Episcopacy Report - Added 4/14

COMMITTEE ON EPISCOPACY
The Committee on the Episcopacy joins the Louisiana Annual Conference in celebrating the eight years of faithful and effective leadership of our Episcopal family, Bishop William W. Hutchinson and Mrs. Kay Hutchinson.  At the 2007 Annual Conference on behalf of the Episcopacy Committee, Bob Burgess, Chair, assisted by Fred Loy, Vice Chair, and Mrs. Carolyn Dove, Secretary, presented our first lady of Louisiana United Methodism with a corsage.  Kay in her kind and winsome way expressed thanks and appreciation for all Louisiana United Methodists and their support during the past year(s).  Asking Bishop Hutchinson to join Kay, Bob Burgess offered a prayer for the two of them on behalf of the Annual Conference.

The Episcopacy Committee met June 9 to discuss the retirement of Bishop William Hutchinson at the 2008 South Central Jurisdictional Conference and plans for an appropriate celebration.  In addition to a special observance during the 2008 Annual Conference, Friday, August 1, 2008 has been set for a retirement dinner which will be held at the Marriott Hotel in Baton Rouge.  More information including cost will be shared through the Louisiana Now.  Following their retirement they will reside in Los Cruces, New Mexico, and in January Bishop Hutchinson will begin serving as the Episcopal liaison to the Foundation for Evangelism headquartered at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.  God has wonderfully blessed Louisiana with the Hutchinsons these past eight years and we wish them the very best of God’s blessings in their years of ministry in retirement.

The committee also considered the needs of our Annual Conference for the next 4 to 8 years which has been shared with the Jurisdictional Episcopacy Committee.  A new bishop will be assigned to the Louisiana area at the conclusion of the Jurisdictional Conference in July 2008.  The Committee on the Episcopacy asks all United Methodists to keep this matter in your prayers. 

Added 4/26

CAMBODIA MISSION INITIATIVE

I am grateful to report the mission initiative of the churches of our Annual Conference is growing in Cambodia! In 2007 more than 30 of our conference churches gave over $81,000 for projects and over $27,000 in missionary support to Esther Gitobu (13959Z) and Nicholas Gitobu (13077Z)!  A very good year for this vital expression of the General Board of Global Ministries, the missions arm of the United Methodist Church.

The projects you are continuing to support include outreach to HIV/AIDS patients and their families and orphanage; outreach to the children of the Phnom Penh dumpsite who garner recyclable products for sale at the Viet Nam border; new national programs for Methodist Youth and Methodist Women; the Pig Project; Faith Engine Ministries (FEM) which trains and equips every three months 18 unemployed high school graduates with automotive, driving and people skills; and a dozen more projects extending the mercies of Christ to the Khmer people.  Over 170 Methodist churches along with 75 preaching stations (emerging churches) are the fruit of “the People called Methodist of Cambodia”!

Our most recent Volunteers in Mission team, led by Rev. Larry Norman, LaVIM Director and Dr. Sylvia Reimer of Waterford, New York, was a medical mission to the Kampong Chhnang Province about two hours north of Phnom Penh.  A seasoned medical team of 12 health care professionals and 6 helpers came alongside the missionary staff and Khmer pastors and laity in caring for over 1,800 patients in five days.  Of the patients, more than 100 referrals were made for follow-up care to the Provincial Health Directorate with a number needing immediate hospitalization and surgery.  This connection could not have been made for the poor without the Methodist Mission Center staff, especially Irenee Mparsuta from Zimbabwe, Esther Gitobu from Kenya, and Erica Mire, a short-term volunteer from St. Matthew’s UMC in Metairie working closely with our medical mission LaVIM team.

And finally, the Spean Chivit, “The Bridge of Life” Methodist Church was formally dedicated February 17, 2008.  The dedication was tentatively scheduled on three previous occasions but obstacles prevented it.  What a joy to see this vibrant vital church effectively reaching the next generation of leaders in strong youth and children’s ministries among the Khmer people of Cambodia.  Construction was begun in 2006 and completed in 2007.  Over $57,000 from Louisiana United Methodists made this work possible between 2004 and 2006.  Today, Pastor Yin Dina and his family lead this work.

