people in seminary today are women.

In fact, there are more women in higher education altogether than there are men. In many respects, the continuing tide of gender parity is inevitable across social and economic systems, if they’re to have a hope of remaining relevant at all. But that doesn’t mean everyone is entirely comfortable with the changes.

It’s important for all of us to recognize the challenges that come along with such a profound sea change. Amy has told me that, although she has found her place in the professional world, she experiences an implicit (and sometimes even explicit) expectation from those around her to be both a full-time professional and an ever-present mom. So in a way, hers has been a process of addition rather than adjustment or reallocation.

Overall, as women have entered the full-time workplace in growing numbers, they’ve experienced more of the same side effects that men “enjoy” from overwork and related stress, including increased hypertension, heart disease, and other risk factors related to eating on the run and missing out on exercise. Yes, there are exceptions to every rule, but research is finding that, as women gain opportunities once enjoyed predominantly by men, they’re also suffering from the effects those opportunities can have.

While progress toward equality is obviously a good thing, it’s not always clear whether the secondary effects are ideal. Theologian and author Phyllis Tickle talks about turning points that have affected family dynamics and, secondarily, church communities, such as access to birth control and workplace parity. Her point—or at least one of them—seems to be that when children don’t come home to a parent after school or take the time to gather intentionally around a table for a meal, the family identity suffers. Others, such as author and blogger Julie Clawson, push back on this notion, suggesting that unfair blame is being cast in women’s direction, and that such claims draw a false correlation.

Some suggest that such trends mean we’re headed down a dangerous path, and they use this as their basis for calling for what they call a return to “traditional family values.” Others place the blame on unrealistic expectations for working mothers to be superhuman, a social burden that is not equally shared by men in a similar position. Others point a finger at our economic system, blaming the need for families to depend on two full-time incomes in many cases to subsist in the American middle class. Still others argue that these trends are largely a confabulation, manufactured by a society wrestling with gender roles, norms, and a sense of ground shifting beneath their feet.

Zoe, our 4 year old, had a dads’ night at her preschool recently, at which they presented us with the requisite finger paintings and other artifacts of her classroom time. But my favorite thing was a letter that she dictated to her teacher for me. The very first sentence in her letter was: “My dad loves taking me to school every morning.” She’s right; I do. And I know sometimes Amy gets jealous when she has to kiss the kids on the head and dash out the door for an early meeting. Again, this is not a day-in, day-out thing, but it seems that when it happens, she struggles with it more than I did when I used to do it.

For the first 10 years or so of our marriage, I was the office job guy, affording my wife the opportunity to go to graduate school, stay home with our newborns, and, eventually, start a new church in our home. But I do think that, because in our culture it’s still often “expected” that men will be the primary providers, there was less of a cultural bias for me to overcome in leaving the kids. I was expected to be gone, working to provide for my family, just like my dad had been. I get some teasing about being more domestic than the archetypal Don Draper character from Mad Men, but generally, society tends to look favorably now on men who choose to spend more time at home with their children.

And even if others don’t explicitly tell Amy that she’s expected to be both the perfect mother and the ideal leader, she certainly wrestles with the voices in her own head that tell her she’s always falling short at one job or the other.

We’re in a liminal space as a family and as a larger culture. We’re suspended uncomfortably in the space between what was and what will be. We’re improvising in the moment to define familial and professional roles as the moment demands, and sometimes we completely screw it up.

But we’re a family. We may not look or act like your family, or like some imaginary cultural construct of what “family” is supposed to be, but we’re family, nonetheless. We’re not perfect parents, but hey, that’s what therapy is for, right? We’ve been married for 13 years and, although it certainly hasn’t always been easy, it’s always been worth it.

The day may come when Amy stays home with the kids again. Maybe I’ll find myself back in the business world, either by choice or out of necessity. But for now, this works for us.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a casserole to take out of the oven ...

