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Dear
Michelle,
I began
my December Newsletter with the refrain from John
Hopkins text, "We Three Kings":
"O,
star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty
bright;, Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to
thy perfect light"
-- John H. Hopkins, Jr., 1857
For me,
the problem with this refrain as I approach Epiphany is
this--my Magi have been "AWOL" since our move to Orlando
some 18 months ago. We have searched for Melchior,
Balthazaar, and Caspar with no results. They failed to
appear last Christmas after a thorough search of every
Christmas storage box we own!
Ramona
and I finally came to the conclusion that they were
simply not to be found along with 8 forks and 7 spoons
of our everyday flatware. We finally broke down
last Christmas and purchased replacement spoons and
forks, but somehow I just couldn't give up hope that our
Magi would one day appear! They are more
sentimental than valuable and were a special gift from
Ramona's Aunt and Uncle about 10 years ago. The Three
Kings are cast aluminum, painted gold, and stand about
three feet tall to make an impressive reminder of the
royal visit.
On New
Years Day, while finally getting around to cleaning up
the Garage, and for some unknown reason, unpacking one
of the large oil paintings by Ramona's Grandmother, the
Magi suddenly appeared. Taped to the back of an oil
painting entitled the Mountain Cross, Epiphany came a
few days early at the Wiatt's this year! The painting
depicts a beautiful mountain scene where the summit has
just received a cascade of fresh snow, forming a
pristine cross on the Mountainside. What a meaningful
place to have the Magi show up, especially as our own
thermometer begins to plummet into the
20's.
I hope
you know that as The Wiatts excitedly welcome the
previously hidden Magi into our home this Epiphany, I am
reminded of your FAITHFULNESS on the Journey. As we
begin 2008 together, even in the midst of political
unrest in Pakistan and Kenya, war and terrorism in the
Middle East, and the well publicized beginning of the
presidential primaries, I know that "Wise Ones" still
seek Him!
Epiphany
literally means an insight, revelation, or unexpected
discovery. My prayer for you this year is that you
will discover, in an unexpected way, the power of giving
your gift(s) to the Christ and all those who are
Christ-Followers. Thank you for all you do and are
for the sake of the Kingdom. May you be surprised with
your own Epiphany as you follow Him with wisdom and
grace.
I Love
Being Your District Superintendent,
Wayne
2 Timothy 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit
of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of
self-discipline.
P.S. Important Dates for your
Calendar
January 7 - Statistical Reports
Online (Due February 15) [Link]January 11 - Last Day
to record Connectional Giving in Lakeland [Link]January 15 - Deadline
to submit Pastor and Church Profiles online [Link]January 15 - Deadline
to schedule a Consultation for Change of
Appointment. |
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Clergy Team Meeting - Thursday, February 28,
2008 Join us at St.
Luke's UMC Orlando from 9:30AM - 2:30PM with lunch
provided. Agenda: Presentation by the United Methodist
Foundation on Stewardship/ Fundraising in the Local Church,
including introduction to the Bishop's Capital Campaign by
Bill Barnes; District Information and Updates for Clergy;
Lunch; Special Presentation by the Conference IT Department
regarding the new Conference-wide email system for Clergy.
And YES, this is a mandatory meeting for
all appointed clergy. Plan on staying until 2:30pm, we
may get out earlier, but schedule your calendar accordingly.
(Call me for make-up information if you have a conflict.
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Free Local Church Leadership
Training
Saturday,
January 26, 2008 from 8:30AM-12:45PM
First UMC of Winter
Park, 125 N Interlachen Ave., Winter Park, FL
32789
Training
Sessions will be targeted to specific Church Leadership Roles.
Participants will have the opportunity to attend two sessions
from the following topics and leaders:
♦
Finance, Mickey Wilson - Conference Treasurer
♦ Historian,
Nell Thrift
♦ Lay Leaders & Lay Members to Annual
Conference, Janet Kelley
♦ Lay Speaking Ministry, Lynn
Campbell
♦ Missions, Marilyn Beecher & team
♦ SPRC,
Wendy McCoy - Human Resources training related to church staff
♦ Storm Recovery, Marilyn Swanson
♦ Trustees, Mark
Thomas - Ministry Protection
No
cost to participants. Refreshments will include
continental breakfast snacks in the morning and at break.
