Check out this slideshow of El Divino Redentor UMC, St. Mark's UMC and First UMC McAllen serve their communities!
The first half features El Divino Redentor UMC and their food pantry, and the second video shows all three churches participating in the SOS "Save our Schools" program to help beautify schools in the McAllen ISD!
Special thank you to Carlos Hinojosa for providing the videos!
As we move into this season of church and charge conferences, there are congregations that welcome this time of year as an opportunity to celebrate what a year of successes and eagerly plan for the future. However, far too many of our churches reluctantly enter this season, seeing it as a struggle to come to grips with a year of failures past and a questionable year to come.
“Our church could do so much better, if only the Bishop would send us a better pastor!” After more than two decades serving the United Methodist Church, I have encountered this concern more than that of any other. Even the absolute best pastors offer no guarantee that his or her presence will be the sole remedy for a marginal or struggling church!
Time and time again, I have seen pastors who seemingly “failed” at one church move on to another congregation and helped to turn a dying church into a thriving congregation. Conversely, I have witnessed formerly successful pastors totally flop at a new church!
During my career in the military, I stressed to those under me the importance of NOT designating a “most important person” in an organization…and this includes the church! Whether it is the pastor, lay leader, or even the music director, every part of the Body of Christ is of critical value. The scriptures remind us of the unity of the Body and the value of its various components. We, the Church, have need in every part…lay, as well as clergy! And, I portend that any church that fails to understand this simple fact will not reach its full potential.
Pssst…. Just in case you are wondering, there are, indeed, pastors who say, “I could do so much better, if only the Bishop would send me to a better church!”
Our pastors (as wells district superintendents and bishops) bring with them the components of preaching and teaching the Word, providing pastoral care and counsel, administering the sacraments, and ordering the life of the church for service in mission and ministry. The ministry of the laity is the work of mission or ministry to which each believer is called. As Christians we are all called to this ministry or priesthood – not just clergy. Each of us has a responsibility to proclaim the Good News and reach out to others in love.
To that end, I challenge all of our churches to create or expand opportunities for laity of all ages to train for and function in roles of leadership and service in worship, discipleship, Christian formation, administration, evangelism, and ministry. I am certain that EVERY congregation has a wealth of untapped gifts and graces that are just waiting for the opportunity to make a difference!
Accordingly, the Lay Leadership Team of the Rio Texas Board of Laity has adopted a 2017 focus of helping to equip, empower, and challenge our laity to be more proactive and effective as true disciples of Jesus Christ…and not merely “church-goers”. It is our vision that, through the opportunities that we’ll present to the laity, every church in the Rio Texas Annual Conference will be much better prepared to face the 2017 church/charge conference season with celebration and hope!
This letter was written by Ralph Thompson, Lay Leader for the Rio Texas Conference
A mother from Guatemala in the San Antonio Bus Depot points out to her sons the route they will take over the next several days. The route will require six bus changes.
The following is an article written by Rev. John P. Feagins of La Trinidad UMC in San Antonio. It was published in the latest edition of New World Outlook Magazine and can be found on umcmission.org
In 2014, the surge of unaccompanied children from Central America who sought entrance to the United States reached crisis proportions. All at once, tens of thousands of women and children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras migrated north to the United States. Mostly women and children, they simply crossed the Rio Grande and turned themselves in to the US Border Patrol. The event sparked national media attention and compelled San Antonio’s churches into action.
Among the overflow of migrants from Central America’s Northern Triangle were a host of unaccompanied minors. They came either to seek freedom from gang violence and human trafficking or to find their parents, who were already living in the United States. At one point, as many as 1,000 alien minors were sheltered at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. The US government contracted with local nonprofit organizations to provide basic services and care for the children held there—many of whom were not cleared to enter foster care, be adopted, or be reunited with their families.
As the community of San Antonio became fully aware of this situation, several local churches organized an Interfaith Welcome Coalition. Pressure was mounting to release the children, so the government closed the Lackland shelter and transferred the children to other installations.
During this same time, a surge of Central American women also began crossing the border with their children. Many of these refugees simply walked across the bridge and presented themselves to an immigration officer as asylum seekers. At first, such families were detained briefly at the border and then released with instructions to report to an immigration judge for an asylum hearing. In McAllen and Laredo, Texas, partnerships were formed to respond to their needs.
The government has since contracted with several for-profit corporations to build and operate a network of immigrant family prisons. Many of these prisons are located in South Texas and some are seeking licensing as day-care centers. Detention is a very profitable business. For-profit prison corporations pay generous dividends to shareholders and direct other funds to lobbyists who oppose immigration reform. Taxpayers provide these corporations with roughly $400 a day per immigrant detained.
