Farmville District United Methodist Church Newsletter

The 2014 session of the Virginia Annual Conference was held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, Va., Friday, June 20, to Sunday, June 22. The theme of this year's Annual Conference is “Lord Renew Us with Your Spirit.” The logo, designed by Cathryn Wooton in the conference Communications office, features red and orange elements of fire representing the Holy Spirit and blue elements of water representing the renewal of Christian baptism.

PLEASANT GROVE UMC LIVES ON, PG 1 SEE HOW YOU CAN SAY NO TO MALARIA ON PG 1 TAKE A LOOK AT NEW CLERGY APPOINTMENTS FOR THE FARMVILLE DISTRICT, PG 2-3 CONFERENCE TOTALS FOR KITS, 4 CANS 4 CONFERENCE AND OFFERING ON PG 3 OUR MISSION: THE MISSION OF THE VIRGINIA ANNUAL CONFERENCE IS TO MAKE DISCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD BY EQUIPPING ITS LOCAL CHURCHES FOR MINISTRY AND BY PROVIDING A CONNECTION FOR MINISTRY BEYOND THE LOCAL CHURCH; ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD.

Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church closed on June 30, 2014 after serving the community of Opie and Whittles Mill of Mecklenburg County, VA since before 1839. Two portraits which were painted by local artist Louise Holmes hung in the church. The portraits of Rev. Dr. Harry Coffey and his wife were presented to Rev. John Coffey and his sister Louise. Rev. Coffey and Louise had many fond memories of their dad’s time in Union Level stating that “their father and mother could not have thought of a better place to serve where hospitality and generosity were a way of life”. The members of Pleasant Grove UMC are happy the portraits found their way home.

Rev. John Coffey, Louise Smith, Tom Smith with pastor Kent Wise and wife, Emily (left side).

VIRGINIA ANNUAL CONFERENCE VOTES TO PARTICIPATE IN IMAGINE NO MALARIA Annual Conference members voted to support The United Methodist Church’s “Imagine No Malaria” initiative. Conference leaders hope to raise enough money in the next year to save at least 100,000 lives. Every church and every United Methodist in the Virginia Conference are urged to take part. The theme is "Every Life Save a Life." To celebrate the vote to participate in the “Imagine No Malaria” initiative, Bishop Young Jin Cho broke into a "Happy" dance and was joined on stage by youths, District Lay Leaders and District Superintendents. Bishop Cho and his wife, Kiok, kicked off the initiative by contributing $3,000 to save 300 lives. To date, $11,700 has been contributed to save 1,170 lives. You can text "Malaria VA" to 27722 to make a $10 donation and save a life.

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Rebecca Trovalli

Lisa Meyers

Burkeville Charge

Christina M. H. Perkins Crewe, UMC

J. Randall Kiel East Nottoway Charge

Seung Hae Yoo-Hess LaCrosse-Sardis Charge and Providence-Trinity Charge

Lisa S. Meyers Burkeville Charge

Richard L. Meiser, Jr. Director, Wesley Foundation

and Antioch UMC

Rebecca Trovalli-Cook

Buckingham Charge

James F. Brown McKendree-Asbury Charge

Robert C. Fuleihan James River Charge

G. Michael Huffman Charlotte Charge

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Jerry Malone—Assistant LaCrosse-Sardis Charge

Providence-Trinity Charge

Giani Manieri Oakwood UMC

Farmville District Pastors that Moved in 2014:

* Linda Lowe (East Nottoway Charge) to Reliance/Ridings Chapel,

Winchester Dist.

* Kang Uk Lee (Oakwood UMC) to Little Fork Circuit, Charlottesville Dist.

* Jiyeon Kim (Charlotte Court House Charge) to Warrenton UMC,

(Associate), Alexandria Dist.

* Robert Jennings (Buckingham Charge) to Prospect UMC, Richmond Dist.

* Rebecca Trovalli (Antioch UMC) to Buckingham Charge, Farmville Dist.

* Giani Manieri (LaCrosse-Sardis Charge) to Oakwood UMC, Farmville Dist.

* James Brown (Burkeville Charge) to McKendree-Asbury Charge,

Farmville Dist.

* Seung Hae Yoo-Hess (Providence-Trinity) will now serve LaCrosse-Sardis

Charge along with Providence-Trinity Charge, Farmville Dist.

* Jerry Malone (McKendree-Asbury Charge) now an Assistant to LaCrosse-

Sardis Charge and Providence-Trinity Charge, Farmville Dist.

* Richard L. Meiser, Jr will now serve Antioch UMC as well as continuing as

the Director of the Wesley Foundation, Farmville Dist.

