Site
Contents
 |
General Information about the Area Office
North Indiana Conference Office
South Indiana Conference Office
Prayer Guides
(Courtesy of the NIC Prayer Team)
Area United Methodist
Foundation
For resources to assist your congregation in welcoming guests,
click here
Seashore District Volunteer Center VIM project -- Completed
Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodists together |
July/August 2004 |
Four Indiana United Methodist pastors chosen for clergy renewal
By Daniel R. Gangler
INDIANAPOLIS - From California to the Gulf Stream waters, selected Hoosier United Methodist preachers will hit the road and fly the airways to relax and study on travel to renew their strength and spirits.
Four Indiana United Methodists pastors and their congregations join 28 other Hoosiers from other faith groups in a clergy renewal program underwritten by the Indianapolis based Lilly Endowment. Chosen congregations will receive up to $45,000 each to provide their pastor with specially formulated programs of personal and professional renewal. In this sixth year of the renewal program, the Lilly Endowment will award $1.3 million in a continuing effort to reenergize and rejuvenate congregations and their leaders.
United Methodist pastors participating in the renewal program include: the Rev. Christine Newman-Jacobs of Churubusco UMC, the Rev. Vicki L. Hobbs of Cicero UMC, the Rev. Norman Jack Wolfe of First UMC in Noblesville, and the Rev. David M. Byrum of First UMC in Valparaiso.
Newman-Jacobs, in ministry 20 years, plans to take off for Europe and New Hampshire from June to September next year. During June, she plans to tour Scotland, Wales and England with husband Paul and daughters Hilary and Hannah They also will visit with friends in the London area where she lived when she was a teenager. Part of June will be spent in France for relaxation, time with friends and a visit to the Taize community. July through September will be spent in Indiana by a lake, in Pennsylvania visiting family, and a couple of weeks in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Newman-Jacobs told Together "I know I will take whatever time I need to sleep well, read books, lay in a hammock, go to movies and dig in the dirt! My roots are very scattered so I anticipate being able to 'reclaim those roots' and enjoy sharing them with my family.
"I look forward to spending relaxed time alone and with my husband, children and my extended family. Renewing my call to ministry and reflecting on what God might be calling me to in the future is also an expectation. More than anything I hope to rest have some fun and experience a deep abiding renewal in my relationship with God and my family."
Hobbs, in ministry 14 years, plans to retreat from July to mid-October this year and will begin her time at home on Morse Lake reading, boating, swimming, gardening and quilting. In mid-July she, with her family, will head to England for a Wesley Heritage Tour. Returning to the states, she and her husband Rick will drive to Chicago for a trip to Los Angeles down Historic U.S. Route 66. Rick will fly home and Vicki will spend September as a volunteer in mission at the United Methodist-related McCurdy School in Espanola, N.M.
Wolfe plans to travel with his wife Dorothy July through September. They will tour Vancouver; the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Mount Rainer and Olympia by SUV and trailer. At the end of July, they will head for a one-week cruise in Alaska. In August they will be on the west coast from Washington to a family visit in California. In September they will head south to Louisianna over to Florida and through Georgia on their return home.
About his sabbatical, Wolfe says, "I have just turned 50. I have years of ministry yet to offer. My challenge now becomes, "What do I do for an encore?" … I want the last third of my ministry to be as challenging and rewarding as the first two-thirds. I need to discover a new vision of ministry … .I do not want the excitement of ministry to end."
Byrum will be spending February through April with his wife Becky on a study and retreat to the Southwest United States and Hawaii. Of interest to him are multi-site congregations. He hopes to visit numerous multi-site churches and interview pastors as well as secular institution leaders. He plans to end his sabbatical in a one-week silent retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani, a Trappist monastery in Kentucky.
About his sabbatical, Byrum told Together that First UMC in Valparaiso is undergoing a major transformation. He said, "Laity discernment committees have developed a bold new vision of our church's future. We seek to reach more people by adding a second site and expanding our outreach." He said, "A renewal leave will be essential for me and First UMC to make a successful transition from a single-site ministry to a multi-site ministry."
Endowment officials anticipate that the Indiana program will continue in the future. An announcement is expected soon.
Besides this program, the Lilly Endowment offers a National Clergy Renewal Program for congregations and their pastors in the other 49 states. For more information, log on to the Lilly Endowment Web site at www.lillyendowment.org.
Last updated on July 09, 2004