This Week's Current Week in Review

The Current Week in Review

April 25, 2022

Crawford appointed Spoon River District Superintendent

Bishop Frank J. Beard, in consultation with the Spoon River District Committee on Superintendency, has appointed the Rev. Michael J. Crawford as district superintendent, effective July 1. The announcement was made April 20.

Crawford will succeed the Rev. Stephen Granadosin, who along with his wife, Cecilia, are planning to relocate to Texas to be near family. Both were appointed to their current sites of ministry in 2017 – Stephen to the Spoon River District superintendency and Cecilia – to Peoria: Forrest Hill UMC.

“Rev. Mike Crawford has proven himself to be a very valuable member of the IGRC leadership team and has excelled in his work as the Coordinator of Congregational Development,” said Bishop Beard in making the announcement. “Rev. Crawford is a forward thinker with tremendous skills of strategic planning and insight. He has assisted the Cabinet for the past two years as our coordinator/implementor of Strength Finders. Strength Finders is used in the appointment process to match pastors and churches. Reverend Crawford’s work in this area over the last two years has given him experience with the Cabinet and the Extended Cabinet.”

Getting involved when disaster strikes

With spring here and bad weather in the forecast, remember that the Conference has an organized disaster response team.

You can hellp in three ways:

Donate to the IGRC Disaster Response Fund. You are always welcome to give to UMCOR, but when the disaster is local, the Disaster Response Fund provides a vehicle to make sure the money gets directed An UMCOR grant is not always needed.
Join an upcoming training and be ready to respond locally or join an Early Response Team and travel to help others.
Pray for those affected by the disaster

Also included on the iGRC website is a copy of the IGRC Disaster Response Plan. It includes information about how you can get involved as well as the roles of all the different conference leaders.

Most importantly, though, if a disaster hits your community, the pastor needs to contact their District Superintendent and IGRC Disaster Response Coordinate Curt Franklin so that resources can be deployed without delay.

First people can help by supporting the IGRC Disaster Response efforts by donating to the IGRC disaster Response fund https://igrc-reg.brtapp.com/DisasterResponseMinistry People are always welcome to give to UMCOR but when the disaster is local we can make sure the money gets directed here. We don’t always need a grant from UMCOR.

Second they can join an upcoming training and be ready to respond locally or join an Early Response Team (ERT) and travel with us to help others. https://www.igrc.org/disasterresponse

Third they can pray for those effected by the disaster.

DONATE TO IGRC DISASTER RESPONSE FUND

UPCOMING DISASTER RESPONSE TRAINING EVENTS

DOWNLOAD IGRC DISASTER RESPONSE PLAN

Applications being accepted

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.

Annual Conference update

Plans are being finalized for the 2022 Annual Conference which will be a hybrid event June 9-11 at the Peoria Civic Center.

Clergy session will be June 4 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Melvin Price Convocation Center at McKendree College in Lebanon. The clergy session will also be a hybrid event.

Registration for the Clergy Session and the June 9-11 session at Peoria are now open. Clergy session registration continues until June 1, while the June 9-11 session closes registration on May 27. Clergy need to register for both sessions. Laity only need to register for the June 9-11 session.

A draft agenda shows that the 2022 Annual Conference will begin with opening worship at 10 a.m. June 9. Bishop Jonathan Holston will be preaching.

The laity session will follow at 11 a.m. and the afternoon plenary session is slated to start at 2 p.m.

The Memorial Service with Bishop Holston preaching will be 7 p.m. Thursday. The recognition of 28 retirees with a combined service of nearly 700 years will be at 11 a.m. Friday. Rev. Janice Ringenberg, one of the retirees in the Class of 2022 will be preaching.

Saturday's schedule includes a Prayer Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and the Service of Ordination and Commissioning begins at 9:30 a.m. Bishop Frank J. Beard will be the preacher. Adjournment is expected to be around noon on Saturday.

SEE APRIL 25 IGRC EVENTS-FULL FOR DETAILED INFORMATION

2021 Journal-Yearbook posted online

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

All printed journals and journal CD's have been mailed to lay and clergy members of the annual conference this week.

You should be receiving them at any time now.

VIEW OR DOWNLOAD THE 2021 JOURNAL-YEARBOOK

UMCOR collaborating to relieve suffering

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the Arlene Campbell Foundation – a Texas-based humanitarian organization focused on Ukraine – and Ohio Health are collaborating to send 47,895 pounds of medical supplies and equipment worth $935,000 to three hospitals in Kyiv, Ukraine. AEC Parcel Services is handling transport of the supplies, which are being sent in three shipments.

The effort was put together by the Arlene Campbell Humanitarian Foundation, headquartered in North Zulch, Texas, which has links to health facilities in Ukraine. UMCOR is paying specific costs, including transportation, of approximately $160,000. Ohio Health, a not-for-profit, charitable, health care ministry of The United Methodist Church, donated the supplies through a medical surplus program. UMCOR put the foundation in touch with Ohio Health and opened the door to the United Nation’s Logistics Cluster to move the supplies into Ukraine after they arrived in Poland from the U.S. via chartered jet.

The first shipment arrived at the State Ukrainian Health Ministry Heart Institute in Kyiv on Thursday, April 14. The second shipment was shared between the Heart Institute, the Center for Pediatric Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery Clinic for Children and the National Specialized Children’s Hospital, which is the nation’s largest children’s hospital, on April 20.

The third shipment is scheduled to follow soon, according to Roland Fernandes, general secretary of UMCOR and its parent organization, Global Ministries. “UMCOR is pleased to facilitate both the procurement and the transportation of essential medical supplies to war-torn Ukraine,” he said. “We multiply our own efforts and the generosity of our contributors when we engage in creative service partnerships.”

As part of the General Board of Global Ministries, the mission and humanitarian assistance agency of The United Methodist Church, UMCOR provides relief and recovery response throughout the world. UMCOR is extensively engaged in services for refugees from Ukraine both inside Ukraine and beyond in the wake of the Russian invasion of late February 2022.

To support UMCOR’s continued efforts to offer immediate relief and long-term recovery for the war in Ukraine, make a gift to Advance #982450.

Churches welcome Ukraine refugees

United Methodists in countries bordering Ukraine continue to offer aid and encouragement to Ukrainian refugees. Some of those displaced also are joining in local church activities. The Rev. László Khaled, a United Methodist district superintendent from Hungary, told the story of one Ukrainian family who had just arrived. "The people of the congregation asked them what they could provide their guests with — food, clothes, shoes and so on. But the response of these Ukrainian people was: 'We don't need anything. We just need a worship service.'" Urs Schweizer reports.

Denman, Cartwright award nominees sought

Nominations are now being accepted through today 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.