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Annual Conference 2013
LENT
Lion & Lamb Festival
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John Groves
Rev. John Groves
Superintendent
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John Davis

Rev. John Davis
Associate Superintendent
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Katie Purple

Katie Swisher
District Assistant
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West District News
March 26, 2013
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NEWS
Annual Conference 2013
 
The Fifth Indiana Annual Conference Session will take place June 6-8, 2013 at the Indianapolis Convention Center.

Housing is now available!  To make your reservations, please click this link to be taken to the housing site.  

Please watch this newsletter, as well as the West District Website and Facebook Page for more details on Annual Conference.  We will post as information becomes available. 
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Usher  Pastors and Lay Members to Annual Conference:

 

The West District has been asked to provide ushers for the Friday morning worship service at Annual Conference this year.   This will be the only time during Annual Conference we will be asked to serve.  If you are willing to serve in this capacity or if you have questions please reply to Don Ransford at [email protected].   

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Cards

 

The 2013 Indiana Annual Conference Session Implementation Team would like to again  involve children in each of our Districts across the state by having them create greeting cards to welcome each member to the Annual Conference, June 6-8. This card project is also a way to teach our children about this important annual event in our conference and to hear their thoughts on our theme for this year - Transform the World: Be A World Changer.

 

We are asking your cluster to help children in your churches create cards to welcome and to thank those who attend the session for their service for the church of Jesus Christ in Indiana.  Their cards would reflect through their drawings and words their understanding of what it means to transform and change the world so that it will be a better place for people to live in God's eyes.

 

The cards will be placed in the registration packets of those attending the conference session. Any extra cards will be distributed at events during the annual conference session.  People were really touched by the cards they received last year.

 

To make the cards, please use these guidelines:

  • Use full or  half sheets of 8.5" x 11" card stock paper (any color)  
  • Drawings and words on the outside and inside would reflect the theme Transform the World: Be A World Changer
  • On the front: Welcome to The 2013 Indiana Annual Conference
  • On the inside: Thank you for serving plus any other messages that may be appropriate for the theme  
  • Sign with first name only, name of church and city.

 

Please mail or deliver the cards by Friday, May 10  to:

Indiana Conference Center UMC

c/o Ruth Ellen Needler

301 Pennsylvania Parkway, Suite 300

Indianapolis, IN 46280

 

Thank you for your ministry with God's children and for helping to make the people who take the time to attend this Annual Conference feel extra special and loved by others in the church. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]

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Churches invited to provide activities at Family Fun Night on Monument Circle June 7

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana Conference Session planning team is seeking the assistance of Indiana United Methodist churches to host kids games, crafts, entertainment and/or provide food for our Second Annual Family Fun Night on Monument Circle. Set up for the event will be Friday, June 7 beginning at 3:30 p.m. The Family Fun Night at Monument Circle will run from 5 to 7 p.m. For more information, answers to your questions or to explore an idea, contact Helene Foust, Associate Director of Student Ministries, at the Indiana Conference Center at 317-564-3253 or by e-mail at [email protected].


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Indiana Conference Laity Manuscript Contest now open

 

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana United Methodist Conference's Lay Leadership Team is again offering the opportunity to express thanks and praise God by submitting an original sermon manuscript for judging. This contest is open to all lay people in the Conference. Following the theme of Indiana's 2013 Annual Conference, the theme for this year's manuscript contest is, "How do we develop people to be world changers?" The winning manuscript will be presented at the laity session on Thursday, June 6. Manuscripts should be no more than 15 minutes in length. Entries will be judged based on creative and original development of the theme, but may be eliminated due to length.

 

Mail Laity Manuscript entries to Ike Williams, Indiana Conference Co-Lay Leader, 1515 Cool Creek Drive, Carmel, IN 46033 or send email to [email protected]. The manuscript must be accompanied by a cover sheet or letter that includes the writer's name, address, phone number, email address, local church name and district. Please do not include any personally identifying information in the manuscript since it will be assigned a number and judged anonymously. All entries must be received by Monday, May 6, and the winner will be notified by Wednesday, May 20.

For more information about the contest, please contact Anthony Swinger, Central District Co-Lay Leader, at [email protected] or call him at 317-372-4991.

EVENTS
Local Church Events Calendar 

In an effort to keep this newsletter as concise as possible, we are listing local church events only on the district web site.  To view these events, simply CLICK HERE, and you will be directed to it.  If your church has an event you would like featured on this calendar, please e-mail the details to Katie Swisher at [email protected].
Lent Events Throughout the District
If your cluster has a Lenten Series you would like listed, please send the information to Katie at [email protected].  Please include dates, locations and times for each event. 
Lent

 

Sullivan County Cluster's Lenten Service Schedule

(All services begin at 7:00 PM)
  1. 2/17/13       Kingsley UMC
  2. 2/24/13       Hymera Bethel 
  3. 3/3/13         New Lebanon
  4. 3/10/13       Ebenezer
  5. 3/17/13       Merom
  6. 3/24/13       Pleasantville
Friday, March 22, 2013 - Seder Dinner at Sullivan First UMC - 6:00 PM

We will be celebrating our Sullivan Cluster Seder Meal at 6pm on Friday, March 22 at Sullivan FUMC. The Celebration of Christ in the Passover will be hosted by our Messianic Jewish Missionary friend Douglas Carmel of The Rock of Israel. It is such a wonderfully educational and spiritually centering time seeing the gospel of Christ through the eyes of a Messianic Jew. I promise you will enjoy this gathering. We will not only have the Passover Ceremonial Meal but will also have a full Seder Meal featuring Jewish dishes. You and your spouses are invited. Please RSVP to Mike Irvine or Don Ransford by March 17.



