VIRGINIA CONFERENCE UNITED METHODIST WOMEN NEWSLETTER THE LINK

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1 Winter 2012 VIRGINIA CONFERENCE UNITED METHODIST WOMEN NEWSLETTER THE LINK Olivia T. Hinton President ( ) Thank you for the privilege of serving as President of the Virginia Conference United Methodist Women. It has truly been a joy and a privilege to be given so many opportunities to witness to the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to meet and make many new Christian friends. The Lord truly blessed me with a strong Mission Team, and I mean team in the truest sense of the word. As we recognized the strengths and weaknesses of one another, our gifts were shared to lighten the burden being carried. When schedules restricted anyone, the others picked up. No one complained about the extra work even if it pushed her beyond her comfort zone. We all knew that is what produces our personal growth. We all knew and believed that all things are possible with God. That is where our strength rested. In our weakness we are made strong through prayer and the presence of the Holy Spirit. I never made a request of any team member that was refused. A team like that is a joy to lead. The District Presidents bravely forged new paths and showed flexibility in leadership as well as hospitality to those who were new in their midst due to restructuring. It was not the easiest of times for them, but they were strong leaders. They voluntarily scheduled meetings in and out of their old boundaries to include their new sisters in Christ. They revisited and rewrote Standing Rules to facilitate necessary changes. Their newsletters reflected their knowledge of the Word and their behaviors modeled living it. Not once did I ask a District President for help that they did not gladly give. What a joy they have been to lead and what wonderful team members they are! The Nominations Committee has been given many challenges over the past two years, but they have responded well. The year 2012 has been a time of General and Jurisdictional Conferences of our church as well as Quadrennial Meetings of the United Methodist Women. Leaders had to be nominated and elected to represent the Virginia Conference UMW. Seminars offered by the Women s Division required the Nominations Committee to identify eligible and willing participants. Persons related to the Executive Committee have kept our Conference well informed. Women s Division Director, Carol Gaston, has enlightened us on many occasions regarding issues being discussed and the rationale for forthcoming changes. She has always been available to us to respond to our questions. Our SEJ Leadership Team Representative and the School of Christian Mission Dean have performed their duties well. The appointed members to the Conference Executive Committee have provided invaluable information and services as well. From Website posting to Archives, from the Bishop s Representative to Director of Mission and Global Justice and Staff Representative, from VUMAC Representative to Regional School Representative all have served us well. The combined efforts of our local units, our districts, and conference have made it possible for us to achieve our Executive Committee Goals for It has also made it possible To Live Out Our Vision of Turning Faith, Hope, and Love into Action on Behalf of Women, Children, and Youth Around The World.

2 Page 2 VA CONFERENCE UMW NEWSLETTER THE LINK Lillian Sloan - CHAIR NOMINATIONS Greetings, Annual meeting has come and gone and we have installed our Conference UMW Team and they are ready to take us into Thanks to all that worked so faithfully to help make this possible, including those that accepted the nominations and are willing to serve. To be a part of God's great mission and live out our Purpose as UMW is an experience of a lifetime as well as a blessing. Thanks to the CON for the part you played in getting our Officer Training done in such an excellent manner. I am so grateful for the entire committee being present and participating and for everyone that showed up to fill our room. I knew there was a reason for all those extra chairs being stacked in that room. We need to, at the District and Conference levels, continue to build our Talent Banks and to send in the name of Potential Leaders we meet along the way. Our organization can only be what we want it to be if all of us do our share. Serving as your chair for two years has helped we really get to know many UMW. Thanks for being supportive, encouraging, considerate and above all kind. I look forward to working with our new chair and the CON for the coming year as well as members of the VA Conference UMW. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10) Blessing as we look forward to the new years. Joann McClung - COMMUNICATIONS It has been my pleasure to serve as your Communications Coordinator for the last four year. I have appreciated all the support and encouragement you, my sisters in Christ, have given me. Thank you for being women who advocate FAITH, HOPE, LOVE IN ACTION. In look forward to seeing you at events in the future.

