This Week's Current Week in Review

The Current Week in Review

December 7, 2018

Beard visits Taylorville, conference staff assemble tornado totes at Midwest Mission

Bishop Frank J. Beard and conference superintendents Sylvester Weatherall, Mary Kathryn Pearce and Nic Showalter toured tornado damage in Taylorville today in the aftermath of an EF-3 tornado tearing through the community Dec. 1. Meanwhile, conference staff participated in the second annual Day of Giving at the Midwest Mission Distribution Center. Staff spent time assembling tornado totes and personal care kits which were delivered later this afternoon.

Following the tornado, IGRC Disaster Response Coordinator Sara Brown was in Taylorville the following afternoon and working cooperatively with other agencies in coordinating disaster response, the conference is one of a handful of groups providing response to the Christian County community.

IGRC has an Early Response Team and a Care Team Coordinator working in Taylorville already. Additional IGRC ERT teams are being coordinated to work out of the Taylorville First UMC. If you are ERT trained and would like to volunteer in Taylorville, please contact Sara Brown at hashbrown2147@msn.com .

An initial IGRC Disaster Response Grant of $5,000 has been released to Taylorville First UMC. Monetary donations may be made to the IGRC Disaster Response Advance #6800 . The City of Taylorville does not need any in-kind donated items at the present time.

MMDC has already made three deliveries of tornado totes they had on hand, which ironically, were assembled from supplies brought by IGRC churches to the 2018 Annual Conference. The 10 palettes of totes assembled by conference staff Thursday were delivered Thursday afternoon. MMDC has also provided cleanup buckets , and personal dignity kits.

Bishop Beard was updated on the recovery effort by Taylorville First UMC pastor Becky Branson Lembke . The church is providing 1,000 sandwiches daily as part of its ministry in the aftermath. UMCOR-trained Early Responders were on site helping to recover items from one of many homes that were severely damaged by the tornado. Retired pastor Beth Tickner will be in Taylorville to train Taylorville First's Stephen Ministers on how to provide pastoral care during the recovery. IGRC Spiritual Care personnel is also in Taylorville.

A disaster response training will be at Taylorville First UMC Dec. 15. Details on the training is on the IGRC Disaster Response page of the IGRC website.

A more complete report on the tornado along with reports on other areas affected by the Dec. 1 storms will be in the January issue of The Current.

Take Board of Pensions Health Insurance Survey

Appointed active clergy are invited to participate in the Board of Pensions' Health Insurance Survey between now and Dec. 31.

In an email sent out to active appointed clergy, CBOP Chair Brad Schumaker and IGRC Director of Administrative Services Mike Potts wrote:

"On behalf of the Board of Pensions and Health Benefits, we are asking if you can make this brief survey on your health insurance coverage a priority. In order for your Board of Pensions and Health Benefits to faithfully serve your family, we are conducting a survey to learn where you are turning for health insurance AND gain an estimation of what your insurance coverage is costing you.

"This survey is completely anonymous. We would like you to complete the survey by Dec. 31, 2018. After the information is gathered, your Board of Pension and Health Benefits can be better informed as to how to best proceed at the 2019 Annual Conference session and beyond as we faithfully provide for our clergy.

Thank you for your time AND for the opportunity to serve your family."

PARTICIPATE IN THE SURVEY

Larnelle Harris featured at Annual Conference concert

Five-time Grammy and 11-time Dove Award recipient Larnelle Harris will perform in concert on Friday, June 7, 7:30 p.m. at Carver Arena in the Peoria Civic Center during the 2019 Annual Conference.

The concert is a fundraiser for the IGRC campaign, Our Conference, Our Kids.

The choir from Peoria Bethel UMC will join Harris on stage for several selections during the concert.

Tickets go on sale Jan. 15 in a pre-sale for IGRC members at $20 and $30. On Feb. 1, tickets go on sale to the public Feb. 1 for $25 and $35. All tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster and will not be a part of the normal Annual Conference registration process. The link and discount code will be share closer to the Jan. 15 launch.

Christmas bulletin insert for Our Conference, Our Kids campaign

Churches planning on taking a Christmas offering for the Our Conference, Our Kids campaign have a new resource available to assist with its promotion.

The campaign committee has released two single-sided bulletin insert. Use them individually or back to back.

DOWNLOAD INSERT 1

DOWNLOAD INSERT 2

MEDIA RESOURCES

General Conference information

Special session pre-registration online

Guests and observers to the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference, The United Methodist Church’s top legislative assembly, may now pre-register online. General Conference will meet in St. Louis, Missouri at the America’s Center Feb. 23-26, 2019.

Volunteers needed for General Conference

Persons wishing to volunteer for hospitality and other committees working the special session of General Conference in February 2019 may now apply to register.

Preference will be given to Missouri and Illinois Great Rivers members. All volunteers will be required to sign a covenant agreement, liability waiver, participate in hospitality and intercultural awareness training, as well as job-specific training.