Process revamped to broaden field for leadership roles

By RICHARD HEARNE
Lay Leader

During the 2011 Annual Conference, some North Texas Conference members expressed concerns about the Nominations Report, fearing that certain people and groups were excluded from election to leadership positions. Although I heartily disagree, it became obvious to me, as chairman of the Nominations Committee, that we needed to respect these views and work to end this perception.

The NTC is establishing a new process that puts nominations in the hands of the members of the Annual Conference and not a small group serving on the Nominations Committee. The focus and responsibility for being nominated is now shifted from the committee to individual members, clergy and laity of the NTC.

Here's how it works: An information booklet detailing all the committees and positions available will be placed on the NTC website. Those interested in a position can research the opportunities and decide where they would like to serve, based on position requirements and an individual's gifts and graces. This booklet will also include the Discipline paragraph that covers the position, the responsibilities and work of a committee, how often and where the committee meets and other pertinent information.

Interested candidates can submit a profile sheet for a position or positions. The profile sheet provides basic information that will allow the Nominations Committee to place the most qualified person into a spot – with a commitment for an inclusive leadership.

The profile sheet will go to the district superintendent for clergy and the local pastor for laity for approval/comment and then will be sent to the Nominations Committee. The committee will flesh out the Nominations Report, which will then go to the Extended Cabinet and Core Leadership Team to assure that the report is inclusive and represents NTC membership. The Nominations Report will then be presented at the District Day preceding Annual Conference.

Of course, nominations will be allowed from the floor when the Nominations Report is presented to the Annual Conference.

The Nominations Committee is making every attempt to make sure everyone within the NTC is aware of this process. Because of unforeseen circumstances, the timeline for the process has been shortened, so responses must be prompt.

A great burden falls on the clergy to decide what role they would like to serve and, more important, which laity in their church they feel have gifts and graces to serve on these committees. Mailings will be sent to all clergy, 2011 NTC lay members and the different caucus groups across the Annual Conference.

Please contact me at rbhearne@sbcglobal.net or 214- 505-2324 with any questions.

United Methodists are transforming the world by feeding the hungry, and the North Texas Conference is at the forefront of providing food to those in need in its area. This is the first of a two-part series on two Annual Conference churches that have innovative approaches to outreach to feed the hungry.

By SHERON C. PATTERSON
Editor

John Kirkman, volunteer director of the Downtown Food Pantry of First UMC Paris, is amazed and excited about the ministry he oversees. "It is a miraculous kind of thing," he said, describing the divine blessings that have grown the church's efforts to feed the hungry in Lamar County, which hugs the Oklahoma border and is home to 50,000 people.

Over the years the food pantry has grown from a 12-by-12-foot Sunday school room where 110 families were served each month to an 8,700-square-foot building with a volunteer staff of 100 that feeds 2,000 families monthly. The food pantry and the church are both in downtown Paris but separated by 10 blocks.

"It just exploded," said Kirkman, also the treasurer of First UMC Paris. "More and more people started coming, and more and more resources started coming in, too."

"This is a wild journey, and we are just hanging on!" he said.

Funding comes from First UMC Paris, a generous grant and an interdenominational coalition of 10 Paris churches that provides monetary and volunteer support. Recently, the Downtown Food Pantry teamed with the Dallas-based North Texas Food Bank to become a distribution point as part of the rural Hub & Spoke Program.

Jan Pruitt, president and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank, says the cooperative "has expanded our reach to provide a significantly higher amount of nutritionally balanced meals to families in the under served rural communities of Lamar County."

The Downtown Food Pantry program engages residents to contribute their own time, talents and resources, and offers member agencies in Paris the ability to store food they receive from the North Texas Food Bank, enabling them to provide more meals, Pruitt said.

"We saw how efficient this was and invested $80,000 to purchase them a walk-in refrigerated storage unit for perishable foods. The large numbers of people the Downtown Food Pantry reports serving each day is proof that the need is there and the program is working," Pruitt said.

The Rev. Van Lazaroff, pastor of First UMC Paris, echoed Mr. Kirkman's sentiments. "God has blessed us beyond our dreams. We had a vision to expand our food pantry and to become the community's food pantry. We wanted Lamar County to view it as the source for food and assistance. We prayed about it and kept God in the center."

Rev. Lazaroff is particularly pleased with two aspects of the food pantry: the community unity it has fostered and offering client choice.

"The Downtown Food Pantry has united the region," he said. "We are making an impact in the community. Once I was in the jewelry store and one of the clerks asked me, 'Aren't you a part of that food bank?' Her comment showed me that the people here are very excited and that the food pantry brings all of us together across denominations."

Rev. Lazaroff also stressed the importance of how the clients are treated.

"We maintain the dignity of our clients," he said. "That is foremost. We give them dignity from the moment that they walk in our doors. Instead of handing them a bag of food that we selected, we give them a shopping cart and allow them to walk the aisles and select what they want to eat. They have a choice. One lady told me, 'Thank you for the dignity.' "

Next edition: How First UMC Dallas fights hunger.

By DR. GREGORY S. NEAL
Special Contributor
A few months ago, I was flying to Chicago to teach a course at one of our United Methodist colleges and experienced the rare luxury of being upgraded to first class. This put me near the front of the aircraft, close enough to follow the operational patter of the flight attendants.

