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Tips and Tactics for Vital Congregations
RAISING MONEY TO MAKE A LIFE-SAVING DIFFERENCE AGAINST MALARIA IS EASY!
Plan a special event like a spaghetti dinner, a car wash or even host a screening of "A Killer In The Dark," the Imagine No Malaria TV special narrated by Pauley Parrette, star of the hit TV show NCIS.
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West District Center
| 118 W. Seminary St.
Greencastle, IN 46135
Visit us on the web!
765-276-4797
1-877-781-6716
Preferred Telephone Hours:
Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
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| West District Staff |  | |
Rev. John Groves
Superintendent
765-51-UMC-DS
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West District News
April 2, 2013
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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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 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 don.ransford@inumc.org.
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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 karen.powell@inumc.org.
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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 helene.foust@inumc.org.
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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 ike.williams@att.net. 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 anthonyswinger@yahoo.com or call him at 317-372-4991. |
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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 west.district@inumc.org.
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Crossroads Cluster Mission Trip
Wednesday, April 17 - Friday, April 19
Arrive at MMDC (about 3 � hour from Terre Haute) by 1 PM CDT on Wednesday, April 17
Leave MMDC about 1 PM CDT on Friday, April 19
The MMDC is one of two sites in US that UMCOR uses as a staging area for disaster supplies collection, preparation, packing, and storage. The mission work varies from construction to flood bucket packing to health kit preparation to cutting and sewing of cloth student book bags and much more as the opportunity arises.
Private rooms (for up to 30 missioners), a kitchen, showers, etc are all contained in the missioners dormitory. Missioners bring their own bedding and toiletries. Missioners bring and prepare their food or eat at nearby restaurants.
A fee of $100/missioner will be used to defray the cost of lodging at MMDC; food costs are additional. Group transportation will be arranged as needed. Missioners from other Wabash Valley churches are invited to participate.
Contact the Memorial UMC Church office (812-234-0776) for more information or to signup and make a missioner deposit.
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United Methodist Men National Gathering
 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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