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Valley Ridge District
Virginia Conference
United Methodist Church
Newsletter
March 15, 2023
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At our best, we are the spirit-filled, resilient, connected, missional, faithful, diverse, deeply rooted, committed, disciple-making, Jesus-seeking, generous, justice-seeking, world-changing people of God called The United Methodist Church.
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United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) Sunday is celebrated on March 19, 2023. Gifts given on UMCOR Sunday strengthen the church’s global humanitarian response by underwriting UMCOR’s administrative costs. This allows UMCOR to use 100% of additional funds for specific programs like U.S. disaster response, international disaster response, and global migration. Find resources for UMCOR Sunday HERE.
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Stories to celebrate in the Valley Ridge District
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A group of students from the Wesley Foundation at Virginia Tech and campus minister, Rev. Bret Gresham, spent their spring break this year in Jackson, Kentucky working on homes damaged by devastating flooding in July 2022. Cleaning, repairing and painting - they did it all. They also had an opportunity to explore this small town in the Appalachian Mountains. Wesley's motto is LOVE OUT LOUD, and they certainly did that in their mission work during this trip.
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Every year during spring break, a devoted group of Boston College students visit Central UMC in Staunton to volunteer at Habitat For Humanity to help build homes in the area. The church houses them and provides meals. This year, the students wanted to share their gratitude, so they helped prepare the church garden for spring and served with the church's feeding ministry. They are such lovely, good-hearted, and fun-loving students.
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Putting God’s love into action, Habitat brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Every other year, 10-20 local churches (including South Roanoke UMC, Cave Spring UMC and First UMC, Salem) partner together to sponsor a Habitat Home, called the Apostle's Build. Each church gives a financial gift, and each church's funds are pooled together to sponsor a home.
The Apostle's Build is Habitat-Roanoke’s special bi-annual project where local churches of all sizes and denominations come together to fund and build a home for a local family.
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Stills Falls on the camp property was recently featured in the Best of Roanoke as a “hidden gem”. Come out for a hike and see for yourself.
Summer Camp 2023 registration is open for campers - rising Kindergarten to 12th grade. Counselors- in-training, Adult Counselors, and Camp Nurses are being recruited.
Join in the fun of Paul Bunyan Day at Alta Mons on March 25 as they host a work day for volunteers to prepare the camp for Spring and Summer activities. Work includes cleaning cabins, splitting firewood, clearing branches, and much more. Lunch is provided.
https://www.altamons.org/
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They are almost completely staffed for summer 2023 with a good mix of returning staff and new faces crew. Their ministry and campers will be blessed by these young adults. Please be in prayer for these folks as they prepare to spend their summer serving the Lord.
Camp Overlook has been approved to participate in The Great Community Give of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County on April 19 (similar to Giving Tuesday). The online giving link is https://www.greatcommunitygive.org/info/about
Summer Camp registration is open. Check the website for more information.
https://www.campoverlook.org/
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"People First" a message from
Rev. Dr. Dale White,
District Director of
Congregational Excellence
One of the things that I repeatedly heard from senior leaders while I served in the Navy/Marine Corps was this: "The most important asset in our military is not equipment. Neither is it weapons. Our most important asset is our PEOPLE. In fact, the author Simon Sinek titled his book "Leaders Eat Last" to signify that Marine officers put their Marines first in the chow line, and eat only after everyone else has eaten. I know that to be true, and ended up having a slice of Oscar Meyer turkey and a can of cranberries one Thanksgiving so that the Marines could have a traditional Thanksgiving meal in the field.
As pastors and laity in leadership, the "people first" focus is nothing new. However, with our busy schedules, church programs, and district/conference responsibilities, a strategic tracking of our people is critical and needs to be intentional. We have to plan and organize how we keep up with our people, both regular attendees and those on our rosters. As a young associate pastor in one of the largest churches in the New York Conference, the senior pastor set for our team two standards: 1) Every church member on the rolls will get an in person visit annually from one of the pastors, and 2) Any church member missing three Sundays in a row will get a visit or call from one of the pastors. This was above and beyond reaching out to new visitors to the church, usually visiting them Sunday afternoon after their first visit. It was one of the strongest churches in the conference.
I realize times have changed in terms of the "safety" of making home visits, but making "People First" has not. If you have a specific way of keeping up with your flock as their shepherd, I would love to hear how you do that. Text me at 910-546-3380. The joy of the connection is sharing our success strategies so that we can succeed together.
Here are a few straightforward "people first" strategies:
- Have a Lay Servant(s)/Pastor focus on membership, by developing a simple spreadsheet which indicates some milestones, such as when they were last in church (for worship or any event), how they were personally contacted by Pastor or Lay Servant (phone, email, text, home visit, hospital visit, etc). and the date they were contacted. Track this, and avoid letting too much time pass before they are contacted again.
