Thank you from UMW Rio Texas President Grace Perez

I wish to express my sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the “Call to Action” organized by United Methodist Women last week at Annual Conference. Many items were received, including cash and gift cards. We appreciate your efforts to help make the lives of those families traveling long distances a little bit better. 

Items were turned over to Michael Smith, Holding Institute, Laredo, and Susan Hellums from El Valle District who will take them to the Good Neighbor Settlement House in Brownsville. 

If at any time you would like to send other items such as socks, underwear, t-shirts, bras, or other clothing directly to Holding Institute or Good Neighbor Settlement House, please feel free to do so. 

Once again, many thanks. May God continue to bless each and every one of you as we continue to serve in this important ministry.

Grace M. Perez 
President, Rio Texas Conference UMW 

UMW Call to Action at Annual Conference 2019: Donate Items for Migrants

The Good Neighbor Settlement House is a non-profit multi-service agency in Brownsville Texas serving needy men, women and children by providing the basic necessities of life such as food, clothing, showers and hot meals. Today, they offer respite to migrant asylee seekers daily.

Members of the Rio Texas Conference United Methodist Women are collecting tote bags filled with hygiene items for Holding Institute in Laredo and Good Neighbor Settlement House in Brownsville. These two centers are National Mission Institutions and are trying to respond to the needs of hundreds of migrants arriving daily.

Everyone is invited to participate in this project. Please bring your bags to the Mission Breakfast on Friday morning or the UMW Luncheon on Friday at noon. UMW will accept donations at their display table in the exhibit hall.

If you are not attending Annual Conference, you may send your bags with your clergy or lay delegates.

These are the most-needed items: 

·       Shampoo

·       Wash cloths

·       Bath soap/body wash

·       Lotion

·       Toothpaste/toothbrushes

·       Chapstick

·       Deodorant (women and men)

·       Hairbrush

·       Band aids

·       Disposable razors

·       Wet wipes

·       Feminine pads

·       Kleenex  

·       Tote bags

·       Non-perishable snacks

Travel sizes are also acceptable.

Gift cards to Walmart and Target are also accepted.

Please contact Rio Texas Conference President Grace Perez with any questions.

Located in downtown Laredo, Texas, Holding Institute is in covenant relationship with the United Methodist Women and in collaboration with other community partners, we are responding to the needs of women, children, youth, and families. Holding Institute hosts 40 to 60 migrant asylum seekers weekly. Lately, upwards of 100 persons have been sleeping at Holding nightly.

Light on the Hill @ Mount Wesley is Mount Wesley Re-Imagined

The new programming dream for Mount Wesley Conference Center, Light on The Hill @ Mount Wesley (LOTH) is taking shape! LOTH is infusing new life and ministries into the Kerrville campus. Families & Literacy was among the first ministry partners to offer services at LOTH. The first graduating GED and ESL classes received their certificates in early May.

Other ministries on the LOTH campus are Kerr-Konnect, Mustard Seed Food Pantry, Methodist Healthcare’s Wesley Nurse program, Education & Exercise Center and Nutrition Center. These ministries combine to provide hope and a hand up for people in Kerrville and the six surrounding counties.

LOTH is a non-profit corporation whose Board of Directors come from both the Kerrville Community and the Rio Texas Conference Board of Trustees. At Annual Conference, the delegates will be asked to vote to accept a long-term lease agreement with LOTH.

The Rio Texas Conference Board of Trustees views this as the best path to honor the legacy of Mount Wesley and assure its continued viability as a fruitful ministry. This vision was born out of the work of the Mount Wesley Oversight Team and strategic partners that include First UMC: Kerrville, and Methodist Healthcare Ministries.

Does your church have a Youth Director or are you a Youth Director who would benefit from Theological Education? CYMT can help!

The Center for Youth Ministry Training (CYMT) is entering into its fourth year in Texas!  For the past thirteen years, CYMT has trained over 100 youth ministers in the Southeast. 

“The Center for Youth Ministry Training is excited to bring our ministry of developing theologically informed and practically effective youth ministries to Texas. We have had tremendous success in the Southeast developing sustainable, effective youth ministries and are excited about doing the same in Texas,” stated Dietrich Kirk, CYMT’s Executive Director. 

In today’s world, good youth ministry requires more than just games and guitars.  For youth to experience a life-changing faith, they need an intentional community of teens and adults where they have a personal encounter with God, are encouraged to understand God’s purpose for their lives and find hope in the intersection of their story with God’s bigger story.  

If your church has a youth director, or you are currently working in youth ministry at a church, and would like more practical training and theological education, the CYMT Training-Only program is for you. Residents in the Training-Only program are given the opportunity to earn their Master of Arts in Youth Ministry degree through a unique intensive-based curriculum format in partnership with Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

We are currently accepting applications from Churches and Residents for our Texas Regional Campus. Applications will be accepted through June 15th space permitting.

For more information please contact Teresa Kingsbury, CYMT’s Texas Regional Director at teresa@cymt.org or (512) 960-2989.  You can learn all about the CYMT Graduate Residency program at www.cymt.org. 

Conference Names Harvest Sunday Champion Diana Woods, Collection is Nov 3

The Transforming Communities Vision Team has appointed Diana Woods to serve as the Rio Texas Conference HARVEST SUNDAY champion. As a means of promoting this annual offering, the Harvest Sunday Initiative Group, led by Diana and under guidance by The Transforming Communities Vision Team, will coordinate promotion and publicity for the 2019 Harvest Sunday offering.

