Ohio United Methodist Clergy (all categories) are invited to apply for a Renewal Scholarship. Lakeside Chautauqua provides a scholarship to rest, renew and deepen the spiritual lives of clergy in the beautiful surroundings of Lakeside Chautauqua. The application deadline has been extended to February 20 with decisions made by the end of February. Scholarships will cover hotel costs for up to four overnight stays.  Information and application

Former Ohio State Buckeye and professional basketball star Jerry Lucas will be coming to Coburn United Methodist Church on Saturday, January 31, through Tuesday, February 3, presenting "A Weekend To Remember." Although Mr. Lucas initially achieved fame and success on the court, he continues to score off the court as well by authoring more than sixty books in the field of memory training and learning systems. Opportunities to hear Mr. Lucas are available each day. Topics include "Improving Family Relationships", "Learning Made Fun and Easy" and "Names and Faces Made Easy".  Details

It is not too late to add positive thinking, forgiveness and gratitude to your list of resolutions. Resolving to be more spiritual is not a hard bar to leap over. It's a daily resetting of your mind and soul. It's trying again when you "fail" and knowing that you can never fail if you're trying. Here a few ideas for growing spiritually and for spurring you to think of your own. Read more

Many people wish they could spend more time in prayer but are concerned about squeezing it into an already crowded calendar. Between work, meetings, family maintenance and more, who has time to pray? The Rev. Joe Iovino can relate. He has a new job, a young family and a long commute to work every day. Joe asked United Methodist pastors and church leaders to share tips for finding more time to pray. This advice will help you move toward a deeper prayer life. Read more

Bed nets intended to prevent malaria are used in fishing communities in Zambia to fish for food, which is sold in the local market, according to a report in the New York Times. The Imagine No Malaria campaign anticipated the problems of net misuse, writes Rev. Larry Hollon, of United Methodist Communications. In his blog post, Hollon describes the training of community health workers and the follow-up efforts to monitor net use.  Read blog and post comment

On Feb. 1 many Americans will watch Super Bowl XLIX. Although big sporting and entertainment events are not proven to cause human trafficking, such events intensify the space in which such crimes can occur. Thousands will travel to the Phoenix area to take part in Super Bowl festivities. Among the travelers will be those arriving in Arizona by force, fraud or coercion - as victims of human trafficking. Act to Intercept the Traffickers!

The Embracing Disabilities in Bolivia mission project has the goal of helping Methodist and public schools in Bolivia better accommodate students with disabilities. This summer the mission project team will be conducting the 3rd annual disabilities conference in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and will be providing in-service training and outreach. Special education teachers are needed to help prepare and present at the conference, to conduct the in-service training and outreach, and to actually go to Bolivia in July 18-31, 2015. This will be a life-changing event for you as a teacher and as a person. You will be helping to make real and basic changes in the education of disabled kids in Bolivia in a Christian context.  Learn more about the mission experience 

Read a story about this ministry in the January 2015 issue of Equip, page 15