Revive

Here's a reminder that bigger isn't always better.  Sometimes it's just bigger.

What if we want complex, flavorful, colorful, or historic?

Check out the story if you want to know what it takes to revive something almost lost.

Church & Community Ministry Summit

We have a very exciting mission event scheduled Saturday, February 1, from 9AM-2PM, at Trinity on the Hill UMC in Augusta, Georgia!

What are the realities– the challenges & opportunities- in a community?

How might your church develop ministries that meet the needs in your community?

What does the Kingdom of God look like in your community? And how are you & your church part of that Way of Christ?
 
Featuring community experts sharing the reality & opportunity including:

Mrs. Sarah McDonald, Director of Interfaith Hospitality Network of Augusta/ Family Promise.

Mr. Travis McNeal, Executive Director of Golden Harvest Food Bank.

Dr. Jason Moore, Principal, Cross Creek High School.

Mr. Thurman Norville, Director of United Methodist Children’s Home of Augusta.

Mrs. Natalie Paine, Assistant District Attorney, & others from law enforcement.

Mrs. Lauren Spivey, Elder Rights Program Manager with the CSRA Regional Commission Area Agency on Aging & Mrs. Kathy Tuckey, Program Director, Augusta Region, Alzheimer's Association of Georgia.

Mrs. Angela Feeser, LPC, Clinical Director, Serenity Behavioral Health Systems, plus Shannon Stephens, Ann Watts, Brian James will discuss Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Addictions, & Life Skills.
 
Featuring ministry experts sharing principles, best practices, & models:

Rev. Terry Fleming, District Superintendent, Augusta District of The North Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Rev. Stacey Harwell, Minister of Community Building at Centenary UMC/Macon, ABCD & Community Development.

Mrs. Marsha Jones, Director of Outreach/Music, St. Luke UMC, Mrs. Gloria Norwood & friends, Harrisburg ministries.

Rev. Shannon Karafanda, Associate Pastor at Cornerstone UMC, Family Ministry as community outreach.

Mr. Gary Locklear, Church & Community Worker, & North Carolina UM Conference Lay Leader.

Mr. Art Mellor, SPSARV Executive Director, & Mrs. Juliana Mecera, Executive Secretary for SPSARV on Addiction/substance abuse ministry.

Mrs. Julia Nielsen, Executive Director at Greater Hilltop Area Shalom Zone and Minister at New Horizons United Methodist Church, Columbus, OH, Shalom Zone & cooperative ministry.

Rev. Carolyn Poling, Associate Pastor, youth ministry & multi ethnic ministry, Impact Church, Atlanta GA.

Rev. Jeffrey Salley, Director, of the Bennettsville-Cheraw Area Cooperative Ministry, & Shirley Townsend Jones, Church & Community Worker.

Rev. Allen Stewart, Senior Pastor, Hartwell FUMC, life style & community outreach/ Wesleyan evangelism in word and deed.

Rev. Virginia Tinsley & friends, Executive Director of the North Georgia Housing and Homeless Council, housing/homeless & prison ministry.

The Church & Community Summit is part of the Trinity Outreach Celebration, our annual mission emphasis, yet has intentional focus on sharing the best mission practices which will apply in any church or community. This allows us to offer great teachers & preachers to inspire and inform laity and clergy from GA & SC in mission which makes a transformational difference. Most churches benefit from having a team of people who may attend a number of the sessions for the greatest impact in your own setting. Please register for the sessions & for lunch later this fall. This event is free with the only participant cost being for lunch & snacks.

Registration Available at www.trinityonthehill.net November 4– January 27. For more information contact Rev. Scott Parrish at Trinity on the Hill UMC at sparrish@trinityonthehill.net.

Growing Your Church... in the Augusta GA area

This is a special invitation to my Trinity on the Hill friends to attend an Augusta District training event called “Growing Your Church.”

