Image

July 25, 2016/Volume 15, No. 12

Conference News

Five Bishops Consecrated at SEJ Conference

(SEJ) - The 2016 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference concluded with the consecration of five bishops. In a worship-filled service each Bishop was presented by two sponsors from their home conference. The following Bishops were consecrated:

Bishop Sharma Lewis, assigned to the Virginia Conference
Bishop David Graves, assigned to the Alabama-West Florida Conference
Bishop Leonard Fairley, assigned to the Kentucky Conference 
Bishop Lawson Bryan, assigned to the South Georgia Conference
Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson, assigned to the North Georgia Conference. More here. Click here to see photo gallery

Bishop Graves Assigned to AWF Conference, Leeland to Western North Carolina

Bishop David Graves has been assigned to the Alabama-West Florida Conference and will serve as its bishop for the next four years. The assignment begins Sept. 1. Senior pastor of Church Street United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tenn. in the Holston Annual Conference, Graves was elected Wednesday afternoon, July 13, on the fourth ballot. “I want to thank you, the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference, for putting your faith in me,” Rev. Graves said after his election. “So we go forth to win people to Christ, see the unseen, transform lives, and help the United Methodist Church change the world.” Full story here

Bryan Elected Bishop in the Southeastern Jurisdiction

Dr. Robert Lawson Bryan, of the Alabama-West Florida Conference, has been elected a bishop by the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference of the The United Methodist Church. He is the fourth bishop elected at the 2016 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference. Bryan, who serves as senior pastor at Montgomery First United Methodist Church in Montgomery, AL, was elected on a ballot taken at 5:00pm on July 13, 2016. He will fill one of the vacancies created in the denomination’s jurisdictional College of Bishops by the retirement of five bishops. Read more here

A Word from the Bishop: Still, it continues...

(Bishop Paul Leeland) - Still, it continues...The tragic deaths and continued violence reported daily appear to be creating a numbness in which we are becoming apathetic to the horrible events that destroy lives and community. In an atmosphere of fear and anger we seem to be drifting into a disrespect and defiance of others which may be contributing to an escalation of violence. As social media shares videos of these events we quickly draw conclusions and make statements that are not necessarily helpful to resolving these frightful occurrences. More here

Around the Conference

UM Inner City Missions Seeks Sponsors for Blue Lake Campers

(Tonny Algood) - Summer is upon us and we are excited that again this year Blue Lake will host Camp Discovery for the children of the United Methodist Inner City Mission. We want to take thirty children for this one week of camp and we are delighted that we will have a chance to minister to these amazing, courageous, and loving children. The children we take to camp are from very low income households, and they will need financial assistance to be able to attend. The cost of camp this year will be $120.00 per child and we hope you will prayerfully consider a gift to help underwrite this ministry. We have been working to raise funds to cover the costs, so the children can enjoy a week of recreation and spiritual growth, knowing they can rest in the peace that God has provided because of the generous nature of you and others. Click here to read more and to sponsor a camper

AWF Youth Groups Connect Through Oakwood Experience

Over eighty youth from Dadeville UMC, Dothan FUMC, Destin UMC, Greenville FUMC and Woodland UMC gathered at Blue Lake Camp for the Oakwood Experience. The Oakwood Experience began over 30 years ago in the AWF Conference with several churches in Florida and has grown into twelve churches that participate at one of the two week-long sessions. It is a network of youth groups who experience Christ together and grow closer to one another. Several youth who once participated in the experience are now youth directors at Alabama-West Florida Conference churches. Rev. Jack Allen (Montgomery FUMC) , Whit Heath (Dothan FUMC), Jesse Guffin (Woodland UMC) and Robbie Amends (Dadeville UMC) know how important an experience like this is as they were once camp attendees. Allen, associate minister and youth director at Montgomery FUMC, has seen the program come full circle. It was at Oakwood where he first felt a call to the ministry. Full feature here

AWFUMC is on Instagram

The Alabama-West Florida Conference is on Instagram! Follow us by searching awfumc. Instagram is a mobile app that allows users to share photos and videos to followers. You'll see various photos from around our conference. We also welcome submissions for consideration. You may send those to luke@awfumc.org

United Methodist Lawyers Seminar 

(Bishop Paul Leeland) - The Chancellors for the North Alabama Conference and the Alabama-West Florida Conference are developing a seminar for lawyers which will be focused on church-related legal matters. I believe that this is a very important seminar and that it will benefit the lawyers who help our churches in various situations. I am contacting each of you to ask you to develop a list of lawyers who are members of the church you serve so that they will know about this upcoming opportunity. The Chancellors have worked hard on putting this seminar together. Click here to see full letter

