WPAUMC e-News for August 18, 2010

Here's your weekly Conference e-news!   Annual Conference 2011: The dates for the 2011 Western PA Annual Conference session are now official. It will be from June 9-12, 2011.   Church Treasurers, Finance Chairs: Pat Morris Needs You!  You’re invited to the United Methodist Center on Tuesday, August 31 to preview two classes planned for upcoming training events in each district: How to Do a Local Church Audit and Payroll Taxes and Issues. You’ll be asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the classes before they are fine-tuned for presentation at the district events. Classes start at 9 am and lunch will be provided. Please call 800-536-9245or e-mail Pat at Treasurer@wpaumc.org if you can come.   Need CEUs? Like Baseball? Some cancellations have opened slots at the August 23 Baseball and Theology seminar, which includes dinner and club level seats at PNC Park to see a Pirate game. The day with Wesley Seminary Professor Shaun Casey is worth .6 CEU. It’s open to laity too. Extra tickets for dinner and the game are available. OR you can attend the seminar and skip the game. Click here to learn more or register.   Managing in a Faith-Based Organization: The registration deadline has been extended for this Saturday’s training event for laity or clergy at the UM Center in Cranberry Twp. It’s FREE AND there’s lunch. Get details.   Join Our Bishop for Joint Worship Celebration! Western PA United Methodists are invited to join Bishop Bickerton at 4 p.m. Sunday, August 29 in New Castle for worship celebrating the Full Communion between the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). The service will be at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 2323 Old Butler Rd., New Castle, PA 16101. Bishop Ralph Jones of the ELCA Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod will preach and Bickerton will preside at the communion table.   Imagine No Malaria Tip of the Week: Lots of famous people have had malaria. Maybe even someone who’s famous in your community. Ask them about it. Learn more.   How’s Your Golf Game? You can help fight malaria, compete for honors or just enjoy a day on the beautiful Grove City Country Club course on Monday, Sept 13 at our annual Bishop’s Cup golf outing. Click here to register yourself or your group now, or call the Rev. Beth Nelson at 800-886-3382, ext. 228.   September is National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. For information and ideas on planning a related event and publicizing it in your community, click here. There are some valuable tools and ready-made educational materials.   Beyond the Recovery Group: Alcohol and drug addiction confront every community. Often, though, local churches and their pastors do not become aware of serious problems until confronted with tragic circumstances. This week’s Faith in Action offers ways for churches to get involved in fighting addiction beyond just offering meeting space for recovery groups. Read more.   Lost in Woonsocket: GBGM has partnered with the Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence to provide a complimentary copy of the film Lost in Woonsocket, a documentary that tells a story of hope, kindness, and human frailty in the context of the lives of two homeless persons struggling with recovery from addiction to alcohol. It’s available in the Media Resource Center.   Want Resources as MP3 downloads? The Media Resource Center is considering providing MP3 downloadable products.  Email Emma Smith at resources@wpaumc.org if you would be interested and/or have questions.   Stay in Touch with College Students: The UMC Board of Higher Education and Ministry offers some ideas on how to stay in touch with college students. Learn more.   Already Staying in Touch? If your church uses one of the methods outlined in the article above – or you have other ways of connecting with your young adults away at school, tell us about them. E-mail Jackie.Campbell@wpaumc.org ASAP.     Pakistan Emergency Still Unfolding: More than three weeks after flooding began in Pakistan, the emergency continues to unfold, and there could have deadly consequences for the country’s 3.5 million children. While entire villages and towns remain submerged in floodwaters, the fear of starvation, illness, and disease is compounded by the threat of more rain. Learn more. United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) grants are providing clean drinking water, food, temporary shelter, and medical aid many thousands affected by the crisis. Download church resources, including a church bulletin insert, a PowerPoint slide, a prayer of petition, and a poster to share with your church community. Gifts to International Disaster Response, UMCOR Advance #982450, will help.   10-Fold:10 projects in 10 days. From October 10 -19, you can learn about Global Ministries' projects around the world supported through The Advance, the designated giving arm of The United Methodist Church, during an online event unlike anything you have experienced before. It's called 10-Fold. Through live webcasts, streaming video, online chats, and other media, you will see and hear about amazing projects that are changing people's lives. For details, download the 10-Fold Participant's Guide. Tell your mission committee members about it.   More to Clergy Burnout Than Meets the Eye? There’s been a lot of media focus on clergy burnout lately. But spiritual director and leadership consultant Anne Dilenschneider says her doctoral research and experience shows the causes of clergy burnout and poor mental and physical health are far deeper than poor boundaries, or the failure to engage in self-care, or the seemingly insatiable desires of congregations.  Read more.   Finding Faith: Mike Fleishman challenges the claim that 85 percent of people who accept Christ do so by the age of 18. His experience in pastoral ministry shows something different, he writes in Christianity Today. Read more.   IN Conference Discount: The Church Leadership Training Foundation is offering scholarships worth half the tuition for their IN Conference, a national training event for church leaders and staff. It’s Sept. 14-16 at Dunwoody UMC in Atlanta, GA. Early-bird pricing has been extended and with a half-scholarship, the cost is $137.50. Some well-known leaders in the UMC are on the program. For the half-scholarship, e-mail Dr. Bob Pierson at bpierson@leadershipnexus.net.   Running Out of Nets: Linda Commale, mother of the 8-year-old Pennsylvania girl who has raised more than $135,000 for Nothing But Nets, made her first trip to Africa to deliver nets in Uganda. Read her personal reflection in the Philadelphia Inquirer.   God Language: Can Christians discuss the language of faith without a battle breaking out over political correctness or theological orthodoxy? Some have tried. Read more.   Current Culture 101: CNN points out that for most incoming college freshmen, e-mail is just too slow and wearing a watch is unnecessary, according to the Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014, most of whom were born in 1992. Read CNN story.    Your Brain on Computers: The New York Times recently ran a series of articles examining how a deluge of data can affect the way people think and behave. Among the titles: The Ugly Toll of Technology: Impatience and Forgetfulness. Check out the list. There’s also a multimedia presentation that tests your ability to filter out distractions and focus.   Progress on PA Racial Justice Act: Dr. Roger Thomas of Ambridge reports that because of Western PA Conference and UM Advocacy efforts, progress has been made toward passage of legislation called for in RS101, endorsed by our annual conference in June. Thomas co-chairs the PA Committee for analysis and reform of the criminal justice system. Read his letter in the Pittsburgh Tribune or a story from Monday’s Post-Gazette.   Did You Mention Gulf Oil Spill a Sermon? The Center for the Study of Information and Religion (CSIR) at Kent State University, is conducting research on how clergy around the country addressed the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in their sermons. Findings will be presented at the 4th Annual Conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture in December 2010. If you mentioned the spill in a sermon and are willing to take an online anonymous survey with 16 questions, e-mail Dr. Daniel Roland at droland1@kent.edu.

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