WPAUMC e-news for July 7, 2010

Deadline Near for CLM, Local Pastor Training: July 15 is the deadline to register for the August training at Olmsted Manor for those seeking to become Certified Lay Ministers or Licensed Local Pastors. Click here to learn more or download applications.
 
WPAUMC School of Mission Sampler Days are Tuesday July 13  and Saturday, July 17 at Grove City College. You’re invited. Click the links for details.
 
Reverse Mentoring: In Bishop Bickerton’s State of the Church address, he cited a reverse mentoring program underway among superintendents and other leaders. Ann Michel, writing in this week’s Leading Ideas, says Few things could be more needed in the church today. Read Mutual Mentoring.
 
Troubled by Reverse Mentoring? Bishop Will Willimon, speaking to the 2010 graduating class of Wesley Theological Seminary acknowledged that mentoring by a younger person might not be easy for someone who’s been in ministry for awhile. Read more in Leading Ideas.
 
Media Resource Center Update: The MRC has several items by John Ortberg for use by adult small groups. They include: The ME I Want To Be (DVD), When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box (DVD), and God is Closer Than You Think (DVD Kit).
 
WPAUMC Baseball Update: Tickets are still available in the United Methodist section 107 for the April 4 Pittsburgh Pirate game against the Cincinnati Reds at 12:35 p.m. Click for details.
 
The BIG Baseball Event for 2010 is the Aug. 23 seminar with Dr. Shaun Casey of Wesley Seminary on the social, political and theological aspects of baseball. The event, worth .6 CEUs, includes dinner and club level tickets (good seats!) to that night’s game at PNC Park. Click here for more info.
 
Prepare/Enrich: The UM Center in Cranberry Twp. will host a training event on the Prepare/Enrich pre-marriage counseling program at 9 a.m. Aug. 10. Grace UMC in Erie will host a similar session on Sept. 16. CEUs are available. Learn more or register.
 
UM Volunteers in Haiti: So many United Methodist Volunteer in Mission teams are signing up for work in Haiti that a request already has been made for 2012. Through its Haiti Response Plan, the church is rotating teams into the country to assist with earthquake recovery. So far, 107 teams, including ecumenical teams, have been scheduled for 2010. There is still room for more this year. Read UM News Service story and learn more.
 
Growth, Outreach Present Challenges: Congregations may say they want to grow, but Don Hotchkiss doubts that many really do – especially if they realize that growth means losing the worshiping community they know and love and trading it for one where they may feel like strangers. Committing funds to reach out to the needy poses similar challenges because it requires members to realize that the church isn’t there just to serve them. “We like to have it both ways: believing that we live for others, while at budget time demanding that the congregation focus its resources almost exclusively on satisfying the desires current members,” he writes in an Alban Institute conversation. Read more.  

Does UMC Leadership Represent Who We Are? According to the denomination's most recent figures (2009), men hold 73% of the top staff leadership positions in the U.S. annual conferences, women hold 27%. Women—who make up more than 50% of total United Methodist membership in the United States—are least represented as district superintendents (26% are women), while the highest number of women in top leadership are treasurers and directors of connection ministry (33% in each category). Read Women By the Numbers in the The Flyer from the Commission on the Status and Role of Women.
 
Leadership Institute: Preparing for a Future with Hope is the theme of this year’s Leadership Institute at the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, KS.  Join Adam Hamilton, the church staff, and thousands of United Methodists from around the country at  Leadership Institute 2010, October 7-8. Discounts available for young adults and leaders of new churches.  
 
Rise of the Religious Left? Charles Blow writes in a New York Times op-ed piece about a recent Pew Research report showing Democrats are more likely than Republicans to believe that Jesus will return by mid-century.
 
Kids First, Marriage Later? NPR reported this week on what some experts say is a growing trend in middle-class America: having children and marrying later – or not. Learn more.
 
In the News: First UMC in West Newton hosted 80 people from across the nation who came to hear its pipe organ on the final day of the Organ Historical Society’s national convention in Pittsburgh. Read Tribune-Review report.
 
The Daily Couriernoted that East Connellsville and Greenwood UMC volunteers are working with a team of 22 from Lansdale, PA, this week to help local residents who need help with home improvement or repairs. Read more.
 
Check out the Beaver County Times photo of Pastor Don Anderson, dressed as Thomas Jefferson, singing "Happy Birthday" to the United States during an old-fashioned Fourth of July celebration at First UMC in Koppel. 
 
Upcoming Training Events at the UM Center:

Managing in a Faith-Based Organization, 10 a.m., Aug. 21 

United Methodist Center, PO Box 5002, Cranberry TWP., PA 16066-0002 | Ph. 724-776-2300 | 800-886-3382