  February
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| February
28, 2003 |
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Volume 149 Number 43 021000 |
March 7, 2003 |
Click Here to
View World Hunger Offering Poster (PDF)
It’s time to turn in nomination forms for election to General or Jurisdictional Conference If you wish to have your name placed on the ballot for the 2004 General or Jurisdictional Conferences, nomination forms must be filled out and in the hands of district superintendents no later than March 14, 2003. This year, the Memphis Conference will elect four clergy and four lay members for General Conference and an additional four clergy and four lay to form the Jurisdictional Conference membership. Alternates will also be elected. Every church lay leader received copies of the nomination forms. Either individuals or groups may nominate someone for election. Each lay person must fill out a form, have it certified by their local church pastor then forwarded to their district superintendent for certification. Each clergy nominee must fill out the form and send or take it to their district superintendent for forwarding to the Conference Secretary. By March 20, all superintendents will have forwarded the nomination forms to the conference secretary for inclusion in the Pre-Conference Packet. In Memoriam The Rev. Luther Roy Williams, retired minister in the Dyersburg District, died in his sleep from heart failure on Monday, February 24, 2003. The service for Rev. Williams was Wed., Feb. 26, at White Ransom Funeral Home in Union City, TN at 11 AM. The Rev. Phillip McClure, Dr. Benny Hopper, and the Rev. Aaron Dowdy officiated. Burial was in Sanders Chapel Cemetery. Williams is survived by his wife, Mrs. Catharine Williams, one son, Steven Williams and daughter-in-law Sue Williams of 1694 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112. Correspondence should be sent to Mrs. Catharine Williams, 1530 East Matthews, Union City, TN 38261; phone (731) 885-8823. Positions Available • Full Time Director of Children’s Ministry: St. Luke’s UMC, Memphis. Position available March 15 at 1463-member church next to the University of Memphis. Join laity and staff in team ministry to diverse faith community. The Director will provide oversight and direction for comprehensive children’s ministry. The successful candidate will have good teamwork ability and organizational leadership skills. Applicants must be willing to submit to background checks and be United Methodist. Resumes, including names, addresses and phone numbers of at least three references required. Mail to: St. Luke’s UMC, the Rev. Kent Bailey, 480 S. Highland Ave., Memphis, 38111. E-mail kent.bailey@stlukesumc.org or fax to (901) 452-6264. Mallett to preach at Somerville First, Mar. 23-26
Dr. Reginald Mallett, an ordained Methodist minister and physician from Great Britain, will preach at Somerville First UMC on March 23-26. Dr. Mallett is well-known in the United States, having preached at many Annual Conferences across the country and at Lake Junaluska, NC. He is the author of God’s Coming in Christ, Journeying with Jesus, The Cradle and the Star, and Sermons By the Lake. As a minister, Mallett served some of the largest churches in England. He now combines the role of traveling preacher with his medical practice. Mallett will preach at the regular Sunday worship service at 10:55 AM and each evening at 7:00 PM Sunday through Wednesday. He will also preach at noon Monday through Wednesday, following a light lunch served by the ladies of the church. |
Soul Food! The United Methodist Reporter. Subscribe this month at your local church.‘A Cowboy’s Prayer for 9-11’
Not many people would accuse Ernie Roberts, a champion bull rider, of being the nervous type. By the time he retired from the rodeo in 1984, he had finished as one of the top five bull riders for five consecutive years in the Southeast Circuit of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association. But Roberts, a member of Elizabeth United Methodist Church near Friendship, Tenn., claims he has more reason to be nervous now than he ever did when he was jumping astride tons of angry bull. A few years ago, the retired cowboy began writing poetry that drew on his own experiences. Some of the poems were even published in various magazines like “Hoofbeats,” which is aimed at the rodeo crowd. Like everyone else in the country, on September 11, Roberts was horrified by the sight of terrorist-guided airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center. Unlike everyone else, he sat down and wrote a poem he called “A Cowboy’s Prayer for 9-11.” He read it for the first time at a rodeo at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Since then, he’s been asked to open many rodeos by reciting the poem. “I get more nervous reading my poem that I did when I was bull riding,” he confessed to an interviewer from Dalton, Georgia before the Dalton Pro Rodeo. The poem goes like this: ‘Ya know lord, I ain’t real good at prayin’, but if you’ll listen just a minute there’s something in my heart that needs sayin’. I’m just a cowboy and I’ve never even seen New York City, but what happened there September 11 has filled my heart with sadness and pity. So many lives were lost during that devastation and rumble. My heart bled when I heard our trade center had started to crumble. Lord I pray for the victims, their families, and what they’ve lost and I pray for the rebuilding process, all the workers and what it will cost. And bless the policemen and the firemen, who in the line of duty lost their lives. Lord, be with their families and send comfort to their wives. I heard of a little girl pleading with a fireman to find her missing Dad, but tears fell to my saddle because this was not to be had. My heart has hardened toward the outlaws that done this evil deed. A good whippin’ with a cactus stick is what every one of ‘em need. But Lord you’ve taught us to forgive and turn the other side, but I believe you were with little David the day the giant Goliath died. God, be with other nations’ leaders as they mark out trails to show us the way and help us to remember that as Americans, we must be responsible for what we do and say. When I see ol’ Glory flyin’ high at a rodeo and knowing our soldiers are on standby ready to go, strengthens my belief that America has answered an awaiting call because we are “One Nation Under God with Liberty and Justice for All.” Ernie Roberts says he’s just a cowboy, a cowboy with a wife and three children. “The Lord made me a cowboy,” he explains, “and He meant for me to bring others to Him by using my cowboy ways!” Elizabeth UMC is on the Friendship-Elizabeth Charge in the Brownsville District. |