Christian Piatt (christianpiatt.com) is the creator and editor of Banned Questions About the Bible and Banned Questions About Jesus. He has a new memoir on faith, family, and parenting called PregMANcy: A Dad, a Little Dude, and a Due Date.  The opinions in this commentary are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Courtesy Sojourners www.sojourners.com.

Every institutional leader should read David Hurst’s "Crisis & Renewal" at least once.

The book’s analysis of the life cycle of organizations draws on the natural life cycle of a forest -- emergence, growth, stasis and decline (with the possibility of renewal). The forest allows Hurst to ask what makes the difference between a forest that declines and then renews and one that declines and ultimately doesn’t.

His argument, as I read it, is the planned burn.

All forests decline. It is natural. But those forests that begin to decline and experience a carefully orchestrated “planned burn” experience a moderated decline and are poised for renewal.

But forests that begin the process of decline and are left unchecked often experience forest fires that can be catastrophic in scope.

In Hurst’s argument, there is an organizational corollary. When an organization shifts out of stasis and toward decline, leaders face a difficult decision to execute a planned burn or risk much larger, unmanageable and perhaps devastating losses.

Teaching this idea recently to a group of clergy in California, one responded by asking the logical follow-up: “But what does a planned burn look like?”

At the time I offered a few congregational examples, but in the weeks since, I have thought more about institutional examples. Here are a few that come to mind:

• In most institutions, there are programs that have been allowed to continue, sapping staff energy and time, without furthering the mission of the organization. Often, these are someone’s “pet project,” but they are really institutional undergrowth. By streamlining offerings and refocusing on mission, leaders execute planned burns.

• Over time, all institutions build up internal processes that once were essential to accomplish things that are no longer beneficial. Giving someone responsibility for executing a planned burn of process, thereby streamlining operations, may help an institution recover some needed agility.

• Many institutional leaders pride themselves on the network that they have cultivated across a career (it is part of what has made them successful), but most of us know the experience of spending long hours -- and money -- trying to cultivate a relationship that has gone nowhere. There is much to be said for a planned burn of contacts. This is not to say that persons get deleted permanently from the address book, but if the interest in a relationship is decidedly one-sided, then there should be no guilt about reducing contact to the minimum necessary.

• When the economic situation looked markedly different, many institutions’ staffs swelled to keep pace with developing opportunities, increasing student bodies and imaginative new projects. Now, living into leaner budgets, smaller enrollments and more targeted creative possibilities means that leaders can “right-size” through attrition. As employees leave and institutions do not rehire for their roles, leaders are executing planned burns.

If Hurst is accurate in his description of institutional life cycle, then the question is not so much if an institution will experience decline but how to position itself for renewal on the other side. Paying attention program, process, networks and staffing enables the leader to make the most of inevitability.

This is a reprint of a blog by Nathan Kirkpatrick that appeared in "Faith & Leadership" www.faithandleadership.com. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church.

The American Protestant church’s great innovation was its voluntary organization, but organization alone did not guarantee success. The real key to thriving is focus on mission, said Mark Noll, the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame.

In the 1800s, Christians created hundreds of groups to address important issues, and “it was very new,” Noll said. “It was innovative, and the scale in which it was carried out in the United States really did transform the public landscape as well as the landscape for the churches.”

But as American Christians developed a voluntary form of church, the institutional structures were less important than a focus on doing Christ’s work in the world, he said.

Noll, who is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is one of the foremost scholars of American religious history. He received the National Humanities Medal in 2006 and co-founded the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals when he was a professor at Wheaton College.

His many books include “America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln,” “God and Race in American Politics: A Short History” and “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.” He is currently working on a book about the Bible in American history.

Noll spoke to Faith & Leadership while at Duke University to give the 2012-2013 David C. and Virginia Steinmetz Lecture, which is on iTunesU.

Click here to read the interview, courtesy of Faith & Leadership www.faithandleadership.com.  The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church.

