United Methodist Reporter Blog

40 years of service and ministry

It's not often that a celebration can be held for someone's dedication to an organization for a considerable length of time. But that is what happened today at UMR Communications.

Forty years ago today was Kay Fielder's very first day at UMR and we all celebrated with her.

It's hard to imagine the changes Kay has seen in communications in that 40 year time span. Though she joked that she was only 12 when she began working here, she was recognized today for being a stable source of knowledge and strength in the many changes in the industry and economy. 

So congratulations, Kay! We thank you for your dedication to the ministry of your customers and your service to UMR Communications.

Ted's Excellent Wesleyan Adventure

Our friend Ted Campbell has gone viral! Well, almost.  Campbell, who is Associate Professor of Church History, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, has a YouTube video that is making the rounds of Methodist circles. It's a video of his slides of Wesleyan sites from eighteenth-century Britain, taken on a recent trip to the UK.   Sit back, relax, and enjoy the trip.

A new kind of job ministry

Monroe Street UMC in Toledo, Ohio has found a unique way to be in ministry during this tough economy: The church houses Suitably Attired, a nonprofit agency providing local women in need with outfits they can wear to job interviews. Wardrobe consultant Deborah Batey helps them pick from clothing donated by the community, and even provides a few interview tips. The Toledo Blade reports that starting in September, a “soft skills employment” workshop will also be offered to women waiting in line.

The Lucas County Department of Job and Family Ministries gives Suitably Attired some financial support, contracting to serve a few hundred clients per year. Then Toledo Area Ministries raises donations “to make up the difference because we try never to turn anybody away who is eligible,” the Rev. Steve Anthony, executive director, tells the Blade.

Monroe Street also houses Dress Right—a similar ministry for male job-seekers—and a hair and nail salon staffed by cosmetologist volunteers who provide basic haircuts, etc., for people referred by social service agencies. For more, read the story at toledoblade.com.

Pepsi Refresh Project does good

Regardless if you are a Coke or Pepsi person, you've got to be in favor of feeding 9 million hungry Americans, and starting Wednesday, Sept.1, you can vote to make that happen.

Each month Pepsi grants 1.3 million dollars to fund ideas that will help refresh the world, and the Society of St. Andrew, a grassroots, faith-based hunger relief organization, will be competing for $250,000 in the food and shelter category. It's simple--the idea with the most votes gets the money.

The Society of St. Andrew relies on support from donors, volunteers and farmers as they glean nutritious excess produce from farmers' fields and orchards after harvest and deliver it to people in need across the United States. They figure with a quarter of a million dollars, they can provide 9 million servings of food to hungry Americans. All they need is your vote.

When Pepsi decided to forego advertising in last year's monumental Super Bowl and donate $20 million dollars to social causes instead, competitors thought they were crazy. But I can think of at least 9 million Americans who don't think that was such a crazy idea.

To learn more about the Pepsi Refresh Project and vote for your favorite refreshing ideas click here.

The Dyanmic Duo of Charlotte

On Sunday, August 1, a husband-wife team of  Jonathan Coppedge-Henley and Elizabeth Coppedge-Henley began as the “dynamic duo” of First United Methodist Church Charlotte, a historic uptown church with roots dating back the 1920’s.

Methodist officials believe this is the right couple to lead the church in inner-city outreach and bringing in the young families that are flocking to the city’s uptown area.

What’s so newsworthy about this story?

Some would say it’s the fact that the couple met as graduate students standing in line for basketball tickets at Duke University.

Some would say it’s the energy and connectedness they bring as a husband-wife pastor team.

Some would say it's the church's ministry to reach out to football fans on their way to see Carolina Panther's games.

Some would say that it’s the story of Jonathan's diagnosis of colorectal cancer in 2007 and after treatment, climbing Long's Peak in Colorado. The climb is more than 14,259 feet.

Some would say that in the churches 84 year history, they now have their first female senior pastor.

And many would say, all of the above.

I’ll let you decide. Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/08/02/1596166/first-couple-of-first-united-methodist.html#ixzz0x9uBNG66

Photo credit: First United Methodist Church Charlotte website at http://www.fumccharlotte.org/

Rob Reiner on "Flipped" . . . and the struggle of marketing small movies

I had a phone conversation three weeks ago with famed actor-turned-director Rob Reiner (Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally) about his new movie, Flipped. Haven't heard of it? That's not surprising—even I haven't been able to see it yet. But the film begins a wide release today after selected bookings that included a showing at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis.

Based on a popular book for young readers by Wendelin Van Draanen, Flipped follows a girl and boy from elementary school through eighth grade. For years Juli (Madeline Carroll) has eyes for Bryce (Callan McAuliffe), but her affections aren't at first reciprocated.

Set in the late 1950s and early '60s, the story's perspective flips or switches between the two characters as they both mature. Veteran stars like Aidan Quinn, Penelope Ann Miller, Rebecca De Mornay and Anthony Edwards are on hand as the parents.

I still hope we'll run the complete interview as a Q&A when I have a chance to review the movie. But for now, enjoy some excerpts:

What flavor is your sermon? -- in the Sept. 3 Reporter

Greetings, e-Readers!

Does your pastor preach topical sermons or follow the lectionary? In a recent study, United Methodist churches that used topical preaching showed greater vitality. “Not so fast.” says Mary Jacobs in this week’s cover story, as she explores the different styles and shows why neither should be discounted. 

With the upcoming anniversary of 9/11 and the controversy over the Islamic center to be built near Ground Zero, opinions and demonstrations have been escalating. Heather Hahn of UMNS examines national reactions, including that of church leaders. Another story not to be overlooked is about a mosque that has operated quietly in Manhattan for 30 years. Read how it has distanced itself from the “Ground Zero mosque” and how it’s kept an intentionally quiet profile. 

In commentaries, Bishop Schnase shares why churches should focus more on changing lives than just adding numbers to membership rolls. Donald Haynes thinks that John Wesley would have been an avid blogger and Twitter participant. And when Jon Stewart, the host of The Daily Show, made a remark about United Methodism being “the University of Phoenix of religions,” I was struck by the impact it had in the blogosphere. I explore a few reasons why it’s a common perception—and offer a few ideas about how we can change that. 

Don't miss stories on the Wesley Rankin Center helping lower-income families with school supplies, a churchwide sexual ethics training seminar, the top favorite hymns in a Facebook poll, special-needs camps, a review of Jeremy Camp’s latest release and History of Hymns.

Enjoy!

Blessings,

Robin Russell, Managing Editor

September

It's hard to believe, but we're into September next week. September always felt like the beginning of the year to me, because it marked the beginning of a new school yearl. But September also marks another new beginning -  freedom from the bonds of addiction. September is Recovery Month, and United Methodist churches are urged to highlight this in worship services or with other events.   For more information, visit the General Board of Church and Society's page on the topic.

Twitter Communion

The Rev. Tim Ross (left), a retired pastor in the British Methodist Church, was all set last Saturday to preside over the first-ever service of Holy Communion on Twitter. Users who follow TimRossMInister on the social-networking site would be ready with bread, wine or juice; Mr. Ross would post a eucharistic prayer in the form of seven short messages, or "tweets"—and then instruct them to take the bread and wine.

But it wasn't to be. The denomination's Faith and Order Committee raised objections, saying the idea of "remote Communion" conflicts with a 2003 British Methodist document, "His Presence Makes the Feast." The document emphasized "embodied" worship, noted that "participants in Holy Communion are not disembodied spirits indifferent to sound and sight" and said, "The arrangment of the worship space is a key part" of Communion.

In a statement on his website, Mr. Ross says he was "strongly urged" to cancel the service. Instead, he tweeted a series of short prayers for Christian unity. "The whole point of Twitter Communion," he says, "was offer the Christians around the world the opportunity to step beyond their differences, to meet in fellowship and love and to celebrate the common-union we all share through Christ's body and blood."

For now, Methodist Conference spokesman Ken Howcroft has said the church needs time to "reflect and pray deeply in order to discern what developments are appropriate."

For more details and a range of comments on the issue, visit episcopalcafe.com.

40 days of prayer starts today

 How often do you say you will pray for someone or something and then forget to actually do it? When I was in elementary school, I was always afraid of leaving someone out of my prayers. After rambling off a list of family members, friends, teachers and pets, I’d round every prayer off with, “and bless everything else too, God! Amen.”

Well, for the next 40 days the United Methodist Church is making a commitment to pray specifically for college campuses and you should too.

Why?

Because every fall, more than 17 million American students head off to college and university campuses (plus millions more worldwide) to become the next generation of teachers, accountants, mothers, fathers, doctors, CEOs, journalists and ministers. In college, they will grow and learn to make decisions that will shape their lives and the world around them, and it should be our prayer that as they make these decisions, learn these lessons and become these people that they do so having been shaped by Christ. 

The purpose of Pray40 is to call the Church to pray for college students and to help college students learn to pray.

The prayers have been written by campus ministers, college students, bishops, authors, pastors and other leaders, and collectively, they express a heart for God to inspire, challenge and transform the lives of college campuses and individuals.

Here is today’s prayer from the Rev. Tarah Trueblood, the executive director and campus pastor at the Wesley House and Campus Center at University of California, Berkeley.

Ready, set, pray. Can you make the commitment to pray for college students from August 23-October 1? And don’t worry, you can sign up to get prayers by e-mails, texts or even via Twitter (@CollegeUnion). See, you really have no excuse!

Church - What's your definition?

On Monday, August 16 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that a religious organization that primarily holds Internet and radio worship services did not meet the U.S. Internal Revenue Service's definition of a church.

And what does this mean? The organization in the ruling cannot claim non-profit/church status.

There have not been many guidelines that determine the definition of “church” from either the IRS or Congress. Courts define a church as an organization whose members meet for organized worship and often use the IRS's criteria: that it has a recognized creed and form of worship; a formal code of doctrine and discipline; a membership not associated with any other church or denomination; ordained ministers selected after completing prescribed studies; and holds regular religious services.

Seems that even though the members can worship together over the Internet, it does not mean the congregation worships communally.

What about corporations that hold board meetings via electronic means? Corporations are required to hold board meetings yearly to constitute corporate status. Some states allow corporations to hold these meetings through online meeting services. Does this mean they are not meeting communally?

Don’t look for this issue to go away quietly. This opens up many questions for the future as more churches are using emerging media to reach out through the Internet. It also brings into question Internet interaction not being as "real" as face-to-face interaction.

So, how about you? What is your definition of “church”? Does it need to have a brick and mortar building to constitute communal worship?

More on the ruling can be found here.

Image credit: Svilen Milev

Young adults: the "now" of the church -- in the Aug. 27 Reporter

Greetings, e-Readers!

Anne Rice's decision to "leave Christianity" (but not Christ) has generated a lot of conversation -- and her opinions on the church are mirrored in many young people today. Mallory McCall has our cover story this week on young adults that want to be the church, not just support an institution.

Speaking of young adults, the 2010 Global Young People's Convocation and Legislative Assembly welcomed 350 delegates from around the world last month in Berlin and we have a wrap-up of that event. Not to mention a story about youth giving back to the community: Meredith Medlin's ministry in Nashville to feed the homeless.

Many are familiar with Joni Eareckson Tada and her life as a quadriplegic. She has a new book, A Place of Healing and I spoke with her about her struggles with pain and suffering, which now include a diagnosis of breast cancer. You'll be inspired.

In commentaries, Missy Buchanan says the church should help adults learn to care for their aging parents; Rich Peck rattles off a few well-intended phrases that don't reflect God's character; and a missionary shares her love of Nicaragua. We also have the second installment of Eric Van Meter's Tour de Faith and another excerpt from Adam Hamilton's When Christians Get it Wrong.

Don't miss features on churches weighing the decision on whether to invest in aging buildings or ministry, a preacher that takes his ministry to Civil War re-enactment gatherings, History of Hymns and more.

Enjoy!

Blessings,

Robin Russell, Managing Editor

 

Filing the Flight Plan

Every year around this time, Beloit College releases a description of the "mindset list" of incoming freshmen, a long list of stunners guaranteed to make you feel old. Most students entering college for the first time this fall—the Class of 2014—were born in 1992, and the list points out facts like "For these students, Benny Hill, Sam Kinison, Sam Walton, Bert Parks and Tony Perkins have always been dead," and "Few in the class know how to write in cursive," and "Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail."  It's a great little publicity stunt and a boon to news-starved editors and producers in the dog days of summer. But this year it hit home, because tomorrow afternoon I'll drive my daughter (born in 1992) to college. 

 I'm working on another list, however.  It'll take 4.5 hours to drive her from my mom's home to her new dorm. I figure that's my last 4.5 hours of parenting, so I'm making a list of last-minute instructions, ranging from "You don't have to like someone, but you do have to be kind" to "Don't forget to floss." It's a little daunting - the 18+ year task of raising my daughter is down to the last few hours. Wish me luck.