Date:  September 8 and 9, 2013

Location:  Washington First UMC

Times:  Sunday afternoon, 2:30-5:00pm for Clergy and Laity; Monday, 9:00am-4:00pm for Clergy (but laity are welcome if able!)

About Our Presenter:  Rev. Bob Farr is the Director of the Center for Congregational Excellence of the Missouri Annual Conference.  He planted the Grace UM Church in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, and later led Church of the Shepherd in St. Charles through a relocation.  He developed their conference’s Pastor Leadership Development program, and works around in his own conference and around the nation helping churches with matters of relocation, mergers and new church starts.

For the Sunday afternoon clergy and laity session, Rev. Farr will present material from his newest book, Get Their Name:  Grow Your Church by Building New Relationships.  The theme is personal evangelism; how can we share our faith without feeling weird about it?

On Monday, Bob will teach the ten principles from his book Renovate or Die: Ten Ways to Focus Your Church on Mission.  It is strongly encouraged that clergy read this book prior to the event.  We will have a limited number of both books on site for you to purchase in September.

 
Registration:  Please contact the District Office (706 651 8621) no later than Monday, September 2^nd. 

North GA Annual Conference 2013

We've just completed the three day North Georgia Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.  You can find details, including official daily summaries, here.  I enjoy the worship, the hallway conversations, & the displays and opportunities to learn more about all the ways to "do good."  After more than a decade of attending conference it's more like a family reunion for me than a mandatory meeting.

One of my favorite discussions this week was with Dr. Ted Runyon, and his wife Cindy, when they stopped by the Russian United Methodist table to learn how the seminary in Moscow was doing.  Runyon is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at Candler School of Theology.  He taught a short term class in Moscow a number of years ago and was eager to hear the current status of the seminary and how the United Methodist Church was doing in Russia.  Dr. Sergei Nikolaev, President of the Moscow Theological Seminary of The United Methodist Church and E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism, updated Dr. Runyon in that personal discussion, and renewed the conversation later Wednesday night during the seminar on the "Bridge" partnership.

This is one of my favorite photos of the last few days as the Runyons continue their Methodist Christian journey with enthusiasm.

 

Watch out Athens!

The Annual Conference (AC) of the North Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church will be meeting in Athens next week.  Y'all watch out for the traffic downtown and all the extra hungry folk in local restaurants!  We anticipate another incredible gathering with the typical mix of worship, business, and sense of a family reunion.  See Annual Conference to catch the story in the Athens Banner Herald.  You can also follow the AC on Twitter at #ngac13 or go to http://ngumc.org/ to follow the news or watch by livestream.

UMC Annual Conference Clergy Executive Sessions

I noticed a UMC clergy Facebook friend post that their executive session was about to begin.  She expects it to to 4 1/4 hours!  I know that it's an essential beginning to an Annual Conference meeting with a lot of business to work through, but that's twice as long as our North GA clergy session.  It made me wonder what "normal" might be in most annual conferences.  What conference are you in and how long does your session go?  Is there something in particular, in addition to Board of Ordained Ministry report and the necessary voting, that makes up your clergy session?

News!

It's Annual Conference season!  Look for more activity from me next week as we have the North Georgia UMC gathering in Athens.  We're hosting Methodist partners from across the globe, so you may notice more wide ranging photos and stories.  The Bridges will be an exciting element of conference as partners from Russia, Portugal, Philippines, El Salvador, Bahamas, and others.  Find more info about #ngac13 at North GA Annual Conference or watch Twitter or maybe you'll enjoy an online live streaming view if you can't attend.

Speaking of news, while sad that the United Methodist Reporter died I'm thankful that independent United Methodist news that is being resurrected.  Follow and encourage the efforts of Harrison, Voorhees, Richardson and others after you see the press release.

Battery Won't Start?

How do you recharge?

Spring!

Time is short!

Check out the caterpillar on our fennel. What are you doing with your short time?