Theologian celebrates women"s 'audacity of faith'

By DENISE JOHNSON STOVALL Special Contributor    A theologian recently preaching at St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church in Dallas picked up on President Barack Obama’s “audacity of hope” theme. The Rev. Stacey Floyd-Thomas said women named and unnamed throughout the Bible, as well as African-American foremothers, had “the audacity of faith.”   Dr. Floyd-Thomas, associate professor of ethics and society at Vanderbilt...

AROUND THE CONFERENCE

Mission starts the week off right in Denton First UMC Denton member Jon LeRoy and John, a guest, perform at First Meal, which provides food and fellowship on Sundays to those in need.    Church members Don Oldham, Bunny Hodges and Beckah Maxwell-LeRoy serve pancakes. First Meal, begun in 2010, has grown from a monthly program to a weekly one shared with Faith UMC (Corinth), Denton Wesley Foundation and Trinity UMC (Denton).  Photos by Jessica Wright   School...

Nehemiah Group to re-envision workings of Annual Conference

By SHERON C. PATTERSON Editor Are you open to an enhanced and overhauled Annual Conference experience? If your answer is yes, there is good news. Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe has convened a 24-member group of clergy and lay persons to spend one year reviewing the Annual Conference and considering ways to make it more effective.They are known as  the Nehemiah Group. The group will meet monthly and make recommendations at the June 2012 Annual Conference. Paul Rasmussen, associate pastor of...

Interim ministry can help a church move forward

Congregations sort things through, get back on solid ground By JUSTIN TULL Special Contributor I have now served two interim appointments — one after the death of a beloved pastor, one in a church that had lost a third of its giving and attendance.  But it was the circumstances of the first appointment that drew me out of retirement and into the world of interim ministry. I was asked to serve Suncreek UMC in Allen for six months after the tragic death of Kathleen...

Vigil held on proposal

Members of Christ’s Foundry in Dallas, North Texas Conference clergy and others gathered outside the Carrollton office of Rep. Burt Solomons for a prayer vigil opposing the sanctuary cities bill in the Texas Legislature. Solomon’s bill, which stalled in the House, would have cut state funding to cities that discourage police from asking detainees about their immigration status.  ...

NTC delegates already in team mode for General, Jurisdictional Conferences

The delegates elected at the Annual Conference include from left (front row): Natasha Ray, Linda Parks, Gretchen Toler-Debus, the Rev. Jan Davis, Lisa Tichenor, the Rev. Don Underwood, the Rev. Jill Jackson-Sears, the Rev. Ouida Lee, Mary Brooke Casad; (second row): Frank Jackson, the Rev. Dana Coker, the Rev. Deborah Chapman, Tim Crouch, the Rev. Gary Mueller, the Rev. Lisa Greenwood, the Rev. Andrew Stoker, the Rev. Timothy Morrison, Kay Yeager, Ruth Robinson, Alys Richards;...

Vet, college student make General Conference history

By SHERON C. PATTERSON  Editor    The Rev. Don Underwood, senior pastor of Christ UMC, Plano, and Ricky Harrison, a 19-year-old McMurray College student, made history at the 2011 Annual Conference.    For the third time, Rev. Underwood as the first to be elected from the clergy. the first person electd first leads the delegation to the General Conference. No other clergy in the North Texas Conference has led the GC delegation three times, although Albert...

SMU Wesley Foundation to move underneath the wings of NTC

By SHERON C. PATTERSON  Editor      The North Texas Annual Conference has approved the adoption of the Wesley Foundation at Southern Methodist University as a campus ministry of the Annual Conference.    The SMU Wesley Foundation is currently a ministry overseen by the South Central Jurisdiction.    The foundation director will present the adoption at the South Central Jurisdiction Mission Council meeting in September. Funding from the...

Mission Education Day

North Texas United Methodists spread out all over the conference for projects and classes during the last day of Annual Conference. More than 100 North Texas United Methodists spread out across the metroplex as a part of Mission Education Day, sponsored by the Center for Missional Outreach. Some took part in classes at St. Andrew UMC in Plano on the environment and immigration. Others built a wheelchair ramp in Grand Prairie, worked at one of two community gardens or spent time with children...

Historic Gulfside Assembly gets NTC help to rebuild in Annual Conference vote $1 million pledged for capital campaign

By SHERON C. PATTERSON  Editor      In legislative action, the North Texas Annual Conference voted to support the Gulfside Assembly in Waveland, Miss., as it rebuilds and expands its reach.    The conference is supporting the construction of the Gulfside Ministry Center with $1 million through its churches.    The Gulfside Assembly has a proud United Methodist history. Founded in 1923 by Robert E. Jones, the first African-American Methodist...