The Rev. John Feagins (far left) with a woman and her two young sons who were reunited with her husband and other children at La Trinidad United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas. Photo: Courtesy John Feagins
Asylum seekers may wait months or even years for a hearing before an immigration judge. The detention centers create an opportunity for the government to coerce these detainees into leaving the United States before their hearings ever take place. Unauthorized (undocumented) immigrants have no right to a public defender in the United States, yet the outcomes of their hearings are greatly influenced by the quality of their legal representation. Charitable organizations, such as Justice for our Neighbors (JFON), Catholic Charities, and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), provide legal assistance when resources are available.
To be released from a private prison, immigrant families must agree to voluntary deportation—or, if they wish to stay in the United States, they must post a bond (sometimes as high as $5000) and/or agree to be fitted with a GPS ankle monitor. The GPS “shackle” must be charged twice a day and worn at all times. Equipped with a type of cell phone, it can monitor the immigrant’s location and conversations. The device visibly marks the immigrant—typically a young mother with a baby—as a parolee, even though she has not been accused or convicted of committing any crime in the United States.
When these women and children are freed from the for-profit prisons, they are often abandoned at the bus station in downtown San Antonio—at all hours of the night. Some of these immigrants speak only their indigenous language. Most emerge disoriented after weeks or months in detention, and most have never been in the United States before.
An ankle shackle monitor is applied indiscriminately to women as they are released, often without a court order. None of these women has been charged with a crime. Photo: Jeff Pearcy/UUSC
During the summer of 2015, La Trinidad United Methodist Church was approached by RAICES. The church was asked to provide on-demand emergency space to increase RAICES’ capacity to provide temporary shelter, intake, and transitional relief for some of the detained families. Transitional relief covers a family’s immediate needs during the transition from detention to family reunification, including clothing, food, hospitality, travel and lodging assistance, and a backpack.
Thanks to a grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), La Trinidad hired Rebecca Ortiz to coordinate the response at the church, the bus station, and the RAICES house shelter.
Within a few weeks, another surge of asylum seekers arrived at the border, leading to a massive release of detainees from the already overcrowded detention centers. Over 12 hours, more than 150 women and children were released and brought directly to La Trinidad UMC. The church provided them with a home-style meal, along with volunteers to play with the children while the mothers met with RAICES staff members. Other volunteers brought supplies.
La Trinidad’s guests were eager to share their experiences. Several of the families had been detained for more than six weeks. All of the women had been fitted with ankle monitors. The majority were professing Christians under 30 years of age—people we might call “Soccer Moms” in the United States. Many of them commented that they thought my youngest son was one of the detainees.
All of the women claimed to have been placed in la hielera—a crowded space kept at a temperature of about 50 degrees Fahrenheit—when they were first detained. They described this experience as being treated like “a carcass in a butcher shop.” Several spoke of harassment, abuse, and neglect of their medical needs. One child was clutching a swollen arm. On examination, we noticed that he had eight syringe punctures on one arm from vaccinations that were given to him the day of his release. Another child was suffering from a respiratory illness. A few described how family members had come to pay their bond—only to be detained in the process. The entire detention experience seems to be intended to harass and coerce the immigrants to abandon their asylum request and accept deportation.
One of the women appeared very somber. She told me that, while many wives were coming to be reunited with their husbands, her husband had been murdered by a gang. Before she fled Guatemala, she and her children had been unable to live in their home for six months. Gang members told her that, if she did not allow them to traffic her children, they would come back and kill the rest of her family. With no other option, she fled to the United States.
The Rev. Raquel Cajiri Feagins (facing the camera) and her son Vincent visit with some of the guests at La Trinidad UMC in San Antonio. Photo: John Feagins
She then asked me to show her our church sanctuary. As a woman of faith, she wanted to pray for God’s deliverance. She told me that Satan had taken her son and her husband but could not have her or her other children. After our prayer, she said that being in the temple proved to her that God had delivered her. She asked for a copy of El Aposento Alto (“The Upper Room”) and the Santa Biblia (“Holy Bible”) to carry on the rest of her journey. With tears, she thanked us for offering her family a spiritual refuge.
Through the night, several family members drove from other cities to pick up their loved ones. One woman told me that she had not seen her older children and husband for four years. The father had never met his youngest child. When her family was reunited, we wept and rejoiced with her.
If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we will learn that we have much more in common with these asylum seekers than we realize. As Christians, we are called to live into Jesus’ teaching found in Matthew 25: 35-36 (NRSV), which reads: “…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”
These families are not criminals; in fact, they are fleeing from crime. As loving Christian parents, they are willing to risk everything to live in peace, bless the land where they reside, and faithfully raise their children. We can hardly claim to love our neighbor as we love ourselves without sharing the opportunities and freedom we so often take for granted.
This work and the relationships that make it possible have opened other opportunities for La Trinidad UMC. Through a nonprofit organization called Academia América, La Trinidad UMC now serves as a site for weekly citizenship classes in both English and Spanish. Dozens of migrants have now finished the naturalization process and are preparing to vote in the upcoming elections.
