The Clarion. August 2018

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1 The Clarion August 2018 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Conference Calendar 2 A Message from our President 3 Treasurer's Word 4 Nominations Slate of Officers 5 Officer Reports 6 Special Event Forms and Flyers 13

2 Conference UMW Calendar 2018 Month/Date Name Church Time August 25 Social Action Day Jackson First 9:00 AM August 25 Candle burning Report due to Marilyn Ramsey Mission Today Report due to Marilyn Ramsey Reading Program Report due to Deborah Vaughn September 29 Annual Day Covenant 10:00AM November Leadership Development Day St. Louis November 18 Clarion Deadline

3 P A G E 3 A Message from our President

4 Message from Treasurer Marie Lamon P A G E 4 GREETINGS, I like the Children s Study Title MONEY MATTERS. An appropriate statement for the missions of the United Methodist Women. As I work with the Mission Team, I ve witnessed that time, talents, and gifts are also vital resources that matters for the mission of God s Kingdom. The offering from Mission u (and we thank you) has been designated to Red Bird Missions, one of the Missionary Conferences of the United Methodist Church. Rev. Birgitte French, and Crossroads UMC hospitality was awesome! And it Matters. May we consider our giving, and realize God s abundant Blessings. Money does matter for the building of God s Kingdom. Blessed, Marie Lamon, Conference Treasurer

5 THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE OF THE MEMPHIS CONFERENCE UNITED METHODIST WOMEN SLATE OF OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR 2019 MEMPHIS CONFERENCE OFFICERS TO BE ELECTED SEPT. 29,2018 PRESIDENT Mary Lou Wurth PO Box 516, Cunningham, KY (Purchase) Tel SECRETARY Meredith Bingham 267 River Commons Circle, Memphis, TN Tel (Metro) SPIRITUAL GROWTH - Deborah Poole 2318 Littlemore Dr., Cordova, Tn Dpoole52@bellsouth.net Tel (Metro) E and I -- Barbara Boden 610 Jackson St., Paris, TN Boden1926@gmail.com Tel (Tennessee River) COMMUNICATIONS - Karen Freeman Middle Road, Milan, TN kfreeman@olbiz.net Tel C (Mississippi River) NOMINATIONS CHAIR - Patricia Winburne 9747 Woodland Edge Lane, Cordova, TN winburnee@bellsouth.net Tel C H (Metro) NEW COMMITTEE MEMBERS Betty Reyes 1215 Wilton Ave., Mayfield, Ky (Purchase)) bgstallins@gmail.com Tel Pat Rice 1521 Harris St., Dyersburg, Tn (Mississippi River) patriziaann@hotmail.com Tel Cheryl Vaughn 1550 Mayfield-Metropolis Rd., Paducah, Ky (Purchase) dccvbj@bellsouth.net Tel Sue Nan Hartley 7205 Renda, Millington, Tn (Metro) suenan@rittermail.com Tel

6 P A G E 6 A Report from the Vice- President City Lights: Spreading, Faith, Hope and Love in Action is the theme of Memphis Conference UMW Annual Day The event will be Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018 at Covenant United Methodist Church in Cordova, TN. Betty Jo Masters is our keynote speaker. Program Committee Members are busy planning an inspiring day of fellowship while celebrating achievements, honoring retiring officers, and recognizing new leaders. Ladies of Covenant UMW will be hosting a luncheon, and items donated by ladies of the conference will be for sale to support missions. Registration by Sept. 25 is $16, including meal. Child care will be available if requested. You may pay at the door, but we can t guarantee lunch. The Book Nook will be open, and City Market will provide items provided by conference members for purchase in support of missions. Ladies please begin now using your talents to create Christmas decorations, bake goods, personal items and works of art to share. Please price your donations. Come to the city and enjoy spreading the light of Faith, Hope and Love! Myra Cleaver Memphis Conference Vice President

