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Highlights from the
April 2008 issue of Together

Invention pours water on thirsty people around the world

A family in southern Indiana is providing safe drinking water mixed with a generous portion of "living water" to parched people around the world.

New Life International, a nonprofit Christian ministry started in the 1970s by Byron and Yvonne McGuire in Underwood, Ind., is the birthplace of the McGuire water purifier, a system that turns unsafe water into safe drinking water using salt and a 12-volt battery.

Their eldest son, Duvon McGuire, invented the system which produces chlorinated water and destroys viruses and bacteria. The water purifiers have provided thousands of gallons of safe drinking water for people in more than 60 countries.

"What we are trying to do is not just bring safe water on a humanitarian level, but as Christians to also be the salt that makes people thirsty for living water," said Duvon McGuire, a member of New Chapel United Methodist Church, Jeffersonville, Ind.

Operated on a 12-volt power supply, the system can provide enough water for 10,000 people and can disinfect up to 50 gallons of water per minute-all using less electrical power than a normal street light. One purifier potentially can save an entire village for as little as a penny per person, per day.

McGuire's invention got its first real-life test in 1998 when Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras. A family member working as a missionary in Honduras told him that the hurricane had left behind a severe water crisis.

Packing up 30 of his purifiers, McGuire took them to Honduras for use in schools, churches and orphanages. Since that time, the Christian outreach ministry started by his parents has become one of the largest to provide safe water to the world.

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Indiana's Black United Methodists endorse Beard for episcopacy

Black United Methodists in the Indiana Area encourage North Central Jurisdictional delegates to support the Rev. Dr. Frank Beard for the episcopacy. Beard currently serves as superintendent of the Kokomo District in the North Indiana Conference.

South Indiana Conference Black Methodists for Church Renewal (BMCR), North Indiana Conference Black Methodists for Church Renewal and the Black United Methodist Pastors (BUMP) of the Indiana Area recently gave their joint endorsement for Beard

According to SIC BMCR Caucus Chairman, the Rev. James C. Anyike, "Dr. Beard has rendered faithful and diligent servant-leadership to the Church for many years. Having personally served as a pastor in the North Indiana Conference, I've observed how his gifts and graces enhance the life of the Church in the Conference and Indiana Area. Just as he is a blessing to the Indiana Area, we believe he will be a blessing to the total Connection."

Beard has led the North Indiana Conference Delegations to two General Conferences and serves on several connectional boards and agencies, including on the General Board of Discipleship. He also serves this year as the president of the North Indiana Conference's Cabinet.

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Methodist Hospital of Indianapolis celebrates 100 years

This year, 2008, marks the 100th anniversary of Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, which has been providing health care to the citizens of Indiana since 1908.

Celebrations commemorating the hospital's heritage focus on the people who make the hospital great: patients and families, employees, health care professionals, nurses, physicians and friends of the hospital.

Signage to commemorate the anniversary adorns both the inside of the hospital and the outside with a five-story beacon featured on side that faces Interstate 65. Timelines have been produced on the clarian.org Web site as well as inside the hospital. Historic photos exhibits will be displayed publicly.

A gala celebration will be held on Thursday night, April 24 at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis. Tickets are $75 each. For more information contact Michael Ault at Methodist Health Foundation, 317-962-1786.

A reception for employees will be held on Friday, April 25 and "Methodist Hospital Night at Victory Field," home of the Indianapolis Indians, will be held on Friday night, April 25. Methodist Hospital is located on what used to be the Indians home field known as Tinker Park.

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Oakwood Inn, property returns to church

SYRACUSE, Ind. - Members of the Oakwood Foundation for Adult Ministries board announced Wednesday, March 19 they returned the property, formerly known as Oakwood Park, to the North Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church. The foundation said it was no longer able to operate the Oakwood Christian Retreat & Conference Center in Syracuse as an adult Christian ministry.

Oakwood, on the northwest shore of Lake Wawasee in northern Indiana, includes the 77-room Oakwood Inn and restaurant, program center, academy center, a chapel and 42 acres dominated by tall oak trees.

The North Indiana Conference Board of Trustees officially received the property on March 19 in accordance with Oakwood Foundation by-laws and the action of the 1993 North Indiana Conference session of the church, when the Oakwood Foundation took possession of the property.

In court documents, the Oakwood Foundation said it would complete its commitments to existing customers by continuing operations of the ministry through Labor Day of this year with financial assistance from the North Indiana Conference. The foundation will cease activities at Oakwood on Sept. 1. Individuals and groups who wish to visit and use the facilities need to make arrangements with Oakwood to do so before Labor Day.

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United Methodist Men set new strategies, elect officers

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - In the same year that the ministry of United Methodist Men is celebrating its 100th anniversary, annual conference presidents of United Methodist Men learned of new methods to reach men in the next 100 years.

Meeting Feb. 28-March 2, the National Association of Conference Presidents (NACP) of United Methodist Men, also elected new officers and set plans for their 2009 national gathering to be held in Nashville after a long tradition of meeting at Purdue University.