The Rev. John P. Feagins is an ordained elder in the Rio Texas Annual Conference and serves as the pastor of La Trinidad United Methodist Church in San Antonio. A Texas native, fully bilingual in Spanish and English, he has served at the district and conference levels promoting mission and Hispanic ministries. John and his wife, the Rev. Raquel Cajiri Feagins, have three children. Raquel Feagins is also an ordained elder in the Rio Texas Conference and serves as chaplain for the Methodist Children’s Hospital of San Antonio.
Copyright: New World Outlook magazine, September-October 2016 issue. Used by permission.
Short mini-documentary and links covering the 50th anniversary celebrations in San Antonio TX on Labor Day 2016.
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Chapel Hill United Methodist Church is partnering with Recovery at Cokesbury Network to start Recovery at San Antonio, a 12-step program with a Christian emphasis on Sept. 15. Funding for this ministry was supported by the Mission Vitality Center New Places, New People Grant.
The ministry started when Pastor Dave Felps and his church leaders noticed a need for recovery addiction while going through the Healthy Church Initiative.
“The spur for [Recovery at San Antonio] was rewriting our vision statement,” said Felps. “We recognized we were short of reaching people in emotional distress in our community. We noticed we were the only church in a 15-mile radius that would have an addiction ministry.”
Felps heard about the New Places, New People grant from the Rio Texas Conference Unidos eNewsletter and from his colleagues. After applying for the grant, Chapel Hill UMC was awarded grants to cover parking lot lighting upgrades for the Thursday night ministry. The bulk of the funds will be used for advertisement and marketing.
“Our goal is to bring in 100 new people to be a part of this ministry,” said Felps. “I believe God moves in big ways. We want to see people free from addictions, as well as return to full employment and reunited families.”
Felps explained that the Recovery at San Antonio parallels with the 12-step program.
“John Wesley went into the places where people were hurting. He went into those places where people lost hope. He preached the word of Christ. The faith that we have drives us toward those places,” said Felps. “If you look at the 12-steps and the way they work, there’s a lot of overlap with Wesley. It’s a good fit.”
Volunteers interested in helping this ministry may visit recoveryatsanantonio.com
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HEALTHY CHURCH INITIATIVE
CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT THE NEW PLACES, NEW PEOPLE GRANT
The following is an article from the National Justice for Our Neighbors Newsletter:
After a two-year hiatus, San Antonio Region Justice for Our Neighbors joyously reopened its doors at Emanuel United Methodist Church on June 24, 2016.
For a ministry serving low-income immigrants, the key to success can be summed up in three words: location, location, and location. Emanuel UMC lies in the very heart of the West side of the city, home to many vulnerable immigrants living at or below the poverty level.
“People can use the bus or walk to get here,” explains Suzanne Isaacs, SARJFON’s Executive Director. “The board did not consider locating our clinic in any other part of San Antonio.”
In addition to its fortunate location, SARJFON is further blessed with a fully- engaged board, volunteers, an enthusiastic pastor, and vital support from the Rio Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, church members, and the community.
SARJFON also has a new attorney, Juan Castro, equally committed to the work and the immigrant neighbors he serves.
“I went to kindergarten not speaking a word of English,” recalls Juan, “but it wasn’t until first grade that the school realized I was just mimicking my classmates.” He grimaces slightly. “My teacher called on my parents and told them—through a translator—that I was going to have to repeat the year.”
Although Juan was born in New Orleans, he hadn’t heard much English from his Honduran parents, relatives or neighbors. There has been a large Honduran presence in New Orleans, headquarters for the banana empires of both the United and Standard Fruit Companies, since the last century. This immigrant population grew post-Katrina, when many Hondurans came to help with the rebuilding efforts, and the community is growing still.
On that day, as they sat in his family’s humble living room and listened as the translator relayed the teacher’s carefully-worded explanation, Juan realized that there was no way he was going to be left behind. Neither he nor his hard-working parents would accept failure. Fortunately, the school matched them up with a volunteer student teacher from the nearby University of New Orleans. She would not accept his failure, either. She took young Juan under her wing, tutoring him every day after school and on weekends, too.
“I had to hit the books hard,” Juan remembers. “All I did was study. My one goal was to pass first grade, so I wouldn’t be held back. And I did pass. I passed because of her.”
It’s a story Juan likes to tell volunteers he meets. Perhaps they think their volunteer efforts aren’t appreciated or important; that what they do doesn’t matter and doesn’t really change anything. But Juan knows this is wrong. A student teacher volunteered her time to teach a first-grader English, and the effects of that action have reverberated through all the years since, taking Juan to college, to law school, to his work as an attorney helping low-income and vulnerable immigrants. Who knows the lives touched, altered, changed, transformed because one young woman wouldn’t let a little boy fail first grade?
“I was even able to help my parents learn English.” Juan adds, grinning, “—in a very respectful way, of course.”
Back in Honduras, his parents had nothing. They came to the United States with nothing—nothing but hopes, dreams and the desire to succeed. Juan’s mother worked in an assembly line making ties, his father as a cleaner in hotels and movie theatres. Both eventually learned English well enough to attend community college. Both took the oath of US citizenship while their children watched.