Congratulations to the following candidates for ministry:

* Licensing as Local Pastors: Amanda H. Newman, Pamela G. Pickard,

Rebecca L. Trovalli-Cook

* Commissioned as Provisional : C. Alan Layman

* Ordination as Elder: Linda H. Lowe, Kang Uk Lee

Recognized as Minister of Another Denomination:

Kerry L. Halbert

Graduated from Divinity School:

* Amanda H. Newman

* E. Joseph Tucker Varner

Pastors entering paths of retirement:

* John S. Brenneke—21 years,

* Jeffery P. Clemens—14.25 years

* Brant Hays—31 years

District Churches Discontinued at Annual Conference 2014

* Rocky Run UMC, North Brunswick Charge is discontinued.

* Pleasant Grove UMC, North Mecklenburg Charge is discontinued.

DISASTER RELIEF KITS CONTRIBUTED TO

UMCOR— Virginia Annual Conference members

brought 41,218 disaster relief kits for United

Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to Annual

Conference. The kits, valued at $533,834, included

30,844 Health Kits; 11,306 School Kits; 5,325

Birthing Kits; 1,666 Layette Kits; 228 Cleaning Kits;

394 Bedding Kits and 1,455 miscellaneous kits. The

kits were loaded onto a semi-trailer and have been

taken to an UMCOR depot in Mechanicsburg, Penn.

4 CANS 4 CONFERENCE 9,820 pounds of food

donated to '4 Cans 4 Conference'. Clergy and lay

members of Annual Conference contributed 9,820

pounds of canned goods and boxed dry foods plus

$845 in cash as part of the "4 Cans 4 Conference"

drive to benefit the Hampton/Newport News area

Peninsula Food Bank. This will provide 11,429

meals. Donna Tighe, Food Drive Coordinator for the

Peninsula Food Bank, called the Virginia Conference

laity, youth and clergy her "new heroes" for your

extraordinary generosity and giving to help folks in

need at a time of year when their intake of food

supplies is typically the lowest.

CONFERENCE OFFERING $155,000 collected

for Annual Conference offering to date, this is about

$45,000 shy of the goal of $200,000.

Funds will support “Imagine No Malaria,” Cambodia

church construction and Christian education,

Mozambique lay leadership and communication

training, Brazil Shade and Fresh Water program for

street children, mission engagement of Virginia

Conference small membership churches, Community

Outreach Program in Roanoke, Agape Children’s

Center in Horntown on the Eastern Shore, and

connection of Virginia Conference churches to Haiti

mission projects.

VIRGINIA REMAINS MISSION LEADER-

GBGM representative, George Howard handed to us

an award for the highest giving to the Advance for

Christ and His Church ($2.5 million) in 2013, and for

leading the Southeastern jurisdiction in giving to

missionary support. 1.2 million to UMCOR. It was

stated that we are one of the most, if not the most

outstanding conference in the denomination in terms

of reaching out to people.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE BY THE NUMBERS During the 2014 Virginia Annual Conference

session, 13 were ordained as elders, one ordained a

deacon, 22 commissioned as provisional members,

and 27 licensed as local pastors. One elder also had

her orders from another denomination recognized.

Forty-one clergy took retired status this year.

Members approved a 2015 budget of more than

$32.7 million, down by one percent from the 2014

budget. Conference membership stands at 330,696,

down 1,735 from the previous year. Worship

attendance stands at 104,231, down by 897.

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NON-PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

PERMIT #89

FARMVILLE, VA 23901

Still - Watch Annual Conference live

streaming archives -Live streaming of the

2014 Virginia Annual Conference is

archived and can still be viewed by going to

the LiveStream website, http://

new.livestream.com/VAUMC/AC2014. The

live streaming shows all sessions of the three

-day conference, beginning at 1 p.m. Friday,

June 20, with the Laity Session and

concluding with worship and fixing of

appointments Sunday morning, June 22.

You can still order DVDs of Annual

Conference -You can still order DVDs of

the 2014 Annual Conference session from

the conference Communications office.

DVDs will be sent out immediately and

should be available to use for reporting on

Annual Conference to your local church.

Cost is $22 for Volume 1, $12 for Volume

2 and $30 for both volumes. To order call

Pam in the Communications office at (804)

521-1110 or 1-800-768-6040, ext. 110.

STAYING IN TOUCH Farmville District

Virginia Conference The United Methodist Church

204 High St., Farmville, Virginia 23901 Phone 434-392-4687 FAX 1-877-233-6168

E-mail: farmvilledistrict@vaumc.org

Web site: umcfarmville.org

Young Jin Cho Area Bishop

Robert J. Parks, Jr. District Superintendent

Phyllis Goin Administrative Assistant

District Leadership:

Johnnie Morris Lay Leader

Betsy Hanmer President, UMW

Kyla Silver Youth Coordinator

Ruth Horn Children’s Coordinator

Sue Mayo Newsletter Editor