As we prepare for the upcoming Special Session of General Conference, it seems this Scripture might remind us that “With God, all things are possible!”:

 

“Some time later, however, King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged Samaria. As a result, there was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces of silver.”

2 Kings 6:24-25 NLT

“Elisha replied, “Listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord says: By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, six quarts of choice flour will cost only one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain will cost only one piece of silver. ” The officer assisting the king said to the man of God, “That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!” But Elisha replied, “You will see it happen with your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!” Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other. “We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway.”

Then the people of Samaria rushed out and plundered the Aramean camp. So it was true that six quarts of choice flour were sold that day for one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain were sold for one piece of silver, just as the Lord had promised. The king appointed his officer to control the traffic at the gate, but he was knocked down and trampled to death as the people rushed out. So everything happened exactly as the man of God (Elisha) had predicted when the king came to his house. The man of God had said to the king, “By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, six quarts of choice flour will cost one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain will cost one piece of silver.” The king’s officer had replied, “That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!” And the man of God had said, “You will see it happen with your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!””

2 Kings 7:1-4, 16-19 NLT

 

Our Father in Heaven, 

We ask that The Holy Spirit move us all to “Pray without ceasing”, and that you will intervene, just as you did on Elisha’s behalf. We believe that you have a plan for Your Church, and we will witness your movement in a way that none of us could possibly imagine. 

We lift up all of the delegates and every member of our local churches and pray for peace to all, that can only come from you.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

Amen

Funds are available to turn hopes and dreams for potential ministry into reality. Preference will be given to churches that have faithfully supported their shared ministries. The deadline for the Conference Endowment Distribution Committee grant is March 1st.  Please indicate MAILING address on the application. Contact Marilyn Large:

[email protected].

Please download the grant application packets for specific requirements and restrictions. Click here

If your church has a heart for supporting missionaries and mission, apply for the Cinco Estrellas Award this year. For the list of criteria, click here.

If you are responsible for submitting an annual report to the PreConference Journal to be distributed prior to Annual Conference, the deadline is March 15th. Format information is in the email you received from Roselie Johnston last week. Please contact her with any concerns or questions: [email protected] or 505-255-8786, ext. 101.

Mark your calendars!!!!  March 29 - 31 . Clergy, we invite you to come to the mountains with your family for a weekend of relaxation and fun  FOR FREE ! The Conference Board of Pensions would like to invite you and your spouse and all of the kids to Sacramento Conference Camp.  We are going to have a distinguished and highly recommended guest speaker, Keith Lawrence, the author of “Your Retirement Quest”. We will also have individual reports that will give you important retirement projection information for you. 

THEN…

Your Retirement Quest Workshop  may be perfect for you!

You will find some wonderful information no matter if you are retiring very soon, 10 years, or even 20+ years.      

 

This entire weekend is  FREE  to you and your family, all you need to do is get there. We will take care of the rest! We will be asking churches to encourage pastors and their families to attend this event...including Sunday, March 31st! The churches will “take care of Sunday” while the pastoral family enjoys some time in the mountains relaxing, learning, and planning for retirement. More information to come! Childcare will be provided while you are in the workshop.  

 

If you would like to come or need more information please contact Dru Ann at 505-255-8786 X 102 or email   [email protected]

 

Blessings from your Conference Board of Pensions and Health Benefits.

Susan Brumbaugh and Randall Partin recently led a DiSC workshop for Hobbs FUMC, providing insight and new skills for members of the staff and administrative council, as well as many servant-leaders from the congregation.

The DiSC personality test measures how people respond in situations. It is very helpful when working in teams or with staff members. For example, knowing that your pastor is a "C" would indicate that before you ask for an important decision to be made, you need to compile information. If the chair of your committee is an "i", they will be great at motivating the group, but may need some assistance in managing the details.

The New Mexico Annual Conference has a team of trained presenters ready to bring the DiSC workshop to your congregation, including Jay Armstrong, Susan Brumbaugh, Tina Cross, Blossom Matthews, Janet Norden, Randall Partin, and Steve Trout. Contact Blossom Matthews for more information on bringing the DiSC training to your congregation: [email protected] .

My name is Kathy Salazar and I am the adult coordinator for the CCYM team as well as a member of Christ UMC in Albuquerque. 