Diana Woods is a consecrated Deaconess through the Office of Deaconesses and Home Missioners, serving the Rio Texas Conference. Her appointed ministry addresses poverty and hunger in the northern Hays County area, primarily among the rural poor, elderly, and first-generation immigrant families. Diana graduated from Texas State University with a Bachelor of Social Work and a Master's of Public Administration. She served as the Hill Country District United Methodist Women's President as well as Mission Coordinator for Education and Interpretation. She previously worked as a social worker in public housing and in disability programs for the Social Security Administration. She is a member of Buda United Methodist Church where she previously served as Lay Leader and President of the United Methodist Women's Group.

Soon to be published in the upcoming Pre-Conference Journal, the Harvest Sunday Initiative Group will be recommending the following for approval by the 2019 Annual Conference:

That, Sunday, November 3, 2019, be recognized as the date of participation by local congregations in the Harvest Sunday Offering.

That, acknowledgement be given to congregations for their action toward meeting United Methodist goals of “engaging in ministry with the poor” and “combating the diseases of poverty by improving health globally.” One of the four areas of mission focus for the church is Ministry With the Poor. In the gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, we hear the biblical mandate to care for those in need: "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me." – re: www.umc.org

That, distribution of 2019 Harvest Sunday offering funds shall be as follows:

1.) 1/3 of totals collected, will be allocated for hunger initiative projects along the Texas-Mexico border areas that are situated, and served within the El Valle, Hill Country, Las Misiones and West Districts.

2.) 1/3 of totals collected will be returned to participating districts. Funds would be distributed, in consultation with district mission committees. Projects that seek ministry with, and, address root causes of poverty, would be of priority.

3.) 1/3 of totals collected, will be equally allocated among 5 Global Ministry Advance Projects with focus on food security and economic empowerment to be determined by the Harvest Sunday Initiative Group with concurrence by The Transforming Communities Vision Team

A message from Robert Schnase, Bishop of the Rio Texas Annual Conference

En Espanol

Dear members, pastors, and friends of the Rio Texas Conference,

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Many of you anxiously followed the proceedings from the Special Called Session of General Conference in St. Louis. These past few days have been emotionally difficult for every one of us. My heart broke watching fellow United Methodists fail to find a new path forward that breaks through the impasse that we’ve experienced in our church over the past 47 years over LGBTQ inclusion. We had many difficult and public conversations about issues that are tied to our identities as United Methodists, as Christians, and as children of God.

For those of you who have not followed the details, I offer a brief explanation of what happened over four days in St. Louis. After a full day of prayer, the 864 delegates from across the global church received the report of the Commission on a Way Forward, including the One Church Plan (which was recommended by the Council of Bishops), the Connectional Conference Plan, and the Traditional Plan. The General Conference decided to give priority focus to the Traditional Plan and the One Church Plan. After two days of debate, the One Church Plan was defeated, and the Traditional Plan was supported by a vote of 53% to 47%. The Traditional Plan keeps the current language regarding homosexuality in the Book of Discipline, and streamlines the processes to enforce penalties for violations related to marriage and ordination of LGBTQ persons. A number of elements of the Traditional Plan, however, were ​have been found unconstitutional by the Judicial Council ​and the whole plan will be reviewed again at the council's meeting in April. This means some or all of what was approved may not actually take effect. During the weeks to come, I’ll be meeting with various groups to process what the decisions mean for us.

So, what does all this mean for the mission of Christ through the churches and people of the Rio Texas Conference?

First, I continue to count it an honor to serve as a Bishop of the United Methodist Church, and especially of the Rio Texas Conference. My task is to help us order our life together as a conference and to focus our work on the mission of Christ.  No matter how you may feel about the decisions of the General Conference or whether you agree with or are hurt by the outcome, we are still in ministry together. All of us are valued parts of the body of Christ. Our lives and ministries are interwoven by the Holy Spirit, and not by decisions made at General Conference. As bishop, I offer all my prayers and efforts to include and foster the ministries of every person seeking to serve Christ. No matter how you are feeling about the conversations going on at the global level of our denomination, I want you to know that every one of us and everyone we serve are of infinite value and matchless worth in God’s eyes. No denominational legislation will ever change that fact.

Second, I ask us not to underestimate the pain that is felt by many of our brothers and sisters in this moment. Many people feel hurt, betrayed, and excluded by the decisions made at General Conference. Please pray for those most personally affected. Within every congregation in our Conference, there are people for whom this conversation is not an abstract debate, but rather a conversation that affects lives dear to us—sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, co-workers and neighbors. A great number of people from the LGBTQ community are committed, faithful United Methodists. This is a tender time in the life of our church, a time especially to bear with one another in love with all humility and gentleness. (Ephesians 4:2)

Third, we still have much important work to do together. While we were gathered in St. Louis, the need for a faithful United Methodist witness in Rio Texas has only grown greater. Across our annual conference, there are multitudes that need to hear and witness the love of God in their lives and communities. While we debated plans and passed motions, our members and churches have been continuing the good work of reaching out to new people in new ways. Our disaster response network continues to bring hope to those lives devastated by Hurricane Harvey and other natural disasters. Our churches and partners continue to respond to the humanitarian crisis at our border. Our congregations continue to seek fresh expressions of the Gospel, reaching out into our communities and experimenting with new ways to go where people are to connect them with the good news of Christ.

I realize that, for some, these words will ring hollow. Many of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters question whether there is truly a place for them in our church, and many of our traditionalist brothers and sisters feel anxious. But I want to invite everyone—whether or not you agree with the decisions of General Conference—to help us forge a way forward together in Christ as an annual conference.

“Let’s not get tired of doing good, because in time we’ll have a harvest if we don’t give up.”  Galatians 6:9

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13: 34-35.

Join me in prayer that we might continue to bear witness to the love of Jesus Christ in our churches, communities, and throughout Rio Texas.

Yours in Christ,

Robert Schnase, Bishop
The Rio Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church