Halls Reelfoot Rural Ministries Representative
When she was nine years old, Mikayla Thrash brought a little bicycle with buckets attached to Halls United Methodist Church and made her first plea to the church family for “Pennies for Peddles.” Kayla wanted to use the congregation’s spare change to purchase bicycles for Reelfoot Rural Ministries’ Christmas Toy Store. The year was 1999, the same year the Halls Church was destroyed by a tornado and everyone was completely focused on the needs of the church. When Mikayla stood up during announcement time and reminded everyone to reach into their pockets and leave their change in her little buckets, the congregation knew she meant business. Her little bicycle now has a permanent place all year long in the narthex of Halls UMC’s new sanctuary and Mikayla continues her plea for pocket change throughout the year. The first year of her project, Mikayla counted and rolled enough money to purchase one bike. The second year, she had enough money for five bikes. Last year, she proudly offered 11 bikes for dedication, and this year, she came up with 10 beautiful new bikes. Each year, Mikayla’s bikes find their way under the Christmas trees of happy children who are her neighbors and friends and who are in need of her help. Mikayla Thrash deserves special thanks from her church family. I know for sure God is very proud of her and this act of caring. Many churches in the Memphis Conference share gifts and acts of love for Reelfoot Rural Ministries all year long. During the Christmas season, everyone makes a special effort to fill the Toy Store and meet the many needs that exist in the area.
As this letter is shared with you, the possibility of war is ever present. This is a serious time for the world, for the nation and for all our communities from which persons are being deployed. Having served as the district superintendent for the Clarksville District and having a son currently stationed at Fort Campbell, I think I understand some of what you feel. While the Church hopes for peace and works for peace, it is very much aware of the fact that there are occasions when, it seems, a nation has no other choice but to go to war. In the midst of the uncertainty about whether or not we will go to war, I understand individuals must be faithful to their responsibility. I, along with United Methodists in the Memphis Conference and the Tennessee Conference, will pray for all those being deployed and for their families. The love and support and prayer of individual Christians and local churches will be with you, and we will seek to minister to families and friends who remain at home.
What we need is one of Elisha’s good, filling stews
As I write this article, the ground is covered with snow and ice. Another ‘snow day’ for the kids and the office is a little quieter than usual. The colder than usual winter reminds me of how our lives are blessed by warm clothes, a warm house and warm food. These warm scenes are usually accompanied by thoughts of family, friends, and food – as in stew. Nothing fits better on a cold day than a good bowl of one’s favorite stew and some cornbread! If you’re creative and gutsy enough, you can put about anything in a stew – just empty your refrigerator. I remember a fellow named Elisha who tried to make a stew. He was holding a prophets’ meeting (sort of an annual conference?). But he was living in a time of famine and there wasn’t much of anything to cook. One of the men went out to find some herbs and things to put in the pot. Instead of herbs, he came back with a bunch of gourds, which he cut up and put in the stew. When the men began to eat it, they cried out, “There is death in the pot!” (I think that’s when they decided there needed to be more women prophets.) Elisha, being a good cook as well as a prophet, said, “Get some flour,” and he put it in the pot. Then he said, “Serve it to the people to eat.” And they ate and there was nothing harmful in the pot. Nothing goes better with stew than some good bread – barley loaves, in fact. A man came forward with twenty loaves and Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” They ate the bread and they had some left over. Sounds like a good stew story. Read it in II Kings 4: 38-44. The problem with a good stew story is that there are over 800 million desperate people who are going hungry in the world today. More than 6 million children will die this year due to hunger. Gourds and sticks and rocks won’t make a stew. There is death in the soup pots. Due to a multitude of evil forces, there are many places on earth where there isn’t enough food to go around. It’s estimated that the basic health and nutrition needs of the world’s poorest people could be met for an additional $13 billion per year. Animal lovers in the United States and Europe spend more than that on pet food each year. Can Christian people really share the bread of Eucharist and not share life-sustaining bread economically? Elisha “healed the pot” and shared the bread. Jesus commands us to do likewise. The miracle here is that in today’s world, as in the days of Elisha, there is enough bread and then some for everyone. An important avenue the Memphis Conference uses to share the bread of life is the April 20 World Hunger Offering. Contributions support UMCOR projects, Heifer Project International, Appalachia project, Potato Project, Reelfoot Ministries, area food banks, and neighborhood centers. Please give.
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