Youth 2019 is a national conference for all United Methodist Youth exiting grades 6-12 in 2019 and their adult sponsors to be held in Kansas City July 10-14th. This provides a 4 day discipleship, worship, Bible study, service opportunity, and life-changing fun! Participants can expect inspiration, support, and challenges to grow authentically as a world-changing disciple of Jesus Christ. It provides youth and youth leaders with opportunities to connect with each other, denominational leaders, and connectional agencies to help them discover the wide variety of ministries of the United Methodist Church. (from Youth2019 website)

If your church is interested in sending any youth to this event, the conference would like to help! The total cost (dependent on your groups' plans overall) is $760.00/person. This includes the cost of the bus and driver, housing, youth 2019, food, and any extra provisions. (A spreadsheet used to determine cost can be provided if you would like to see it.) The conference is picking up $3000 of the total bus cost. They are also placing Youth 2019 as a special collection during Annual Conference this year. (Annual Conference is in June.) 

Please contact me as soon as possible, if you would like to attend or sponsor a youth who would like to attend. Our goal is to fill the 56 passenger bus! The deadline is when the bus is full. Don't delay!

Blessings,

Kathy Salazar

505-620-9891

[email protected]

Link to Youth 2019 website:  http://youth2019.com

Link to Youth 2019 registration:  http://youth2019.com/registering/

By Linda Bloom

Jan. 28, 2019 | UMNS

A group representing the interests of United Methodist rural congregations  has sent a letter  of concern to delegates for the upcoming special General Conference.

The letter from  United Methodist Rural Advocates  asks the delegates to be aware of the “potential harms” for rural and town and country churches while considering plans for the denomination’s future.

The Rev. Randy Wall, the Rural Advocates chairperson, said its members had discussed the situation several years ago and acknowledged “that there were differing opinions about the issues that are before General Conference 2019.”

That legislative gathering , called by the United Methodist Council of Bishops to try to address the longstanding, schism-threatening division over homosexuality, is set for Feb. 23-26 in St. Louis.

While members of Rural Advocates “are not of the same mind” about the place of LGBTQ members in the church and issues of ordination, “we have continued to work together,” Wall said. The glue that has held the advocacy group together “has been its focus on rural churches and rural communities and rural people.”

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By Kathy L. Gilbert (UMNS)

If there is a divorce, who gets the church?

Weeks away from the 2019 General Conference, some of the dust has settled over what petitions delegates will vote on as they peer into the future for The United Methodist Church.

Several of the remaining petitions focus on who keeps church property if there is a split in the denomination over the issue of inclusion or exclusion of LBGTQ persons.

The Committee on Reference cleared all the  48 petitions in the Commission on a Way Forward report  and petitions related to  The Simple Plan  and the  Modified Traditional Plan .

That leaves  30 other petitions which the commission ruled “in harmony”  with the Council of Bishop’s call for the legislative gathering in St. Louis on Feb. 23-26.

Five petitions contain proposals for a “graceful” or “gracious” exit that would put the church’s trust clause on hold while churches and members decide whether they can live with a church that includes or excludes homosexuals as clergy, bishops and other leaders. Or a church that allows same-sex marriage.



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How to provide a second worship service with minimal expense, using our existing facility, which appeals to a wide variety of people outside our church walls was the question. Messy Church was the answer for Christ UMC in Albuquerque. Seventeen months of Messy Churches later we have been blessed through our Christ-centered, multi-generational, casual, worship experience sharing God moments with countless people in and around our church.

I am Barb Tegtmeier, CLM and Messy Church Regional Coordinator for New Mexico. I believe in the power of Messy Church. It is not just about the once a month worship service. It is about going out to so many places all month long in our SE Albuquerque neighborhood to build relationships with people and then invite them to Messy Church. Many of our “Sunday church” people have been energized through the Holy Spirit to try new things as well.

Our pastor, Kim Kinsey, leads the way for Messy Church with our congregation. She recently found a song entitled “Join Us in the Mess.” The chorus goes like this: “God is great but life is Messy. So Church will never be boring.” Well, I can attest that we certainly do not have a boring church. If you would like to just dip your toe in the water to find out more about Messy Church, contact me with a phone call to set up a time to talk or visit in person. Barb Tegtmeier, 505-980-3831. Also, check out Messy Church USA on Facebook to see what’s going on around the country.