Bonner Named Representative for SCJ OCUIR

Mr. Byrd Bonner of Travis Park UMC, San Antonio was named lay South Central Jurisdictional representative for the United Methodist Council of Bishops Office of Christian Unity and Interreligious Relationships (OCUIR) at an Atlanta meeting on Feb. 7-8.

Members of the OCUIR includes one lay or clergy from each jurisdiction in the USA, one lay or clergy from Europe, Africa and Asia, two ecumenical members, and four bishops. Byrd will represent the South Central Jurisdiction.

“The Ecumenical Movement and the Unity of the Body of Christ are at the heart of my walk with Christ,” said Byrd. “Our world and our Church have perhaps never seen a more needful time for interfaith understanding and relationship. I am honored to be asked to be a part of this journey through the coming quadrennium.”

Conference Seeks Coordinator for Volunteers In Mission

April Update: This position has been filled. Thank you for your consideration and your prayers. 

The Office of Outreach Vitality / Mission Vitality Center seeks a volunteer who will coordinate the Volunteers-In-Mission [VIM] ministries of the annual conference in cooperation with the General Board of Global Ministries mission volunteers’ office and the jurisdictional Volunteer-In-Mission office.

The coordinator will work through and receive administrative support from the conference Mission Vitality Center - Office of Outreach Vitality and the Transforming Communities Vision Team. Volunteers-In-Mission is a grassroots movement within the United Methodist Church designed to provide an official channel whereby Christians, both lay and clergy, may offer their skills and talents for Christian service at home and around the world on short term assignments at their own expense.

For more information and an application, please click here

Click here for more information about UMVIM

If you have a question or a comment, please contact Shelly Kennerdell, Outreach Vitality Office, at skennerdell@riotexas.org

Annual Clergy Convocation Focuses on Crossing Borders

Robert Schnase, Bishop of the Rio Texas Annual Conference, addresses the gathered clergy at the 2017 Clergy Convocation.

Over 350 pastors gathered at Mount Wesley last week for the annual Rio Texas Clergy Convocation. Ordained elders, deacons, local pastors and commissioned members were present for two days of worship, teaching and fellowship led by Robert Schnase, Bishop of the Rio Texas Annual Conference.

Dasub Han, Pastor of Faith United Church in Woodsboro shares his experience of crossing borders.

This year's theme was "Border Crossings." It was centered around stories shared by the bishop of his time growing up and working on the border. Pastors also shared their experiences of border crossing ministries and opportunities to cross. Physical borders as well as other boundaries to fruitful ministry were discussed.

When asked about this year's theme, Schnase said "The grace of God is borderless. Border Crossing seemed to offer a great metaphor for the many social, cultural, ethnic, age, and language borders we're called to cross in our following Christ."

Abel Steward, Director of Contemporary Worship at Northern Hills UMC in San Antonio, leads that gathering in song.

It was a time of profound worship led by Abel Stewart, Director of Contemporary Worship at Northern Hills UMC and his group of pastors who have been leading worship together since their seminary days.

Reflecting on the experience, Schnase said, "I thoroughly enjoyed the great conversations, the positive spirit, the excellent worship, and the deep sense of community at this year's convocation.  My thanks to all those who planned, led, and attended."

El Valle District Superintendent, Robert Lopez, shares a moment of fun with Rev. Laura Heikes, Senior Pastor of Bee Creek UMC.

Volunteers Needed in Laredo Saturday

April Update: Volunteers are not needed at this time. Thank you for your prayers. 

Twenty to 30 volunteers are needed this Saturday, February 4, at the First UMC Laredo to help sort two trailer loads of supplies that have arrived to assist Cuban refugees who are stranded in Nuevo Laredo. The supplies are from Cuban American communities in response to the humanitarian crises that occurred when the special status of Cuban refugees was discontinued by President Obama several weeks ago [CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS ISSUE]. The exact number of people stranded is not known but it is estimated to be between one and two thousand.  

Two churches in Nuevo Laredo are providing kitchens to prepare food.  The items to be sorted will be carried across the border to supply the kitchens as it is needed. 

Volunteers are being asked to come to Laredo on Saturday.  Those from San Antonio and points south will drive down Saturday morning and return Saturday evening.  Space is available at First UMC Laredo for those wishing to spend Friday or Saturday night.  