Just after the gate agent had closed the plane's door, the senior flight attendant announced: "Forward cabin and galley doors prepared and cross-checked!" Just afterward, another flight attendant echoed over the plane's intercom system: "Tail galley door prepared and cross-checked!"

I chuckled and, making the sign of the cross, I said: "Passenger, prepared and cross-checked!" The flight attendant who would be doing the seat belt and oxygen mask routine began laughing. Similarly, the passenger seated in the window seat to my right saw me, grinned, crossed himself as well, and then repeated my words. Suddenly, other passengers to my left and behind me did the same. Indeed, the words "Passenger, prepared and crosschecked" echoed down the rows of the plane, accompanied by laughter and a sudden lessening of tension.

I grinned and winked at the flight attendant, and her own smile became as wide as her face.

"Passenger, prepared and crosschecked!" That's us!

We're called to prepare for this life and for the next by checking ourselves with the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord. Apart from Jesus – apart from the love of God that Christ exemplified for us in his life, death and resurrection – we cannot possibly be "prepared" for this life or for the next.

Our calling, as Christians, is to continually check ourselves into the love of God; we're called to turn to and depend upon the gracious self-sacrifice of Jesus, who lived and died for us that we might never fear sin and death. In other words, every element in our lives is supposed to be "cross-checked."

In 2012, as our society and our church faces many challenges, I pray that we all will be more deeply checked into God's grace. Change in these difficult days calls for vision and courage, patience and faith, and all of these can be found in the cross.

As we face the future, let us also face the cross and share the love of God with all – yes, even with our sisters and brothers in the church with whom we may disagree. Let us all check ourselves with the gracious, self-sacrificing love of Jesus.

Margaret Ellen "Peggy" Railey, 63, died Dec. 26 in Tyler, at rest after a painful chapter that touched Dallas-area United Methodists.

Mrs. Railey was left in a vegetative state 24 years ago after being found almost strangled to death in the garage of the home she shared with her then-husband, Walker Railey.

Walker Railey was senior pastor of First UMC Dallas at the time. Their two children, Ryan, 5, and Megan, 2, were inside the home during the attack.

Walker Railey initially said he was at the Southern Methodist University library doing research the night of April 21, 1987, and came home after midnight to find his wife on the garage floor.

But suspicion fell on him, with an affair with another woman coming to light. He was tried on charges of attempted murder and acquitted in a jury trial in 1993.

An $18 million civil judgment won by Peggy Railey’s family against Walker Railey in 1988 was set aside in 1997 after he divorced his wife, went through bankruptcy proceedings and agreed to pay her $337 a month in alimony.

Peggy Railey spent the rest of her life in a Tyler nursing home, and Walker Railey moved to California. Their two children were raised by family friends.

Dr. John Fiedler, now senior minister of First UMC Dallas, says that lost in the news were Peggy Railey's talents as an organist and sacred musician. In a written statement, he says:

"Peggy Railey was a cherished member of our First United Methodist Church of downtown Dallas faith family. While many of our members have joined since 1987, many others remember Peggy quite well.

"Her death accentuates the heartbreak and sorrow our church has felt for the past 24 years surrounding the attack upon her and the long years of debilitation resulting from it.

"What has often been lost in the midst of the publicity around this tragedy is that she was a loving mother and spouse, a talented sacred musician, and a Christian woman of strong faith.

"Today we draw upon that same faith to find comfort in the eternal peace that she now knows. Our heartfelt prayers are with her two adult children and the entire Nicolai family."

Peggy Railey was born Oct. 7, 1948, in Milwaukee, Wis., to William H. and Billie Jo Renfro Nicolai. She earned a master's degree in education at Southern Methodist University and taught at Ursuline Academy in Dallas. She was preceded in death by her parents.

In addition to her children, she is survived by her brother, Ted Nicolai, and his wife, Linda; a sister, Katherine Aronin; and numerous nieces and nephews. The family held a private service at Tyler Memorial Cemetery.

The NTC General and Jurisdictional Conference delegation will hold an Information and Listening Session from 10 to 11:45 a.m. Saturday, March 3, at First UMC Richardson.

The delegation has been hard at work the last few months learning about the pending legislation and gathering information from across the church. The delegation wants to inform United Methodists across the NTC about the major issues and also listen to members' hopes, dreams, and questions about the church's future.

The meeting will take place in the Ogden Fellowship Hall, on the north side of the sanctuary complex. Please plan to attend for a time of sharing and discussion.

Dont forget to make your reservations for "Simplify Your Life," this year's Clergy Spouse Retreat that will be held Feb. 3-4 at Camp Copass in the Tally Retreat Center in Denton. The time and location are a change from previous plans. The facility opened in May, and each double occupancy room has two queen beds and its own bath. Cost is $80 for a room with double occupancy and $120 for a room with single occupancy. For more information, contact Megan Stoker, 940-565-9402, or reach her by email at meganstoker@me.com.

The United Methodist Women are holding a spiritual retreat open to all women of the North Texas Conference. It runs from 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, to 3 p.m. Jan. 14 at Prothro Center at Lake Texoma. The theme is "Formed in the Spirit: Transformed Through Acts of Justice and Mercy," led by the Rev. Jo Biggerstaff.

Rates range from $83 for a single room and three meals and lower, and there are commuter rates available for those who want to attend both days or even just Saturday. Contact Ruby Steen, Spiritual Growth Coordinator, at 972- 815-3823 or umw@ntcumc.org.