03/01/07

Confirmation Celebration
The Conference Confirmation Celebration will be Saturday, March 11, beginning at 10am at Garner UMC. Pre-registration is not required. The Confirmation Celebration welcomes youth in confirmation and their adult leaders from churches across the Conference. The Rev. Ned Hill and several area church confirmation classes and youth will be in leadership at the Celebration. Bishop Gwinn will bring greetings via video. Those attending the Confirmation Celebration will consider and experience the covenant vows of prayers, presence, gifts and service. The service project will be assembling UMCOR health kits and participants are asked to bring items needed for the health kits. A monetary offering will be collected and applied toward shipping of the health kits. The list of items for the health kits can be found at the website: www.nccumc.org/youthministry. The Celebration will conclude by 1:00pm with Holy Communion.

March Advocate mailed, April edition deadline approaching
Copies of the March edition of the North Carolina Conference Christian Advocate were mailed last week. The deadline for the April edition is March 6. Articles and photos should be sent electronically to bnorton@nccumc.org. If your church has a unique ministry, share it with us. Maybe it can be featured in “Out of the Box.” Questions call the editor, 1-800-849-4433.

Safe Sanctuaries Workshops
The final round of basic orientation workshops to assist local churches in getting underway with development of their safe sanctuaries policy and procedures/practices for safe ministry will be offered in the next two months as follows: Sunday, March 12 from 3-5:30pm at St James UMC in Tarboro; Saturday, March 18 from 10am to 1pm at White Plains UMC in Cary; and Saturday, April 1 from 9am to 12pm at Salem UMC in Fayetteville. For March 12 and 18 – call the church office to register name of church and number of persons planning to attend. For April 1 – call the Fayetteville District office to register plans to attend with name of church and number expected. Churches are advised to purchase a copy of the book: Safe Sanctuaries for Youth by Joy Melton (available through Cokesbury) prior to attending these workshops. Video and DVD resources for safe sanctuaries are available through the Conference Media Center. The website - www.nccumc.org/childrnmin/safesanctuaries1.htm - also has additional resource materials available. By action of the Annual Conference in June, 2005 – each local church is to have a safe sanctuaries policy in place by June 30, 2006.

Youth Event Registration Deadlines
Kaleidoscope will be March 31- April 2 at Don Lee Center. This weekend retreat is planned for middle school age youth (currently in grades 6-8). The cost is $85 per person and registrations are due March 11. There are limited spaces so registration soon is encouraged.
The Appalachian Trail Hike is a 40+ mile backpacking hike along the Appalachian Trail for high school students (in the summer having completed grades 9-12) from June 24 to July 1. The cost is $125 and the registration deadline is May 15. Youth are advised to register early for the hike in order to receive information needed about equipment and preparation.
The registration brochure for all Conference youth events may be downloaded from the website: www.nccumc.org/youthministry.

Worship Workshop Live! will be presented April 1
On Saturday, April 1, Marcia McFee, an outstanding worship leader and author of The Worship Workshop, will lead Worship Workshop Live! Co-sponsored by the Commission on Congregational Development and the Commission on Worship, the workshop is for pastors, worship leaders, musicians, and anyone interested in creating meaningful worship. For more information, go to http://www.nccumc.org/congregational-development/wkshpnew.htm. The workshop will be held at St. James UMC, Greenville.

Youth Lay Speaker Training
Saturday, April 8 from 10am to 4pm at the Methodist Building in Raleigh there will be a lay speaker training for youth only. There is no cost to the training but pre-registration is required. The registration form may be found at www.nccumc.org/youthministry. The registration deadline is April 3. Linda Harris, Conference Director of Lay Speaking will be conducting the training.
Alpha Conference

An Alpha Conference is coming to Edenton Street UMC April 20-21. Alpha is a tool for evangelism that helps people enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and or increases their zeal to serve God in the local congregation. The Alpha Course is endorsed by many noteworthy church leaders in the world including Bishop Gwinn. Representatives will be at the conference to discuss Alpha in prisons, Alpha on the College Campus, and Alpha for the military. For more information visit www.trianglealpha.org or to register call AlphaUSA at 1-866-872-5742.

Gathering of Elders on April 24
The second annual Gathering of the Order of Elders will be held on Monday, April 24, at Nashville UMC. The day will begin with refreshments and fellowship time, 9-10 am. Margaret Therkelson, a gifted speaker and author on the topic of prayer, will make two presentations on “Spiritual Formation and Leadership.” The first of those presentations will come before lunch, and the second will follow the time of sharing food and fellowship, with a boxed lunch provided. Bishop Gwinn will also be with us, and he and Margaret will answer questions following her second presentation. Our time together will conclude with a worship service including Holy Communion. Questions or comments can be directed to Mack McMillan, Chair of the Order of Elders at saintlukepastor@bellsouth.net

Need a guest program speaker?
For those interested in having a guest speaker or looking for a program at Wednesday night fellowship, Methodist College offers guest speakers who can offer the history of the college and video. This year’s focus is the celebration of the college’s 50th anniversary. Please contact Lynn Clark at 910.630.7243 or via e-mail at lclark@methodist.edu

National publications include articles on ministries in conference
Articles about ministries around the conference have or will appear in national publications: 1) RESPONSE Magazine, January issue, had an article on the NC Conference UMW annual racial justice workshop; 2) Healing services at Providence UMC in Goldsboro was a part of the Health and Wholeness section of the January-February Interpreter Magazine, and 3) Read about the “Heavenly Rides” car show ministry at Tabernacle UMC in Robbins in the March-April edition of Interpreter (www.interpretermagazine.org). This article first appeared in the November-December edition of the NC Conference Christian Advocate.