Pastor ties weight loss to Imagine No Malaria

The Rev. Glen Blackmon, pastorof First UMC of Van Alstyne, was saluted during the North Texas Annual Conference for losing to help the conference gain. Rev. Blackmon learned in November that he had diabetes and needed to lose weight. While fishing with Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe, he heard stories of children dying from malaria in Africa, and he decided to tie his weight loss to the Imagine No Malaria campaign.   He asked church members and area businesses to become sponsors with pledges...

Liberian bishop points up global focus during opener

By JOHN A. LOVELACE Special Correspondent   For its opening worship service under the theme “God Is Doing A New Thing,” the 2011 North Texas Conference returned to one of Methodism’s earliest locations in Texas -- First UMC, Dallas.   The venerable sanctuary, whose predecessors date to 1838, sprang to new life as more than 100 United Methodist-related summer interns received blessings as commissioned ambassadors of Christ and conference representatives. ...

Joy greets the new and advancing in ministry

By JOHN A. LOVELACE Special Correspondent   Twenty-four people entered or advanced in the United Methodist ministry of North Texas on Sunday evening, June 5, in the resplendent year-old sanctuary of Christ UMC, Plano.   One by one in the ancient laying on of hands ritual with names read aloud, Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe and other clergy, friends and family members welcomed four commissioned for the work of a deacon, three commissioned for the work of an elder, three...

Memorial service remembers those who died in the last year

By JOHN A. LOVELACE Special Correspondent   In the ageless manner of storytelling by candlelight, conference members on June 7 honored 14 of their own — four clergy and 10 clergy spouses — who died within the past year.   The Rev. Milton Guttierrez, retiring this year as superintendent of the North Central Distrrict, titled his Memorial Service sermon “A Story to Tell.”    “Our faith is much more based on stories than on...

Noted theologian visiting old home

By SHERON C. PATTERSON Editor    Noted theologian Stanley Hauerwas is returning to his roots – Pleasant Grove, a section of Dallas.    Dr. Hauerwas, Duke Divinity School’s Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics and Time magazine’s Best Theologian in 2001, will spend the weekend of Oct.15-16 preaching and teaching as the guest of Pleasant Mound/Urban Park UMC.    The Rev. Annelda Crawford, senior pastor, was persistent in...

What the Core Leadership Team means to the everyday Methodist

 Group takes a bird’s-eye view of conference while part of grass-roots churches  Sometimes for United Methodists, the structure of the denomination above the local church is a bit of a mystery. So here is a primer on the Core Leadership Team, one of the vital pieces for the North Texas Conference.   What does the Core Leadership Team do?   The Core Leadership Team functions as the board of directors of the North Texas Conference. On one hand, we have a...

MISSIONS: POSSIBLE

Your volunteer work, should you accept to do it, involves helping people in the conference and beyond By LARRY GEORGE Center for Missional Outreach Which comes first in the life of a Christian disciple – being or doing? That has been a source of debate for generations. Through the Center for Missional Outreach, we have reframed the question: “If the two are divided – being and doing in Christ’s name – can discipleship be whole?” And we have answered...

Superintendent Guttierrez retiring after 47 years

By SHERON C. PATTERSON Editor After 47 years of distinguished ministry, the Rev. Milton Guttierrez will retire at the 2011 North Texas Annual Conference Session. Rev. Guttierrez currently serves as superintendent of the North Central District and holds the honor of serving as dean of Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe’s Cabinet. Prior to this appointment, Rev. Guttierrez led the former Dallas South District as Superintendent for four years. In June, he will join the staff of Suncreek UMC in...

Author says that prayer is 'like singing a song to God'

The Rev. Kwame O. Lartey, a retired North Texas clergyman, has written a book on prayer titled Fervent and Effective Prayers. It is a revision of an original prayer book written in 1738 and leads the reader through written morning and evening prayers for seven days. Along with the prayers, Scriptures are to be recited prayerfully. Additionally, reflection questions that begin and end each day guide the reader into deeper contemplation. A few of the questions are: “Did I think of God...

Missions:Possible

  by Joan LaBarr Texas burnt orange and Aggie maroon blended in provided a staging space and hospitality for perfect harmony over two weekends in April for the 14th annual North Texas Conference Amigos Days. Even the weather cooperated.   Warren UMC, Pleasant Mound/Urban Park UMC and Oak Cliff UMC, were a beehive of Amigos Days brings together church members to make repairs to homes through Dallas’ People Helping People initiative, which works with the city of Dallas...