This Week's Issue of The Current Week in Review

September 22, 2017

Classes resumed at Mattoon High School Thursday for an abbreviated day after a student opened fire in the school cafeteria, injuring one student who was taken to the hospital and a second student sustained minor injuries and was treated on the scene.

Mattoon First UMC and pastor J. Michael Smith opened the doors of the church for a prayer service Wednesday.

The shooter, a high school freshman, made his first appearance in Coles County Circuit Court Thursday where Judge Mitchell Shick ordered a mental evaluation of the suspect on the joint recommendation of the defense attorney and state's attorney. The shooter is charged with aggravated battery with a firearm and faces a six to 30 years sentence if convicted of adult charges.

Prayers are requested for the Mattoon community and the church as it ministers in the aftermath of the shooting.

NCJ College of Bishops issue statement

The North Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops and Directors of Connectional Ministry meeting together in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 20, 2017, issued the following statement:

"Events in recent weeks in our country have made evident the deep persistence of racism in our society. As United Methodist leaders, we commit ourselves to continuing our on-going work to identify, resist, and dismantle racism in our churches, communities and world, building on work which began at the Jurisdictional Conference of 2016. We understand such work to be the work of discipleship, of growing in love of God and neighbor in the name and Spirit of Jesus Christ who is our peace and who breaks down barriers of hatred that divide (Ephesians 2:14)."

UMCOR is using Advance #901670 for US Disaster Response for all disaster response within the United States and U.S. territories. You can earmark it for a specific disaster, but it may be better stewardship to leave it without earmarking so as to give UMCOR greater flexibility in responding to the needs that are emerging as time goes on. Advance #982450 for International Disaster Response for needs outside the US, such as Mexico and Central America earthquake relief and hurricane relief in Cuba and the Carribean.

UMCOR is recognized for its financial integrity and was recently added to the list of CNN's publicgood.com list of charities.

In addition, there are two Conference Advance Specials that also work in conjunction with UMCOR:

Conference Advance #6620, Midwest Mission Distribution Center. MMDC is assembling and shipping flood buckets to the affected areas. You can designate your gift for this effort. Each bucket costs about $65 in supplies.
Conference Advance #6800, Conference Disaster Response. In coordination with the MMDC, IGRC was able to ship more than 1,400 plastic totes to Texas to assist persons with gathering up items scattered by the storm. Totes were purchased from this fund and the need for more will be coming in the days and weeks ahead.

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.

Additional training events and links to register will be posted on the IGRC Disaster Response page as they become available.

Sept. 29-30 -- Disaster Response Mini Academy at East Bay Camp REGISTRATION EXTENDED UNTIL SEPT. 26

Classes Offered:

ERT (Early Response Team Training)

ERT Recertification
Spiritual and Emotional Care Team Basic Training

Connecting Neighbors (Local Church Preparedness

Volunteers in Mission Team Leader Training

Volunteer disaster response opportunities

Rev Jeff Bealmear has registered with the Rio Texas Conference to lead a team to Rockport, Texas, for Hurricane Harvey clean up. His team will be going either the first or second week of October. Jeff needs to know which week will work best for you to join him.

If you are ERT trained and you want to join Jeff's mission team, please contact him at pastorjeff@monticelloumc.com and let him know which week is best for your participation.

Please Note:
Both of the Texas conferences are asking volunteers to have Hepatitis A & B (this is a twinrix vaccine and a series of shots) and Tetanus vaccination. You will have some immunity even with the first Hepatitis shot. Let's be safe as we go to help others.

While the Rio Texas Conference is requesting only ERT trained volunteers, the Texas Conference, where Houston is located, will take teams as long as the leader of the team has ERT training.

If you are ERT trained and you want to lead a team to Texas, go to the following websites to register:
Rio Texas Conference: https://riotexas.org/harvey/
Texas Conference: http://www.txcumc.org/

Florida and other areas damaged by Hurricane Irma are not ready for volunteers. Search and rescue is still happening in parts of FL and many of the Caribbean islands. Fuel and basic supplies are very low. An influx of volunteers now will add to the lack of supplies for those trying to reach their properties. The best thing we can for those still digging out from Hurricane Irma is to pray for them and donate to UMCOR US Disaster Response Advance #901670. There will be an appeal for volunteers when the local authorities are ready and a plan is in place.

Please remember, volunteers will be needed for a very long time. You may want to look at your calendars and plan to lead a mission team to one of the areas after the first of the year. After first responders leave and people move on to the next event, The United Methodist Church through UMCOR will remain to renovate and rebuild homes for several years. Let's be there when others have left and people are still in need of assistance!

Once you have registered to take a volunteer team, please send the following information to Lori Owen at mommyof2ado@hotmail.com:

Name of Team Leader
Team Leader Contact Information
Dates of Team
Location of Work Assignment
Specific Skills Requested
Are others invited to join this team?

For IGRC team information go to: http://www.igrc.org/missionopportunities?topic=Disaster%20Response

World Communion Sunday Oct. 1

World Communion Sunday is Oct. 1. A collection of downloadable resources is available to promote this Special Sunday in your church. The kit has everything you need to empower your congregation to give generously.

Learn more...

Filipino UM's help those fleeing from violence

United Methodists pooled their resources to provide relief - including prayers, food, medicine, bottled water and clothing - to wounded soldiers and people displaced because of violent conflicts in the country.

The two-day relief effort, led by Davao Area Bishop Rodolfo A. Juan, began with a group of about 85 displaced families at a camp near the Bukidnon Provincial Capitol grounds in Malaybalay. The camp in northern Mindanao was set up after an

outbreak of violence against Lumads.