Advanced
registration required. To register, call the East
Central District office (407) 896-2230 or toll-free
1-866-804-2230 |
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><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><  Large Church Initiative 2008
January 21-25 at St. Luke's UMC
Orlando, FL
Sponsored by the Large Church Initiative, the General
Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church and SEJ
Larger Church Consultation.
Throughout our time together we will follow the path set
by the early disciples by moving from our homes/local churches
(Jerusalem), to our communities (Judea and Samaria), and then
to the world (ends of the earth).
The excitement begins on Monday,
January 21 with a reception commemorating Martin Luther King,
Jr. Day with Dr. Trudie Kibbe Reed, President of
Bethune-Cookman University and the renowned Bethune-Cookman
Concert Chorale.
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Speaker & Leadership Training
March 7-8, 2008 at
Stuart Memorial UMC, Daytona Beach, FL
Four Opportunities:
UM Heritage with Wayne Wiatt & Gary Shockley
Teach Adults with Kim Shockley
Triangular Teaching with Barbara Bruce
Basic Lay Speaking with Lynn Campbell
While these courses were
originally designed to be used primarily to train Lay
Speakers, we, in the EC District have found them to be
valuable for all lay people. We gladly offer them for
your use in your own ministry setting. [Brochure/Registration
Form] |
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Leadership in Church
Health  By Rev. Linda Mobley
YOU
CANNOT HAVE A HEALTHY CHURCH UNLESS THE LEADERSHIP IS
HEALTHY. God wants us to THRIVE in our leadership, not
just survive - and too many leaders in the Church are just
surviving, not knowing how to push back against a culture of
over-commitment and over-service. Let's unpack the
priorities for leadership Paul lays out for Timothy in I
Timothy 4: [MORE . .
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Year-end Statistical Reports Online January
7th Local churches
may begin accessing their year-end statistical report form
beginning Monday, Jan. 7. Every church is required to fill out
their forms online and submit them to the Conference before
Friday, Feb. 15, at 5 p.m. (Link)
All
local church passwords will be re-set prior to Jan. 7. Each
church will need to create a new password to log in to their
information and year-end statistical form. Instructions on how
to do this will be posted on the church dashboard page. To do
this, churches will need their GCFA six-digit number to log
in. That number is their user name.
In
addition, the Florida Conference cabinet voted in mid-December
to temporarily discontinue the Congregational Category Survey,
currently appended to the Annual Statistical Report. The
office of Congregational Transformation is developing a new
instrument that more fully aligns with our emphasis on The
United Methodist
Way. |
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Spring Confirmation Retreat (February 29 - March
2)
The Spring 2008 Confirmation Retreat is set
for Feb. 29 through March 2, at the Warren W. Willis United
Methodist Camp in Fruitland Park. The retreat offers great
experiences for confirmation classes from local United
Methodist churches throughout the Florida Conference. During
the retreat, confirmands will receive sound teaching on the
vows they will be asked to take on Confirmation Sunday; have
fun playing games, worshiping together, and being at camp with
others from around the state; grow together as a group on the
camp's challenge course's low initiatives; and dive into their
curriculum during small group time. Participants are invited
to come for the whole weekend, or leave on Saturday night to
be back in their home church on Sunday morning.
There are two packages available for participants. Package
A runs Friday night through Sunday morning and costs $80 per
person. Package B runs Friday night through Saturday night and
costs $60 per person.
Registration information and a schedule of the retreat are
available online at www.flumcamps.org. Click on the
events tab on the Warren Willis Camp page. If you have any
questions about this retreat or other retreats offered at
Warren W. Willis United Methodist Camp, contact Joel Pancoast
at jpancoast@flumc.org or call him at
the camp office at 352-787-4345.
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><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Kudo's
and Congratulations . . . to Trall
Heitzenrater who was awarded the prestigious Editor's Choice
Award for his poetry by The International Library of Poetry.