Volunteers will work in Laredo.  They are not being asked to cross the border so no passport will be required. No training is required.  Youth are welcome.

Contact:

Eugene Hileman
Disaster Response Coordinator
Rio Texas Conference
United Methodist Church
aehileman@riotexas.org
210-557-8698

Conference Offers Community Development Program

April Update: Registration has closed for the Transformational Communities of Praxis program

Through support funding from Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc., The Mission Vitality Center / Outreach Vitality Office & Transforming Communities Vision Team announces the Transformational Communities of Praxis program.

Applications are now being accepted for the first class of the program. The program is looking for church and community resident teams to participate in learning processes in Asset-Based Community Development [ABCD]. Class-size is limited to four teams.

Over a one-year period, participants will gain training, knowledge, and application of asset based community development. The participants will also learn ABCD process and methods, facilitation techniques, action planning and application, identifying underlying contradictions and challenges within communities, and the understanding of Missio Dei – the mission or sending of God.  

The Transformational Communities of Praxis program is designed for a 5 – person church and community resident ministry team to begin the process of community development with the end goal in mind of effecting measurable transformation within a given community. It is hoped that through this program, models of ministries applying community development principles and processes will emerge to serve as reference points and even teaching centers of spiritual transformation within the church and community.

The Ministry Team application deadline is Monday, March 13, 2017. Click here to download PROGRAM INFORMATION & APPLICATION FORM.

For more information or questions, contact the Mission Vitality Center / Outreach Vitality Office at 210.408.4514 or avega@riotexas.org / skennerdell@riotexas.org. Teams accepted into the program will receive notice on April 5, 2017. 

Click Here for additional information about the TCOP program
 

Mount Wesley Facilities to Receive Upgrades and Renovations

Mount Wesley, the retreat and conference center located in the heart of the Hill Country in Kerrville, will finally be receiving some much-needed renovations and additions to the facilities. 
 
The first addition will be the creation of the new “welcome” center. It will be located in the what was known as the "old office." The purpose of this space is to house guest relations. It will also hold a new gift shop. 
 
The Worship Center will be equipped with new chairs and an updated sound system. Some of the original pews have already been repurposed to local churches. For those who have fond memories of the old seating, there will be an opportunity to claim some of the small pews. Between February 15th and June 1 you can claim one for a donation. Contact Christian Moore at cmoore@riotexas.org to claim your pew.

The Wilson building, one of Mount Wesley's most used spaces, is being completely renovated inside with new ADA compliant restrooms. The “slab” will be removed to make room for a new structure, which will be designed at a later time. 

Mount Wesley has faced numerous challenges and changes over the last several years. Over the last several months, the Mount Wesley Advisory Team (with the assistance of Camp Director Christian Moore) has begun a process of finding a path forward that addresses many of the realities that are faced by the camp. These renovations will help address those challenges. 
 
“As we seek to fulfill God's calling for ministry at Mount Wesley, we recognize that we must be active and fruitful stewards of the resources that we have been gifted to help facilitate that ministry,” said Moore. “This first phase of renovations takes several worship and meeting spaces in the ‘core campus’ and updates them to better meet the needs of our guests.”

Bishop Woodie White to Keynote San Antonio Martin Luther King, Jr. Interfaith Service

A wide cross-section of the religious and civic community of San Antonio will be reflected at the 30th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., City-wide Interfaith Worship Service to be held Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017, at 4 p.m., at the New Creation Christian Fellowship at 8700 Fourwinds Drive in San Antonio. The event is hosted by the MLK Commission of San Antonio; all are invited and welcomed to attend. The service includes members of the Muslim, Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, and Baha’i communities. 

Guest speaker for the event is United Methodist Bishop Woodie W. White, retired bishop-in-residence at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. An active leader in the Civil Rights Movement, every January he writes a “birthday letter” to Martin Luther King, Jr., chronicling the strides and missteps in matters of race during the previous year. White has also written extensively for both popular and scholarly publications. Each year, White also takes seminary students to Selma, Alabama to participate in the annual march across Edmund Pettus Bridge in commemoration of “Bloody Sunday.” 