With a special gift from First UMC Baton Rouge a new church will be going up in 2008 in Cambodia, and pledges from others are making it possible for the construction of two additional churches in Cambodia.  Thanks be to God!  Two missions are tentatively set for 2009 with Rev. Ann Sutton and Susan Dungan leading a Medical Mission for February 2009 and Archie Corder leading an education and construction team in December 2009.

Doug Milliron, Coordinator

Added 4/30

MISSIONS SECRETARY

Missionary support in 2007 from Louisiana Annual Conference Churches - $77,262

Missionary name & Advance code     country      supportive churches        amount

Karen Ujereh  10918z               Senegal      12                         $29,312.00
Sabastine Ujereh  10917z           Senegal      1                              500.00

Esther Gitobu  13959z              Cambodia     20                          20,432.00
Nicholas Gitobu Kithinji  13077z   Cambodia     8                            6,453.00

Jerri Savuto  08779z               Kenya        1                            5,000.00

Marsha Alexander  10772z           Mexico       2                            4,250.00

Nancy Boye  10763z                 Costa Rica   2                            3,940.00

Carol Crawford  773384             West Angola  1                            2,105.00
Timothy Crawford  773384           West Angola

Laura Skiba  931640                Alaska       1                            2,000.00

Lorene Persons  07709z             inactive     1                              850.00
David Persons  07708z              inactive     2                            1,170.00

Terry Henderson  052812            Mexico       1                            1,100.00

Meredith Whitaker  982994       Oklahoma Indian 1                              150.00

Your missionaries receive their salary support from three primary sources: about 1/3 comes from your church faithfully paying its World Service Apportionment; about 1/3 comes through the Women’s Division of our United Methodist Women; and 1/3 of the missionary’s salary support has to come from churches like yours in Covenant Relationships.  You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what happens to our missionaries without your church’s Covenant Relationship.  Please go to http://new.gbgm-umc.org/about/us/mp/missionarysupport/ to find detailed information for your church and Covenant Relationships; or go to http://new.gbgm-umc.org/work/missionaries/biographies/ to discover the biographies of our missionaries and their places of service or phone GBGM at 1.800.GBGM.UMC (1.800.862.4246).

In addition to missionary support, the Louisiana Annual Conference gave an additional $399,092 to missionary projects with our General Board of Global Ministries which includes the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) projects.  And in particular, the UMCOR Depot in Baldwin, Louisiana (Advance #901515) received $2,314.00 in 2007 from our conference churches.

If you would like to ask questions, please contact me by phone or email: Rev. Doug Milliron, Conference Secretary of Global Ministries, 337.523.3526 cell or douglas.milliron@gmail.com.

Douglas Milliron, Missions Secretary

Added 5/20

RESOLUTION EIGHT
To discontinue and abandon Ninde Chapel United Methodist Church
New Orleans District

WHEREAS, it is the judgment of the New Orleans District Superintendent, W. Ralph Ford, that Ninde Chapel United Methodist Church, 125 Ash Street, LaPlace, LA 70068 in St. John the Baptist Parish should be discontinued and abandoned; and

WHEREAS, after approval by the New Orleans District Board of Church Location and Building and by the presiding Bishop, William W. Hutchinson, and the unanimous consent of the District Superintendents of the Louisiana Annual Conference,  the Conference Board of Trustees submits this resolution:

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, South Central Jurisdiction, in Annual Conference assembled, in accordance with ¶ 2548 et seq. of The Book of Discipline 2004 of the United Methodist Church that Ninde Chapel United Methodist Church in the New Orleans District is now discontinued and abandoned and that the District Superintendent be instructed to follow all of the provisions of  ¶ 2548 of The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board of Trustees of the Louisiana Annual Conference, through any two of its officers (president, vice president or secretary), be authorized to use, sell or donate the said property with such terms and conditions as the Board of Trustees may deem meet and proper.

Gail A. Nelson, President
                                                                                               

CERTIFICATE

I, the undersigned secretary of the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, South Central Jurisdiction, do hereby certify that the above and foregoing is a true and correct copy of the resolution adopted by the Louisiana Annual Conference in annual session convened in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on the ____ day of June 2008. In testimony hereby, witness my official signature and the seal of this Conference on this ____ day of June 2008.

Carl E. Rhoads, Secretary

Updated Agenda 5/27