October 21, 2019

EOC News

Financial & Administrative Services

Review Monthly Remittance Statements
Please take the time to review your monthly church remittance statement each month. We are already in the final quarter of 2019. We want to ensure that all apportionment payments are included in the current year so that each church gets the benefit of having achieved 100% of its apportionment commitment.

In keeping with the notice in the East Ohio Annual Conference Journal, the final payment of the 2019 apportionment year needs to be received at our lockbox on or before January 3, 2020. Checks received in our lockbox after January 3, 2020, regardless of the postmark date on the envelope, will be counted as having been received in 2020.

Young People’s Ministries

Partners in Ministry Needed
Project Feed 2019 is November 16 and November 17. For the past six years, teens in East Ohio have partnered with Rise Against Hunger to provide youth groups an opportunity to participate in meal-packing events to help feed school children in developing nations. In June of 2018, Rise Against Hunger presented the youth of the East Ohio Conference with the Golden Gong Award because we had packed over 250,000 meals in four years! In the fall of 2018, we added 75,000, to raise our total to 320,000!

In order to allow as many teens as possible to help pack meals, we only charge participants $10 if they bring with them a canned good that stays in the community where meals are packed, or $15 if they don’t bring a canned good. To date, the committee’s budget has compensated for the $25 it actually costs per participant to pack the meals.

We would like to expand our efforts by packing 100,000 meals during Project Feed 2019, instead of 75,00, to help Rise Against Hunger accomplish its goal of ending world hunger by 2030 – but we do not have the funding to make this happen on our own. So, Conference Council on Youth Ministries (CCYM) is asking for financial partners to help us reach our goal by sponsoring Project Feed at one of the following levels:

  • Bronze – $100 donation = 345 meals (Receive a certificate of recognition)
  • Silver – $250 donation = 862 meals (Be recognized at Youth Annual Conference)
  • Gold – $500 donation = 1,724 meals (Be recognized at YAC and receive VIP seating at the YAC Saturday night concert)

Checks for your tax-deductible donation should be made payable to the East Ohio Conference, with Fund #9701 written on the memo line, and sent Attn: Kaye Wolfinger to 8800 Cleveland Ave. NW, North Canton, OH 44720.

CCYM: An Opportunity for Teen Leaders
The Conference Council on Youth Ministries (CCYM) team helps develop leaders for the church today. Do you know a teen who shows leadership potential? Someone who is committed to his/her faith and shows compassion for others? Please share with them the amazing opportunity that exists for teens to serve on CCYM. Teens, in graduating classes 2021-2026, who are active members of their local United Methodist Church congregation may apply to be part of the CCYM team. Complete this application and turn it into your district coordinator.

Learn more about CCYM.

Higher Education

Scholarship and Grant Applications
Visit the Scholarships page of the Conference website to find:

  • Scholarship applications (due March 15, 2020) for available scholarships.
  • Grant applications (due January 31, 2020 for the 2021 funding year) from the Board of Higher Education and Collegiate Campus Ministries for available grants for churches desiring to be in ministry with college students.

Missions

This holiday season, share God’s blessings with our neighbors in need by purchasing gifts from the Christmas wish lists of these EOC mission partners:

  • ACCESS
  • Canton Calvary Mission
  • Epworth Center
  • Harmony House Homeless Services
  • Interchurch Social Services of Knox Co.
  • Martha’s Cupboard
  • OhioGuidestone
  • Project Hope for the Homeless
  • South Street Ministries
  • The Nehemiah Mission of Cleveland
  • Urban Mission Ministries
  • West Side Community House

View the lists and learn more.

Congregational Vitality

East Ohio Conference clergy can earn continuing education units by participating in upcoming webinars conducted by the clergy and church leaders’ resource ClergyEducation.com, whose class instructors are noted authors, clergypersons, and leaders from throughout The United Methodist Church.

The next two webinars are:

  • Engaging Your Community: Answering the Questions Your Community Is Asking
    November 5 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
    Taught by Quincy Brown
    Cost is $25 and counts toward a 1-hour CEU.
  • Preaching and Teaching the Christmas Story
    November 7 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
    Taught by Glenna Manning and Wil Cantrell
    Cost is $25 and counts toward a 1-hour CEU.

Learn more and register.

Spiritual Formation and Christian Education

Registration Deadline is November 5 for November 9 Share Your Story
Share Your Story is a training event for church leaders – clergy, local pastors, staff, lay leaders, teachers, Bible Study leaders, volunteers, etc. – to learn how to equip people to tell their story. Congregations benefit from us being able to share our stories because when we do, we can build relationships and lead others to Christ.

