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Conference Journal

Superintendent's Blog

Carlo is attending Cabinet meetings this week.

You can always read his previous blogs here.

Have a great week.

Come Celebrate!

East Anchorage United Methodist Church will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary on Sunday, April 24 at our 9:00 am service. All are cordially invited, especially those who have been a part of our journey in ministry over the past 50 years.

Travel Scholarships For Youth and Young Adults

In an effort to live into one of our five priorities of the Alaska United Methodist Conference, the Youth and Young Adults Ministries Committee would like to invite Youth (grades 6-12) and Young Adults (ages 18-30) to apply for travel scholarships to Annual Conference and Birchwood Camp.

To apply, please completely fill out this application form and write your answers to the questions in complete sentences.

The following scholarships are available:

Youth (grades 6-12)

Scholarship for Youth Leader at Annual Conference (grades 6-12), June 2-4. Represent your congregation as a youth leader at the Alaska Annual Conference and have fun gathering with other youth from around the conference!
Scholarship for Youth Camp at Birchwood Camp (grades 7-12), June 27-July 1.
Scholarship for MAD (Music and Drama) Camp at Birchwood Camp (grades 6-10), June 13-19.
Scholarship for Adventure Canoe Camp at Birchwood Camp (grades 9-12), July 25-31.
Scholarship for Junior Canoe Camp at Birchwood Camp (grades 6-8), July 6-9.

Young Adults (ages 18-30)

Scholarship for Young Adult at Annual Conference, June 2-4.

Please send completed applications to the Conference Office electronically at umc@gci.net or by mail to Alaska United Methodist Conference Office, 1660 Patterson St., Anchorage, AK 99504.

Due date: March 31

UMW Day of Giving - March 23

Join United Methodist Women members around the country on March 23 for the Second Annual Day of Giving to The Legacy Fund, part of our five-year 150th anniversary celebration! New gifts made on the Day of Giving will be matched by 50 percent!

The Legacy Fund is a permanent endowment to support the work of future generations of United Methodist Women.

It's easy to give!

Online at www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/legacyfund
By phone: 800-278-7771 (8am - 6pm EST, Monday-Friday)
Text Legacy150 to 41444
By check to:

Office of the Treasurer,
United Methodist Women,
475 Riverside Drive,
New York, NY 10115.

Write "The Legacy Fund" in the memo section.

60 Days of Prayer Begins March 31

The Upper Room has created resources for 60 Days of Prayer to help every local congregation pray with the delegates and church leaders for the 2016 General Conference. The 60 days of prayer begin March 31 and extends through May 29. The denomination's legislative assembly is May 10-20 in Portland, Oregon. The prayer guide is available online, as a PDF download and a daily email service. Prayer-bead kits with a commemorative medallion are also available.
Get resources

Global Mission Fellows Wanted

Are you graduating soon? What are your plans for the next two years? Be a part of a life-transforming mission opportunity by becoming a Global Mission Fellow. Global Ministries is looking for candidates to serve as young adult missionaries 2016-2018. Interested? Apply today! The application deadline is March 31, 2016.

As a young adult missionary, you can be involved in several areas of mission including education, health ministries, women and children, disaster response, church development, leadership, social justice and advocacy, hunger and poverty, water and sanitation, and so much more.

"I challenge young people across the world to take this big leap of faith," says Joy Eva Bohol, mission advocate for Global Ministries. "I encourage everyone to use their gifts, talents, and profession to participate in God's mission. Being a Global Mission Fellow was the best decision of my life."

Join this two-year leadership development and mission service opportunity that allows young adults from around the world to serve in a ministry of presence and solidarity with a host community outside of their home context.

Start the application process now!

Do you have questions? You can email GMFellows@umcmission.org, mayams@umcmission.org, or visit www.umcmission.org/gmfellows for more information.

New York Board Welcomes Gay Candidates

The New York Conference's board of ordained ministry announced March 1 that it would not consider sexual orientation in evaluating a clergy candidate, even if that individual is married to someone of the same gender. The announcement comes just weeks after the Baltimore-Washington Conference's board of ordained ministry announced it was recommending a married lesbian as a provisional deacon. Heather Hahn with UMNS reports.

Conference Treasurer - Portland, Oregon

The Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church is currently seeking a well-qualified professional grounded in the value of stewardship to assume the position of Conference Treasurer and Pensions and Health Benefits Officer as of June 1, 2016 in Portland, Oregon.

The purpose of the position is to manage the fiscal life of the annual conference to enable the various ministries within the Annual Conference to live out the mission: Boldly Making Disciples of Jesus Christ ~ Vitalizing the Church ~ Transforming the World

See OVERVIEW OF DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Please email resume and cover letter with responses to supplemental questions to:
Rev. Peg Lofsvold
lofsvold@mac.com
Recruitment will be open until filled, but the first review of applications will occur on or about March 3, 2016, with interviews during the week of March 14, 2016. Materials that are incomplete or are received after March 14, 2016 may not be considered.

Women's History Month

United Methodist Women started out bold and continues to be to this day! We started in 1869 with eight women who were concerned about the lack of women's health care in India. Today, we are 800,000 members strong changing the lives of women, children and youth in our local communities and around the world!

You may know who we are today, but it is Women's History Month. Learn more about our history and our legacy through animated shorts, a video, a historical timeline, and a living timeline.

http://www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/about/history

Historic Images Now Available Online

The United Methodist Commission on Archives and History announced it has finished posting online its photo albums focused on the denomination's ministry outside the U.S. between 1900 and 1950. The final total is 33,675 pages from 178 albums now accessible to the public.

