Your weekly news & information
August 15, 2018
IMPORTANT DISTRICT OFFICE SCHEDULE & INFORMATION

If you are dropping something off, please call before coming to the office to ensure someone is here as the DS and DRA attend off-site meetings. There is no external drop box or mail slot at this time.

  • Summer Hours in effect NOW - Monday - Thursday, 8am-4:45pm
  • The offices will be closed on Monday, September 3 in observation of Labor Day.
  • Regular hours will resume on Tuesday, September 4, Monday through Friday, 9am-4pm.

Please be sure to read the entire e-alert so you don't miss things. Things are often rotated weekly to ensure enough coverage.

In some email platforms, you may have to expand your view by clicking MORE at the bottom of your email - this is not something the district can change.
It is an issue within your email client.

Pulpit Supply List is at the bottom of this email.
DID YOUR CHURCH/PROPERTY SUFFER STORM DAMAGE?

Due to recent storms that have affected many people across the area, please check your areas for damages. If you experienced any damages, you may contact:
Engle-Hambright & Davies, Inc.
350 Eagleview Blvd.
Suite 110
Exton, PA 19341

Toll-free: 1-800-627-3732
Facsimile: 610-280-0703

Leslie S. Korsunsky
Account Manager

More info regarding the Insurance coverage, please visit the EPA website .
ENERGIZE YOUR WORSHIP: A WORKSHOP WITH AD LIB MUSIC, SPONSORED BY THE DISTRICT RESOURCE TEAM

Date: Saturday, October 27, 8am to 12:30pm (light continental breakfast included)
Location: Cornwall UMC, 50 Freeman Drive, Lebanon, PA (GPS address)
Target Audience: Pastors, Choir/worship team, instrumentalists, and those who design liturgy, audio visual and artistic aspects of the service

Will include ideas for ANY church size and worship styles.

Are there ways that you would like to enhance and energize your worship services? Are you struggling to make rehearsals effective, efficient and more spiritually focused?
This interactive workshop will allow worship teams, pastors and tech support crews to develop new skills and approaches to the planning, rehearsing and leading of worship services. The experts from adLIB Music ( https://adlibmusic.com ) will provide training that is experiential, interactive and allows for discussion in small and large groups. At the end of the day, you will have materials and plans that you can take back and use in your home church.

There is a limited number of seats available so think about who you'd like to bring and register early so you don't miss your chance. We cannot take walk-ins at this event.
This event is open to the conference.
Click here for downloadable flyer.
Click here to register.
CLERGY INTERVIEW SCHEDULE

All Clergy Interviews have been scheduled. As a reminder your clergy profile is due 2 weeks prior to your interview date.

Click here for complete schedule.
Click here for blank clergy profile.
**IMPORTANT CHARGE CONFERENCE UPDATES**
Dates for Charge Conferences have been secured. Click here for schedule.

Not sure which ConneXion you belong to? Click here for the complete listing of ConneXions.

Please do not procrastinate on submitting forms this year. You will have ample time to complete them.

Charge Conference forms are NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD.

Clergy Compensation Forms are
NOW AVAILABLE!


The Administrative Council/Lead Team Report of Approval form is also required again this year prior to your charge conference.

Listing of all forms due - please use this form for your records and check them off as you complete them.
WEST DISTRICT BISHOP'S DAY

Where: Ruhl's United Methodist Church, 4810 Elizabethtown Road, Manheim, PA 17545
When: Thursday, September 27, 2018, 6:30pm - 8:30pm - Clergy and Laity invited. We will not be doing separate sessions this year like last year.
Attendance for appointed clergy is mandatory.

Light refreshments/fellowship from 6:30pm - 7pm. We will promptly begin at 7pm.

RSVP by Friday, September 21, 2018.
WEST DISTRICT OPEN ENROLLMENT MEETING

Where: Faith UMC, 1290 Fruitville Pike, Lititz, PA 17543
When: Friday, September 28, 2018, 10am-12pm.
All Laity and Clergy participating in conference insurance should plan on attending the meeting.
Register : click here.

If you are retired and participating in the Retiree Insurance Plan are not required to attend this meeting as it does not apply to you.

If you are unable to attend the meeting at Faith UMC, please choose from any of the other meeting dates/times.

The Eastern PA Conference elected at their June Annual Conference to move to the HealthFlex plan offered through Wespath in January 2019. ControlHealthFlex Exchange is a private exchange model that maximizes participants’ flexibility to choose HealthFlex plans that best fit their needs, while helping UMC conferences/employers manage volatility in the cost of providing health benefits.