And now? “My dad has a PhD and is a professor of finance where I got my undergraduate degree,” Juan says proudly, “and my mom is a kindergarten teacher.”
No one achieves the American dream alone. But everyone who achieves it passes it along to the next generation.
In the summer of 2014, as thousands of unaccompanied migrant children streamed across the US-Mexico border, Juan volunteered at the makeshift housing shelter at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. “The great thing about immigration law is that you can practice in any state,” says Juan, who worked alongside attorneys from every region of the country. There were so many attorneys who wanted to help.
The work was rewarding, but tough, says Juan. Day after day, listening to his teenaged clients’ harrowing stories, particularly those from young girls who had experienced sexual abuse, brutality, and intimidation—was often emotionally overwhelming.
For many of these kids, being sent back to the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras is tantamount to a death sentence. But for others,” Juan says, life isn’t necessarily better in the United States.
“I miss my family. It’s too hard here. I just want to go home,” they would tell him. For Juan, who knew these kids were abused and exposed to danger back in their home countries, and who wanted to continue making appeals for them, it was a devastating blow when his clients decided to give up.
“I wanted to fight for them, but not to mislead them,” he explains. “Just because you have touched ground here doesn’t mean all your problems will go away.”
“There is a saying in Spanish,” he adds softly. “La soledad es peor que la pobreza.”
Loneliness is worse than poverty.
The first clinic session is over and everyone is pleased with its success. Former SARJFON DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) clients are now volunteering at the clinic as translators. A Wesley nurse—provided by Methodist Healthcare Ministries—was on hand to provide basic health screening and help clients find health services in the area.
“We are tending to their legal status and their health at the same time—a Wesleyan emphasis that began with John Wesley,” Suzanne says with satisfaction.
Equally important, however, is the welcome, hospitality, and respect that each client receives when they walk through the doors of SARJFON or any of our 15 JFON sites and nearly 40 clinics throughout the nation.
“We had one lady who was hearing-impaired,” Juan relates. “She later confided in me that she was very grateful to have been treated so well by the hospitality crew. Unfortunately, she’d had a very negative experience at a previous organization that had virtually ignored her.”
At present, SARJFON will be focusing on helping immigrants obtain their Legal Permanent Status (green cards) and/or become naturalized citizens. It’s an area, Juan says, of great need in San Antonio.
“Immigrants don’t just want to stay in the shadows, work and send money back to their home countries,” says Juan. “They came to make a life here. They want to contribute, to participate, and to benefit their new home.”
“We,” Juan concludes, speaking now for his own family, his clients, and the generations of immigrants who have come before and will come after us, “are what makes America a great and unique nation.”
403 flood buckets were sent from the Bishop Joel & Dr. Raquel Martínez Disaster Response Center in Kerrville to Covenant UMC in Lafayette, LA over the August 20 weekend. Over 100,000 homes were damaged due to the historic rainfall between August 11-14.
Rio Texas churches can start resupplying the warehouse in Kerrville with flood buckets. Flood buckets may be dropped off at the Rio Texas Conference United Methodist Center at 16400 Huebner Rd. San Antonio, Texas 78248. You can also drop them off at Mount Wesley.
Early Response Teams and individuals with ERT badges are currently being deployed, according to Conference Disaster Response Coordinator Eugene Hileman.
Rio Texas Disaster Response is also responding to flood survivors here in the conference area. Disaster Response Recovery Teams are needed in six different locations in the Rio Texas Conference. You may contact Eugene Hileman at aehileman@riotexas.org if you are interested in serving on the recovery team.
“Money is the best way to help victims in Louisiana,” said Mr. Hileman.
Your gifts will help their continued work in Louisiana. To support relief in Louisiana, you can give to Disaster Response, United States (Advance #901670). You can give online by clicking here.
Lakehills United Methodist Church broke ground on their new fellowship hall on Tuesday, August 9, 2016. This congregation was chartered on August 2, 1959 with 23 members and they have been growing ever since. In 1993, they opened a new sanctuary building. And now, they have outgrown their original fellowship hall building.
The church has set a goal to build their new fellowship hall without taking on debt. Thus far, they have raised a little over the $300,000 of the $500,000 they will need. Hill Country District Superintendent Rev. John Wright gave devotional and consecrated the ground on which the building will reside. He said he hoped it would be for the community of Lakehills, a center for mission work, where all are welcome.
Project Transformation aims to promote literacy to low-income youth by using college-aged interns to teach literacy, health and nutrition and arts and crafts programming at a local United Methodist Church. The interns, in turn, will be exposed to many different types of church ministry. 70 percent of Project Transformation college interns come back to work in some sort of church ministry. Project Transformation provides local church sites the opportunity to engage with their nearby communities and families in an innovative way. Children who have participated in Project Transformation elsewhere have seen a 96% improved or maintained reading level. To learn more, please visit http://www.projecttranssformation.org/riotx or http://riotexas.org .You can follow Project Transformation Rio Texas on Twitter @ProjTranRioTX.
