THE HILLTOP NEWS Laredo Dr., Fort Worth, Texas June 26, 2018

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1 THE HILLTOP NEWS 2820 Laredo Dr., Fort Worth, Texas June 26, 2018 The purpose of Western Hills United Methodist Church is to continue the ministry of Jesus by making disciples through faith, hope and love. Traveling to the Holy Land was an experience of a lifetime! However just like the gospel story of the Transfiguration where the disciples who accompanied Jesus to the mountain top now had to come down and continue to minister and learn from Jesus about the Kingdom of God so must I. Traveling through the different excavations, I learned that the historical context in which Jesus ministered is as important to understand as the historical context back home where ministry becomes practical. We have a rich history of how Western Hills United Methodist Church came to be. The first minister appointed to start a new church start on the western fringes of Fort Worth was the Rev. Carl Mahaffy. In 1959, he began to knock on doors in the Western Hills community and invite them to Waverly Park Elementary School to organize a Methodist Church. The newly organized church met and began to have worship services and people from the neighborhood continued to come and the church grew. I can still hear Lola Mae Fant s voice recalling how most of the young mothers who came had either just delivered a new baby or were about to deliver. How exciting it must have been to be caught up in the excitement of vibrancy, enthusiasm, excitement, and growth! Today, the church continues to minister in great way to the community in which the church stands. Just recently you heard about Dorica. She is a thirteen-year old girl whose family are refugees from the Federal Democratic Republic of the Congo. Just before I left for Israel, our church sought ways of helping the family. As you remember, Dorica was assaulted and almost strangled as she waited early one morning for the school bus. The bus stop is just across the church at Laredo and Calmont. Dorica s mother and grandmother are students in our English as a Second Language Classes. They live in the apartments just north of Western Hills Primary School. Their means of support for a family of two parents and six children has been cut out since the father cannot work as he watches over his daughter in a Dallas hospital. Through the compassionate response of our church, the family s housing has been taken care of for the month of June. Another of our church members has cared for the family s basic-necessities like food, utilities, and disposable baby diapers. Every Sunday we pray for Dorica s well being and for her family. Our church s response to this family s emergency has been one of fulfilling Christ s mission to a world in need. If any one would like to join in helping Dorica who is waiting on a heart transplant, and her family, please let me know. I have returned with a deep and heartfelt desire to pastorally lead our congregation, not only as a church that is much aware of our mission, but as a church that gravitates all of our church in sharing our Christian faith with commitment, resolve, and passion. Only then, will we have a church that bases its future on God s promise of hope. I thank God each time one of our mother s is blessed with the gift of new life. Let us be in prayer for such a revelation. I cannot wait to see you in church or where ever our lives will intersect. Your pastor, Raul.

2 Supporting My Church Current Prayer Concerns: Modet Chapman, aunt of Sheila Wilson; Mel Henderson, MHMR Life Skills Coordinator; Troy Holder; Pam King, sister of Julia Moore; Max & Danielle, friends of Dan & Joyce Brown; Sheri Whitmire, daughter of Agnes Powell; Betty Jo Robinson; (Current prayer concerns will be posted for one month unless a request is received for the name to continue on the prayer list) Ongoing Prayer Concerns: Joan Brown, Renee Brown, Dorothy Burton, Katherine Busby, Penny Comparini, Beverly Contakos, Kaylan Covan, Mike Dobbs, Dorica, Dale Ford, Jessica Gray, Jann Green, Mike & Carolyn Grimes, Pete Gutierrez, Kenneth Holley, Aaron Jennings, Liola Allison Lester, Mike Magee, Doug & Jean McGlaun, Ethel Meads, Camille Redden, Our Military: Sam Brooks, Jason Busby, Garret Comparini, Sarah Davis, Dan Fagan, Sarah Harris, Angela Herrington, Trinity Herrington, Christopher Moore, Thomas Morton, Robert Newman, Richard Ray Owens, Jr., Nicholas Perez, Jacob Rangel, Chris Sotello, Blake Strack, Johnny Waldrop, Melvin Williams, Brandon Wilson The deadline for the next newsletter is Monday, July 9, 2018 by 12:00 p.m. With Presence Sunday School Attendance: June 17th 67 June 24th 64 Worship Attendance: June 17th 99 June 24th 94 Spanish Worship Service June 17th 10 June 24th 18 Praiz n June 16th 15 Gifts of Money Needed for General Budget each week: $5, June 17th General Budget $3, Heifer Fund VBS Name Tags Memorial Fund Food Pantry June 24th General Budget $3, Heifer Fund VBS Grace Fund Food Pantry Special Givings Name Tags 10.00