David Kinnaman was catapulted to fame when he produced for the Barna Group the research that became the bestselling book UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters (Baker; $18.99) which explored what unchurched North American young adults thought about Christianity and church life. I hope you know that book because it is a wonderfully written and powerful glimpse into the religious attitudes of many young adults. Author and leader of Q Ideas Gabe Lyon co-authored it and he and Kinnaman offered lots of hopeful ideas, offering sidebars and excerpts of interviews with lots of very thoughtful and relevant Christian folks who chimed in throughout the book. These interviews and essays from other voices illustrate that the cranky attitude and serious criticisms of evangelical faith that are commonly held by outsiders to the faith are, in fact, only partially true. There are wonderfully creative, interesting, kind and just folks who's faith catapults them into the thick of contemporary life. So that book is both depressing (so many young adults are convinced traditional faith is unattractive or worse) and hopeful--a lot of good folks are working hard to repair our bad reputation. It's important and interesting.

YOU LOST ME
In that research one of the interesting things that the Barna group found was that many of the unchurched who had disinterest or hostility to the faith were previously active in church and in some cases still saw themselves as active Christians. A phrase they heard regarding these young adults' sense of their own story went something like this: "I was active for a while. I loved God and cared about my church. But then, you lost me." Of course, this is no real surprise; every BookNote reader knows somebody like this. The dropout problem is so common that many older church folks just expect it, and some think it is normal for young people to put their faith--or at least their connection to a church--on the shelf for a while. I don't know about you, but I think this is tragic (both the dropout problem and the church's casual acceptance of it.)

Mr. Kinnaman continued his research, this time documenting the views and attitudes and  stories of younger adults who were, in fact, raised within the Christian churches, but who have chosen to leave. He wanted to find the church dropouts and hear their stories. Many of us are so, so glad for these findings since we now have more data and more tools to think about this problem that we so seriously care about. We all have intuitions and hunches. We have had conversations about this. We have our own stories, perhaps, and those of our children, our friends, our colleagues or classmates. But beyond these individual episodes, what are the documented trends? What does the research show? What can we make of it? Kinnaman can help, and, because of his own great passion for this topic, he's a perfect person to interpret the data for us. I couldn't recommend this book more strongly.

So, many young adults drift from church; of those, some are still on a spiritual journey and many would say they are not. Why is this? Kinnaman uses the punchy phrase (used by more than one of his millennial interviewees) "you lost me" to indicate that these folks were open to faith, perhaps deeply involved in Christian practices and life, and at some point determined that they were no longer on the same page as their adult congregational leaders. Kinnaman is passionate that we must understand the demographics of this cohort and we must "start a conversation" about this crisis of generational loss, and, more importantly, with this cohort themselves. Why are younger Christians disengaging from church?

I found the book to be very well written, really, really engaging, and a godsend for anyone interested in young adults--it is a vital read for those in youth ministry or those who work in campus ministry. Parents who fret about their own grown children or young adults who are sad that their old friends from youth group seem to be no longer walking with the Lord will find much here. The conversational tone is clear, the voices compelling, the insights and proposals very helpful. Kinnaman is a good, good guy, a solid thinker and a real ally for those of us who want to somehow help make faith and Christian discipleship and church involvement a plausible reality for our young friends.

Of course, not everyone who drifts from church--or bolts from church as the case may be--has the same experience or the same (dis) interests. Kinnamam sees three major constellations of disinterest, three sorts of folks who walked away from church. (Each name seems to resonate with a Biblical theme or type, even, so this is really interesting!)

