This Week's Current Week in Review

The Current Week in Review

April 8, 2022

BMCR to present The Seven Last Words Good Friday

The IGRC chapter of Black Methodists for Church Renewal will present for the second year in a row The Seven Last Words of Christ. The video will premiere at 9 a.m. April 15 and be available from that time forward.

Speakers for the service include:

Rev. Laron Stover, East St. Louis Trinity UMC – "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Rev. Gifty Smith, – “Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with e in paradise.”
Rev. Tanya Edwards-Evans, Associate Pastor, Bloomington Wesley UMC – “Woman, behold, thy son! Behold thy mother!” (this is the one to take from last year’s service)
Rev. Arthur Francis, Belleville Signal Hill UMC – “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?”
Rev. Bobby Davis, Divernon-Pawnee-Thayer UMC’s – “I thirst”
Rev. Aletha Weatherall, Atlanta-Ebenezer-Hopedale UMC’s – “It is finished.”
Rev. Sylvester Weatherall, Normal Calvary UMC – “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”

The link will be placed on the IGRC Facebook Page, IGRC Online Worship page, the IGRC website and in the April 15 Current Week in Review enewsletter.

The stream for the April 2 Better Together event is now posted online and can be viewed by clicking the above graphic.

The video includes worship and messages from Bishop Frank J. Beard, Gregory V. Palmer and Rev. Sam Rodriguez.

Bishop Beard's two messages at Marion Aldersgate

Bishop Frank J. Beard was the guest preacher at Marion Aldersgate UMC.

After preaching on Saturday at the Better Together event and Sunday morning's early service, Bishop Beard preached an entirely different message at the church's second worship service. Both messages were on The Cost of Revival, taken from II Chronicles 7:14.

Click the button below to view the service. It will require you to be signed into Facebook.

VIEW THE 10:30 AM CONTEMPORARY SERVICE

150 responds to Bishop's invitation

Nearly 150 persons participated in the Bishop's Prayer Vigil for Peace and Unity April 1-2.

The thread of prayers of 25 words or less his Facebook Page is still live for those that wish to offer a prayer. One thread is for Prayers for Peace and Unity for Ukraine and Russia. The second is Prayers for Peace and Unity for our United Methodist Brothers and Sisters Around the World.

Applications being accepted for two positions

Administrator of Ministerial Services: The Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference is seeking an individual with a servant’s heart and a passion for supporting the development of ministerial leaders by creating and maintaining an effective administrative system undergirded by excellent relational, communication and organizational skills. Application deadline is April 22.

Director of the Wesley Foundation at University of Illinois/Senior Pastor of Urbana Wesley UMC: The Board of Trustees of The Wesley Foundation and the Staff Parish Relations Committee of Wesley United Methodist Church announce a search for the Director of The Wesley Foundation and Senior Pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church (UMC).

In this role, the selected candidate will be chief executive officer of both The Wesley Foundation at the University of Illinois and Wesley United Methodist Church. The Director and Senior Pastor is responsible for coordinating the life of the campus ministry and congregation, communicating the vision and mission of the Foundation and Church, promoting the general interests of the Foundation and Church, conducting the day-to-day administration of the Foundation and Church, and organizing activities toward the strategic goals of the Foundation and Church. Closing date for applications: May 6. Pastors under appointment are reminded they need to seek permission from their District Superintendent in order to apply.

Ministry with persons with dementia

The Lewis Center’s Pastor Jessica Anschutz shares ideas for pastoral care and spiritual support for persons with dementia and their caregivers. As the number of dementia diagnoses grows, congregations have an opportunity to serve their community in meaningful ways.

Forums on disaffiliation information posted

Bishop Beard hosted four forums on disaffiliation Monday and Tuesday, providing information and answering questions from pastors and laity. Nearly 700 persons attending.

Bishop Beard's presentation was recorded during the first forum as well as the Question and Answer Sessions from Sessions 2 and 3. Session 4 was not recorded due to the operator forgetting to hit the Record button. However, those questions which were submitted can be found on the three pages of questions listed in the right-hand side menu from the main page on the forums.

In addition, Bishop Beard's Power Point slides and a document outlining the IGRC Process on Disaffiliation are also posted there.

VISIT THE DISAFFILIATION PAGE

DOWNLOAD BISHOP BEARD'S POWER POINT SLIDES

VIEW AND DOWNLOAD THE IGRC DISAFFILIATION PROCESS DOCUMENT

VIEW SUBMITTED QUESTIONS FROM PARTICIPANTS WITH BISHOP'S RESPONSE

Clergy Session registration open

Registration for the June 4 clergy session is now open online.

The Clergy Executive Session of Annual Conference be held a week earlier than the regular session on Saturday June 4 from 1 to 4 p.m. at McKendree University in Lebanon.

The session will be in the Melvin Price Convocation Center on the McKendree campus and will be a hybrid event where persons will be able to join in-person or online.

Clergy can also attend the clergy session in one format and the regular session in a different format. Registration for the June 9-11 Annual Conference in Peoria will be opening shortly once contractual agreements are completed with the facility.

The move to June 4 for the clergy session will open up the Thursday schedule for more plenary business time as the Annual Conference has received a lot more legislative business than usual. In accordance with The Book of Discipline, the change, which was recommended by the Sessions Committee, was approved by Bishop Frank J. Beard and the conference superintendents. This scheduling option is becoming fairly common among other Conferences, as it allows for more flexibility with the unique scheduling of Clergy Session.

2021 Journal-Yearbook posted online

The 2021 Journal-Yearbook is posted online for your viewing and reference.

The proof is now being sent to the printers for print copies and the duplicators for the CD copies. It will be 4-6 weeks before the final product will be available for distribution.

Given that reality, print copies and CD's will be distributed to those that attend in-person during the 2022 Annual Conference. For those joining online, these materials will be mailed to you.

VIEW OR DOWNLOAD THE 2021 JOURNAL-YEARBOOK

Cabinet produces new handbook for Pastor/Staff Relations Committees

This booklet contains guidelines which reflect traditions and practices of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference of The United Methodist Church. This booklet has been approved by the Bishop and Cabinet of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference for use in local churches.

This handbook can be viewed online or saved to your computer as a 40-page PDF. Click on the cover image to open the document. This is not meant to be a document to print. However, if you choose to do so, you will need 11 x 17 paper in order to print the pages full size as 8 1/2 x 11 sheets.

Should legislation impact information in the booklet, it will be updated prior to printing any copies for wider distribution.

The handbook replaces two older booklets -- Pastoral Expectations and Understanding Pastoral Changes

Denman, Cartwright award nominees sought

Nominations are now being accepted through April 25 for the Denman Evangelism Award for clergy, laity and youth, and for the Peter Cartwright Lifetime Achievement Award in Ministry. These awards are presented by the IGRC Evangelism Committee.

The Denman Evangelism Award honors an IGRC United Methodist lay, youth lay and clergy person who exhibits unusual and outstanding efforts for work in Christian evangelism by faithfully carrying out the mission of “making disciples of Jesus Christ.”

The Peter Cartwright Lifetime Evangelism Award of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference is awarded to someone who has exceptional leadership qualities to help our conference in making disciples of Jesus Christ. This person’s lifetime example challenges pastors and lay people to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. Where the Denman award is given for a period of work, the Peter Cartwright Lifetime Evangelism Award is given to a retired pastor who has reflected this work throughout their ministry career.