From the District Superintendent

Transcription

1 The Monthly Newsletter of the Greenville District, South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church April, 2014 Greenville District Great Day of Service Methodist Family Partnership Annual Conference News 2 Local Church Fair at Annual Conference Lay Ministry Spring School 3 Local Church News 4 Salkehatchie Summer Service Upstate Camp Update Serving From the Heart Seminar 6 Please send information you want in the newsletter, the web site, or the Facebook page to: greenvillescumc@gmail.com Website= (no www) Facebook page = Greenville SC District Deadline for the May newsletter is April 20th From the District Superintendent For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven Ecclesiastes 3:1 I turn on the heat in my car when I leave the house for work in the mornings and the air conditioning when I head home in the afternoons. An antihistamine tablet is part of my daily routine. My red car has a yellowish tint to it. Seasons come and go, and spring is definitely making its presence known. In the life of our United Methodist Church, it is appointment season. The signs can include anxiety among clergy and their families, as well as among churches. There is also excitement and anticipation of a new place for ministry and new people to share the journey. It is as reliable and as predictable as the coming of spring. Having completed my eight-year tenure as a District Superintendent, I will be leaving for an appointment in a local church in June. I am feeling all of those things and more. I am grateful for having had this opportunity to serve our Church in this capacity, and for the privilege of serving with you in the Greenville District. You have found your way into my heart. You have inspired, challenged, and taught me. You have shown me over and over again what it means to be the Body of Christ. And so it is a time of transition for us. I will be here until moving day on June 25. Bishop Jonathan Holston has appointed the Rev. Dr. George Howle as the new superintendent for the Greenville District. George is coming from St. John s UMC in Aiken where he has served as senior pastor for nine years. You can read more about him on the Conference web site ( or in this month s ADVOCATE. I am excited about his leadership in the Conference and among you. Please watch for information in upcoming newsletters about a time to welcome him. God continues to call us and lead us and inspire us and send us. We go forward! Mary Teasley

2 Annual Conference News ************************ District Pre- Conference Training for lay and clergy delegates to Annual Conference. It will be held on Sunday, May 4 from 3-5 pm at Trinity UMC on Augusta Rd. in Greenville. *********************** The Bishop has changed the way we do the roster of Tellers for Annual Conference. He wants to have two teams of Tellers. Please recruit ten members of the Annual Conference from your district who are willing and able to serve as Tellers for the 2014 Session to be held Sunday, June 1 through Wednesday, June 4, 2014, at the Florence Civic Center in Florence. Please select five clergy and five lay members. Tellers need to be able to stay for the entire session. Tellers also need to be agile and physically able to negotiate steps in the bleachers, even though the bar of the Conference will mostly be on the arena floor. Please send this information to Rhonda at the District Office ASAP, gvdist@umcsc.org. Greenville District Great Day of Service! Celebrate: Children, Books, and Partnerships! Greenville District Great Day of Service! Saturday, April 26, 10:00 am-1:00 pm at Salem United Methodist Church Agenda: 10:00-11:30 AM Spring Carnival on the Softball field with blow ups and booths for the Methodists Families Partnering with Families both church partners and family partners 10:00-11:30 AM *Bring books for the Bishop s 1 Million Book Effort to the Sanctuary 11:30 PM Celebration Service in the Sanctuary. Books will be dedicated and partner families will be recognized. Partner family children will all receive books during the service. 12:30 PM Hot Dog Lunch in the Family Life Center How will you be involved? My church/i will help run a booth at the carnival. My church/i will be there to celebrate with our partner family. My church/i will help prepare and serve the lunch. My church/i will bring books and participate in the Celebration Service Representatives from my church will attend with the hope of meeting a family that we can begin a partnership with through The Methodist Family Partnering with Families. (There will be some families in attendance that have applied for partnership and you can meet them) *Books are to be new and for pre-school through elementary age children. Our district needs to collect 83,000 books before Annual Conference in June. Books collected and brought on the 26 th will be distributed in the Greenville District. Please register for the event by going to the Greenville District website: and clicking on the register button. See you there!!

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4 Church News Director of Student Ministries (full-time): Highenergy, relational, well-organized and spiritually mature leader sought to continue vision and direction of student ministries (middle school, high school and college-age). Missional focus and proven relational skills a must! In addition, understanding and teaching Methodist theology encouraged. The candidate will have experience working with teams of youth and adult volunteers to plan and implement comprehensive student discipleship programs. As a member of the Ministries staff, will be a team player and support SUMC s mission and vision in its student ministries to encourage and challenge them in their spiritual growth and service to others. Experience and track record of growing a student ministry strongly preferred. The job description is available on staff page or announcements). Applicant deadline April 30, If you are interested, please send your resume to Simpsonville UMC, ATTN: Pastor/Staff Relations Committee, 215 SE Main St, Simpsonville, SC or to: scbestcpa@yahoo.com. ******************************************** Two New Positions Open at St. Matthew UMC Director of Christian Education St. Matthew United Methodist Church of Greenville, SC is currently seeking a person to serve as Director of Christian Education for the church. This position is responsible for planning, implementing and maintaining programs and ministries for the spiritual formation of all ages of the church. A particular emphasis of this position is direct and personal involvement with the Children s Ministries of the church. This is a full-time, salaried position with pay commensurate with experience and education. For more information, please go to the church website and look for the Job Openings link. If you would like to be considered for the position, please your resume and contact information to the church atofficeadmin@stmatthewumc.net. District Calendar April Clergy Meeting is canceled. There will not be a reschedule. May 22, :00 pm, District Clergy and Spouses Sending Forth Dinner, Travelers Rest UMC. Please RSVP directly to the district office by calling , or ing gvdist@umcsc.org. You are cordially invited to bring veggies, salads, sides and desserts. Travelers Rest UMC is proving the hamburgers and hotdogs. Office Administrator St. Matthew United Methodist Church of Greenville, SC is currently seeking a person to serve as the Office Administrator. This position involves managing the church office and secretarial work along with maintaining the church calendar, website, Facebook page, and other office communications. This is a fulltime, salaried position with pay commensurate with experience. For more information, please go to the church website and look for the Job Openings link. If you would like to be considered for the position, please your resume and contact information to the church at officeadmin@stmatthewumc.net.

