Share the good work of our Connectional church with the current edition of the West Virgina United Methodist.  Print the online edition and hang it on a bulletin board.  If you get a paper copy, bring it to church to share.

Highlights of the paper include:

Several stories about local church ministries, including Cheylan UMC’s Love Train and Lerona UMC’s efforts for Undie Sunday.

Wellspring of Greenbrier, Inc. is this month’s cover story.  Wellspring is a non-profit community service organization directed by Fred and Scarlett Kellerman.  Fred is the former lay leader of the Annual Conference.

Giving is Worship is a new campaign effort of the Annual Conference, designed to heighten awareness of Apportionment giving.  The back page of the paper is a full color ‘poster’ featuring Spring Heights, which receives support from apportionment dollars.

Hang it up in your church, and look for more posters in the next year.

The Fall Edition of the WV United Methodist will be in mailboxes this week, but you can read it online now! Highlights from this month’s issue include the cover story about Community UMC’s (Morgantown) Farmer’s Market, information on ordering CDs of the Africa University Choir performance at the Clay Center in June, and a Fall Calendar back page that you may tear/cut out and hang up at home or around your church.

Other tips for sharing the paper online:

Forward the link to folks you think may want to read the paper.

Print a copy of the paper and take it to church!  Hang it up on a bulletin board or place it in the narthex.

If you get a print copy at home, share it by bringing it to church once you have read it.

If you have questions about forwarding links or printing the electronic version of the paper, please call or e-mail the Communications Team:

E-mail Laura or Adam here.

“The question of bread for myself is a material question, but the bread for my neighbor,  for everybody, is a spiritual question.”

The School of Christian Mission begins today with a theme of ‘Food and Faith’ for the day. If you didn’t make it to SOCM this year, follow along via the online component of the study.  We’ll also be spending the day at the School of Christian Mission tomorrow.  Watch the website for pictures and stories from our time there.

Yellow cauliflower for sale during last week's South Morgantown Farmer's Market, a ministry of Community UMC in Morgantown.

Peaches so fresh you need an army of napkins to keep the pinkish-white pulp and juice from streaming down your chin. Tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and white vinegar on the kitchen table as an after-school snack. Fresh corn on the cob at supper so sweet you don’t want dessert.

Can it be summer without fresh fruit and vegetables?  Most of us in the United Methodist Church live with access to good food. But, there are places in America, right now, where people have an easier time getting a pack of twinkies than they do an apple.

The farmer’s market ministry at Community United Methodist Church in Morgantown, WV has become a community gathering place where people can purchase produce from local farmers/producers at a reasonable cost.  “We wanted to get to know our neighbors,” said Rev. Meredith Gudger-Raines, who pastors the church. “We think of it as a front porch in the neighborhood.”

A ‘Food Desert’
Two miles down the road from the church is a large trailer park whose only close access to food is a convenience store. Many do not have cars of their own, relying instead on friends and family for rides to work and occasional trips to town. For Gudger-Raines, the farmer’s market is a chance to bring fresh, wholesome, and affordable food closer to them.

Beets and Squash - part of the fresh food offered at Community UMC's Farmer's Market, open each Thursday from 4-7pm at the Church. Photo: Laura Allen

“You hear researchers talk about ‘food deserts’, places where there is limited or no fresh food available to people,” she said. “This is one way of addressing that issue right here in WV.” Future plans for the ministry include transportation for folks to get to and from the market as needed.

Shoppers and local food producers enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of summer. Photo: Laura Allen

Look for more in the fall edition of the West Virginia United Methodist on this topic. In the meantime, this story segues nicely into the Food and Faith track at the United Methodist Women’s School of Christian Mission, which begins this week at West Virginia Wesleyan College. The registration form is online, and you can also e-mail Diane Braun with any questions.

The first half of the Africa University Choir Tour of West Virginia has been a  huge success! Watch a recording of them perform at Annual Conference, then find a tour date near you and go see them live. The Choir is touring to help raise $160,000 in West Virginia. The money will endow a scholarship and build faculty housing at Africa University, a United Methodist related university.

If you are looking for Annual Conference news, you can read all of the Daily Journals, a summary of the day’s events at Annual Conference, online.  The Annual Conference Summary will be in mailboxes next week, in the meantime, feel free to use the online version for conference reports.

You can also go back and watch business and worship sessions online here.

For more information on 2009 Journals, Appointment List and Directory, visit the Conference Secretary’s page here.

The third and final Daily Journal is online here.  It includes the vote tally for the 32 Constitutional Amendments, which you can find on page 3 of the paper.

The Altar at Wesley Chapel, Annual Conference 2009

Also, our first year of streaming Annual Conference was a hit.  You can check out the archives of sessions online at ustreamtv. We had a few glitches in recording a few of the sessions that we’ll rectify next year.  In the meantime all, Conference sessions are available for order by calling Mary Mayes in the AV Library: 304-344-8331, ext. 21.

Also, please show off the Africa University Choir to your friends and neighbors around the Conference.  Their Saturday night concert is archived here.

The Au Choir singing at the Ministry Fair

Plans for the Africa University Choir Tour of WV are in full swing.  The tour is also a fundraiser, with a goal of $160,000 dollars to be raised by the end of the year.  The funds will be used for a student scholarship and for faculty housing on the campus, located near Mutare, Zimbabwe.

By now, you have probably seen the special edition of the WV United Methodist, which highlights the tour and provides information on how you can help.  United Methodists are familiar with the choir – we know how good they are.  And, there is a worthy cause supporting education in a place that needs it.  We hope to see our churches and other venues yield good turnout.

But, also think of this tour as a great way to reach out to folks who do not go to church – for whatever reason.  Let’s face it:  there are plenty of folks in our communities who are cynical about Christianity.  Recent Pew Poll numbers show the number of folks who call themselves ‘atheist or agnostic’ have doubled since the 1990s.

It’s a cynical world out there – but the choir tour is a chance for us to show that Christians do good in the world.  So – tell your friends.  Call your district office and grab some posters and/or flyers.  Or download a one right here for your venue:

Bridgeport UMC/June 14

Suncrest UMC, Morgantown, June 15

Potomac State College/ June 16

Christ UMC, Wheeling/June 17

Clay Center, Charleston/June 18

St. Paul’s UMC, Parkersburg/June 19

Johnson Memorial UMC, Huntington/June 20

Lewisburg UMC/June 21

Beckley Temple UMC/June 21

Summer Youth Celebration, Buckhannon June 22

Chris Arveson in the southern district has also put together three bulletin inserts.

Check out the special Africa University Choir Edition of the WV United Methodist. It should be in mailboxes by the weekend. We’ll have more updates and tips for spreading the word up by the end of this week.

Choir Tour Dates

Rt. 97 in Pineville, WV on the morning of May 9. Photo by Rev. Melissa White

Flooding last week brought on by several days of rain devastated churches and communities across southern WV.  The Conference Disaster Response Team is working closely with disaster coordinators from the Southern, Midland South and Western Districts to get assistance to those who have been impacted by high water and mud slides.

The front yard of Pineville UMC member Melinda Grant on May 9. Photo taken by Rev. Melissa White

The team is also calling for a special offering this Sunday, with monies raised directed toward flood relief in southern WV. Please designate them for “WV Floods” and send them to:

Conference Treasurer
P.O. Box 2469
Charleston, WV 25329