7 P A G E 7 Spiritual Growth Report from Pat Dunker Hello to all! Hope this finds your lives filled with joy and blessings.. and the richness of God s love. The planning for next year s retreat is underway. It s set for March 29 March 30, back in our beloved Lakeshore! Hope to see you all there. The attendance for the Spiritual Growth Retreat was way down this year. We re hoping to bump that back up. Could you please take a minute and send me an at patdunker@bellsouth.net, or pat.dunker@simmonsbank.com and let me know about your hesitations or questions? Let us work with you. There are scholarships to use, carpools to form.. questions to be answered and problems to be solved just let us know what they are. Or, if you prefer, you can send the questions, comments, etc to Pat Dunker, 220 Frankie Lane, South Fulton, TN I ll answer each , letter, etc personally. We can t solve problems if we don t know what the problems are. And we re United Methodist Women.. we know how to solve problems! Keep each other in prayer. Uplift each other and share God s love with all; you never know who just might need to hear, I prayed for you today.. Grace and peace, Pat Dunker

8 P A G E 8 Mission u Recap from Dean Deborah Poole Mission u was absolutely wonderful!!! Thank you Crossroads United Methodist Church and CUMW for your gracious hospitality, great facility, smiling faces and yummy food beautifully presented. We had 66 students and 6 Study Leaders gathered at Crossroads UMC on Shelby Drive in Collierville, TN, on July 20 and 21st. Attendance by Districts are: Metro 47, Mississippi River 9, Purchase 7, and Tennessee River 3. We want to double that number United Methodist Women. *This was our first year in a very long time to have a children s class. We started small but they were mighty! Amanda Vincent taught the children s class, Money Matters to five excited students who learned so much and had an exhaustingly great time... We had a nursery for Leaders and 2 were in this room. *Our youth class this year was very small, we grew from 1 student on the first day to 3, TiaNia More did a great job. Their study was thought provoking and awareness was raised to Is it Just Money? Our Money God s Economy. *April Carter taught the adult Social Action study What About Our Money? A Faith Response. This was a full class of students who shared lively discussions, eyes were opened to different views and they were challenged to be good stewards of the gifts God has blessed us with. *Pastor B French was able to raise awareness to many of the issues that Alaska, Oklahoma and Redbird Missionary Conferences face. This was our second year for this study Missionary Conferences of the U M Church in the US. When her student shared in the last Plenary what she had learned, we were all in tears. *Heather Bennett and Rev Joe Thorn were our Spiritual Growth leaders. Embracing Wholeness: An Earth Perspective for Covenantal Living. Both classes were able to discuss the the fact that we were created from dust of the earth to Noah and the flood and beyond. *Our Plenaries were filled with lively music, enlightening, and inspiring praise offerings to God. Thanks you to all who participated in those services. Our closing Plenary was an act of sharing what we learned, giving our offering and humbling ourselves through our communion service. This was certainly uplifting and a wonderful way to be sent forth. The offering for Redbird Missionary Conference received was $ WOW! (Our announcement of $348.00, that was only half of the total received). Friends you are making a difference with simple acts of kindness and justice while learning, sharing and experiencing fellowship with friends across our Memphis Conference. We were able to share in a Social Justice Action to help Farm Workers and other labor sectors to receive a fair living wage. UMW across the US are joining with the National Farm Worker Ministry and women leaders of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to call on Wendy s, the last of the five major fast food companies, to sign the Fair Food Agreement. We signed postcards to help make our voice be heard as we speak out for justice for Time s Up on low wages, poor working conditions and sexual violence! In closing it has been my pleasure to be your Dean for Mission u for the past 2 years. Although it is quite a large job, I have been trained, equipped, and lead by God in so many instances. I have done my best and hope that you have been blessed by my offering as a servant to God through Mission u. ***Heads Up... Next year we will gather at Crossroads UMC again, the dates will be July 19th and 20th. Please mark your calendars now, make it a priority to attend Mission u, you will be equipped, challenged and ready to go and make a difference in our world Studies: Spiritual Growth - The Book of Mark Social Action: What About our Money - A Faith Response (2nd year for this study) 3rd Study/Social Action: United for Change (title not nailed down, more to come) Love You All, Thanks for 3 years as Assistant Dean and Dean, Deborah Poole PS Joyclyn Wilson is now your Dean and Delores Smith will be your Assistant Dean