South Clay County Cluster Lenten Breakfast Schedule
(All breakfasts begin at 7:30 AM)
  1. 2/16/13       Mt. Calvary 
  2. 2/23/13       Ashboro
  3. 3/2/13        Union
  4. 3/9/13        Prairie City
  5. 3/16/13      Clay City
  6. 3/23/13      Center Point
Ash Wednesday Service - 2/13/13 at Center Point 7:00 PM
Good Friday Service - 3/29/13 at Mt. Calvary  7:30 PM

Greene County Cluster Lenten Service Schedule
(All services begin at 6:00 PM and will be followed by light snacks and fellowship)
  1. 2/17/13       Linton First
  2. 2/24/13       Newberry
  3. 3/3/13         Prairie Chapel 
  4. 3/10/13       Folsom 
  5. 3/17/13       Nine Mile 
  6. 3/24/13       Jasonville

Willing Hands Cluster's Lenten Service Schedule

Lenten topic: Seven Last Words

  1. Father, forgive them / Luke 23,24 - February 17 - First UMC in West Terre Haute
  2. Today, you will be with me in paradise / Luke 23:43 - February 24 - Bethesda UMC in West Terre Haute
  3. Woman, behold your son / John 19:26-27 - March 3 - Bethlehem UMC in Universal
  4. My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? / Matthew 27:46 -  March 10 - BAUMC UMC in Terre Haute
  5. I thirst & It is finished / John 19:28, 19:30 - March 17 - Smith Park UMC in West Terre Haute
  6. Father, unto Your hands I commend My Spirit / Luke 23:46 - March 24 - Emmanuel UMC in West Terre Haute  
Putnam County Cluster

The Putnam Co. cluster will have a Good Friday service at Brick Chapel UMC.  The service will begin at 7:00pm.  This service is open to everyone

 

Town & County United Methodist Men Lenten Breakfast Schedule

 

All meetings will start at 8:00 a.m.

March 2................Epworth

March 9................Bethel

March 16...............Harmony

March 23...............Peniel

 

Brazil Community Good Friday Service 

Brazil First will host a Good Friday Service on March 29th from noon to 1 p.m.

Several churches from the Brazil area will be represented at this service.  The Community Choir will sing. Everyone is invited to attend this inspirational service.

United Methodist Men National Gathering
UMM

July 12-14, 2013
Belmont University - Nashville, TN 

 

Speakers for the event, held once every four years, include: Don Davis, former NFL football player now serving as regional director of the NFL Players Association; David Delk, president of Orlando, Fla.-based Man in the Mirror Ministries; Bishop Swanson, elected to the episcopacy in 2004 and appointed to the Holston Area prior to his recent move to the Mississippi Area; and the Rev. Shane Bishop, pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Fairview Heights, Ill., a church that increased the number of members from 200 in 2009 to 1,000 in 2012.

There will be 18 workshops for the national gathering.

 

Participants will also engage in bagging 40,000 pounds of produce for Nashville area food banks, building hand carts for people in African nations who have lost the use of their legs; and preparing ingredients for dehydrated food packages for emergency situations.

 

The theme of the event will be "From the Inside Out," words from a song performed on a CD "Into the Light" by Phil Stacey, one of the five finalists on season six of the American Idol television show. The Nashville public will be invited to his concert on Saturday evening.

 

Price for the registration and meals at the three-day event was set at $239 for people who register before March 1 and $299 after that date. Housing costs vary. More details on this event can be found by clicking here.


An exciting new ministry event, and you are invited!  The Lion and Lamb Festival is a community of hope gathering to share gifts, inspire authentic conversation, and passionately follow God in the world.  It will gather August 31-September 1, 2013, at Praise Park, a property of Saint Joseph UMC in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Through art, music, and word, the festival will encourage attendees to reflect on issues of spirituality, faith, and justice in their everyday lives.  2013 festival keynote speakers include Rachel Held Evans and Bruce Reyes-Chow, and currently booked musicians include Andrew Peterson, Heatherlyn, John Tibbs, Amy Cox, and Elle/the Remnant.  A joint effort of the INUMC Young Adult Ministry Team, the Social Advocacy Team, and Saint Joseph UMC, the festival is open to everyone of all ages.  More information at www.lionandlambfestival.org.
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