News

INM Blog Updates Watch here for regular blog updates on the Imagine No Malaria initiative in the Central Texas Conference. Jeremy Kasper, field representative for Imagine No Malaria, has been visiting with local churches across the conference area and will be sharing details on the advancements our churches are making. http://www.imaginenomalaria.org/2011/03/15/are-you-connected/   Imagine No Malaria Lenten Devotional With the Conference’s emphasis on Imagine No Malaria, this opportunity for ...

Rewritten March 1, 2011 “God Is Big Enough” is the message twin brothers Revs. Mike and Steve Ramsdell shared as one of them was undergoing treatment for cancer last year. They had no idea the message would travel around the world and change so many people’s lives. This special message began with Waco First United Methodist Church where Steve serves as senior pastor, according to his brother Mike who is at Mansfield First United Methodist Church. “Steve got the idea when he was undergoing ...

Crime victims may be among those who take the deepest cuts as Texas legislators try to eliminate an estimated $27 billion shortfall. Although the budget battle is just beginning, the consequences could be dire for state victim services as legislators scrutinize the $3 billion Texas Department of Criminal Justice budget. The House appropriations bill does away with all funding and staffing for the $2 million Victim Services Division. The Senate bill calls for cutting its budget almost in half. “I...

Purchasing Eco-Palms benefits the environment, empowers small-scale farmers and creates local jobs while helping rural communities prosper. The harvesting of Eco-Palms preserves the vitality of forests in places like Guatemala and lessens the risk of these forests from being converted into agricultural fields.   Buying Eco-palms directly from the grower eliminates the need for a contractor and allows for more money to stay within harvesting communities. It also increases employment ...

Lay Speakers’ 8th Annual Meeting Convenes Feb. 25-27 at Glen Lake Each year the Lay Speaker Ministries offers an introduction to lay speaking and opportunities for lay persons to further their education and to fulfill requirements for continuing certification. The Lay Speaker Annual Meeting prepares lay speakers for service with training courses and certification for areas of ministry such as leading meetings, prayers and study programs, assisting in worship services and providing support to ...

An Invitation from Bishop Mike Lowry: Jolynn and I would like to invite you (clergy and laity) to join us for 9 incredible days exploring John Wesley’s England. I have become even more certain that it is vital that we better understand the Wesleyan way of faith development so that we might more effectively become the church that God calls us to be in the 21st century. The trip departs Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport for London on July 13. The basic price of the tour is $2,698 plus the ...

By Rev. Gary Lindley Executive Director for Church Growth & Development For more than 30 years, United Methodists throughout the Central Texas Annual Conference have invested in Church Growth SHARES to start new churches. These investments are paying high dividends in 2010. In May, Wesley United Methodist Church — Ghanaian Community of Faith — began in Arlington with the help of SHARE funds. The church is primarily serving those who have immigrated here from the West African nation of Ghana. ...

Throughout our lives — no matter what our circumstances — most people have an overwhelming desire to be useful and to help others. It’s that desire and her faith that have driven Susan Smith, who turns 90 on Jan. 7, to organize a craft group that has produced 530 hand-crafted items for people in need over the last year. The group of 25 participants are residents at Wesleyan Homes, Inc. in Georgetown (Temple District). They add to their numbers one Wesleyan visitor from Minnesota who donated her ...

Christmas greetings from your conference staff: (front row l-r) Rev. Gary Lindley, Carol Roszell, Rev. Karen Granderson, Lisa McCutcheon, Carolyn Stephens; (second row l-r) Vicki Eldredge, Susan Briles, Dr. Georgia Adamson, MaDora Ratliff, Shawn Marie Riley, Pattie Wood; (back row l-r) David Stinson, Krystle Robert, Rev. Henry Radde, Rev. Harvey Ozmer. Not pictured are Bishop Mike Lowry, Tracy Dean, Jeff Jones, Rev. Kay Hawkins, Joy Roberson, Catherine Simpson.