Connectional News

Go Tell it on The Mountain: SEJ Budget Reduces by Sixty Percent

(Sybil Davidson) - The Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference approved a budget of $1,774,000 for the 2017–2020 quadrennium. The budget passed as recommended by the SEJ Committee on Finance and Administration and reflects a 60 percent reduction over the previous budget. Starting the report with song, Jim Allen sang "Go Tell it on the Mountain" before sharing good news from CFA. "This report reflects a faithful commitment to the ministries of the Jurisdiction and is projected to be sufficient for the ongoing operational costs of the Jurisdiction and its committees," explained Allen, chair of the SEJ Committee on Finance and Administration. It will also provide a cushion should there be a need to fund emerging ministries or a special called session of Jurisdictional Conference. Full story here

A Pastoral Letter from the Southeastern Jurisdictional College of Bishops to the United Methodists in the Southeastern Jurisdiction 

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We celebrate the way God is working through you and the churches you represent to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Your witness is making a difference in the lives of individuals and communities around the world. We write this pastoral letter with hope in Jesus Christ. Yet our hearts are heavy as we recognize that as a result of our denominational conflicts we stand at a fragile place. Our Christian witness is defined, not by an absence of conflict, but by how we act in our disagreements. Many in our church are working to change our Book of Discipline’s current position on human sexuality, believing that it is exclusive, unjust and based on a misinterpretation of Scripture. These actions are being done through processes our polity has in place for making such changes. Full letter here.

Southeastern Jurisdiction Plans Missional Initiative

(UMNS) — Bishops in the Southeastern Jurisdiction are launching a missional initiative that will focus on the following: new forms of church beyond the walls; children and poverty, unity and human sexuality; making disciples; and finally structure, finance and the future church. The hope is that this work will help guide the human-sexuality commission that the Council of Bishops is forming. Southeastern Jurisdiction delegates, by voice vote, affirmed the initiative late July 14. Read statement.

Surviving an Airport Bombing, Searching for Hope

(UMNS) — Living through a terrorist attack naturally brings fear, but also can strengthen human bonds, as Thomas Kemper discovered when trapped with an Asian man in a lounge kitchen at the Istanbul Airport. “What we shared in those moments of fear gave me hope that an expanding sense of this humanity could lead toward a different, perhaps even peaceful world,” writes the top executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Read commentary.

Pension Board Changes its Name

(UMNS) — The United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits has changed its name to Wespath Benefits and Investments, starting July 18. The “Wes” part of the name honors John Wesley, Methodism’s founder, and “path” refers to the agency’s goal of providing participants and institutional clients with a path toward personal health, investment and retirement objectives.
Read press releaseMore about Wespath.

Resources

Three Ways to Encourage Gratitude in Church

(UMCOM) - Did you know that being thankful reaps health benefits as well as spiritual ones? Tricia Brown, writing for United Methodist Communications, offers a few ways to express thankfulness in life and ministry. Read story.

Clergy Health & Wellness Initiative Requirements

As of January 1, 2016, the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference Board of Pension & Health Benefits launched the Health and Wellness Initiative Program. The goal of the program is to encourage our pastors and their dependents to live healthier lifestyles by providing them with personal health information, screening and coaching, thus helping the Conference to reduce and control the cost of health insurance claims. Clergy members on the conference active health insurance plan are required to complete the HealthQuotient and Biometric Screening by August 31, 2016. Dependents, retired clergy and their dependents and employees who are on the annual conference health plan are not required to complete the HQ and Biometric Screening but are welcome and encouraged to participate. Complete information here

Events 

Baypines District Clergy Orientation, July 28

Mission u 2016, July 29-30

Festival of Wisdom and Grace, August 1-4

COT Sponsors "Cost of Poverty Experience", August 2

Blue Lake Christian Ashram, August 5-7

Montgomery-Opelika Clergy Family Summer Gathering, August 9

School of Congregational Development 2016, August 17-20

Dothan District Lay Servant Training, August 26-27

Becoming a Healthy, Growing Church, August 26-27

Global United Methodist Clergywomen Gathering, August 29-31

Pensacola District Lay Servant Ministry Training, September 9-10

AWFC Historical Society Annual Meeting, September 15

Ultimate Training Event (UTE), September 17

Blue Lake Sunday - Mobile District, September 18

Fresh Expressions Vision Day, October 3

Mid-Career Retirement Seminar, October 6

Five-day Spiritual Academy, October 16-21

 

Want more?

Contact us

4719 Woodmere Boulevard
Montgomery, AL 36106
Phone: 334.356.8014
Toll free: 888-873-3127
Email Us

 

Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors.