 |
|
The work of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) was spotlighted in a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal this week. A similar ad will appear in Sunday's issue of The New York Times.
The advertisement carries the message that UMCOR is the last to leave.
While UMCOR is already involved with the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, more than 15 fires are burning throughout California, destroying at least 60,000 acres of land and 1,500 buildings including residences. About 20,000 people have evacuated their homes and more are expected to leave.
Several churches in the California-Nevada Conference are serving as evacuation centers. UMCOR has been in contact with the Conference and anticipates supporting relief and recovery efforts.
Please continue to pray for the many families evacuating their homes and for the safety of the firefighters and other emergency responders.
MMDC ships relief supplies to the Carribean
The Midwest Mission Distribution Center was busy last week with shipments coming and going! A shipment of 450 empty buckets, 224 totes, 336 cases bottled drinking water, 140 tarps, 93 crutches, 2
,284 assorted hospital linens, 1,993 Personal Dignity Kits, 1,497 new work shirts, 176 Healthy Birth Kits, and 25,680 incontinent supplies through Food for the Poor going to Castries, St. Lucia for hurricane disaster relief.
Three large loads left the Chatham facility in two days.
|
|
Disaster response training events scheduled
Peoria Bethel UMC has announced an early response training event for Nov. 4. Many of the requests from the Texas, Rio Grande and Florida conferences will be requesting persons that are trained early responders so getting trained will position you for opportunities to assist hands-on with disaster response.
A recertification for early responders who need to renew will be Nov. 10 at Fairbury UMC in the Vermilion River District.
Register online by Nov. 3...
An early response training for new early responders will be Nov. 11 at Fairbury UMC.
|
|
Disaster Response Quick Links
|
|
District superintendent, wife recovering from accident
Cache River District Superintendent Roger Russell and his wife Carol are recovering from injuries sustained in a one-car accident Sunday near Anna.
The pickup truck Roger Russell was driving hydroplaned, leaving the highway and going down a deep embankment where the truck rolled over.
Russell was able to free himself and sustained a concussion. He was treated and kept overnight for observation.
Carol Russell was freed by emergency personnel and taken by helicopter to a trauma center in Cape Girardeau, Mo., where she underwent emergency surgery Sunday night to address bleeding on the brain. Doctors say the surgery was successful in addressing the bleeding and she is showing marked improvement each day. She remains hospitalized and doctors have limited visitors to family members at this time.
|
|
Judge rules against housing allowance for clergy,
legal counsel advises clergy to 'hold tight'
United Methodist clergy should hold tight, for now, after a U.S. federal judge struck down the law that gives clergy tax-free housing allowances.
That's the advice of the Rev. Nate Berneking, an attorney and the director of financial and administrative ministries in the Missouri Conference.
"Come April 15, 2018, your 2017 taxes will almost certainly be just as they've always been," Berneking wrote in his
"Housing Allowance Case FAQ."
"We would offer a word of caution to pastors and churches thinking of switching from a parsonage to a housing allowance. Given the uncertainty, it might be a good idea to wait for some clarity."
|
|
HELP WANTED: Pastors needed ASAP!
The Illinois Great Rivers Conference (IGRC) has immediate openings for persons discerning the call to preach and to pastoral ministry. We also have openings for those already called to preach but want to preach on a limited basis.
We are looking for people willing to preach on Sundays on an as-needed week-to-week basis, people to fill in as substitutes for short-term appointments, and persons willing to serve churches part time. Part time app
ointments range from 10 to 30 hours per week.
Compensation and limited expense reimbursement will depend on experience, distance travelled, and length of service required.
If you are interested in serving please contact the IGRC office by email - [email protected] or contact the Area Office by calling 217-529-3820.
We are open to students, retirees, and bi-vocational workers.
All applicants will go through an interview process and must meet our approved criteria for service. More information will be provided to applicants.
The IGRC is a great place to serve the Lord!
God Bless
Bishop Frank J. Beard
|
|
Bishop urges churches to hold prayer walks Nov. 18
Pointing to Jesus' command that the church was to be a House of Prayer and urging us to get outside the walls of the church, Bishop Beard is asking churches to engage their communities through prayer walks.
Bishop Beard offers some suggestions in an article in the October issue of
The Current and
additional prayer resources are posted on the IGRC website.
|
|
Liberia holds presidential election for successor to Sirleaf
Figures from the National Elections Commission (NEC) put former soccer star George Weah ahead in 11 out of 15 counties, although most votes have yet to be counted.
His main rival, incumbent Vice-President Joseph Boakai, leads in one county and is second in most others.
A candidate needs more than 50 percent of the votes for outright victory. Early totals show Weah with 29 percent of the vote, Boakai with 25 percent. There are 20 candidates running.
If no one achieves an outright majority, a second round of voting will be held Nov. 7.
The election is to choose a successor to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - Africa's first elected female president and a Nobel Peace laureate.
Weah has the backing of jailed warlord and former president Charles Taylor with Taylor's ex-wife as his running mate. Boakai has been Sirleaf's vice president since 2005, when Sirleaf was elected after Taylor was ousted by rebels in 2003, ending a 14-year civil war. Taylor is serving a 50-year sentence in a prison in the United Kingdom.
|
|
Global Migration Sunday shines light on a crisis
Global Migration Sunday will be held Dec. 3, the first Sunday of Advent. The offering will go to the denomination's
Global Migration Advance (#3022144), a fund set up in 2014 for donors to designate gifts specifically to support work that alleviates the suffering of migrants. To date, more than $1.4 million has been donated to the fund, assisting more than 46,000 migrants.
Thomas Kemper, top executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, said the mission of Global Migration Sunday is threefold: Learn, pray and respond. When United Methodist churches around the world come together to raise awareness, pray and support migration ministries through their gifts, he said, they are providing a moment of unity for the whole church.
Read more...
|
|
Our Conference, Our Kids resources
available in District offices
Promotional materials to assist in your raising of funds for the Our Conference, Our Kids campaign are now available in District offices. Plan now for your year-end giving approach by getting the four-color brochures. Request a number equal to your average worship attendance so everyone can get one.
IGRC Communications has also prepared a DVD-ROM that has a music video suitable as an offertory as well as two promotional segments explaining the campaign which can be used in the weeks leading up to a special offering. The DVD-ROM, when played in a computer, also has closed captioning of the three video segments as well as PDF masters of the brochures and a bulletin insert that can be reproduced and printed.
|
|
|
Book drive underway for Philippine pastors
A campaign across Illinois is underway to collect books for shipment to the Philippines.
Rev. Noah Panlilio of Malta UMC and Mr. Pong Javier of Cosmopolitan UMC in Melrose Park are leading the drive in the Northern Illinois Conference along with Superintendent Stephen Granadosin of the Spoon River District in the IGRC. This is a national campaign for the National Association of Filipino American United Methodists (NAFAUM).
Would you help give a gift that lasts?
Books will be shipped Oct. 15 for arrival in the Philippines by Dec. 15.
Click here for details and drop-off locations...
|
|
Sincerely,
Paul E. Black
Illinois Great Rivers Conference
217-529-2848
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
