A group of ladies, chaperoned by Jay Burns, did a wonderful job working at the Community Food Bank on Monday. Eight people worked for 2 hours and packed 305 backpacks.
We will have future opportunities for others to participate.
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Chile Update – Part 5
April 2, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The region around Angol, Chile is a heavily agriculture region. It is the breadbasket of Chile in which crops are grown for domestic use and for export. Sometimes at home, if you arrive at the grocery store while stock is being put out in the produce section of the supermarket you can see fruit packed in boxes labelled as an import from Chile. I have seen grapes from Chile where I shop. Gala apples are also grown here and exported to the U.S. Chile also produces world class wines, some of which are available in our stores in the U.S.
As we have walked and travelled around this region we have seen many crops being grown. These include apples, cherries, sugar beets, grapes and ornamental plants. There is a large dairy farm within a mile of the El Vergel campus. There is also a thriving timber industry in the region centered on Eucalyptis trees.
El Vergel Methodist Agricultural High School (El Vergel) is a Christian high school which provides an education in a Christian environment for children who will most likely work in some part the agricultural industry that is so prevalent in this region. The children take regular academic classes in subjects such as language, math and science. They also take religion classes and attend chapel twice per month. There is a Methodist Pastor who serves as chaplain for the high school. He is appointed to this position by the Methodist Chruch of Chile.
In addition to the academic and religious education that the children receive they also receive instruction in agriculture related subjects. As a part of this instruction they are responsible for hands-on agricultural projects. The pigs in the accompanying picture are part of that as are the pepper plants which are being grown in one of the school’s greenhouses. They are in the other picture. The greenhouses have a variety of plants. There is a flock of sheep to tend and additional work to do on the El Vergel farm which is a large commercial farm that is part of the mission here. When the students graduate from high school they are certified to work in the agricultural industry within Chile.
It has been very interesting to be here and witness first-hand how the mission works to help the children of this region. El Vergel is an old mission in terms of its age (approaching 100 years in existence). On the other hand it is a very young mission in terms of the young people that are being trained in a skill that will allow them to make their way in the world and in the Christian faith which will provide their spiritual grounding for a lifetime.
Chile Update – Part 4.5
April 2, 2014 By Leave a Comment
While we pray for those affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami, our Chile Mission Team was far from the epicenter of that event.
Our team continues to be hard at work at the El Vergel school. We received this picture that shows the entrance to the school itself.
We remain thankful for our team and their dedication to the work of the United Methodist Church in spreading the gospel and the kingdom of God.
Chile Update – Part 4
March 31, 2014 By 1 Comment
I am convinced that the best way to learn about a place is to walk around it. We have had the opportunity to do that several times sinice we’ve been in Chile.
The Saturday we arrived we took a walk in Santiago while we were waiting for our bus to Angol. Santiago is the capitol of Chile. It is a huge city with a population of 7 million. The total population of Chile is 14 million so fully one-half of the population lives in Santiago. Our walk took place downtown along a pedestrian walkway. It was a warm Saturday afternoon so there were many people walking around. We were the only North Americans to be seen. That’s one thing you quickly realize here. There aren’t too many North Americans around.
Another thing you realize quickly is how friendly and helpful the people are. One of our group members was having trouble getting his phone to work. As we walked we came upon a kiosk selling cell phones so he stopped to see if they could help. The young man in the kiosk was very welcoming. He immediately went to work trying to discover the problem and fix it. He tried his best but couldn’t get it to work. But what was so impressive was his welcoming spirit and his desire to do his best to help. Everyone we’ve met has had the same attitude. Chileans are very welcoming and friendly people.
As we walked along we saw many kiosks with merchants selling items ranging from phones to household goods to jewelry to different types of food. We came upon a man with a street cart selling Mote con Huesillo drinks. The Mote con Huesillo (which is loosely translated “barley with apricot”) is a Chilean drink. It is quite unique. It’s served cold with the Mote (a barley type grain) on the bottom of the glass. It’s about one-third of the glass. The juice is cold apricot juice which is sweet and very tasty. Floating in the juice is one-half of an apricot which has been soaking in the juice. You eat the barley, drink the juice and finish by eating the apricot. It is very refreshing.
We have also taken walks in Angol, Capitain Pestene and the countryside around El Vergel. Each walk taught us a little bit more about the customs, people, history and geography of Chile. Taking these walks has been a great benefit of being here.
Tom
Chile Mission Team – Part 3
March 30, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Many years ago when I first became aware of teams that went from local churches to help others whether locally, nationally or internationally they were generally called “work” teams, the idea being that a group of people from a local church would go primarily to work. The focus of the experience was on getting the work done that needed to be done. Build a church, repair a school, remodel a hospital, whatever it was–the focus was narrowly placed on the work to be done.