See online catalog
Read the story on the images

Summer Internship Program with Community Missional Service

QuadW Missional Internship is a mission oriented experience for college-age young adults. The Portland site is one of ten sites in the U.S. that offer opportunities to serve and meet the physical and spiritual needs of each intern, through communal living, worshiping together, working in the community with children and the under-served population, including enriching their own personal relationship with God, through 'Spiritual Reflection Fridays' to grow their faith journey.

This internship program starts June 9, 2016 for eight weeks focusing on life-changing missional experiences. Up to 12 spots are available at the Portland site for 2016. Interns receive a $1,800 stipend plus free housing with most meals provided. Interns are encouraged to raise $300 to offset the program. Interns must be willing to live and share in a Christ-centered community, be self-motivated and have a desire to grow in deep understanding of hands-on community missional service.

Applications are now being accepted: http://quadwmi.org/application/

QuadW Organization - Portland Link: http://quadwmi.org/portland-or/

Words of Prayer for the 2016 General Conference

First Sundays Bulletin Inserts now available

As part of the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area, each of the 475 local churches in the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho, and Pacific Northwest Conferences have the honor of serving as hosts for the several thousand United Methodists who will gather from around the globe in Portland, Oregon this May for General Conference 2016. Some will share in this honor by volunteering in person, but we can all be a part of a prayerful welcome.

Bishop Hagiya is inviting you and your congregation to join him in an area-wide experience of prayer for General Conference that will take place on the first Sunday of the month from March through June 2016.

Click through to read a letter from the Bishop and to download inserts for use in your church bulletins. (http://greaternw.org/words-of-prayer/)

Words of Prayer - April 3 - PDF

Words of Prayer - May 1 - PDF

Words of Prayer - June 5 - PDF

2016 Webinar Series

Below you will find a list of webinars for church leaders offered by Discipleship Ministries' Leadership Ministries division. You can register, free of charge, by going to http://www.umcdiscipleship.org/webinars.

March 10 - The Spiritual Life of the Media Child
March 10 - Passing It On
March 15 - Ministry Leadership Models: Nurture Outreach Witness (N.O.W.) and Single Governance Board Structure
March 16 - Covenant Discipleship
March 17 - Finding Money That Went Missing: Recovering Funds that Can be Used for Mission

Advance Renewal Applications

For all the churches and projects that have assigned Advance numbers, the renewal deadline for continuance in the next quadrennium is March 15, 2016. If you have any questions, feel free to contact The Advance at advance@umcmission.org or at 212-870-3718 for further support.

Southeast Alaska Mission u Event at UMC of Sitka

Every year the United Methodist Women of Alaska put on educational events based on study topics. This year the studies are Created for Happiness: Understanding Your Life in God which is led by Susie Smalley and Latin America: People and Faith led by Walt Hays. The last event will take place at UMC of Sitka on March 11-12, 2016. Please contact Jennifer Miller if you have any questions.

Registration Form

Idita-Walk Fundraiser for Nome Community Center

The Nome Community Center, a UMW National Mission Institution, is sponsoring the 1,049-minute walking event Idita-Walk, which draws participants from across Alaska, and around the globe. Even your dog can participate in this walking event!

To participate in the Idita-Walk, keep track of how many minutes you walk per day on a paper form. Strive to reach the goal of 1,049 minutes - the same number of miles that sled dogs and mushers must trek across Alaska in order to reach the Iditarod finish line. If you walk an average of 35 minutes a day, you'll finish in 30 days. The Idita-Walk starts February 1st and ends March 31st.

The event benefits the Nome Community Center and all the services it provides Nome and the Bering Strait region, including the Nome Food Bank, the XYZ Senior Center, Nome Children's Home and Family Services.

It is $10 to register per person (or dog), $30 to register and order a T-shirt, and $50 to register and order a sweatshirt. If you're among the first 750 to sign up, you'll receive an official 2016 Idita-Walk pin upon registration

You can sign up for the 2016 Idita-Walk online at www.idita-walk.com.

Annual Conference

We want to make sure that Annual Conference is on your calendars, especially for clergy and lay delegates. All events will occur at St. John United Methodist Church. There will be a day of workshops on Thursday, June 2nd and then the conference will be Friday, June 3rd through Saturday, June 4th.

This year's theme for Annual Conference is Keeping Sabbath: Resting, Rejoicing, Returning. As Christians we inherit a story of creation where God rests after six long days bringing what is into being.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy .... For in six days the Lord made the heavens and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11.)

Upcoming Events

March

7-11: Carlo in Boise for GNW Cabinet meeting and NLI Conference

13: Daylight Saving Time

20: Palm Sunday

21-23: Carlo in Seattle for GNW Cabinet meeting

27: Easter Sunday

April

3: Camping Sunday for the Alaska United Methodist Conference

11-14: Carlo in Oregon for GNW Cabinet meeting

16: UMM Annual Retreat at the Hope Retreat Center

29-May1: UMW Leadership Team meeting at East Anchorage UMC

May

10-20: General Conference in Portland. Carlo attending

30: Memorial Day - Office Closed

June

2: Annual Conference Workshops

3-4: Annual Conference at St. John UMC

Submissions

If you have an article or event that you would like the rest of the conference to know about and participate in, feel free to submit them to me each week by Monday evening. I ask that you type up what you want included and let me know how many weeks you want it published for. Thank you!

Contact Info

Crystal Feaster

Administrative Assistant

907-333-5050 phone

907-333-2304 fax

www.alaskaumc.org

umc@gci.net