3 Page 3 VIRGINIA CONFERENCE UNITED METHODIST Ann Klotz - Education & Interpretation At Annual meeting it was a joy to celebrate with the conference many unit Bright Lights ways that United Methodist Women are turning Faith Hope and Love into action in their churches, communities, and beyond. Becoming a Mission Today unit is a designation for units that have consciously worked to be involved in mission through prayer, study and action; they have used UMW mission resources, connected with mission personnel and projects, and expanded their concepts of mission to include social justice issues. We celebrated with York River and Winchester Districts that achieved or exceeded the goal of 75% participation in the Mission Today program by their units. We celebrated that those districts and seven others (Arlington, Charlottesville, Eastern Shore, Elizabeth River, Farmville, James River, and Lynchburg) increased their unit participation in Mission Today. And we lifted up the unique ways that units across Virginia have worked with Hands-On mission projects, Caring of God s Creation, and making a difference in the lives of children. Here are some more ideas: do an inner-generational activity such as Adopt a Road involve a school club to help your unit and church collect and put together kits; remember that birthing kits SAVE LIVES make an invitation for women in a rehab center to work with your women on a project (quilting, crafts, meal preparation, etc.). I m sure you would learn from each other. Coordinate a Green seminar or study with women of another church or community group (Garden Club, etc.) Open a book club of Reading program books to community members Before each event, I challenge you to be intentional about inviting others to join you, women of all ages. These are ways to demonstrate that United Methodist Women TURN FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE INTO ACTION on behalf of behalf of women, children and youth around the world. BE SURE TO TAKE PICTURES! Post these on bulletin boards, church newsletters and websites, and Facebook, UMW are out there making a difference. This is a witness of God s mission. Share your success stories in district events, and CELEBRATE! NOW is the time to begin to promote, invite, encourage, and set aside funds for those that will attend the Mission Encounter 2013 at Blackstone Conference and Retreat Center with two three-day sessions: July and July The courses will be: Living Sacramentally and Walking Justly (Bible study), The Roma of Europe (geographical study), and Poverty (issues study), with an excellent slate of teachers already planned. Attending this annual opportunity to learn about God s mission in the world, has been a personal priority for which I have never been disappointed. It has been a wonderful privilege to serve as your Conference Mission coordinator for Education and Interpretation for the past two years. I have learned so much, met wonderful people, traveled and worked with you in many places across the conference. I am confident that in United Methodist Women, our paths with continue to journey together in God s Kingdom. I thank you for the opportunity to serve.

4 Page 4 VIRGINIA CONFERENCE UNITED METHODIST WOMEN NEWSLETTER THE LINK Ferrum College History dramatized at 40 th Annual Meeting A Look Back in History under the direction of Mary Jane Rawley and her talented cast highlighted the Saturday evening program at the 40 th Annual Meeting of Virginia United Methodist Women. It was a time of laughter and learning climaxed by the gift of a booklet to everyone present recounting the history of Ferrum College, Because They Had the Vision. This history, written by Ethel Born for Ferrum, traces the entwined roots of Ferrum and Methodist Women over the past 100 years. The series of five skits dramatizing the beginning days of Ferrum Training School ended with an animated update by President Jennifer Braaten about Ferrum College today. Chaplain Wes Astin was warmly greeted by the audience as he appeared in the present-day scene sharing stories illustrating the value and impact of the Christian Ministries Program receiving United Methodist Women financial support. He also shared his musical talent with a solo while the stage settings were being changed between the scenes. The accompany photos of Mary Jane Rawley and her cast duplicate the appearance, enthusiasm and commitment of the Methodist women who in 1911 were inspired to establish a school for mountain children who had no opportunity for education The skit as presented is available online at Local and District units are encouraged to use it in programming either enacting or reading it to share in the Celebrating a Century - Ferrum College.