3 July 1st Security: Dan Brown Lock Up: Dan Brown SECURITY TEAMS/ LOCK UP TEAMS July 8th Security: Brenda Bearden Lock Up: If you are unable to work on your assigned day, please make arrangements for a substitute. July Birthdays 2 Challito Hernandez 3 Bayley Holland 4 Jerry Warburton 4 Wendy Clay 4 Isabella Bastidas 5 Rick Higginbotham 6 James Whittle 7 Nita Reinhart 8 Carole Ewin 9 Richard Barlow 10 Alyssa Rodriguez 12 Lola Mae Fant 12 Ruth Holder 12 Kevin Riibe 13 Evelyn Hay 12 Jaron Ellis 16 Shalimar Stricklin 17 Kim Harrison 18 Jesse Walla 20 Jerry Newman 21 Johnnie Drennan 22 Jeff Shahan 23 Heli Taylor 25 Charles Rankin 25 Lou Strack 26 Barbie Brewer 26 Dan Brown 28 Erick Pruitt 29 Misty Busby 31 R. J. Degarmo 31 Sally Seekins 31 Marta Tschetter 31 Polly Grisham Thank you to everyone who took the time out of your busy lives to come and help with VBS! Everyone pitched in to contribute and put together a wonderful week! The children were able to experience several bible stories, told in a very memorable fashion, followed by activities to help reinforce the principles presented in those lessons. A great time was had by all! You all help make a difference in these children's lives every time they experience the love, fellowship and teamwork of the church! Debbie Elrod July Anniversaries 9 Richard & Brenda Bearden 11 Tim & Suzanne Kile 24 Michael & Olga Dobbs 24 Dale & Shirley Ford 28 Brian & Christy Barto

4 Central Texas Annual Conference Business meeting started on June 11, 2018 at 8am The conference was open by Mike Ford, Conference Lay Leader and Bishop Mike Lowry. The Conference Teacher was Junius B. Dotson, General Secretary Discipleship Ministries. He was a very excellent teacher. I am going to give you an overview of his teaching because our churches in the conference should be focusing on our communities. The congregation as a whole and individually needs to ask the following: How is God calling each of us and our congregation to engage the community? How to make disciples in our community? There is a need for leadership to articulate to the congregation on how to make disciples. When we negate our identity as believers of Jesus Christ we are unable to make disciples. Your commitment as a believer is vital in making disciples. Each believer needs to ask ourselves the following questions. There are NO new programs (technical fixes) that will work in making discipleship. Defining evangelism or making disciples in the 21st Century in the local church has to be given a new definition. We have to move beyond our comforter zone and the local church needs develop Real relationships within each church s community. The local church has to develop an intentional discipleship system. For more of his thoughts and information I have enclosed his website: Seeallthepeople.org WIG (Wildly Important Goal) Rev Mike Ramsdell gave the delegates an update on how the process has been going since it was approved in Conference has set a WIG to increase market share in the CTC from 1.10% in 2016 to 1.25% by 2026 and to increase professions of faith from 1,845 in 2016 to 3,500 by For market share, this represents an increase of about 14% over ten years. For professions of faith, the increase would be about 90% from 2016 to The United Methodist church mission statement is making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the World. WIG Mission report was given by Rev Randy Wild. The Church needs to change and give up old ways on during church and to focus on being the church to offer Jesus Christ to all. Rule: Matthew 28:19 We are missionary in a land of the unchurched. The communities around each church in the conference are the mission areas. Each church should set measurable goals and change the way each congregation talks about hospitality and discipleship. The leadership of each church should share the goals with their church and why they are set and the importance of them. The overall church has decline 1% except the our conference that grew 2% since There were 59% of churches showed growth in 12 months ending March 2018.

5 Annual Conference Summary (continued) Mike Ford and Bishop Lowry s presented The Way Forward process The Way Forward process was a bishops calling for a decision to the question on the issue on how the denomination will handle LGBTQ ordination and same-sex marriage. The commission was formed with members representing all conferences in the United Methodist church and their final report that consisted of three models were sent to the council of Bishops. They have voted to send their support for the One Church plan but all plans will be presented to the Called General Conference in February 2019 in St Louis for their decision. The General Conference is the body in the United Methodist church that will make the final decision for the denomination. The detail can be found on the conference website or you can talked to me and I can give you the summary as given to delegates. The following added resolutions were voted on during the conference. 1) Process for Electing the 2020 General and Jurisdictional Conference Delegation Approved 6/13/2018 2) Resolution toward building trust within the CTC Approved 6/13/2018 3) Closing Strawn UMC was approved. Closing Kell s Branch UMC in the South District was approved. 4) Aspirational Resolution Aspirational resolution (against the one church solution) on the LGBTQ issue vote was: yes and no I have given you a short summary of the conference highlights but there were other business matters that came to the delegates. Terry From the Finance Committee Summer has arrived! Typically, with the summer months, our attendance slips some because of vacations, our busy lives with children out of school and various other activities. However, let us not forget that our church never takes a vacation. We are working 365 days a year and that includes June, July and August. Also with the summer, comes an increase in our utility bills. Our electric bill normally doubles during the summer as does our water bill. Unfortunately this comes at a time when our attendance (and contributions) are less than usual. We want to encourage everyone to please be aware of your utility usage around the building. Please remember to turn off lights when you leave a room, and keep the cooling at a reasonable temperature. Also please remember to make sure that the air conditioner is OFF when you leave. Many times when the thermostat is set, it will run all night. Our thermostats are such that you can set a temperature for a set number of hours. Please make sure that you check the time on the thermostat to be sure that it will not be running when the building is unoccupied. We appreciate your assistance in trying to keep our utilities at a reasonable cost during these hot months. Brenda Bearden Finance Committee Chair