To help churches launch new efforts in men's ministry, the commission has established a process whereby men can become "Men's Ministry Specialists."

The 10th national gathering will be held July 10-11, 2009, at Belmont University in Nashville. The two-day event will include speeches by Chicago Area Bishop Hee-Soo Jung and Kevass Harding, pastor of Dellrose United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas. A planning team is negotiating with other nationally known speakers and singers. An informal worship service will be held on Sunday, July 12 for those remaining in the Nashville area.

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Imagine Indiana Web cast brings more than 1,000 viewers

INDIANAPOLIS - Lights, camera, Imagine Indiana. Six members of the Imagine Indiana Design Team took to cyberspace Sunday evening, March 30 for Indiana Area UMC's first Web cast. It originated in Bishop Mike Coyner's office in Indianapolis.

The results were impressive. The Web cast was viewed by more than 1,000 United Methodists gathered in 30 Web cast down site churches. Another 138 computers were also plugged into the hour-long Imagine Indiana Report summary including a half-hour of questions and answers.

Producer Winton Long of The Omni Centre of Carmel, Ind. said, "Out of the 168 computers connected to the Web cast, 164 stayed with the entire program. That's rare. I have never seen that high of a percentage to stay with a program." Long and his wife, Sandra, run Omni Centre and are members of the Carmel UMC.

At the beginning of the program, both conference lay leaders Kayc Mykrantz of Logansport, the lay leader of the North Indiana Conference and Ike Williams of Carmel, the lay leader of the South Indiana Conference were joined by Kokomo District Superintendent Frank Beard for a 20-minute summary presentation of the Imagine Indiana Design Team report.

The proposal is a plan to unite the two Indiana conferences.

According to the Design Team plan, the goal of the new conference is to "make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world." Williams said, "The Imagine Indiana Design Team believes that stronger congregations, better stewardship of God's resources, and a united voice for Christ working in and through The United Methodist Church across Indiana are the expected results of this new plan for a new Indiana Conference."

Mykrantz said, "The plan calls for the focus of the new Indiana Conference to be on congregations, their pastors, members and to the un-churched who live in our communities. The design team believes the new conference will be more conducive to responding to the needs of congregations than the two existing conferences."

The complete hour-long Web cast is archived online at www.inareaumc.org and can be viewed anytime using media software and a broadband Web browser.

For more information about the Imagine Indiana process, log on the www.inareaumc.org and click on Imagine Indiana.

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Both Indiana Conferences top Jurisdiction's VIM lists for volunteers, money

Lorna Jost, coordinator of the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission program for the North Central Jurisdiction, recently announced to Bishop Mike Coyner that the two Indiana Conferences surpassed any other in UMVIM teams and volunteers for the year 2007. North Indiana came out on top with South Indiana a close second.

Jost complimented the Indiana Area saying, "Thank you all for your leadership and tireless work through this United Methodist mission program."

The North Indiana Conference provided 2,980 volunteers (or 24 percent) from a total of 12,402 volunteers for the North Central Jurisdiction of the UMC.

The South Indiana Conference provided 2,234 volunteers (or 18 percent) from a total of 12,402 volunteers for the North Central Jurisdiction of the UMC.

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Bloomington launches Spanish-language worship services

The Iglesia Metodista Hispana - a Spanish-speaking church designed to serve the growing Hispanic population in Bloomington, Ind. - met for the first time Palm Sunday morning.

Eleven people gathered in the chapel at the South Indiana United Methodist Conference Center to worship in their native tongue and culture.

Everything is in Spanish, and according to Pastor Ramon Tristani, the Latin American culture or "feel" of the church is almost as important as the language.

"Every culture of people has certain traditions, ways of doing things or not doing things. Hispanics... There's not much analysis of the other person before allowing them into the circle of friends," said Tristani, whose regular job is as an engineer at Crane.

Nine adults and two children might not seem like much, but Tristani, a native of Puerto Rico, started a similar church 25 years ago with a lot less. - Herald-Times of Bloomington

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United Methodist membership down, constituency up

While professing U.S. membership continues to decline in The United Methodist Church, the number of constituents is steadily increasing, according to new denominational statistics.

Membership decreased by eight-tenths of a percent over a one-year period to more than 7.9 million, according to the latest statistics released by the denomination March 11.

Specifically, U.S. membership was 7,931,733 in 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available, according to the United Methodist General Council on Finance and Administration, which compiles data for the denomination.

U.S. membership in 2005 was 7,995,429.

Another 45,220 people were listed as clergy members of the denomination for a total of 7,976,953 in 2006. In addition, 871,218 people, primarily children, were listed as baptized, non-professing members known as constituent members.

There are 220,000 United Methodist members in Indiana plus another 40,000 constituent members and 1,200 clergy.

Worldwide United Methodist lay and clergy membership, which stood at more than 11.5 million in 2005, is still being tallied for 2006 and is expected to be released later this year.