- Significant events tracking: I recently spoke to a Pastor who had done four funerals in a month. I asked if they had put the date of death in their calendar for the following year, minus two weeks, so that they could reach out to spouse, family, church members close to the deceased, with a letter before the anniversary next year. That date will be a significant date in the lives of that family, and getting a note from a Pastor and Lay Servant shows the church cares---and continues to care. This can be for any event, including anniversaries, birthdays, etc.
- Personal letters: A member of one of our stronger churches on the Valley Ridge District shared with me that their pastor and Lay Leader send hand written letters, a lot of letters, to church and community members. That was a deeply profound servant leadership model that they said was working, and which led them to want to reach out as well.
As always, I welcome your ideas, what's working for you, so that as a connection we can build up the Body of Christ. Lenten Blessings, Dale
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Hermitage Roanoke Community Guild
The spring meeting of the Hermitage Roanoke Community Guild will be held on Tuesday, April 11 at 10:30 AM (gathering time at 10 AM) at the Hermitage- 1009 Old Country Club Road, Roanoke. Lunch will be provided (cost of $5.00).
The accomplishments of 2022 and the opportunities for 2023 will be reviewed. Guest speaker Martha Stokes, Director of Church and Community Relations for Pinnacle Living, Inc (formerly United Methodist Homes, Inc.) will share updates and answer questions. Each church in the Valley Ridge District is encouraged to send a representative to our meetings. All are welcome. Contact Louise Miller at 540-343-7429 or rolmiller119@gmail.com with any questions. Learn more about the ministry of the Hermitage Roanoke Guild HERE.
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Windsor Hills UMC Invites Youth Groups
Windsor Hills UMC in Roanoke invites all Valley Ridge District Youth Groups to a Night of Worship and Fellowship that includes dinner on May 21, from 5 - 7 PM. The worship service will feature We Rise, a local contemporary Christian band. Contact Tom and Brenda Simpson, Windsor Hills UMC Youth Leaders, for more information and to register your church's youth group: arsontps@msn.com.
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Valley Ridge United Women in Faith (UWF) invites you to their Lenten Prayer Breakfast on March 18 and their Spiritual Life Retreat on April 22.
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Embrace Open House
On March 25 from 10 AM to noon discover how neighbors nurture a strong community at Embrace, A Center For Community. Located at 932 Fir Street in Waynesboro you are invited to explore the gardens, swap seeds, and learn about ways to share your gifts in this ministry.
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The Conference Treasurer's Office shares the many ways your church can support UMCOR and other tips and information in the March issue of Dollar and Sense. You can find this and past issues HERE.
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We will again collect UMCOR kits as part of the Virginia Conference efforts in June. Start NOW making plans to collect items and assemble kits for the following three UMCOR kits (click on each to see all the details)
Non-perishable food items will also be collected for local feeding ministries.
Collection sites are being scheduled in both the northern and southern areas of the Valley Ridge District for Saturday, June 3, from 10 AM until noon.
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Opportunities at local churches/ministries
St. James UMC, 3777 Churchville Ave, Churchville will hold a Silent Auction on Saturday, March 25 from 9 AM - 1 PM. Find all the information HERE. All proceeds from the Auction will go to missions.
Be a part of the Blue Grass Charge Rise Against Hunger event on April 16 from 2 PM to 4 PM at the Ruturian Club, 2724 Blue Grass Valley Road, Blue Grass. Find out all the information and sign up HERE.
Raleigh Court UMC, 1706 Grandin Road, Roanoke invites you to a Spring Craft Show on Saturday, April 22 from 10 AM - 2 PM sponsored by their Celebrate Recovery Ministry. Awesome vendors will be selling their crafts. Admission is free.
Blessing of the Bikes & Bikers on April 22. Everyone is welcome. Free registration and lunch. Arrive at 9:30 AM in front St. James UMC, 3777 Churchville Ave, Churchville. Kick Stands Up at 10 AM for group ride to Goshen's Pass Overlook for the Blessing and return around 1:30 PM. Contact Tom Rose, CLM at 540-255-7900 for more information.
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Valley Ridge District churches and ministry partners have several job openings.
Find them on our website HERE. To remove a out- of-date listing or to post a new opening please contact CindyMartin@vaumc.org
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Valley Ridge District Superintendent
Fishersville Office
26 Orr Drive
Fishersville, VA 22939
(540) 932-1055
Roanoke Office
4502 Starkey Road, Suite 101
Roanoke, Virginia 24018
(540) 989-3335
Administrative Assistant
Director of Communications and Programming
Treasurer
Director of Congregational Excellence
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