Tweet Meet to discuss discipleship; hashtag released

Editor's note: This is an updated version of a Florida Conference Connection news story. LAKELAND – Bishop Ken Carter will moderate the first "tweet meet" for the Florida Conference from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. today. Laity and clergy members of the conference are invited to engage in online conversation about their journey or their church's progress toward becoming disciples of Christ. Participants will need to...

Leaving Florida UM Center but not the connection

When you come to the edge of all the light you know and are about to step off into the darkness, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly. -- Barbara Walters LAKELAND – With whimsy, wit and platefuls of croissants, the Florida Conference staff bid farewell Wednesday to long familiar faces that will soon make their way around another bend in the path to discipleship. The careers of nine ministers and staff...

UMC bishops meet at border to experience immigration issues

Bishop Ken Carter waits at the U.S.-Mexican border for a Communion service through the gate with visiting bishops on the other side. UMNS photo by Diane Degnan. SAN DIEGO – Florida Conference Bishop Ken Carter was among more than 50 leaders who got a firsthand look this week at the conditions faced by people who live and work near the U.S.-Mexican border as part of the Forum of Active Bishops'...

Large Church Initiative: Future depends on you

TAMPA – Bigger isn't always better, especially when it comes to churches that have neglected to intentionally discern their mission. That was the message of the opening day of this year's three-day Large Church Initiative (LCI), an annual meeting supported by the General Board of Discipleship that draws clergy and staff from the largest United Methodist churches across the nation. Rev. Tim Walker, who chairs the LCI Committee, told a packed sanctuary at Hyde Park UMC that leaders of...

Going green: Church celebrates Earth Day with community event

ST. PETERSBURG -- Visitors to Allendale UMC’s Earth Care Event had a chance to pick up some free plants and seeds, hop aboard a hybrid public bus, listen to a Native American flute concert and explore a community garden. They also were encouraged to stop in the chapel to reflect on the beauty of the earth and the role humans play in caring for creation. David McGuire of Boyd Hill Nature Preserve was among exhibitors to turn...

Church uses video prize to keep on giving

Pastor Russell Clark. left, and Drake Christmas from First UMC, Reddick, work to build ramps for people with disabilities as part of the church's first mission project. Photo by Tom Christmas. REDDICK -- Long after the last nail was hammered in, the memories and lessons of a mission at First UMC, Reddick, still resonate with Tom Christmas. “It’s the closest to God I have ever felt," said the...

Hyde Park makes room for Large Church Initiative

TAMPA – In less than a week, volunteers and staff at Hyde Park UMC will welcome almost 600 attendees from large churches across the U.S. to their stately campus a short drive from downtown Tampa.  The three-day event starts Monday, and guests will be pastors and staff who signed up early for this year's Large Church Initiative (LCI), which has been sold out for weeks. And it may be important to note that the moniker refers to the size of congregations represented, not necessarily...

New insurance to help mission volunteers abroad

LAKELAND – Florida Conference congregations send mission groups all over the world, and now those do-gooders have access to international medical/accident insurance through the conference's Ministry Protection office. The new coverage includes medical payments for injuries or sickness while participating in church-sponsored volunteer mission activities outside the U.S. It has been added to the existing insurance package that protects all conference churches and ministries.  ...

Children's advocates: Remember the kids

Fresh from briefings indicating that Florida ranks near the bottom of many lists that measure children's health and welfare, participants in the Florida Conference's annual Advocacy Days marched on the Capitol Tuesday to let lawmakers know the state needs to do better. It was the culmination of three days of prayer, learning about issues that impact children in the state and lobbying lawmakers to take action on their behalf.  ...

Will work for parking

Rev. Gary Judson, a retired pastor working with NOMADS, helps transform a former storage building into a nature center for kids who attend Warren Willis Camp this summer.  FRUITLAND PARK – Keeping the peace can be hard, even labor-intensive. The pastoral settings of the camps and retreat centers operated by the Florida Conference might look natural, but they don’t stay that way without...