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6 VIRGINIA CONFERENCE UNITED METHODIST WOMEN NEWSLETTER THE LINK Page 13 JOYCE WINSTON INCOMING CONFERENCE PRESIDENT Joyce joined UMW as a mother of an 18 month old because her church had a Mother s Day Out program. The women were pleasant and interesting, so she attended a Circle. That was in 1972 and here she is still excited about the organization with a PURPOSR. Along the way, she served as unit President, District Membership Coordinator, VP, and President. She went on to become Conference Membership Nurture & Outreach, Secretary of Program Resources and served as Chair of Nominations for the South East Jurisdiction of UMW. She also served on the Peninsula District and later York River District Committee of Ordained Ministry, Committee on Superintendency, and District Council. She is a certified Lay Speaker, teaches Sunday School, and serves on numerous committee s in my local church. She is happily married and she and Charles have three wonderful children, two daughter-in-laws and son-in-law; three grandchildren they adore and who makes life wonderful. Greetings and Good News!! Introducing a new and improved resource center: United Methodist Women Mission Resources! United Methodist Women is making changes to better equip members for mission in their communities and around the world. Our mission resource center is moving and expanding to meet your needs. On Monday December 17 we will be going live with a new resource center: United Methodist Women Mission Resources. We ll be working with PBD Worldwide in Duluth, Ga., to provide you with a fantastic new site. The all-new, easy-to-use e-store will be accepting orders at on this date, with delivery after January 7, As a bonus, all orders placed online are processed without additional cost to us. By ordering online, you make the most of mission dollars. The customer service team will be waiting for your call on December 17, Call toll free: Fax: December 13, 2012, will be the last date in 2012 to place your order with the current Mission Resource Center in Dallas, Texas, whether by phone, fax or through the e-store.

7 VIRGINIA CONFERENCE UMW NEWSLETTER THE LINK Page 14 Gail Sutcliffe PROGRAM RESOURCES It has been my pleasure to serve you all as Secretary of Program Resources for the past four years! I am transitioning off the Virginia Conference UMW Executive Team and becoming the UMW representative on the Mission Encounter 2013 Team as the Assistant Dean. So, you will still see me around. Wow! There are some really good books on the 2013 Reading Program. Several have caught my attention: How Coffee Saved My Life, Everyday Justice, Her Place at the Table, This Will Be Remembered of Her, Love in a Headscarf, Making Poverty Personal, Praying for Strangers, and One Simple Act. I have studied Adam Hamilton s When Christians Get it Wrong and as always challenged us to think outside the box. I wish you all GOOD READING in Many of you asked about the 4/5 yr UMW pocket calendar. Mission Resource Center is now taking orders for the calendar. Cost is the same $10. Linda Porter will be the new Secretary of Program Resources. You can reach her at: or her at: lpfromnc@msn.com. BECOME A RAINBOW GIVER: A $60.00 donation to Mission Giving makes you an individual 5 Star Giver. Ask your unit Treasurer for the Rainbow Giver Form. $5.00 to Pledge $5.00 to Gift to Mission $5. 00 to Gift in Memory $40.00 to Special Mission recognition $5.00 to World Thank Offering

8 VIRGINIA CONFERENCE UNITED METHODIST WOMEN NEWSLETTER THE LINK Page 8 Sue Boltz MEMBERSHIP NURTURE & OUTREACH MEMBERSHIP JOYS It is hard to believe that 2012 is almost over. The membership numbers for 2012 are due to me (or Mary Jane Rawley who begins the position on January 1) by January 10 th, I know the form you receive as a unit may have another date, but in order to include your district numbers in the new Annual Report, we must have them earlier than that. If you district uses a different date for the numbers, that is okay. Just make sure that I receive that report. I am happy to tell you that I personally know that Mt. Pleasant UMC on the Charlottesville District and Eastland UMC on the Fredericksburg have chartered during this year. We also had a new unit charter on the Richmond District within the last year or so. Please make sure that you let the conference Membership Nurture and Outreach person know if you charter and unit and when it is. We do try to get a conference officer or two at those chartering ceremonies. It is as exciting for us as it is for the new units. We did hold the Young Women s Event this year at Wesley Community Center. Even though the attendance was small we had a wonderful retreat on missions and got some excellent feedback for future years. I will miss being your coordinator next year but you will still see me on the conference team. Mary Jane Rawley will be taking my place. God bless each of you and have a terrific holiday season.

