Adirondack and Albany District Newsletter

Send us your news, events and classifieds: carrieboyer@unyumc.org

Friday, July 12, 2024

District Office hours: Tuesdays through Saturdays; 8 AM to 5:30 PM except Thursdays, 8 AM to 2:30 PM. Call Carrie Boyer @ (518) 608-1246 or send an email to carrieboyer@unyumc.org

Please send all emails to carrieboyer@unyumc.org

The District phone is (518) 608-1246 and our mailing address is PO Box 511, Newtonville, NY 12128.

Our District Superintendent, the Rev. Debbie Earthrowl can be reached at (518) 391-3215 and debbieearthrowl@unyumc.org

Newsletter Format

We have combined the Adirondack and Albany newsletters. In order to shorten the body of the newsletter, there are two links to Local Church News:

Events/Announcements: Click here

Meals/Sales and Classifieds: Click here

Don't Miss Any Important News/Announcements from the Conference Office!

To ensure that you don't miss any important information,

please consider subscribing to the following:

Click here to subscribe to UNY Notes.

Click here to subscribe to the Weekly Digest

Click here to read the Weekly Digest published July 10.

From the desk of Bishop Héctor A. Burgos Núñez: New NEJ apointment announcement

This morning, on recommendation of the Jurisdictional Committee on the Episcopacy, the NEJ Conference assigned Bishop Héctor Burgos Núñez to serve as the episcopal leader of the Susquehanna and Upper New York area for the next quadrennium (2024-2028). This new assignment is effective September 1, 2024.

To read the Bishop's message, click here.

Lay Servant advanced course offered via ZOOM

Where did Methodism start? Who is John Wesley? What is the Aldersgate experience? When did Methodism come to America? How does this all relate to me as a Methodist? Living Our United Methodists beliefs will answer all these questions through an overview of the life and continuing ministry of John Wesley. Participants will learn the history of Methodism and gain an awareness of the place of doctrine in the Methodist movement.

The Heritage Advanced Course will be offered on Wednesday evening from 6 PM to 8:30 PM starting July 24 and going through to August 21. All classes will be held on ZOOM. Students will need to purchase the text Living Our Beliefs: The United Methodist Way by Kenneth L. Carder and is available on Amazon, Cokesbury and other booksellers. To register for the course, or if you have any questions, please contact Jim Sokolowski, CLM, at jimsoxx716@gmail.com or call 315-532-2864. Send payment of $15 and application to Bob Mueller, Director of Crossroads LSM, 4432 Lathrop Drive, Marcellus NY 13108.

Please be sure to forward your certificate of completion to the Adirondack District Lay Servant Bruce Hazard @ firstglobal@verizon.net or the Albany director, Darlene Suto @ darleneanne01@gmail.com

CLICK HERE for the Application

Bishop Malone shares vision for church

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — East Ohio Conference Bishop Tracy S. Malone, the president of the Council of Bishops, shares her hope and vision as she looks to the future of The United Methodist Church. In a video made during General Conference, Malone quoted Isaiah 43:19. “God is doing a new thing in The United Methodist Church,” she said. Bishop Malone delivered the message during the Service of Ordination and Commissioning at the UNY Annual Conference in Syracuse on May 31.

Watch video

Missionaries available to speak at your church in September

Is your congregation seeking to further immerse itself where God-made-known-in-Jesus is alive today?

A transforming experience for any congregation is to invest itself in an ongoing relationship with missionaries. Such lively and life-inspiring relationships offer a unique opportunity to experience faith and love with followers of Jesus of other cultures. The important preposition is “with.” We live in a world that is increasingly connected, multi-ethnic and interactive. Faith and love that immerse themselves within these God-given dimensions add a new dimension of the uniting, affirming and refreshing joy so greatly desired at this time. Following is a chance to take such a step.

Emmanuel Ufonna Mefor and his wife Florence Ogugua Mefor will be itinerating within the USA this year. They will be within the UNY Conference from Sept. 20 through Sept. 25 . Read more about the Mefors: click here.

The Mefors are willing to make themselves available to congregations that might wish to see what such and engagement might offer. Both have power point presentations and share personal experiences from their ministries and work. If you would like to schedule a time on Saturday, Sept. 21, Monday, Sept. 23, or Tuesday, Sept. 24,

contact Bob Long, 518-423-7737; Bikealong2@gmail.com as soon as possible.

Skye Farm camp off to a great start!

Still time to register!!

The first two weeks of Skye Farm Camp have been wonderful for campers and staff alike. There are still some programs available. Click here to view the program offerings and to register.

A joy! The Community UMC of Chestertown was able to send four children to Skye Farm this summer, two girls to Mini-Camp and two boys to Adventure Camp. For more than 10 years, the church has committed to providing full camperships to interested children from their church community. They are happy to play a part in these children making lifelong Skye Farm memories!

Stewardship with Rev. Susan Ranous

Today's article focuses on more ideqas for a Stewardship Plan. Click here to read more. And you can sign up for her blog.

District Superintendent Rev. Debbie Earthrowl posts a daily devotional on Facebook

Click here to view today's devotion, which focuses on what Debbie says may be her favorite parables, The Laborers in the Vineyard.t the letter or the law or tradition.

Debbie shares her devotion live on Facebook every morning.

JULY 12, 2024

A Lesson in Humility

Lewis Munene M. (Nairobi, Kenya)

Link to Today's Devotional

READING FOR THE DAY

Philippians 2:1-11

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Even when I experience success, I will remain humble like Christ.

TODAY'S PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you for your Son, who humbled himself for our sake. Remind us to remain humble like Christ. Amen.

World-changing moments

Today’s image of two Mourning Doves makes me think about the power of love.

A power that I believe has been, and will continue to be, behind “World-Changing Moments.”

It was the power of love that led a young Nun to leave the safety of her convent to minister to the vulnerable in the streets of India. Her work has touched the hearts of multitudes and led to Mother Teresa being canonized as a Saint. It was God’s love in the person of Jesus that changed the heart of a convicted prisoner and led to the formation of a prison ministry by Charles Colson. It was love that motivated the formation of a coalition that crossed ethnic lines that would agitate for and finally secure the passage of landmark Civil Rights legislation.

It is love which offers hope for the future of a world that seems to be so divided and filled with so much violence. As the Apostle Paul would proclaim in his letter to the Christian community in Rome: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

Your local Faith Community stands ready to support you in experiencing the power of God’s love.

Today’s photo is of a pair of Mourning Doves taken from my residence in the Adirondacks in Willsboro, New York on 9/2/2006.

I have done more than 1,400 Daily Photo Devotions, most of which can be seen on my blog at Blog Posts – Daily Photo Devotions (wordpress.com).

Shalom,

David E. Smith, Pastor

Mayfield & Northampton at Fish House United Methodist Churches

Phone or Text: 518-572-4051

Email: revdavid76@gmail.com

You can find this and other devotions in my blog at www.adirondacksights.wordpress.com. You can also find more of my pictures on my web site www.revdavidimages.com.