The November 9 Share Your Story event is at Coshocton Grace UMC, from 10:00 a.m. through 2:00 p.m. The cost is $25 and includes resources and boxed lunch. Register online today.

Sponsored by the Spiritual Formation & Christian Education Committee of the East Ohio Conference, the Spiritual Directors of the East Ohio Conference, and the East Ohio Chapter of CEF (Christians Engaged in Faith Formation).

DisAbility Awareness

Disability Sunday Speaker Available
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word disabled as “impaired or limited by a physical, mental, cognitive, or developmental condition.” Many individuals have a disability, some more apparent than others. Some disabilities are present since birth, some are the result of an illness or an accident, while others develop over a lifetime.

Awareness can be the first step in learning how to deal with our own limitations and with understanding how we can help others to cope with their disabilities. Recently, Canal Fulton UMC hosted an Access/Disability Awareness Sunday. If your church is having a Disability Sunday and would like a speaker, please call Olivia Bradley at (330) 730-8995. She serves on the Conference DisAbility Awareness Committee, works with the Tuscarawas ReCESS program, and is employed in the disability field at TWI in Massillon.

General Conference 2020

Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteers are needed May 5-15, 2020 during General Conference 2020, the meeting of the top legislative body of The United Methodist Church.

  • Recorders will serve as members of the staff of the secretary of the General Conference and work in direct support of their assigned legislative committee. They will enter data such as the time, date, and results of committee votes, as well as making changes to pre-entered petition text to reflect the amendments approved by the committee. Recorders are not responsible for taking minutes or tracking the discussion of the legislative committee.
  • Channel “B” identifiers will serve as members of the staff of the editor of the Daily Christian Advocate (DCA), the official record of the activity of the General Conference. They will follow action of the plenary, repeating delegates’ names, annual conferences and vote tallies into a microphone.
  • Verbatim transcribers/copy editors will also serve as members of the staff of the editor of the DCA. They are responsible for listening to audio files and using Microsoft Word to create transcriptions of the plenary session.

Travel, double occupancy housing, and food per diem provisions will be provided. Apply online by November 21. Learn about other volunteer opportunities for General Conference 2020.

Media Center

The Media Center recently acquired the following resources:

To reserve these or other resources, call the Media Center at (800) 831-3972 x139 or send an e-mail to sarnold@eocumc.com. Browse the resource catalog at www.rqmweb.com/eocumc.

Message in the MoviesMessage in the Movies banner (colorful film strip


Gemini Man
Will Smith plays Henry Brogan, a hired assassin working for an intelligence agency. With 72 confirmed kills on his resume (including an almost-botched hit firing through the window of a speeding bullet train), Henry decides to retire. He’s beginning to have remorse about his job, anyway. But there are people in his profession who believe that he knows too much and must be eliminated (although Henry really doesn’t know that much and shows no sign of any further meddling). The assassin staking Henry looks quite a bit like Henry did 25 years ago. Send in the clone. Brogan has two sidekicks – Danny (Winstead), a confident spy, and Baron (Benedict Wong), a happy-go-lucky pilot. With Clive Owen as the villain, the film is stacked with a great cast who do their best to distract the viewer from the silliness of the script. Will Smith plays both versions of himself (“Junior” incorporates a computer-generated face), literally doing what my mother told me not to do when feeling defeated – “Don’t beat yourself up!”

Read entire review.

Events: October 21 – November 3

Click to view East Ohio Conference Calendar

(The East Ohio Conference only accepts East Ohio United Methodist local church, conference and general UM events for listing on the Conference calendar.)

Obituaries

Please pray for the families of:

  • Joanne Gillis, surviving spouse of the Rev. Phillip Gillis, died October 2.
  • Donna Cunningham, surviving spouse of the Rev. Aaron Cunningham, died September 26.

View obituaries

Classifieds

Details of listings may be found here.

Positions Available

  • Youth Coordinator – Jefferson UMC
  • The Director of Adult Choirs – Faith UMC in North Canton
  • The Worship Arts Coordinator – Faith UMC in North Canton
  • Coordinator for Academic Affairs – Methodist Theological School in Ohio
  • Director of Christian Education and Program Coordinator – Brunswick UMC
  • Children’s Sunday School Coordinator – Family of Faith UMC
  • Worship Leader – Family of Faith UMC

Items Available/Wanted

  • 8 beautifully framed pictures – Sunbury UMC

To submit a classified ad please email swilliams@eocumc.com.

To Subscribe

To subscribe to E-News and all East Ohio Conference news updates, enter your email address in the “Follow News via Email” widget on the right sidebar. Information from this E-News may be copied and used in your local church. The next scheduled edition of the E-News is Monday, November 4, 2019.

Deadline for submission is Thursday, October 31. Send articles to swilliams@eocumc.com.