9 VIRGINIA CONFERENCE UNITED METHODIST WOMEN NEWSLETTER Page 9 Linda Porter SOCIAL ACTION As I end my four years as Conference Social Action Coordinator, I want to thank each of you for being advocates for justice and peace. Micah 6:8 tells us what the Lord requires of us and that is to love mercy, to act with kindness and to walk humbly with our God. Advocating for justice and peace allows us to be the people God calls us to be. There are many, many issues that need our attention and we must prayerfully discern what God is calling us to do to make a difference in the lives of those who are being treated unjustly. If we don t work for justice, who will? Continue to pray, learn and act and advocate for change that leads to a just world. The 2013 Social Action Award form has some changes that hopefully, will allow more units to become Social Action Award units. This is the fourth year I ve given certificates to districts for the number of their units that worked on the social action goals. The number of units working on the goals has increased each year. These goals allow us to learn how we can work for justice and allow each unit to report on the things they have done toward justice and peace in their community or around the world. he Conference Mission Team chose the following Social Action Priorities for the upcoming year: Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence and Immigration. These are areas that we will focus our work on and look for ways to get involved in and learning how we can work on these areas in our communities and around the world. There is lots of information in these areas that give us ideas on how we can make a difference and work for justice. Some websites that can help you with these issues are: UMW Action Network - General Board of Church and Society and Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy Mark your calendars for February 7, This is the day for United Methodist Day at General Assembly. We will again assemble at Bon Air UMC in Richmond and travel by vans to the General Assembly. You will have an opportunity to visit with your legislators and sit in on committee meetings for bills that have been proposed. It is a great day of fellowship and educating ourselves on how we can make a difference in our state government. You will be receiving information on UM Day at General Assembly once the final details are worked out. I look forward to seeing each of you on February 7. thank you for your love and support over the past four years. Continue to allow God to use you to work for justice. Working together, we can make a difference

10 VIRGINIA CONFERENCE UNITED METHODIST WOMEN OFFICERS FOR 2013 PRESIDENT Joyce Winston, 2411 E. Pembroke Avenue, Hampton, VA VICE-PRESIDENT Ruby Lee Anderson, 100 Hume Stone Drive, Alberta, VA SECRETARY Jean Swann, 9011 Dorothy Lane, Mechanicsville, VA TREASURER Geraldine Sanderson, 81 Angela Road, Farmville, VA EDUCATION, Sue Boltz, 6901 Stoneybrooke Lane, Alexandria, VA & INTERPERTATION MEMBERSHIP Mary Jane Rawley, 4703 Spring Creek Road, Bridgewater, VA NURTUR & OUTREACH SPIRITUAL GROWTH Nancy Walsh, 112 Country Club Circle, Winchester, VA SOCIAL ACTION Monica Sprague, 118 Diggs Drive, Hampton, VA PROGRAM RESOURCES Linda Porter, 2808 McLeod Road, Richmond, VA COMMUNICATIONS Lisa Hite, 59 Beach Road, Hampton, VA & CHAIR NOMINATIONS Joyce McKay, 419 Mosby Street, Winchester, VA (class 2013)

11 Officers continued Committee Members Lillian Sloan, 468 Action Street, Front Royal, VA (class 2013) Committee Member Annette Austin, 1600 Cedar Street, Pocomoke City, MD (class 2014) Committee Member Ruth Wilkinson, 4209 West End Drive, Richmond, VA (class 2014) Committee Member Jessie Swann, 9011 Dorothy Lane, Mechanicsville, VA (class 2015) Committee Member Marilyn Blagg, 780 Little Mountain Trail, Doe Hill, VA (class 2016) Committee Member Carolyn Smith, 4271 Moot Drive, Dumfries, VA (class 2016) APPOINTED POSITIONS Archivist Madeline Hall, 90 Taliaferro Street, Rocky Mount, VA Assistant Archivist Mary Ann Metz, 5821 Colonial Turnpike, Glade Hill, VA VUMAC Representative Dolly Porter, 4809 Woodstream Dr., Petersburg, VA Webmaster Betsey Davis, P.O. Box 100, Jeterville, VA Korean Coordinator Kyoung Malawi, 1256 Pine Hill Road, McLean, VA 22101

12 WESLEY MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH FOR VIRGINIA CONFERENCE UNITED METHODIST WOMEN THE LINK 288 EAST LITTLE CREEK ROAD NORFOLK, VA NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID NORFOLK, VA PERMIT No. 238 Change Service Requested WINTER 2012 We are on the Web vaumw.org ALL REGISTRATION FORMS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE CONFERENCE UMW WEB PAGE