Project Transformation–Rio Texas is a program with three focus points, the three C’s: College-aged students, Church and Children. Project Transformation, a program birthed from the Greater Dallas area in 1998, aims to promote literacy by trying to solve three problems:
1. How to meet the academic, physical, and spiritual needs of children from low-income communities.
2. How to provide meaningful ways for college students to explore ministry opportunities and develop as young adult leaders for the church and the world.
3. How to help revitalize struggling urban churches.
Special thank you to First United Methodist Church, Boerne; Laurel Heights United Methodist Church, San Antonio; and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, San Antonio.
All Rights Reserved. Produced by the Rio Texas Media Center. United Methodist Church. August 2016.
Wesley UMC, Austin hosted a luncheon for representatives of the Austin Police Department, Fire Department, Sheriff’s Department and the Austin Emergency Medical Services on June 26. Wesley UMC wanted to honor those who give so much back to their community.
Rev. Sylvester Chase started the luncheon with an invocation. The colors were presented by the local Boy Scouts chapter. The meal was prepared by members of the congregation and served by Wesley UMC Youth.
After the meal, each department was presented with a gift basket for their department.
Rio Texas United Methodist Men’s President Cary Boddeker presented each first responder with a copy of Strength for Service to God and Community, a daily devotional for those in the service of others in appreciation for their service
The Texas Mini Conference for Cure JM was held at the First United Methodist Church, Martindale for the fourth year in a row on July 23.
Fourteen church members volunteered their entire Saturday to help feed and host more than 90 attendees from all over Texas that included 20 children with Juvenile Myositis.
Juvenile Myositis (JM) is a rare and life-threatening autoimmune disease that makes the body’s immune system attack its own muscles and tissues. While each child with JM is affected differently and some cases are relatively mild, many children are affected chronically, leading to severe muscle weakness, breathing problems, digestive (GI) tract complications, vasculitic ulcers, and contractures. If left untreated or not diagnosed quick enough, these cases become fatal.
Martindale is home to two families with children who have JM. This year over twenty families attended to hear Cure JM’s executive director Jim Minow, Dr. Ruy Carrasco from Specially For Children, and multiple other speakers. Topics concerning fundraising techniques, the organization’s rapid growth, and future local chapters were addressed, but the most important aspect of the conference was in providing family support and reassurance and instilling hope.
Out of one million children in the United States, two to four will be diagnosed with JM each year. However, because of the growing support and attention, Cure JM is garnering to advocate this disease, research is being funded to try to find a cure at last.
To learn more about the symptoms of Juvenile Myositis (and to see how you can help) please visit www.curejm.org.
Twenty middle-school youth from Johnson City packed their tools and air mattresses and spent last week in Mercedes, in the Rio Grande Valley, making life better for some of the poorest residents in the state.
"Mercedes was much like Johnson City,” said Carrie Anders, youth director at First United Methodist Church, "with people who gave us an opportunity to show God’s love through our service and smiles.”
The adventure started with mixing the kids from the six different Methodist churches into teams where they had to learn to work with strangers. And work was the theme of the day. Every day.
Some went to the Team House near the border, where mission teams traveling to and from Mexico can spend the night without a motel bill. Paint teams scraped old paint and applied new, then built a new door, and wrapped it up with a decorative cross on the wall — made from prints of their hands dipped in paint.
“The paint project was my favorite job, “recalled Mason Roberts, “because we had a sense of accomplishment when the shed was done.”
On other days, teams were filling more than 100 backpacks with school supplies or making up hygiene kits of such items as soap, toothpaste and shampoo. The school supplies will go to low-income students around Mercedes, and the hygiene kits will go across the border to poor neighborhoods in Mexico, where those items are luxuries.
When that job ran out, the youngsters filled family-sized bags of rice and beans to be given this week to needy residents.
“We take personal hygiene products and school supplies for granted. This really opened my eyes to how much we have that others may not,” said Aubrey Ockman.
If that was an introduction to poverty, the real course was taught at Mission La Mesa, a small church in a nearby colonia. Colonias are unofficial communities with no city services or utilities, where the poorest residents pay for the privilege of building a home out of plywood, sheet metal, even cardboard.
In the colonia church, the students led local children in Vacation Bible School, complete with the same sort of crafts, games, play and Bible lessons we’d expect here at home — only in Spanish.
“I was worried about VBS because I'm really not comfortable with little kids,” admitted Luke Whittington, “but they loved the attention we gave them.
“I saw God in the joy in their faces, despite their circumstances.”
Although most of the time was spent working, faith was also a major part of the trip, with prayer to launch every day then a praise band and kid-led worship service every night.
“I felt like God was speaking to me in worship,” said Dooley Smith. “I went feeling a little lost and questioning who I was and was going to be as I move from middle school to high school. It was perfect because it helped me focus on who God is calling me to be.”