Meanwhile, the number of constituents in 2006 was more than 1.5 million, a 16 percent increase from a decade ago. Denominational records show the number of constituents has increased three of the last five years and eight of the last 10.

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Africa University's Small Farm Resource Center one answer to hunger

Tagwira

"Africa is the only continent not able to feed its self," said Dr. Fanuel Tagwira, interim chancellor of Africa University at Old Mutare, Zimbabwe. Poverty, hunger, malnutrition and deadly diseases are wide spread.

Food aid helps but at best is a stopgap effort, which can only help for a very short time. When 70 to 90 percent of the farmers in African countries are small subsistence households simply trying to survive, the future is dim. However there is hope. Many organizations are beginning to expand efforts to develop longer run solutions designed to tackle the root problems of low agricultural productivity and malnutrition.

United Methodist-related Africa University is committed to establishing a Small Farm Resource Center, which will become a focus of its agricultural and nutritional outreach efforts. The center's focus will be developing and disseminating new crops and new farming practices, as well as introducing new foods that will substantially improve the nutritional value of their diets.

The goal will be to increase the productivity of the small farmers and to introduce new crops that have the potential to reduce malnutrition. It has been effectively demonstrated on a small scale. For some, the new crops also can become a major source of income for the family.

For more information, contact one of the following members of the North Indiana Conference Committee on Africa University.

• Dick Dugger, P.O. Box 232, Culver, In 46511, 574-842-2770, seyan3@mchsi.com
• Wade Wiley, 18859 Red Bud, Plymouth, In 46563, wwiley72@yahoo.com
• John Huie, 23 Flowermound Dr., West Lafayette, IN 47906, 765-497-7188, jehuie@aol.com

Indiana supporters seek to identify farmers willing to donate a portion of their soybean harvest.

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National gambling opponent to speak at conference sessions

Grey

Cheered by those who oppose the expansion of gambling and often feared by those who profit from that expansion, the Rev. Tom Grey will be speaking at both the North Indiana and South Indiana 2008 Annual Conference sessions.

Grey is known for his no nonsense presentation of the failure of gambling to deliver on its promises. For the past 15 years, Grey has been outspoken in his opposition to gambling.

Grey is a retired United Methodist pastor now living on the west coast, who continues his traveling and speaking on behalf of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling (NCALG).

He says gambling is not winning all or even the majority of the battles in the United States. He will outline the possibility of changing the direction of legalized gambling in Indiana.

Grey is scheduled to speak Friday morning, May 30, during the North Indiana Annual Conference session at Elliott Hall on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette. He also is scheduled to speak during the South Indiana Annual Conference session on Thursday morning June 5. Grey will address both annual conference session and speak during a noon luncheon following the session. Those wishing to attend the luncheon will need to purchase a luncheon reservation from their respective conference.

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Communication ready for online visitors to General Conference

United Methodist Communications is prepared for thousands of online visitors to watch and gather information on the denomination's 2008 legislative conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

About 1,000 delegates from around the world will gather April 23 to May 2, 2008 to determine priorities and set a direction for the 11-million member denomination. The General Conference's proceedings will be available through GC2008.umc.org or www.umc.org.  Worship, special addresses, celebrations, and other selected plenary sessions will be available on live video streaming.

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South Indiana School of Christian Mission honored at UIndy

The women receiving the gifts from UIndy are: (from left) Karen Korn, assistant dean of the School of Mission (at podium), Sylvia White, co-president of Greenwood UMW and Carole Small, treasurer of Greenwood UMW.

INDIANAPOLIS - For the past three decades, clergy and laity, youth and adults have been coming to the University of Indianapolis campus for mission education opportunities provided by the South Indiana Conference United Methodist Women's School of Christian Mission.

During the recent 2008 Showers Symposium: "Christian Mission in the United Methodist Church: Past, Present & Future" at UIndy, the Rev. Michael Cartwright, on behalf of the University, recognized the work of the South Indiana Conference UMW's School of Christian mission on March 27. To honor the UMW, UIndy's office of Ecumenical & Interfaith Programs arranged for contributions to be made to the UMW for the program support coordinator in Freetown, Sierra Leone and to the Lucille Raines Residence in Indianapolis.

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New curriculum invites children to build 'Rock Solid' faith

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Hank the Hammer and friends will help children build a "rock solid heart of faith" with a new Sunday school curriculum being offered this fall by the United Methodist Publishing House based in Nashville, Tenn.

"Rock Solid: Building a Heart of Faith" will invite children ages 3-13 to lay a solid biblical foundation and construct a personal relationship with God.

The new curriculum replaces Exploring Faith, which has been offered for the past eight years. Rock Solid incorporates language based on a faith-building model instead of a school model and uses, for instance, words like session instead of lesson, leader instead of teacher and group instead of class.

The curriculum will be ready to ship to churches in June. It includes a leader guide, kid's books, a resource packet and musical CD. A fun pack with craft ideas is available for younger age levels, a puzzle book for older children and a drama book for "tweens."

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