A Message from Bishop Mike Lowry   I am pleased to announce the Center Directors for the Central Texas Conference. They will be taking office at the Annual Conference session in June 2011 (appointment effective date of June 1, 2011).             • Assistant to the Bishop and Executive Director of the Center for Leadership:             Dr. Georgia Adamson               • District Superintendent for New Church Starts and Executive Director of the Center for Evangelism & Church Growth:          ...

Group registration is now open for Central Texas Conference churches planning to join a CTCYM mission project next summer. Registration brochures and forms were sent to every church in October. Leaders can also download a registration form at www.ctcym.org. A $100 deposit per trip is due by Thursday, Dec. 9. Add a $50 late fee for group registrations postmarked after Dec. 9. Group registration will close Thursday, Jan. 6. Once a group is registered, leaders will receive more detailed ...

 

Members at First United Methodist Church in Cleburne put a new twist on brown bagging it last Saturday, Nov. 20, as part of their mission to rethink church in the Cleburne community. “We have really taken a risky step forward in rethinking how we are the church in our community,” states Mauri Ford, director of outreach ministry. Church volunteers donated, assembled and gave away nearly 200 free Thanksgiving meal brown bags as part of what felt more like a neighborhood outdoor picnic than a ...

Community is grateful for First Killeen’s wreaths for vets. See links for 2 articles. http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/275296/volunteers-craft-holiday-wreaths-for-fallen-soldiers   http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=46620  

A rogue Mosquito Man invaded the 2010 Annual Conference last June to challenge Central Texas Conference congregations to join in the Imagine No Malaria worldwide fight to stamp out malaria by 2015.             Altogether the conference committed to raising $140,000 — an amount very close to the goal of $1 per member or $164,400 — in the Imagine No Malaria campaign. About $35,000 came in cash donations at Annual Conference and another approximately $105,000 came in pledges. Most of those pledges ...

A total of 632 members at the Called Session last Saturday, Nov. 13, gave a resounding, close to 100 percent vote of support for the Central Texas Conference’s new alignment plan. The Exodus Project: A Transformational Roadmap for a Church in Transition was the single item of business on the Called Session agenda, and members meeting at First United Methodist Church of Mansfield took just over two hours to complete their task. In a statement during the opening worship, Bishop Mike Lowry referred...

The cold wind will not blow through the cracks and holes of the Curry house this winter. The frigid air will look for a place to enter, but it will be stopped because of the work of a team of volunteers to the Red Bird Mission. The construction team from the Central Texas Conference consisted of nine women and one very patient man. The team arrived at Red Bird Mission in Beverly, Ky., on Oct. 3 after a day of travel from their respective churches in Arlington, Benbrook, Burleson, Cleburne, Acton...

The cold wind will not blow through the cracks and holes of the Curry house this winter. The frigid air will look for a place to enter, but it will be stopped because of the work of a team of volunteers to the Red Bird Mission. The construction team from the Central Texas Conference consisted of nine women and one very patient man. The team arrived at Red Bird Mission in Beverly, Ky., on Oct. 3 after a day of travel from their respective churches in Arlington, Benbrook, Burleson, Cleburne, Acton...

Mission in Haiti By Rev. Laraine Waughtal Central Texas Conference Disaster Response Coordinator & Pastor at Bluff Dale and Morgan Mill United Methodist Churches   Friday 10-15-10 | We Will Return Our final day in Haiti was a wonderful and heartbreaking experience like so many other days. We went to Grace Children's Hospital, which was founded in 1967 and is recognized as Haiti's leading medical institution. It is the flagship ministry of International Child Care. The United Methodist Church ...

Now available to review and download is the Central Texas Conference alignment proposal, The Exodus Project: A Transformational Roadmap for a Church in Transition. Members will vote on the proposal at the Nov. 13 called session. Click here, for the Conference Alignment Proposal, The Exodus Project.