The Contradiction of Easter

The law did not allow them to come to the place of his burial on the Sabbath, and so the women arrive as soon as practically possible, on the first day of the week, with spices to anoint the body. They expect the tomb to be closed, but it is open. They expect to find the body, but he is not there. Understandably, Luke tells us, they are perplexed, confused; in the Message translation, they are “puzzled.”  Members...

Two new appointments announced

LAKELAND – Bishop Ken Carter announced today two new conference staff appointments in the Office of Congregational Vitality and the Center for Clergy Excellence.  They will be effective July 1. “Two critical areas in our mission going forward are the identification, nurturing and retention of younger clergy and the cultivation and development of new congregations and missions,” Bishop Carter said. “I am grateful for the gifts of Rwth Ashton and Dan Jackson. ...

Jesus' love spoken here

CLEARWATER -- It’s a Saturday evening, shortly after 7, and people are filing into Union Street UMC. Some men wear shirts with floral or palm tree prints. Some women wear black skirts adorned with colorful island flowers. Children with a Pacific Island heritage sing during worship at Union Street UMC's Micronesian Mission as their parents look on. Photo by B.C. Manion. Video provided by Nancy Mayeux. ...

Florida Advocacy Days: Show up to speak out!

This year during Children’s Week at the state capital, the emphasis will be on feeding and housing children, as well as making sure their medical needs are addressed. The conference partners with Florida Impact, a 30-year-old nonprofit organization with religious roots that helps identify timely issues and conducts a daylong briefing for Methodists from the Florida Conference and the 11th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church before they meet with their...

Many UM worshipers still waiting for a sign

LAKELAND – For the parishioners shepherded by Rev. Lisa Jordan, believing is seeing – literally. "We don't include a lot of music in our worship," said the pastor from the Washington, D.C., area during a visit this month to the Florida Conference. "We depend more on visual forms instead of rhythm and verse."  Patricia Magyar, left, joins members of the United Methodist Committee on Deaf...

Closing means (bitter)sweet deals for book-lovers

This Cokesbury store has been a mainstay at the Life Enrichment Center for nearly 20 years. FRUITLAND PARK – It has never been your run-of-the-mill bookstore. For example, where else can you find a life-size, ready-made crown of thorns, an assortment of chalices, an Amish cookbook and Bible camp in a box? Last week, those items shared shelf space with paperbacks, hardcover books, DVDs, clergy apparel,...

Storytelling opportunities at the Florida Conference

Then Jesus said to them, "So wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the Good News." – Matthew 16:15, God's Word translation The Bible is full of stories, from parables to histories to examples of glory or ignominy. Some are instructional: "This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits." (Genesis 6:15, English Standard Version) Others recount miracles that befall the faithful:  &qu...

Stewardship: a lever for good

ORLANDO – John Wesley had one overriding fear: that the Methodist Church would become a dead church. It’s a comment many United Methodists have heard before, but Florida Conference Bishop Ken Carter reminded more than 200 clergy and lay members attending the Florida United Methodist Foundation’s Stewardship Summit of Wesley’s concern during his keynote presentation March 9 to the group.   ...

New Missional Engagement team takes shape

LAKELAND – Two familiar faces at the Florida Conference have been selected to work in the newly created Missional Engagement department under the leadership of Rev. Clarke Campbell-Evans.  Campbell-Evans Lewis Rodriguez Rev. Harold Lewis, who has been working to encourage black church development at the conference since 2009, will become director...

Conference shares 'real ideas' for strengthening congregations

Rev. Matthew Hartsfield, Van Dyke Church pastor, opens the seventh annual Real Ideas Conference at his church in Lutz. Photo by Derek Maul. LUTZ – For the seventh year, two Florida Conference churches that have blossomed from dozens to thousands of worshipers and developed highly active ministries to match invited others to join them in devising jumpstarts along the road to discipleship.  About...