In late August, eligible members will begin to receive information from Wespth in preparation for our open enrollment meetings in September and October. It is very important to take time to register for one of the offered meetings to hear about the choices and cost sharings that are available to you in 2019 and the open enrollment process itself.

ALL eligible members need to participate and complete an open enrollment form online. Those who have waived in the past need to waive again with a new HealthFlex waiver form. Any eligible member who does not sign up for a plan, or waive coverage, will be AUTOMATICALLY enrolled in the default plan (Bronze) with no eligibility for HSA contributions.

Open Enrollment is October 31 – November 15, 2018. At the meetings held throughout the conference, you will be introduced to the ALEX system that assists you in making the right benefit choice for you and your family. You will be able to work with ALEX up to and including the open enrollment window.

For the first time this year, we are offering interpretive services if requested for both Spanish and Korean languages. We also have some literature in Spanish and 800 numbers for interpretive services to assist with open enrollment choices. You must register and request this service if needed.

More information will be coming as we move closer to the open enrollment window.








     

Save the Dates
  • Basic Sexual Ethics - Saturday, August 25 - Conshohocken UMC, 10am - 3:30pm [Directions]
  • Vital Church Merger Workshop - Saturday, September 15 - Christ Church, Lansdale, PA [Directions]
  • UnLearning Racism: Continuing the Conversations - Saturday, September 15 - Conference Office, Norristown, PA [Directions]
  • West District Bishop's Day - Thursday, September 27 - Ruhl's UMC, Manheim, PA [Directions]
  • West District Open Enrollment Meeting - Friday, September 28 - TBD, 10am-12pm
  • Claiming Sabbath for Clergy Spouses - Saturday, September 29 - Black Rock Retreat Center, Quarryville, PA, 9am - 5pm [Directions]
  • Church & Society: Building Connections for Social Justice - Saturday, September 29 - West Lawn UMC [Directions]
  • Laity Sunday - Sunday, October 21 - YOUR CHURCH!
  • Energizing Your Worship Workshop with Ad Lib Music - Saturday, October 27 - Cornwall UMC, 8am - 12:30pm [Directions]
  • Extraordinary Give 2018, Breakfast for Dinner - Friday, November 16 - Anchorage Breakfast Ministries at Lancaster: First UMC [Directions]
  • Domestic Violence Workshop - Saturday, November 17 - West Lawn UMC [Directions]
2019 Events
  • Equipping Church Leaders - Saturday, January 19, 2019
  • Tools for Ministry 2019 - Saturday, March 2, 2019
  • Anchorage Breakfast Ministries Giant Yard Sale - March 30, 2019
  • Annual Conference 2019 - Thursday, June 13 - Saturday, June 15, 2019
District & Conference Reminders/Events
For our “Helping Puerto Rico Rise Again!” campaign, please make checks payable to the Eastern PA Conference and indicate “Fund #0345PR–Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief” in the MEMO line and mail the checks to the conference office. Thank you!
EPC PUERTO RICO MISSION TRIP
When: November 3-10, 2018
Cost: Approx. $740 for the week
Includes: 3 meals per day, lodging, lease of church van for transportation, non-stop round-trip flight.
Deadline: August 31, 2018

Looking for 8 persons. See flyer for more details.

If interested, please contact:
Rev. Nicholas Camacho
484-769-5173 or
UPCOMING CONNECTIONAL TABLE EVENTS

October 6, 2018   8:30am-3:00pm - Leadership Conference & Retreat
Location: Cedarville UMC, 1092 Laurelwood Rd., Pottstown PA 19465
Open to everyone - Target groups - are all those people chairing and serving on Conference commissions, committees, boards, and workteams
Objectives : Learn about Roles, Missional Expectations how to work as a team, Prayer Strategy, Learning what support is needed?  
Presenter: Rev. Dr. Jacqui King, Director of Leadership for Congregational Vitality
Disciples Ministries
Registration now open - Register here .

November 10, 2018   8:30am - 3:00pm - Faith Sharing Event
Location: Hopewell UMC, 852 Hopewell Rd, Downington, PA 19335
Open to everyone
Presenter: Rev. Jasmine Smother, Pastor of Atlanta First UMC,
& Associate Director for Congregational Vitality, Office of Connectional Ministries, North Georgia Conference
Registration will open on September 1, 2018
UNLEARNING RACISM: CONTINUING THE CONVERSATIONS

When: Saturday, September 15, 2018 from 9:00 am – 3:30 pm  
Where: Conference Office, 980 Madison Avenue, Norristown, PA 19403 
Fee: $18  
Registration deadline: September 1, 2018
Earn 0.5 CEU’s

Workshop is open to all who have completed the Changing Racism or Healing the Wounds of Racism Workshop at any time.