Trall was commended for his artistic accomplishments and
unique perspective--characteristics found in the most
noteworthy poetic works. |
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><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< United
Methodist Men - January 24th Meeting
Winter Garden
UMC, 125 North Lakeview Avenue, Winter Garden
Join us
at this month's quarterly meeting. Dinner will be at
6:30pm with program to follow. RSVP to Sue @
407-656-1135. |
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><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Asbury
Ministry Conference - "Restore The Joy"
 Speakers include Brennan Manning,
Nancy Ortberg, Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne, Judith MacNutt
and Kirbyjon Caldwell. In addition to the speakers,
there will be inspiring worship and numerous workshops
addressing the theme. |
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Day Academy for Spiritual Formation
Many have
found this Academy a pivotal event in their spiritual
journey. This year's topic is "Journey to a Thankful
Heart". Being grateful is more than saying "thank
you". Explore the beliefs, barriers, bridges and
becoming of genuine Thanksgiving as you learn how to develop a
thankful heart. The dates are March 30 to April 4, 2008
at the Life Enrichment Center. This year's faculty
includes Graham Standish, author of "Becoming a Blessed
Church" and "Humble Leadership"; and Linda Douty, author of
"How Can I let Go if I don't know I'm Holding On-Setting Our
Souls Free". For more information and/or registration,
go to www.fl5dayacademy.org. |
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If
you're ready to take your leadership skills to the next level,
UMVIM team leader trainings have been scheduled to prepare
volunteers to lead Mission Teams. The training dates are Jan.
11-12, 2008, at the Warren W. Willis Camp in Fruitland Park;
April 11-12, at the Riverside Retreat in LaBelle; and Oct.
17-18, at Lakewood United Methodist Church in Jacksonville.
To register, visit [website]
and follow the link for training registration. For all
trainings, check-in begins at 4 p.m. the first day and ends at
5 p.m. the second day. Cost of the training is $50 per person
and includes one night accommodations, three meals, and all
training materials. |
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Communications Road Show is Coming!!!
The
Communications Staff is going to be trying something new, in
an effort to better provide resources to local churches on a
more direct basis. We are going to be holding four sessions of
workshops, which we are calling the "Communications Road
Show." These will be trainings for local church members, held
in a local church, with six workshops at each
location.
Workshops will
focus on improving print materials (like church newsletters,
brochures, etc.), crisis communications for clergy, data
management 101, starting a Web site, improving your Web site,
and starting a podcast.
The
locations and dates of the Road Shows are:
· Saturday, Jan.
12, 2008 - First United Methodist Church, Lake City (NW
District)
· Saturday, Feb. 9 - Peace United Methodist
Church, Orlando (EC District)
· Saturday, March 8 - First
United Methodist Church, Sebring (SW District)
· Saturday,
April 12 - First United Methodist Church of South Miami (SE
District)
Registration materials are online at www.flumc.org/roadshow. The workshops
are free; we are charging $10 for
lunch. |
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First Conference on "The Methodist Way"
 Hundreds of people
learned about the five practices of The Methodist Way at the
2007 Florida Conference Event. Coming next spring will be the
first of five, two-day conferences to take you deeper in
understanding about each of the five elements and how each is
related to the other.
The
first conference, "Passionate Worship: Divine Inbreaking,"
will be held at Trinity United Methodist Church in
Gainesville, April 11-12, 2008, and repeated at Church
of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, April 14-15.
Both
locations will feature four presentations based on the
different movements of worship plus 21 breakout groups
featuring topics such as basic worship planning, worship as
spiritual formation, worship in the emerging culture, care and
feeding of a praise team, and connecting worship to the
outside community. There will also be opportunities for you to
meet with other worship leaders and pastors to have a time to
network and share resources.
We are
encouraging pastors, worship leaders, worship teams and anyone
else who is involved in making worship happen at their local
church to attend this conference. Registration is online:
Passionate Worship registration.
If you
have questions, please contact the Office of Connectional
Ministries at
800-282-8011, Ext. 183. For more information
on The Methodist Way, visit Connectional
Ministries. |
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><><><><><><><><><><><><>><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Brian
McLaren's Latest Book: "Everything Must
Change" 
Brian is doing an eleven city tour with a workshop
of the same title. Plan to attend the one coming up to
our area, February 29 - March 1st, at First Baptist Church of
St. Petersburg. Click here for
more information and
registration. |
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The
East Central District now has a Corporate Account with
Enterprise Leasing. The account can be used at any of their
locations worldwide, by any of our Churches and Leadership,
both Lay and Clergy.
