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Important Articles!
Annual Conference 2013
14th & Chestnut Community Center Fundraiser
District UMW Spring Gathering
Lion & Lamb Festival
Operation Classroom News
UMCOM  
Tips and Tactics for Vital Congregations
 
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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.

Find more ideas at ImagineNoMalaria.org
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West District Staff
John Groves
Rev. John Groves
Superintendent
765-51-UMC-DS
(765-518-6237)
[email protected]

John Davis

Rev. John Davis
Associate Superintendent
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Katie Purple

Katie Swisher
District Assistant
[email protected]
West District News
April 9, 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. 

Thank you to all who answered Don Ransford's call for usher volunteers! 

 

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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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The Harry Denman Evangelism Award

 

The Indiana Annual Conference is now accepting nominations for the Harry Denman Evangelism Award for Clergy, Laity, and Youth.

 

The Harry Denman Evangelism Award recognizes a person whose life and ministry exemplifies the teaching of Christ and the Great Commission. This can involve personal witnessing, speaking, and inspiring individual persons or the local church to be actively involved in helping people to experience the transforming love of God through Jesus Christ. The Indiana Annual Conference will choose a recipient in each of the three categories.

 

The award is named for the founder of The Foundation for Evangelism.  Dr. Billy Graham wrote, " Harry Denman was one of the great mentors for evangelism in my own life and ministry... the thing people will remember above all about Harry Denman was his love of Christ and his desire to see others come to know Him.  He truly was one of those rare individuals whose impact will continue for generations to come."

Recipients of these awards, nominated by individuals, churches, or districts, and selected by the Annual Conference, live their call to "Offer Them Christ" daily as modeled by Dr. Harry Denman.

 

You may e-mail completed forms to Ben Boruff at [email protected] or you may send completed forms via postal mail to:

            Ben Boruff   6120 Thrushwood Drive,  Indianapolis, Indiana 46250

 

Nominations must be received no later than April 27, 2013. If you have any questions, please contact Ben Boruff at [email protected].

Ben Boruff, Chair

Harry Denman Award Committee

 

Links to nomination forms:

 

CLERGY NOMINATION FORM

 

LAITY NOMINATION FORM

 

YOUTH NOMINATION FORM

 

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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].

Crossroads Cluster Mission Trip

Midwest Mission Distribution Center, Chatham, IL (near Springfield)

 

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.

Greg Strange in Concert
Hosted by the Crawfordsville Area United Methodist Churches
Saturday, April 20 at 7:00 PM
Trinity United Methodist Church
110 S. Blair Street, Crawfordsville

 

The Crawfordsville area United Methodist Churches have invited GREG STRANGE to give a concert at Trinity UMC on Saturday, April 20, at 7:00 p.m.  Preceding his concert, there will be a pitch-in dinner at 5:00 p.m. and a Praise Service at 6:15 p.m.  Greg is a Christian comedian-musician and has taken his message to churches, inner city schools, rescue missions, prisons, and Indiana reservations for over 20 years.  He brings joy, encouragement, and the message of Jesus Christ wherever he goes.  (www.gregstrange.com)

 

This is the kick-off activity for the cluster which includes First Methodist, Christ's, Trinity, Mt. Zion, Waynetown, and Linden United Methodist Churches.  We hope it will extend the Easter message and bring more people to Christ.  Come and enjoy an evening of fun and fellowship.  The event is free. We are encouraging people to bring an article for the F.I.S.H. PANTRY, such as canned or boxed food, paper products, or cleaning supplies. 

 


District UMW Spring Gathering
UMW Logo

April 27, 2013  -  9:30 AM

Gobin Memorial UMC

307 Simpson Street, Greencastle, IN

 

We have a great program planned with the Rainbow Junction Players Puppet Ministry to entertain us with a special message in a special way. You won't want to miss this lively presentation. We are also very fortunate to have a missionary with the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. Princess Jusu, from Liberia, will join us for a short period of time at the start of 

our program. How can you turn down a morning like this???? Get the word out!! 

 

For lunch we will have a "pitch-in" asking each unit to bring two (2) covered dishes, salad, vegetable or dessert. If you have 1 or 2 attending, one (1) dish is all that is needed. The host church will provide meat, drink, and table service. There will be no charge.

 

Click here for more details and to download the registration flyer! 

 

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 $199 for people who register before June 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.
Operation Classroom
West District Operation Classroom News

The next Operation Classroom Packing Day is scheduled for Thursday, October 3rd at 8:30 AM at Breden Memorial UMC in Terre Haute. There will be no Operation Classroom Packing Day this spring.  

Operation Classroom gets no financial support for the General Board of Global Ministries - we get no financial support from any other mission agency. Every nickel that we receive has to be raised from local churches and individuals.

 

In the past, the shipping operation has often operated "in the red" - that is, people who provided materials to be shipped to West Africa DID NOT provide the funds to ship it there. We simply aren't in a position to do that any longer. Please see the policies listed below related to shipping (copied from off of our web-site.) If our churches and individuals in Indiana (and elsewhere) aren't willing to provide the funding, then sooner rather than later the shipping program will cease to be a part of OCI. It costs us about $10,000.00 each time we ship a container to West Africa - and that doesn't include the warehousing and receiving costs here in Indiana.

 

Shipping Costs

Listed below is the schedule of MANDATORY contributions for shipping. We're sorry, but if material shows up at the warehouse or at in-gatherings without arrangements having been made to cover these costs, IT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED for shipment.

    � Box 12x12x12= $10

    � Box up to 12x12x18 -$15

    � Box over 12x12x18 up to 18x18x18 =$ 20

    � Over 18x18x18 to a computer sized box = $ 30

    � Computer sized box = $ 40

 

The donation for the shipping costs is the responsibility of the local church or individual who donates or secures the items, unless you or your district has made other arrangements. These charges cover:

    � The leasing and of the container

    � Clearing customs

    � Freight forwarding (Truck and Ocean-going vessel)

    � Customs clearing in-country

 

Make checks payable to OPERATION CLASSROOM. Shipping costs are tax deductible.

 

If shipping costs are sent through the conference to GBGM in New York, use the advance number:  Africa Operation Classroom: 12922Y

 

If you have questions, contact John Barker (765.346.0979) or Bob Coolman at

219-464-8055 (O) 219-464-2702 (H) 219-405-5821 (C).