9 P A G E 9 Mission u 2018

10 THE CLARION PAGE 10

11 P A G E 11 Education and Interpretation Report from Marilyn The year has gone fast and we are coming down to the final stretch. All reports are to be turned into your DISTRICT E&I Coordinator. She will then get them to me. The reports are: Mission Today Being Just, Being Green Candle Burning The Check List for Mission Today is located on the United Methodist Women site on the Conference website. Follow these directions to find that website. memphis-umc.net Click on Ministries Then on United Methodist Women This is where the Mission Today form is and the Clarion Please look back on your year since September 2017 and list all the great things your unit has accomplished. We need to celebrate our accomplishments! If your unit has taken the challenge for the first time this year on Being Just, Being Green then let your District E&I Coordinator know. Your unit needs to be congratulated for helping our Earth. You will receive a certificate. Candle Burning is a way to let others help your unit raise money for missions. If your unit had a Candle Burning Service this year please make sure the money is sent to the District Treasurer and the amount to your District E&I Coordinator so she can report it for the District. ALL of these reports are to be turned into your District E&I Coordinator by August 15. She needs time to get them together to send them to me at the Conference level so please try to do it by then. Don t put it off! See you all at the Conference Annual Meeting in September. Marilyn Ramsey, Conference E&I

12 P A G E 12 Membership Moment Membership Report from Phyllis Gay Hello Ladies! We completed the 2017 Membership Census in early April and have received results. Thanks to our District Presidents and Membership Nurture and Outreach (MNO) Coordinators for being so diligent in tracking down numbers. Here are the high-level results for the Memphis Conference: District Total # of Units Total # of Members Reporting Reported Metro Purchase Tennessee River Mississippi River Total Get ready the 2018 Membership Census opens this October! In other MNO news, we are rethinking where we should intentionally spend our time and resources to nurture current members and reach out to those women and girls in our local churches who are not part of this amazing organization. As part of our rethinking, we will not have a Conference MNO event in November and instead focus our outreach efforts at the local church and/or District level. We want to engage these women where they are and bring them alongside us. Look for Membership activities in your District or plan an event in your local Unit. Host a Baby Shower for a local women s shelter, or inviting women for a lunch after church to talk about what your UMW is doing and how to get involved. Be creative! But most importantly, personally invite someone who is not active in UMW to attend the event with you. As a next step, we want you to intentionally invite women and girls to our existing Conference Events like the Spiritual Growth Retreat in the Spring, Mission u in the Summer, Annual Day in the Fall, and our Membership Celebration in the Winter. We already have fabulous events, and we should invite women and girls to those events to experience what UMW is all about. Think about it! What better way to learn about UMW and what we do than by attending one of these well-planned, meaningful, and inspirational events? Be intentional. Reach out. Plant seeds.

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15 P A G E 15 Spreading Faith, Hope and Love in Action Covenant UMC, 8350 Walnut Grove Road, Cordova, TN September 29, 2018 Registration Opens 10:00 a.m. Meeting and Lunch 10:30 a.m. Name Phone Address Church District Emergency Contact Phone Check all that apply: UMW Member First Time Attendee Local President District Officer Conference Officer Guest Alternate Voting Delegate Voting Delegate: The local unit President is the official voting delegate from her unit. An alternate shall be appointed in the event the President cannot attend or is also an elected District or Conference Officer. The elected Conference Executive Mission Team and the elected District Executive Mission Team are voting delegates to the Annual Meeting. Childcare will be available: You must register your child on this form by September 17, Need childcare for: Names of children Ages: Registration Deadline: September 17, 2018 Make checks payable to: Memphis Conference UMW Registration fee: $16 per person Send check and form to: Jan Nutter 1501 London Drive Murray, KY Telephone Jmnutter@murray-ky.net