The unified Southwest Texas and Rio Grande Conferences of the United Methodist Church will go by the name “Rio Texas Conference.” The team charged with implementing unification of the conferences [...]
Read More...`Rio Texas Conference’ to be name of unified Southwest Texas and Rio Grande Conferences
April 4, 2013 Posted by Leave a Comment
A church crisis requires a communication plan
March 20, 2013 Posted by Leave a Comment
By Liz Applegate, Special Contributor… It’s a horrible thought—the worst has happened at a church across town. Someone was killed during a crime on the church property. The church suffered [...]
Read More...A Wesleyan’s five-point salute to Calvinism
February 28, 2013 Posted by Leave a Comment
By Talbot Davis, Special Contributor… I am a Wesleyan today because I was first a Calvinist. Huh? Yeah, my first extended church experience after coming to faith as a teenager [...]
Read More...A gentler, kinder approach to the mission trip
February 28, 2013 Posted by Leave a Comment
By Nan McCurdy and Miguel Mairena, Special Contributors… When organizing an international mission trip, it is helpful to prepare your group to go with open minds and open hearts: open to learning from the people you will meet, open to listening to them and open to understanding them and how they interpret the gospel in light of their history and reality. Groups sometimes go with the idea of teaching or showing “our” way, or evangelizing. We should definitely always try to show God’s love and be a word of hope; [...]
Read More...History of Hymns: ‘Cast Out’ applies to all with personal demons
February 27, 2013 Posted by Leave a Comment
Dr. Bringle’s fresh and captivating texts bring biblical passages to life in unique ways. Her text “Cast Out, O Christ” (2006) focuses on the Gerasene demoniac whom Jesus healed.
Read More...Q&A: A stand for Christian universalism
February 21, 2013 Posted by Leave a Comment
Can everyone be saved through Jesus Christ? The Rev. Heath Bradley, associate pastor of preaching and Christian education at Pulaski Heights UMC in Little Rock, Ark., thinks so. In his [...]
Read More...Aging Well: Tips for seniors on greeting young visitors in church
January 9, 2013 Posted by Leave a Comment
Several Facebook friends recently posted something that caught my attention. It was a newsletter from the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations offering advice for older adults who are greeting young [...]
Read More...Dawn Wiggins Hare named to lead Commission on Status and Role of Women
December 17, 2012 Posted by Leave a Comment
By Susan Keaton, Special Contributor… Dawn Wiggins Hare, an Alabama circuit court judge who was honored this year for leadership in her Alabama-West Florida Annual (regional) Conference, has been named [...]
Read More...Two children killed in massacre attended Newtown UMC
December 17, 2012 Posted by Leave a Comment
By Joanne S. Utley, Special Contributor… Newtown United Methodist Church has a passionate history of reaching out in mission to the world, but now it finds that the world’s attention and caring is riveted on its own tight-knit community in Connecticut. On Friday, 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six teachers and administrators at Sandy Hook Elementary School, just down the road from the Newtown church. Before the shooting rampage at the school, Lanza killed his mother in her home; then he committed suicide at the school. Rev. [...]
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Recalling a dad who stood tall with stand on civil rights
By James Rupert, Special Contributor… My father died a few weeks ago, a quiet hero of our human struggle to love. Born in West Virginia during the Depression, the Rev. James C. [...]
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