Annual Conference will be held at St. John UMC in Anchorage on June 5th & 6th with workshops on June 4th.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN

The registration process is now open.  You can register and pay online through this link.  If you would like to download a paper copy, you can do it here.  There is an early bird rate so make sure you take advantage of it by April 30th. 

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

There will be a day of workshops on June 4th.  You can find a list of the workshops and their descriptions here.  You can sign up for these workshops when you register to attend Annual Conference.  If you decide to change your workshop after you have already registered, please contact the conference office to change it.  If you do not plan on attending Annual Conference but want to participate in one of the workshops, you can fill out this form.  

GENERAL CONFERENCE DELEGATES

If you are interested in being one of the clergy or laity delegates to General Conference in 2016, there are some guidelines for you to read.  You can find them on page 90 of the 2014 Conference Journal or you can find them here.  Please submit your interest, per the guidelines, to the conference office by April 13th. 

AWARDS 

You can start nominating clergy, laity, or youth for the Harry Denman Evangelism Award.  You can also nominate someone for being an Outstanding Lay Person.

FORMS

If you would like to propose a change in the rules via a petition, you can find the form here.  If you need to write a report for the pre-conference handbook because of your role within the conference, you can find the guidelines here.  Churches can submit their names for the memorial service on this form.  If you are part of an organization that would like to reserve a table for a display, fill out this form.

There is good news to share with you about United Methodist Special Sunday giving in 2014. Overall, contributions increased 8.1 percent! Five of the six Special Sundays showed growth!

Last year, United Methodists across the connection gave nearly $5.3 million to six churchwide Special Sundays with offerings. Here are the amounts contributed to each Special Sunday offering:

• Human Relations Day: $521,392
• One Great Hour of Sharing: $3,005,332
• Native American Ministries Sunday: $266,031*
• Peace with Justice Sunday: $216,746*
• World Communion Sunday: $836,955
• United Methodist Student Day: $431,677

*50% of the funds received for this offering remain in the annual conference. This represents only the amount remitted to GCFA.

Job Openings
Join Birchwood Camp's staff & ministry team! Birchwood Camp is accepting applications for the following positions: year-round, part-time paid kitchen staff and paid summer intern staff. Detailed information about the positions and job descriptions are available on Birchwood Camp's website: http://birchwoodcamp.org/get-involved/job-opportunities/. Please spread the word about these important openings.

Register for Summer Camp at Birchwood Camp

Online registration is now open for Birchwood Camp's Summer Programs. These camp programs provide safe spaces for spiritual formation, genuine community, and character development at Birchwood Camp's beautiful site in Chugiak. Online registration & detailed information is available at  www.birchwoodcamp.org/camps. Register before April 1 to receive a $10 discount per registration.

Below you will find a list of webinars for church leaders offered by the GBOD Leadership Ministries division.  These webinars are free of charge. You can register by going to www.gbod.org/webinars.

Tuesday, March 31: Helping Children Make Sense of the World

Tuesday, April 14: Re-Imagining Your Retirement

Tuesday, April 14: The UM Way

Thursday, April 16: Worship in Contemporary Settings

Tuesday, April 21: Family - Creating Rituals in the Home