The gathering will feature praise and reflective dance from members of the Arathi School of Indian Dance and Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, hymns from the combined choirs of San Antonio Presbyterian churches, Sikh chant, Buddhist chant, and the blowing of the Shofar (ram’s horn) from a representative of Temple Beth-El; among other activities. 

Proceeds from an offertory collected at the gathering will be used to benefit the MLK Scholarship Fund. The event traditionally concludes with the powerful singing of, “We Shall Overcome.” Following the worship service, a reception will be held in the Fellowship gymnasium, where attendees can view an MLK Exhibit from Allee A Wallace and listen to music by the Raindrop Ensemble from Turkish House. The interfaith gathering precedes the city-sponsored MLK, Jr. Commission yearly march and commemorative program, which is held the following day.
 

Letter from Conference Secretary: 3rd Rio Texas Annual Conference

En español      

3rd Rio Texas Annual Conference
June 7-June 10, 2017
Corpus Christi, TX

The 3rd Session of The Rio Texas Annual Conference will be held June 7-10, 2017 at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi. This year's theme is "Focus on Fruitfulness." The conference will open Wednesday evening with worship to inspire and ground us as spiritual leaders from across the conference. During the three days, we will dialogue with one another, learn from one another, pray and worship together, and be renewed and inspired for the work to which Christ is calling us.
 
We are excited to announce that the Rev. Adam Hamilton, author, and pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas will be our conference teacher. Rev. Hamilton will teach three ninety-minute sessions during our plenary time.

This year's service of commissioning, ordination and recognition will take place on Friday evening. Annual Conference will end at noon, Saturday, June 10, 2017, with the fixing of appointments and sending forth. 

Together the faith leaders of the Rio Texas Annual Conference will be formed to boldly follow Jesus Christ with excellence and fruitfulness.
 
There will be more details to come through Unidos and riotexas.org.

Mickey T. McCandless
Rio Texas Conference Secretary

From the Moderators of the Commission on a Way Forward

Dear Friends in Christ,

It is Advent, the season of expectation, preparation, and new birth. This Advent season seems more poignant this year than in years past in the midst of beginning the work with the Commission on a Way Forward.

The church is in a high state of expectation, similar to the time of John the Baptist when expectant people flocked to the Jordan for John’s message of repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sin (Matthew 3). Expectant people experienced in the strange and unusual presence and message of John what they perceived as a divine intersection. They listened as John bore witness to the light and life that was in the midst of them, but not yet fully known. He told them that the movement they were experiencing was not about him or about them, but about someone coming after him that would baptize them with the Spirit and with fire. This judgment was not so much about what they had done right or wrong, as God's desire to get them into alignment with the coming of Jesus. This baptism would lead to new life and they needed to be ready.

People are expectantly waiting, preparing for the new thing, the new life that God will bring through the church today. The external cleansing and the inner fire come together to wash and purge us of our self-righteousness and cynicism, prejudice and apathy. Again, in this season, we need to prepare, and to be expectantly ready for God’s movement, Christ’s new birth in our hearts and in the life of the church in this time and within our global context.

The members of the Commission and its moderators are in a time of preparation and we are expectant. We are seeking the arrival, emergence, appearance of Christ’s presence and the direction, movement of God’s Spirit and fire among us in a new way. Visas are in process. Meeting locations are being set. Conversations about collaboration are taking place. “Praying our way forward” is helping set the ground work not only for the commission, but the work that each of us will need to do in order to perceive and ultimately receive the new birth that Christ seeks to bring to our present as well as our future.

The Commission will come together by conference call in about a week primarily to pray. Each of the Commission members will spend time sharing prayer for our process. What prayers are you writing and sharing as we seek to bear witness to the movement of God’s Spirit among us? The members of the Commission are each being asked to share a scripture that will guide the work of the Commission individually and corporately. What scripture are you meditating on, using to guide the examination and preparation for the new birth of Christ in your life and in the life of The United Methodist Church?

People of faith, God is here and God is searching us out (Psalm 139) so that our Savior may be seen and heard and touched through us. God is here and searching us out so that others, as well as we ourselves, might be raised from struggle and discord to a new way and a new life!

The God who is light in the midst of shadow, the God who shows love and destroys hate, the God who searches without end, the God who overcomes death with life, the God whose Son is working to bring peace through us, this God is with us (Matthew 1. 23) in the work of the Commission and in our preparation for Christ to be born anew through us and in the ministry and mission of The United Methodist Church!