But a change has occured in the last few years. Now these teams are called Volunteer in Mission (VIM) teams. I think that the change is significant and for the better. VIM teams have a broader focus than work teams … their focus is to be in mission where they go. That includes not only doing work but also building relationships with people as well as getting to know something about the culture and history of the place where the team is serving.
John Elmore (our covenant mission partner) does a great job of providing VIM teams with opportunities to experience this broader focus on mission. Today, he gave us a two hour tour of the El Vergel school facilities, taking time to explain something about how the school operates. We saw classroom facilities, dorm rooms and the bakery. We also saw the school’s gardens, greenhouse and other agricultural aspects of the school including the sheep and pigs that the students are responsible for.
In addition to seeing the facilities we met several of the faculty and staff members who work at the school. We had the opportunity to have conversation, ask questions and learn a bit about them and their perspective. It was very informative and helped us to understand more fully why we are here and what being in mission here means.
Tomorrow we will travel to a small village that traces its roots to the Italian immigration that occured in Chile in the 1800’s. By doing that we will learn even more about the culture and history that surrounds us in this beautiful country. On Sunday we will attend church again and in so doing we will learn more about Methodism in Chile as well as strengthening relationships with our brothers and sisters of the Emmaus Methodist church.
For some these may seem like extras, but properly understood, they are central to what it means for a team to be in mission. Mission is more than work. It is people, history and culture. What may seem like extras are, in fact, a vital part of the Volunteer in Mission experience. To be sure, a great deal of work has been done by our team with more to come, but we didn’t come here solely to work. We came here to be in mission.
Tom
Chile Mission Team – Part 2
March 26, 2014 By Leave a Comment
We arrived at our destination in Angol, Chile early on Sunday morning. We were mostly refreshed from our plane ride after sleeping on those wonderful buses. We drove to El Vergel Methodist Agricultural School which will be our home and workplace for the next two weeks.
Sunday is a day of worship in Chile just as it is in the U.S.A. We were blessed to worship with our Chilean brothers and sisters in Christ at the Emmaus Methodist Church in Angol. The church is the Methodist church for the neighborhood of Emmaus in the City of Angol. This is the church where John Elmore (our covenant mission partner) and his wife Christina are active members.
The woship service starts at noon and includes all the elements of worship that we include in our worship services at home … prayer, Scripture, the offering, music and a sermon. A meaningful time in the service for us was when we were received as missionaries. Our reception by the Emmaus church was much like our commissioining at Bluff Park church. We were called to the altar and introduced to the congregation. After the introduction we knelt at the altar while the Pastor of the church prayed a prayer of blessing over us just as Mike had prayed a prayer of blessing over us when we were commissioined at Bluff Park. We then shared the greeting from our congregation that was spoken by Mike at our commissioning.
This time of worship reminded me again of how much we have in common with our brothers and sisters around the world. The difference in language is a bit of a challenge but the smiles on the faces and the hospitable reception more than makes up for that. The Pastor preached on John chapter 4. His text was the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. It was taken from the same set of lectionary readings that we are using in our Wednesday morning Lenten service. Yet another connection with our brothers and sisters. The essence of the sermon was that Jesus didn’t discriminate against others so we shouldn’t discriminate against others. That, as they say, will preach, no matter what the country or language. Yet another connection. Being here reminds me again that in Christ we are deeply connected one with another.
We spent the rest of Sunday afternoon resting in order to get ready for the work week.
Chile Mission Blog 2014 – Part 1
March 20, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Our Chile Mission team is planning to send updates about their work while they’re down in Chile. We’ll be posting those updates as they come in to update you on their work there.
Chile Mission Blog 2014 – 1st Edition
The El Vergel VIM team arrived in Santiago after an overnight flight from Birmingham via Atlanta. Every team member agreed that the seats on the plane were much too hard, especially after several hours with several more to go. That is except for Olivia Howard who shared with us that her favorite seat in all the world is a “bench seat from a pick-up truck.” She said, ” I sleep well in my 1982 Suburban.” We are seeking psychiatric help for her immediately. We were stiff but happy when we deplaned in Santiago.
We were met at the airport by John Elmore our covenant missionary partner in Angol, Chile. He was accompanied by our trusty van driver Francisco. We are here and ready to go. After a day of looking around Santiago, resting and relaxing we boarded the TurBus Semicama at midnight for our overnight trip to Angol.
It is a doubledecker bus. The upstairs portion of the bus has seats that are like recliners. John Irwin said, “I’ve never been so comfortable in my life. I slept the whole way.” The downstairs portion of the bus has fully reclining seats that are just like a bed. The “lucky three” had a great night’s sleep as well. It is a decidedly humane way to travel. If the buses in the U.S.A. were like these we would all be taking long bus trips.