Between work and worship came fun time — “Olympic Games” you won’t see in Rio, being cool in the pool, and even a neon dance party illuminated by glowsticks.
“I enjoyed the free time because I got to make new friends," said Liesmann.
"My favorite part was meeting students from other youth groups who are Christians like I am,” added Sawyer Lynn.
Darlene Young, one of the six adults who made the trip with the kids, noted that it was the fourth summer mission trip the church has sponsored for middle schoolers.
“It’s such a blessing to see some of our students return summer after summer for these trips,” she said, "and to see the personal and spiritual growth these kids experience."
Special Contribution Written by George Barnette
Ralph Thompson, Conference Co-Lay Leader
For ten days, the Rio Texas General Conference Delegation experienced the many contrasts of cultures, ethnicities, ideologies, and theological interpretations that comprise the United Methodist Church. For ten days, we shared worship and food, entertainment and fellowship, cultures and learning, and, of course debate…debate over issues both mundane and far-reaching.
In many ways, this was like any other General Conference, with five days of legislative committee meetings that addressed the thousands of pages of petitions that are the essence of why we meet every four years, followed by five days of discussion and debate over the petitions that could not be resolved by the legislative committees.
It was obvious that many delegations arrived at Portland, Oregon, with definite “game plans” regarding the subjects of human sexuality, UMC structure, and annual conference/local church affiliations. It was obvious that delegations had their minds set on taking home the “victory” and the “game ball”, after scoring a definitive “win” in Portland. But, I truly believe that God had other plans, as the axiom “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry” was proven true in the final days of GC2016!
I’ll not waste my final few words recounting what happened in Portland. Instead, I prefer to use this space to share another contrast that was quite evident for the entire two weeks that I was in Portland.
One morning, I gave a few dollars to a homeless person who was perched outside the coffee shop. That was the first glimpse of what soon became obvious…Portland’s overwhelming homeless population.
A simple Internet search (Portland Oregon Homeless) will reveal what every delegate to GC2016 saw, whether on sidewalks or in alleys, along roadsides or under bridges, in parks or in empty buildings, and in open fields or even right in front of the place where we met: THOUSANDS of people living under tents, boxes, blankets, or just out in the open with no shelter at all…people of all ages, races, cultures, ethnicities, ideologies, and, yes, theological interpretations…those about whom I thought, “But for the grace of God, there go I!”
What I want to share is what broke my heart on the flight back to Texas. As I reflected on the events of GC2016, I am certain that it was Almighty God who forced other images into my heart…images of the countless homeless people who, regardless of their politics, sexuality, backgrounds, opportunities, or even their sins hungered and shivered outside, while we argued over who is or is not worthy of God’s salvation through the nurture and ministries of the United Methodist Church.
I thought about people who would have been glad to eat from the hundreds of pounds of garbage that we generated every day, while we complained about issues, many of which had little to do with God’s Kingdom, nor HIS plan for HIS Church. As we debated human sexuality, I can imagine that people just blocks away dealing with pregnancy without healthcare, diseases without medications, sexual abuse without defense, and other situations too grievous to mention.
My heart wept to think that the Church that reintroduced me to Jesus Christ is debating whether or not to stay “United”, while there is a world right outside our doors that is aching for a relationship that they, themselves, cannot even define. They need a Love that the world cannot give…the Love that we profess to have in abundance!
It is not my place, nor is this the time, to judge who is right or wrong, who God loves most or least, and who is or is not worthy of God’s Kingdom. But I would be remiss if I did not end with one simple question: What meaning of Matthew 28:16-20 is the United Methodist Church called to live out?
Ralph Thompson
Rio Texas Co-Lay Leader
Cimarron Praise UMC, a new church start, visited mothers at Methodist Stone Oak Hospital on Mothers Day, May 8. The members of the church provided a luncheon to both patients and healthcare workers who had to be at the hospital during Mothers Day.
Lunch included chicken spaghetti, salad, green beans, watermelon, rolls, and cake; as well as homemade Mothers Day cards for all women at the hospital.
After serving 170 people lunch at the hospital, the church took the rest of the food to the fire departments in Northeast San Antonio. They also served a young family moving into a new home.
The meal came as a blessing for many families at the hospital. One patient was disappointed because her children had yet visited her for Mothers Day. She received one of Cimarron's Praise's homemade cards from the chaplain. She was later seen asleep clutching the card.
One nurse said no one had ever done an event like this for the hospital in 16 years.
"This ministry was important to Cimarron Praise because we truly believe we are called to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world so it is necessary for us to step outside our building and be the hands, feet and heart of Jesus," said Rev. Dawn Baird. "We are becoming known in the Converse area as 'the church who is always loving on people.'"
Methodist Stone Oak Hospital CEO Marc Strode sent the following email to his employees about the Mothers Day Luncheon:
“Folks,
I want to share an uplifting story with you, and I want to take you back to Mother’s Day a couple of Sunday’s ago. As usual, we had some of our leadership team handing out treats early that morning as people came and went at shift change.