In this Advent season, there is no better time for us to allow Christ to be born anew in each of us! As we allow Christ to be reborn in us, God’s Spirit will fill us in ways that we can be the presence of Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, to a world that desperately needs to see and hear Jesus! Our prayer is that each of us will intentionally search for and prepare for Christ to be born anew in us, so that together, we might be the Body of Christ that brings God’s life, hope, love, joy and peace to all people, to the nations to which Christ commissioned his disciples to go!

Bishop David Yemba
Bishop Sandra Steiner Bal
Bishop Ken Carter

UM Army Releases New Camp Dates

UMC students and families who need service hours or volunteer opportunities will have their chance thanks to the upcoming UM Army season. UM Army announced new mission opportunities for middle, high school and college students for Summer 2017.

There is even a UM Army especially for families wanting to grow their spiritual bond.

UM Army is a mission-based organization that brings together students and churches to do home repairs such as constructing handicap access ramps and painting old homes. Students will be housed at local UMC’s and transported to homes in need of improvements and beautification.

Rio Texas churches can send youth teams as small as two and as big as 50 or more to UM Army.

Volunteers are also needed to help supervise the projects.

For more information please visit riotx.umarmy.org or contact Jenny Monahan at jennymonahan@umarmy.org

There are several types of Mission opportunities.

Update Feb. 1, 2017: Online Registration is NOW available. Click Here to register

High School UM ARMY:

• Camps run Sunday-Saturday
• Takes place June and July
• For students grades 9-12
• Sites are made up of community residents who need help with home repairs and upkeep
• Client Night – UM Army invites those whom we have served to a dinner at our host church and they are given the opportunity to speak to the young people about what their service has meant. (Definitely a highlight of the week!)
• Prayer Stations
• Youth Advisory Board Member
• Cost is $250/participant
• 4 mission weeks available
• Lockhart FUMC; June 18-24
• LaGrange FUMC; June 25-July 1
• Brackettville; FUMC July 16-22

Homefront UM Army:

• Camps run Sunday-Saturday
• Takes place May 21-27, 2017
• College students and young adults
• Provide home repairs for residents
• Participants transform neighborhoods
• Cost is $250/participant
• Deeper service to community beyond worksites
• Disc Golf tournament to offset camp registration fees by $100 for all the past two years!

UM Army Basic:

• Camps run Sunday-Thursday
• Takes place June and July
• Sites include nonprofit organizations and churches
• Students grade 6-8
• Cost is $200/participant
• Prayer Stations
• Youth Advisory Board Members
• 3 mission weeks available
• Dates:
• BASIC @ Rockport FUMC; June 11-15, 2017
• BASIC @ Dripping Springs UMC; June 25-29, 2017
• BASIC @ San Angelo FUMC; July 16-20, 2017

UM Army Family:

• Camps run Saturday-Wednesday
• July 1-5 at Cathedral Oaks Retreat Center
• Separate rooms for families with young children
• All families are welcome from young to old
• 2 tracks at camp
• One large site
• Cost is $200/person for sixth grade through adults
• Cost is $150 for kids 3 years old through fifth grade
• Children 2 years and under are no cost
• Family friendly hometown 4th of July celebration

UM Army mixed age:

• Camps run Sunday-Saturday
• June 11-17, 2017 in Austin
• Middle and High School Youth
• Combining Urban Ministry with traditional UM Army Sites
• Cost is $250/participant
• Evening programs will include outreach and celebration with folks in local community

Below is the full chronological list of 2016-17 UM Army dates:

• UM ARMY Homefront @ Asbury UMC in Corpus Christi; May 21-27, 2017
• BASIC @ Rockport FUMC; June 11-15, 2017
• UM ARMY Mixed Age in Austin; June 11-17, 2017
• UM ARMY @ Lockhart FUMC; June 18-24, 2017
• BASIC @ Dripping Springs UMC; June 25-29, 2017
• UM ARMY @ La Grange FUMC; June 25-July 1, 2017
• UM ARMY Family @ Cathedral Oaks; July 1-5, 2017
• BASIC @ San Angelo FUMC; July 16-20, 2017
• UM ARMY @ Brackettville FUMC; July 16-22, 2017