NOMADS, PRODIGALS, EXILES
First there are what the book calls nomads. Although each one has a unique story, these are folks who are still seeking; they still haven't found what they're looking for. Most likely they will say they are "spiritual but not religious" and they just might return to a traditional congregation. Or they might hold to an admixture of new age beliefs, bits borrowed from various world religions, or might just be wandering through a variety of more or less intense beliefs or worldview. Prodigals, however, are another group he found and these are folks who are aware that they have left the church, perhaps for good. They may or may not be bitter (and it is surprising how many are not particularly angry) but they are disappointed. They've grown disinterested and they are far from faith. Exiles are another group that the research brings to our attention and, again, it may be a bit surprising to some (or not at all surprising if you are paying attention.) Exiles are those who feel that they still want to follow Christ, they are interested in some sort of discipleship and faith and they believe, rightly or wrongly, that they must reconfigure their faith in ways that traditional congregations find unacceptable. In fact, some said in their interviews that in order to maintain faith in God and a sense of seriousness about the gospel they simply must stay away from the institutional church. These are folks who have dropped out but still see themselves as Christians. They may even be worshiping in a house church or may live in an intentional community or be interested in the emergent faith conversations. Nomads, Prodigals and Exiles. Fascinating, eh? And helpful, I'd say.

Here is a 9 minute video clip of him talking about this. 

You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving the Church... raises these questions for us, and anyone involved in church---mainline, Catholic or evangelical--should pay attention. For what it is worth (before anyone gets too defensive) he does not always lay all the blame on the congregation. Still, there is something going on, this unprecedented dropout rate, this disaffection with Christianity in the West, and it is a crisis we must deal with. Knowing the facts of the matter and hearing the stories is certainly a good step.

You Lost Me has some other features as well, good and important information for any of us who are leaders in the church or who care about the integrity of the gospel as it is lived out in our time. For instance, Kinnaman offers some statistics--and one fascinating chart that I can't stop thinking about--about how different generational cohorts understand the obligations of obeying Biblical injunctions. As you may guess, the bar graph decreases with age: the greatest generation insists that we must do our best to follow the teachings of the Bible. Baby boomers have a bit lower commitment to Biblical obedience and Gen Xers even less so. Of the younger "mosaics" (ages 18-28) who self-identified as Christians less than a third strongly agreed that this was important. Does that make them lax and uncommitted? Or does it indicate that they understand the message of God's grace, that we cannot earn God's free gift of love? Do they see the rules of religion as intolerably repressive? Or do they have a good handle on what the relationship is between faith and works? Kinnaman explains much of this and he is very helpful as he explains (for instance) attitudes about sexuality, homosexuality, and marriage that are typical among young adults.

FIFTY IDEAS
One nice appendix of this important book is a listing of 50 suggestions for "passing on a flourishing, deep-rooted faith" from 50 different authors and leaders, many of whom are writers we know and respect. Listen to the advice from Kenda Creasy Dean, Steve Garber, Walt Mueller, Shane Claiborne, Gabe Lyons, Charlie Peacock, Kara Powell, Donna Freitas, Derek Melleby, David Greusel, Christopher West, Sarah Groves, Rachel Held Evans, Francis Chan, Andrew Root, John Ortberg, and more.

Courtesy of Hearts and Minds bookstore http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com.  The views and opinions expressed in this book review are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church.
 

UM Center closed for Memorial Day

The Right Start event on May 28 and 29, 2013 is designed to give those clergy persons who are new to the FL Conference the tools they need to have a successful first appointment in ministry in the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church.

You are cordially invited to

attend the farewell Dinner

honoring

Rev. Annette S. Pendergrass

on

Thursday, June 6, 2013

First Ocala United Methodist Church

 

  

Kick-Off gathering of REGIONAL Leaders who will be coordinating the SundayServe event in their region.  One or two persons from each region (#1-#14)  were selected by the local church leaders in their region to serve in this role.

If you were selected to serve as the leader of your region, please RSVP your plans to attend by clicking the Register Now arrow below:

Farewell Luncheon for Clergy who are moving.

RSVP by clicking here.

A TASTE OF THE SOUTH CENTRAL DISTRICT

A Goodbye Gathering for Dr. Austin

Please click here to R.S.V.P.

Thank You