5 Salkehatchie Upstate Camp We had our first general information and volunteer meeting for the Upstate Camp on March 20 at St. Mark UMC. This report will try and cover all topics discussed at that meeting. We did a review of the financial report for last year, and compared with the full report of all the camps in the conference. Last year we had 78 paid campers in attendance, repaired 6 homes, used $2, per house as an average, and received $8, in donations as cash, material, house-hold items and in kind labor. This compares with $2, per site average at the conference total. The conference total expenses were $1,038, Our camp was lucky in that three of the houses were only roof replacement, and we got a very good discount on roofing material. Our full financial report was accepted by the conference with no problems. If you have any questions about this, please contact Steve. Carlie, Marsha and Steve attended a training session at Virginia Wingard UMC for all camp directors. A lot of information about the camps, and what is required for the camp to work within the conference guidelines was presented. First item discussed was the on-line registration. This process has been in the works for several years, and seems to be working now. This has brought about several changes in registration for each camp. Registration will be stopped by either the camp having reached the number of campers (Upstate asked for 70) or it is within two weeks of the start of camp. This gives all the same chance to complete paper work and forms needed for the camp before camp starts, and the same opportunity to register for maybe a different camp if your camp is closed registration. What this means also is that the director cannot exchange campers or leadership once the registration is closed. For our Upstate camp, whoever is registered by June 28th that will be our camp. The Steering committee has voted to return $ of the $ fee to each camp on a per camper base. That will be our main source of funds, so we will be looking for donations from our churches again. The second change for the Upstate camp, any person that works on a site with the campers must be registered as a camper also. This change to our way is because of the insurance and liability that could be caused by an unregistered worker either getting injured or causing a camper to be injured. Because of this change, we spent the major portion of our meeting going over our volunteer teams, and seeing what persons needed to be registered. The one team that affects the most is the site runners. Upstate has been very lucky to have great site runners in the past, and want to be able to continue this going forward. We have made this difference for our site runners. If all the site runner does is interface with the site leader and pick up material, then they do not have to be registered. If the site runner does any work at the site, they must be registered. The bottom line is, any work done on a site, and campers are present, the person must be registered. If we have specialty work to be done by a volunteer or paid worker, they cannot be working around a camper, and must be escorted on site by a registered adult camper. The rest of our volunteers are not in direct contact with the campers when work is being done at a site. Margie Wilkie is again heading up the volunteers, and would appreciate a call if you want to help on one of our teams. Joyce McKenzie is our meal coordinator, and is in progress of getting our meals for the camp. Carlie Stevens and Marsha Wilson will be the leaders of the Administration team, with Trace Silvers as the Assistant Director. Trace and Chris Moffatt are searching for houses now. Please, If you have any questions about this report, or need to add to the report, or anything to do with the Upstate Camp this year, please contact Steve by or phone. Steve McGahee Camp Director Grace and Peace!

6 Serving from the Heart: Helping Members Understand and Use Their Spiritual Gifts, a seminar in the Greenwood District is being hosted at Johnston United Methodist Church on April 26, 2014 PURPOSE OF THE EVENT God s plan for the church calls for each member of the Body of Christ to play a vital role. Sometimes we think that serving God is an obligation, a duty, and that it isn t meant to be enjoyable. The truth is, though, that God wants us to find joy and fulfillment when we serve. That happens when we serve in a role that matches who God created us to be. OUR LEADERS Carol Cartmill and Yvonne Gentile are co-authors of the book Serving from the Heart. They serve on the staff at the Church of the Resurrection, one of the largest United Methodist Congregations in the United States. Carol serves as Executive Director of Adult Discipleship (since 1999) Yvonne serves as Director of Guest Services (since 2011) WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Pastors, church leaders, and anyone interested in discovering how to grow in their faith as they serve their church and beyond. About the Book Serving from the Heart has transformed the lives of many readers across the church. It lays out a plan for helping participants understand their spiritual gifts and then shows how to use those gifts in and outside the church. Name Church District Address address Phone Number Registration Fee Enclosed: $20.00 Return to: Greenwood District Office PO Box Greenwood, SC (864) gwdist@umcsc.org A registration form should be completed for each individual. Registration Deadline April 16, 2014