But lunch that day was a really special luncheon. We do things for our community every day. We take care of our community. We heal our community. We serve our community. Well, on Mother’s Day this year, someone payed it forward for us!
Cimarron Praise United Methodist Church near Schertz is actually closer in proximity to Northeast Methodist Hospital, but because of the positive experiences some of their clergy leadership and parishioners had as patients & visitors in our hospital, they wanted to do something special for us(and especially the moms in the building that day!)
It also helps that Rev. Dawn Baird who leads this church, is also a nurse! Not only did they provide homemade casseroles and side dishes to boot, but they also created Mother’s Day cards for our patients and handed those out in particular for those moms who were likely to have no visitors on their special day. All in all, they fed over 150 of our team and other patient visitors!
Some wonderful personal stories came out of the day’s event, including feedback from one of our nurses who said her patient was upset because she likely wasn’t going to get a visit from her children. Later in the day, the nurse rounded on her patient, only to find the patient asleep with her homemade Mother’s Day card clutched closely to her chest.
Another nurse who had recently lost her mom spoke of the emotions that day—her first Mother’s Day without her mom. While she wasn’t working that day, she was at MSOH visiting. She shared how happy she was to hear we were providing these meals, which she was able to participate in for the rememberence of her mom.
Just a lot of thankfulness all around this exceptionally kind gesture. Here you have an entire church parish who could be spending time with their own families, and they chose to be with us for our patients. And speaking of choosing, they could have bestowed this kindness onto any hospital, but they chose us because of the work you do for them!
They received so much satisfaction from the day’s events that we just received word that they are graciously ready to do it again next year. Another wonderful MSOH ( and Cimarron) tradition in the making!
An event like this one can’t go on without the help of a lot of people behind the good folks @ the church. Very special thanks goes out to Daniella in HR for helping to coordinate the day’s events, David our facilities leader for guaranteeing a/c in the classrooms on a Sunday!, our housekeepers for helping to clean us up in addition to all that they do on the floors, and security for being proactive to have badges ready ahead of time for the volunteers who were passing out cards.
Then there were our awesome MSOH chaplains who helped get the cards to patients: Rev Thomas Peel, Diana Uresti, Chaplain Nelson Arroyo and Chaplain Jaime DeLeon. Lastly, it couldn’t have been possible without the leadership of our Director of Pastoral Care Deana Kirby, who as usual played the role of consummate professional and friend, always lifting our spirits with her positivity in creating this super event! Thank you all!
Here, here to Cimmaron Praise United Methodist Church!
Keep the Spirit,
Marc
”
Dale and Betty Keuhnhof
Thanks to a generous donation from Dale and Betty Keuhnhof (pictured) and the support of its members, Northwest Hills UMC was able to install a hearing loop in its sanctuary.
Northwest Hills has a number of hearing impaired members, including both Dale and Betty with cochlear implants. The loop will greatly benefit the hearing impaired members in hearing and understanding anything that is broadcast over the AV system.
Ale is the president of the local San Antonio chapter for the hearing impaired and has participated in numerous studies for hearing.
Northwest Hills is one of a few churches that has the loops installed.
Certified Lay Ministers (CLM’s) are used to enhance local ministry at the Rio Texas Conference. Since 2004, these trained lay members may be serving as “supply” pastors in their local churches while their pastor is taking on multiple responsibilities at numerous churches.
“These ministers help as bi-vocational ministry associates,” said Outreach Vitality Director Abel Vega, who has sat on the Las Misiones District Committee. “They’re serving in the role of associate pastors. The church community is changing over time. You may have clergy shepherding several churches. These CLM’s are becoming the day-to-day person carrying out the ministry of the church.”
Tom Kinkead is a Certified Lay Minister at Alamo United Methodist Church in San Antonio. They have a part-time pastor, Rev. George Chambers. Kinkead fills the role as the “daily face” at the church.
“As an assistant to the pastor, I assist in the planning of worship services,” said Kinkead. “I conduct our sunrise service. I also serve as the administrative officer of the church. I have the spiritual gifts of preaching and administration.”
Kinkead also oversees the day-to-day operation of their local radio station. The radio station is a low-powered FM station with less than 100 watts. They play bluegrass, gospel, contemporary Christian, and old-school Rock ‘n Roll. Their audience is people aged 50-70 who do not attend church. At the top of the hour, they provide brief moments of faith and inspiration.
“We are not trying to look for new members for Alamo UMC,” said Kinkead. “We are trying to bring people to Christ.”
In many cases, the CLM conducts the role of the associate pastor. CLM’s are allowed to provide pastoral care, plan worship services, assist with funerals and preach. The CLM is not allowed to consecrate the sacraments, such as communion. Robert Buck, a CLM at Universal City UMC, was lucky enough to perform the sacrament of marriage.
