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September/October 2014

Here is the latest news from the Johnson City District of the United Methodist Church.

Greetings!

 

This year, my hope as the Johnson City District Superintendent is to try to help our churches feel trained and equipped to fulfill the ministry they have been called to undertake. As a prelude to our District Conference, a district strategic planning team has worked for almost a year to craft a vision statement to help us accomplish that goal. The vision statement suggests that: "Together, we WILL share the love of Christ through life-changing missions and ministries, inspired worship, empowered and trained leadership and growing disciples."

 

With that vision statement in mind, I would like to craft our charge conference time together to focus on what types of training and resources would help you in the areas of missions and ministry, worship, leadership and discipleship. We will be conducting our charge conferences in cluster groups to help us hear what other churches are doing and to share what is going well in your church. We will compile a list of the responses you share with us at your charge conference to help us plan training events in 2015. If your church does something really well, you may be asked to share your insight with other churches in the district.

 

Our goal is to find out what resources we already have in the district and what resources we might need to invite in from the outside. I hope that you will encourage a crowd from your church to attend your appointed charge conference. The more we hear from you, the better able we will be to find what you need to help your church's ministry.

 

God bless,

 

Walter Weikel

See the discussion topics
See the charge conference schedule

In the past month, the Johnson City District has launched an exciting new ministry called Wonderfully Made. Our mission is to raise funding and awareness for the importance of Special Needs ministries in our local churches.

It is the dream of ministry founders Rev. Natalie Justice and Rev. Christi Taylor to raise enough money to begin providing grants next spring to churches in our district that are interested in starting Special Needs ministries. We are off to a great start, thanks to the Pie in the Face Challenge initiated by Rev. Justice. She and a young church member took a pie in the face September 24, and challenged several others to do the same, including Rev. Taylor and District Superintendent Walter Weikel.

On September 25, Rev. Taylor, Rev. Weikel, and Betty Yeomans-Barton took the challenge and passed it along to others. To date, over 30 people have been "pied" and we have raised $726.

We are planning a Wonderfully Made Spirit Day for Saturday, November 8 from 2:00 - 5:00 pm at Chick-fil-A on Market Street. This promises to be a fun-filled afternoon including a parade, face painting, visits with the Chick-fil-A cow and therapy dogs, an informational booth about Geocaching, and the opportunity to give or take a pie in the face. Come dressed as your favorite superhero or princess. Download the flyer for more information, and be sure to bring it with you to present when you order your food. Chick-fil-A will donate 10% of the proceeds from your meal to Wonderfully Made.

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Limestone Cove First UMC, in Unicoi, recently held their 2nd Annual Christian Survivor Camp by the creekside.  The event provided opportunities for the children and adults to work on confidence, creative skills, and faithful endurance.   The book of Job was the primary focus with a skit depicting how Job handled losing his family and possessions.  Pastor Janet Batts gave the message Sunday down by the creek.  Our senior adults came and supported our children.  Fun was had by all as we came together as a community of faith.  We learned that our patience and faith help us everyday in the struggles of life.

Clergy and Laity from across the district met at Wesley Memorial UMC for District Conference on Sunday, September 28. Those gathered heard reports regarding Buffalo Mountain Camp, Wonderfully Made, and our Czech partnership. An offering of $551.56 was received for ESUMC Prague, and leadership and At-Large Lay Members to Annual Conference were elected. The conference voted to accept the 2015 district budget, and adopt a Fair Share Apportionment formula of 2.3% in order to fund this budget.

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