an edition of the United Methodist Reporter THE MISSOURI CONFERENCE REVIEW


Leading congregations to lead people to actively follow Jesus Christ Jesus


Faithbook


Brian Hammons begins list of 10 for fruitful ministry. 2A


UMCOM offers FB safety tips. 3A


Support


Victims of violence need encourage- ment. 9A


Pastors Converge to renew, refocus


Sedalia was packed with


United Methodist pastors in mid- September, with their largest gath- ering since Annual Conference Session. More than 300 people came together at the Celebration Center of First UMC in Sedalia for Converge on Sept. 12-14. “Bishop Schnase wanted us to


have a learning event in which pastors could celebrate their com- mon call and connection, and our church was given an opportunity to take that idea and run with it,” said Rev. Jim Downing. The event was attended by the


William Calcote works with members of Woodlandville UMC to plant flowers at the Harrisburg elementary school.


Churches embrace local missions


On the weekend of September


11, more than 260 United Methodist Churches in Missouri went out into their communities and extended a hand of service. According to numbers gath- ered by the Office of Creative


Ministries, 264 United Methodist Churches participated. Of those, 69 reported their numbers of volunteers, which totaled 4,786 United Methodist volunteers and 1,334 volunteers not affiliated


See Serve 2011, pg. 3A


Kreamer to retire from Mozambique position


cabinet, Bishop Robert Schnase, and all categories of clergy serv- ing churches. Bishop Schnase led a communion service on the final day of the event. It was supported through the Missouri Conference Center of Pastoral Excellence. A keynote speaker at the event


was Ben Witherington, a professor of New Testament for Doctoral studies at Asbury Theological


Seminary. He has written more than 40 books, including The Jesus Quest. He has written about every book in the New Testament, and he advocates lectionary preaching. “I like the lectionary, because it


forces you to deal with texts you might otherwise not deal with,” Witherington said. “If you don’t preach the lectionary, you may not be able to help people understand the whole narrative of the gospel.” Witherington visited the story


of the woman at the well, and held it up as an example of a strong woman in ministry that should serve as a counter to those that would not allow women to serve as pastors. A video of a presentation from


Martha Grace Reese on her book Unbinding the Gospel was shown on Tuesday morning. Reese reported finding that most main- line denominations have little passion for evangelism, citing


Bishop Robert Schnase speaks at Converge. Photo by Eric Mattson.


that less than half of one percent of mainline churches were baptiz- ing more than five adults per year on average. But she also gave hope, citing


that those churches that were bap- tizing people were older churches of all sizes and styles, and differ-


See Converge, pg. 7A


Northland UMC makes itself known in community


Northland UMC now has a


place of its own. After starting out in a community recreation center and a local school, the church has now acquired a building on six acres, and has done an extensive and rapid makeover of the build- ing to get it ready for a September 25 launch. “We’re going to have a lot less


body aches, without the demands of setting up and tearing down everything, week in, week out,” said Rev. Curtis Huffman. The energy required to have


Carol Kreamer is greeted with exuberance at a church in Mozambique.


After serving more than


a dozen years as the connec- tor between United Methodist churches in Missouri and Mozambique, Carol Kreamer has


announced that she will be retir- ing next year. When Kreamer first started in 1999, a Conference-to-Conference See Kreamer to Retire, pg. 7A


a place to worship hasn’t let up yet, though. The property that was purchased, which was a for-


See Northland, pg. 8A


Curtis Wilke and his son Conner goes door-to-door inviting people to the opening worship service for Northland UMC.


The United Methodist Reporter (USPS 954-500) is published weekly by UMR Communications, 1221 Profi t, Dallas, TX 75247-3919. Periodicals Postage Paid at Dallas. Postmaster: Send address changes to The United Methodist Reporter, PO Box 660275, Dallas, TX 75266-0275.


024000 l Volume 158 Number 22 l September 30, 2011 Two Sections, Section A


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