THE VITAL CHURCH (FORMERLY VITAL CHURCH MERGERS AND MORE)
When:   September 15, 2018
Time: 8:30 arrival to 12:00
Where: Christ Church Lansdale, 1020 S. Valley Forge Rd., Lansdale, PA 19446

Who Should Come: Churches identified by Your DS or if you feel the Holy Spirit is moving you to take a serious look at your future.
Why: How can our church fulfill the Great Commission and of our mission as a United Methodist Church—make disciples for the transformation of the world? What are some radical changes we need to look at in order to do our mission.

Cost: $10 per church—make checks payable to Eastern Pa. Conference of the UMC. You can bring the check to the workshop.

Homework:
1.         Each church should read and discus the following attachments which will be sent to you upon registering: Summary Presentation of a Redevelopment Model, Eight Quality Characteristics of a Healthy Church, Revision Congregational Development,  See, Know, Serve, and The Four Stations of the Holy Spirit.
2.      Prayer: please begin to daily pray for vision from the Holy Spirit to help you see where God is leading your church.
Registration: Please email me your desire to come and I will send you the attachments for your homework.

Questions? Contact Gordon Hendrickson - 267-258-9507    gordonacts6@gmail.com
LOCAL CHURCH & MISSION CONNEXION EVENTS

Please don't forget that we love sharing the events you have going on in your churches and Mission ConneXions. Be sure to share them with the district either on Facebook or via email. We can't share what we don't know is happening!

PULPIT SUPPLY LIST

If you would like to be added to this list, please contact the district office with your name, which category you're in, phone number and area you can cover. We have limited names for the Lebanon area, if you are interested, please contact us as soon as possible!
IMPORTANT CONTACT INFORMATION
Rev. Bumkoo Chung, District Superintendent - 717-569-9673; bkepaumc@gmail.com

Mrs. Kristin E. Reifsnyder, District Resource Assistant  - 717-569-9673; kreifsnyder@epaumc.org

Mrs. Sue Grimm Mattox, District Lay Leader - 717-575-6414; sgrimm1028@gmail.com

Rev. Elaine Bortman, Chair of Committee on the District Superindency  - elainebortman@yahoo.com

Mr. Craig Lenhard, Chair of Board of Church Location & Building  - rvrguyd@yahoo.com

Rev. Tim Smith, Chair of District Committee on Ordained Ministry - ts3707@gmail.com

Rev. Jason Perkowski, Chair of District Resource Team - jbperkowski@gmail.com

Ms. Janet Taylor, District UMW President - taylorjj1962@comcast.net

Mrs. Lynn McCord, District Christ Servant Minister Coordinato r,
717-615-5616,  dpmlem1@gmail.com

Rev. Kevin Babcock, Local Pastor's Registrar  - friarbabcock@yahoo.com

Mrs. Correen Russo, LUMINA - correen.lumina@gmail.com

Conference Office  - 610-666-9090 / 800-828-9093
MISSION CENTRAL HUBS IN OUR DISTRICT
1)   Elizabethtown: St. Paul’s (Liz Helm, coordinator), 398 N. Locust Street, Elizabethtown, PA. 717-367-1889 **call to make sure someone will be there**
 
2)   Lebanon: Covenant (Mariellen Lantz, coordinator), 346 N. 9 th Street, Lebanon, PA. 717-272-0672
 
3)   Cleona: Immanuel (Jeanne Earnshaw, coordinator), 29 E. Maple Street, Cleona, PA. 717-926-2305 **call to make sure someone will be there**
Editorial Policy of the West District E-Alert: The West District E-alert is published on an as-needed basis on Wednesdays. Articles will appear once as new information; thereafter, they will be Reminders or Calendar Items. Spaghetti dinners, fundraisers, concerts, VBSs, bazaars, etc. are included only on the Local Church and ConneXion Events page. Job postings can be found in the Classifieds section of the website. The E-Alert is sent to Pastors and Church Offices on the West District and to lay people who have requested having their names added to the distribution list. Please feel free to copy any article for your church’s bulletin or newsletter. Appointed clergy may not unsubscribe. All articles and announcements should be sent to the District Resource Assistant at epawestdistrict@comcast.net by 3:00pm Tuesday afternoon for consideration. Articles should be in the body of an email or an attached Word document (please no PDFs). Submissions made by telephone will not be accepted. Articles may be edited for clarity and space. The District Office makes all decisions regarding publication.