“I was requested to do a wedding during the Sunday of Annual Conference 2015,” said Buck. “We were at the time of transition, our new pastor wasn’t here yet and our old pastor already left. I sent a letter to the Bishop. He said that I can do it on a case-by-case basis, but I have to request permission every time.”
Each CLM received a calling into ministry, much like an ordained minister. After speaking with their local pastor, praying and discernment, the lay person receives approval from the District Superintendent and the district Board of Ordained Ministry. They enroll in a five-module course. Then they are certified by the Board to be a CLM. Click Here to learn more.
Those who may be interested in becoming a CLM should spend much time in prayer, according to Universal City CLM Lenny Dagg.
“I’ve talked to people about becoming a CLM,” said Dagg. “Look at the Book of Discipline and see what the requirements are. Talk to your pastor. Pray. The most important thing to do is pray and make sure it is your call from God. This is not just another position to fill.
Memorial UMC has partnered with Austin ISD and Manos de Cristo Dental Center to offer free ESL classes to parents of Harris Elementary School on the East Side of Austin. The elementary school has a 97.6 percent economically disadvantaged population, as well as a large population of refugees from Africa and Southeast Asia.
The partnership came after continued relations between Memorial UMC and Harris Elementary School, located across the street. The church has already been helping the local school with beginning-of-the-year teacher gift bags and school supply donations.
Carol Logan, the church’s liaison to the neighboring school, made the effort to call organizations after receiving a tip from the school counselor that parents have been requesting Adult ESL classes. Logan found Manos de Cristo, a low-cost dental service that has also added citizenship, basic computer, and ESL classes.
Educational Director of Manos de Cristo Karen Green reached out to Austin ISD Department of Adult Education to help provide a teacher for a potential Adult ESL class. Austin ISD agreed to find the teacher as long as the Adult ESL class was free to all participants.
The four organizations came into unity: Harris would find the parents that needed the ESL classes, Austin ISD provided the teacher, Manos de Cristo provided resources and organization, Memorial UMC would provide the space and child-care. A twice-weekly ESL class takes place Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Memorial UMC added language lab using computers loaned by Manos de Cristo so that parents may have extra practice. The ESL teacher uses this lab to track the progress of the students.
Ms. Amanda Pincock Teaches adult esl classes to parents of harris elementary at memorial umc in east austin tuesdays and thursdays.
Ms. Amanda Pincock was added as the ESL teacher for the language-learning parents of Harris Elementary. She incorporates field trips, which included a recent scavenger hunt at the local grocery market using small group learning. She encourages her students to bring food to share with the group. Her teaching style has been well-received.
Memorial UMC plans to host a party for the families of Harris Elementary to celebrate the end of the semester.
“We don’t have trained teachers in our congregation,” said Rev. Cynthia Kepler-Karre of Memorial UMC. “We knew that the need was present, and so we decided that the best way to respond was to leverage what we did have—interest and space—and walk alongside with others. We hope that these partnerships might spur our creativity as well in reaching out with evangelistic and discipleship opportunities. We are dedicated to building relationships with individuals, with families, and with organizations in our mission field.”
Dripping Springs United Methodist Church held a consecration ceremony for The Foundry, an over 15,000 sq. ft. multifunctioning youth center, on March 20 with a blessing from Bishop Jóel Martínez. The Foundry includes five multi-purpose classrooms, a worship area for 300, a food pantry, gathering space with coffee bar, shower facilities, and an outdoor meeting area.
The two-building facility’s construction, located the southwest corner of the DSUMC property, began in May 2015. Prior to construction, the purchase of 9.5 acres was finalized June 2006 and working with contractors began in 2009. The Foundry is considered Phase 1 of the Master Plan.
“In January 2013 we began a series of town hall meetings to talk about Phase 1 and continue the conversation among church members, as both Youth ministries we underserved, as well as much needed additional space for other ministries,” said Head Pastor Rev. Scott Bradford. “[The Foundry’s] uses are endless.”
Phase 1 was named The Foundry after the center John Wesley founded in London in 1739.
The Capital Campaign for the project began in January 2014. They launched the three-year campaign on Palm Sunday. It turned into a $4.9 million campaign.
The Foundry’s tagline is Youth, Mission, Community. Helping Hands Food Bank will utilize 1,500 sq. ft. of the space. Wesley Nurses will also use the facility for medical missions. A new modern 11 a.m. worship service will start on May 1.
“Dripping Springs has very little space for community activities, other than [Dripping Springs High School], so we very much see that we will easily utilize these buildings for the purpose of youth, mission, and community,” said Bradford. “We simply give glory to God for casting a vision and taking us towards our future!”
Providing comfort to migrant children passing through San Antonio
Rev. Miguel Padilla shares reflections on the Youth Ministry Council presentation to the annual conference and two summer camps
Rev. Nohemi Ramirez receives the Doctorate Honoris Causa from the International University of Human Development and Leadership in Mexico City.