Booking a
reservation is very easy:
- Call the
branch directly.
- Book online
at www.enterprise.com. At the bottom of the first page, enter our
corporate account number 42A7202. When prompted, enter
the first three letters of your organization's name F - L -
C (FL Conference UMC.)
- Call our toll-free, Corporate Account line at
800-593-0505.
The Enterprise Business Rental Program will give you a
worldwide discount along with other benefits. We hope this is
helpful in renting vans, cars, etc., while on mission trips
and other church sponsored events. Call Pam Price, our
Financial Administrator in the District Office if you have any
questions.
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><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>><><><><><><><><><><>< 2008
Apportionment Reports Now Online!
[Click Here]When it
opens up you will see Local Church 2008 Apportionment
Report. Click on it and when it opens enter your GCFA #
in the GCFA box and then hit "view report". Up comes
your 2008 Apportionment breakdown. (I know everyone has
been waiting for this information.) Problems with these
instructions, call me. Problems with what is on the
report, call the Conference, Ivette ext. 108.
ALSO, If you
need to look at a current 2007 Apportionment sheet, you
can [Click Here], open up the
link and right at the top under Apportionments there is a link
that says "Click here to download your report". Click on
that link and enter your GCFA# twice. Then go down to
the next bar that reads "Make Selection", click on it and pick
"Apportionment Reports" and there you are. The updated
reports are usually posted by the 15th of the month.
Pam Price, EC District Financial
Administrator.
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E-Learning Available
Have you checked out the
E-Learning Training available for your local church on our
Conference website? Training is available for
Staff/Parish Relations Committees; Finance Committees
(includes Stewardship); Trustees; and Membership
Secretary's. There is also an online Bible Study
available. Go to www.flumc.org and click on the
"e-learning" button . . .
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2008 DISTRICT EVENT CALENDAR
Jan 11: Last day to record Connectional Giving in
Lakeland Office
Jan 11-12: UMVIM Team Leader Training @ Warren W. Willis
Youth Camp
Jan 12: UMW EC district officers training @ First,
Deltona
Jan 15: Deadline to submit Pastor & Church
Profiles
Deadline to schedule a Consultation for Change of
Appointment.
Jan
21-25: Large Church Initiative @ St Luke's UMC
Jan 24: UMM Meeting @ Winter Garden UMC, 6:30pm
Jan
26: District Training Event from 8:30am to 1:00pm for
Trustees, Finance,
Historian, Disaster, and Missions @ First UMC Winter
Park
Jan 28-30: R-10
& Counting-Early Retirement Seminar @ LEC,
Leesburg
Feb 2: Bill Glass Day of Champions-Prison Ministry ( click here) Feb 4-6:
Restore the Joy @ Asbury Seminary
Feb 9:
"Communications Road Show" Workshops at Peace
UMC
Feb 15: Deadline for Year-end Statistical Reports
online
Feb
28: Mandatory Clergy Meeting @ St Luke's UMC from 9am to
1pm
Feb
29-March 1: "Deep Shift" with Brian McLaren Event @ First
Baptist, St. Pete
Feb 29-March 2: Spring Confirmation Retreat @ Warren W.
Willis Youth Camp
Mar 7-8: Lay Speaker Training @ Stewart Memorial UMC,
Daytona Beach
Mar 8: UMW Mission team meeting - TBA
Mar
30-Apr 4: Five Day Academy for Spiritual
Formation
Apr
4-6: UMW SE Jurisdiction, Hampton, VA
Apr
11-12: Passionate Worship Event in Gainesville
UMVIM
Team Leader Training @ Riverside Retreat, LaBelle
Apr
12: UMW Spring day apart at First UMC, Port
Orange
Apr
14-15: Passionate Worship Event in West Palm Beach
Apr
27: Announcement Sunday
May
29-31: Annual Conference to be held in Lakeland
Jun
17: Conference Table - In Defense of Creation II
Jul 1:
Moving Day
Jul
16-19: SEJ Conference in Lake Junaluska
Jul
22-25: UMW School of Christian Mission week
Jul
25-27: UMW School of Christian Mission weekend @ Florida
Southern College -
Lakeland
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