TIME FOR A CHANGE

Remember to set you clocks forward Saturday night.

You don't want to be late for Church on Sunday morning.
            

DISTRICT CLERGY MEETING:

Tuesday, March 10th

10am - Noon

Second UMC

1524 Western Ave.

Avoiding "Feast or Famine": A Better Endowment Way

Sometimes churches and ministries are blessed to receive and benefit from bequests or other gifts where the donor has instructed that the interest or earnings be use to benefit a purpose, but that the principal or corpus of the fund remains intact. By law this describes what state law determines to be an endowment and most states (including Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia) have adopted the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA) to help not only guide the proper investment of such funds, but also to assist in spending from endowments.

The Holston Conference Foundation helps many churches and ministries invest their endowments properly (don't put all your eggs in one basket) through our Balanced Growth Fund, which offers a low cost, diversified way to reduce rick and provide returns far above CD's and other short-term investments. While investing an endowment properly in important, we have found that proper spending from an endowment is absolutely just as crucial. UPMIFA requires awareness of inflation and requires the use of a rolling 3-year market value average in making distributions. In other words the spending power of the fund must rise over time to keep up with inflation.
 
 
To discuss the Foundation's investment options please contact us at 865-690-8124. We will be glad to meet with you and other church leadership to discuss how the Foundation can assist you. 
 
 

42nd Annual

Ministers' Wives' Retreat

Lighten Up! will be held 3/19 - 3/21/15 at Music Road Inn (303 Henderson Chapel Road, Pigeon Forge, TN). For the registration/brochure, click here.

Bookwalter UMC - CHILDREN'S SPRING/SUMMER CONSIGNMENT SALE - Friday, March 27th 8am to 6pm and Saturday March 28th 8am to 3pm.  Saturday many of our items will be 1/2 off.  We accept cash, credit and debit.  The church is located at 4218 Central Avenue Pike, Knoxville, 37912.  For more information please call 865-689-3349.

A Loaded Potato Bar with salad and dessert. Will be at 5:00 PM. Hear the missionaries at 6:00PM.

Everyone is invited!

UPCOMING GOLF TOURNAMENTS

All churches are encouraged recruit golfers, sponsor holes, donate gifts for each of these tournaments.

Date: March 28, 2015,

 Lunch 12:00, 2:00 Shotgun.

Location: Egwani Farms Golf Course 

Enthusiastic golfers will gather for a tournament to support the programs of Wesley House. Don't worry; you can purchase mulligans and tosses to improve your score!

Click here for information and registration.

12th Annual

CAMP WESLEY WOODS GOLF TOURNAMENT

Monday, April, 27, 2015  Green Meadow Country Club,  Brochure and Registration 

Family Promise Seeking to Double

    "Family Promise" is the ministry to homeless families in our area that allows families to stay together and receive assistance in finding jobs and housing. Churches and other groups take turns hosting the families for a week. The ministry is now seeking to double the number of families they help from four to eight. If your church would be willing to become a host site, please contact Mary LeMense, Director at 584-2822.

Resurrection 2016 is Moving!

   Holston Youth Ministry has announced that Resurrection 2016 will be moving to the LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge and be all on one weekend, January 22-24, 2016. Go to www.resurrectionyouth.com for further information.

LINKS of INTEREST

Bridge Refugee Services

http://www.bridgerefugees.org/ 

Camp Wesley Woods

http://www.campwesleywoods.com/  

Compassion Coalition

http://compassioncoalition.org/  

Emerald Youth Foundation

http://www.emeraldyouth.org/ 

Wesley House 

 http://www.wesleyhouse.com/  

Wesley Foundation

http://utkwesleyfoundation.org/ 

Family Promise of Knoxville

http://familypromiseknoxville.org/ 

 Knoxville Inner City Kids Outreach (KICKO)

http://kicko.org/  

Holston Methodist FCU

http://www.hmfcu.org/  

Lake Junaluska

www.lakejunaluska.com 

Volunteer Ministry Center

 www.vmcinc.org

Knox Area Rescue Ministries

www.karm.org

DISTRICT SPOTLIGHT

Wesley House is one of the area agencies that is supported by your district apportionment.

(As reported in "THE CALL"  Feb. 16th edition)

     Richard Gibson, my predecessor as executive director of Wesley House Community Center, left me that little piece of wisdom when he retired. He told me there would be days when I would need to be reminded. He was most certainly right. When I started my leadership at Wesley House in 2011, the board talked about growth. They started this discussion in 2006 but the economy was not in any condition then to begin a major fundraising effort.

      However, by 2011 things had started to turn around, and so the discussion started again. Even as we talked about ways to reach more people, the Lord did provide. I had a meeting with the new CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tennessee Valley in 2012.  As we talked about the need to provide after-school care to more children in our city, I told her about our board's desire to do just that. She asked me if we wanted to buy a bigger building. I told her we would not leave the neighborhoods served by Wesley House for more than 100 years. She assured me she had two buildings in our neighborhood that needed to be sold.

      One of the buildings turned out to be a perfect fit, so we committed to this purchase in January 2013. We went public with our intentions in March 2013 although our fundraising had already begun. Again, we hoped that "the Lord would provide." Many times I looked at that little sign on the shelf over my desk and prayed.

     With the help of many, we raised $176,000 of the $400,000 purchase price prior to closing on June 11, 2013. We borrowed $230,000 on a short-term, interest-only loan for two years, hoping we could pay this debt off without taking out a mortgage. I kept reading the sign, "The Lord Provides."

     And he did! Individuals, churches, businesses, foundations and even Sunday school classes made commitments to our capital campaign, even while continuing to support our increasing operational budget. The Lord touched the hearts of many wonderful people, and near the end of 2014 our debt on the building dropped below $100,000.

     I was still nervous but hopeful that we could raise the rest of the funds needed before the loan came due in June 2015. Again, God stepped in. A donor called in early December 2014 and offered to make a significant impact on our remaining building debt. This anonymous donor sent a check for $80,000! The Lord provides! With that, and funds already contributed, we were able to close out our building loan on Jan. 13, 2015.

      I know there are still people paying on their capital campaign pledges, myself included. That is good, because there are still capital projects that need to be done. Our 26,000-square-foot building needs a new roof, a new wall on the west side, and bathroom renovations. That's what we know about right now. Our original capital campaign goal was $550,000 because we knew there would be additional needs like these.

     Our operational budget will also continue to grow, as we reach more children with after-school and summer programs. Our after-school program enrollment has increased by 65 percent, our summer program by 71 percent. We have projected growth to continue over the next three years.

Our current goals are to grow to 120 students after school and 150 in summer program by 2018. Our program for senior citizens has also become a year-round effort. None of this would have been or will be possible without the prayers, passion and commitments that you have made to Wesley House over the years.

     The Lord Provides! He provides wonderful people who see the difference this 107-year-old ministry can continue to make in the lives of people we serve - with you as our partner. Come and see what a difference you and the Lord make every day in the lives of the people served by Wesley House.

Tim Adams is executive director of Wesley House Community Center, a United Methodist affiliated ministry based in Knoxville, Tenn.

Attendees of the Wesley House Dedication held on Saturday, Feb. 28th, 2015 

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