So after two days of travel we arrived at our destination, the El Vergel Methodist Agricultural School. We are happy to be here and ready to start work.
Missions Committee Meeting Minutes from February 3, 2014
March 2, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Bluff Park United Methodist Church
Missions Committee Meeting Minutes
February 3, 2014
Committee Chairperson, Leonette Slay, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Vice-Chair, Mike Patrick, began the meeting with a prayer. Leonette called for a review and approval of the last meeting’s minutes. These minutes were approved as submitted. In addition to Chairperson Slay and pastor Tom Duley, the following committee members were present: Elizabeth Davis, Sylvia Sumners, Roy Shanlever, Bennie Vinson, Mike Patrick, Joe Kerns, and Hannah Shultz.
The first order of business was to give the committee members a review of the decisions approved by the Board of Stewards at its meeting on January 23, 2014. Mike Patrick began by explaining that John Elmore’s salary of $3,000 was moved to a separate line item in the budget and line items for Domestic VIM projects and International VIM projects were also added. The budget for the International VIM was funded for $25,000 and no amount was funded at this time for the domestic VIM projects. Tom Duley interjected that a proposed building of a Bluff Park UMC Habitat House would serve as our domestic VIM project and this will be accomplished with donated funds (he talks more about this later in the meeting). Mike concluded, saying that there was no push back on the Missions budget by either the Finance Committee or the Board of Stewards. Leonette shared that she presented this committee’s recommended mission focus of Matthew 25 for the church to the Board of Stewards and explained how our congregation emphasizing three areas of this scripture – food, water, and shelter, can accomplish this focus.
She reassured the Board members that Sunday school missions’ efforts would not be impacted in any way but would enhance the Matthew 25 mission focus especially if they supported the areas of food, water, or shelter. Leonette reported that the church and the Board of Stewards fully backed the mission plan presented by this committee.
With the next item on the agenda, Tom Duley updated the committee on the BPUMC Habitat for Humanity project. Tom explained that it was in our best interest in getting our budget realigned and approved to zero out our Domestic VIM Project budget line item. He shared with us that our Domestic VIM project this year (the BPUMC Habitat Home) is going to be separately funded. Thanks to the help of Jim McCrary of our church who works with the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and an anonymous individual donor, $40,000 of the estimated $55,000 cost of the home has been raised. The remaining $15,000 will need to be raised by the church. Tom explained that the current funding represents almost a 3 to 1 match for funds raised by the church. Tom will present a plan to raise this money to this committee at the next meeting. Tom would like for our plans for construction of this house to be nailed down by June 1st and have the money in place by July 15th. These houses are usually constructed on a four-week schedule and this one will most likely be built in September and October. There is a good chance it will be constructed in the Calera area, which will give a lot of members of this congregation a good opportunity to work on it.
Tom also informed us that another mission was announced at the Board of Stewards meeting. The Conference is committed to the No More Malaria Campaign. This church’s proportioned commitment to this mission is $25,000 over the next three years. There is no funding for this in the budget. It is not clear at this point who will head up the campaign to raise this funding. Chairperson Slay, expressed caution that this committee should be careful to not get spread too thin. She did go on to say that the Finance Committee did submit in the approved budget, funds to hire a part time Communications Director. She thinks this is a very positive step forward and should help all committees in coordinating their efforts so we don’t get confused on who is doing what or have us competing in the church’s fundraising efforts for Habitat, Malaria, disaster events, etc. She also made the point that there are many opportunities for our church members to get involved in missions.
The next item discussed was the formation of the Matthew 25 campaign and ways to publicize it. Leonette mentioned that there are other “Matthew 25” churches such as Canterbury UMC and they may have some valuable ideas and suggestions that will be helpful to us in getting the word out to our congregation. Tom will put a blurb in the newsletter for anyone that has a marketing skill set. Several names were passed around of persons that might be able to help us.
On the next agenda item, Tom informed the committee that he and Bill Harris are scheduled to go to Costa Rica in May to participate on a Kairos team ministering to inmates there. This international mission event is sanctioned through the Alabama Kairos Organization. Tom asked this committee for funding for this mission from our budget item for International Missions. Elizabeth Davis made a motion that we fund Tom and Bill on this mission in an amount not to exceed $3,000. Sylvia Sumners seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion carried.
Joe Kerns voiced his concern about the title of the International VIM Missions line item in our budget. He felt that the current title could cause some confusion in the future concerning the use of these funds. After some discussion the committee agreed that the title of this line item should be clarified, maybe for next year’s budget.
Leonette moved the meeting on to other outreach opportunities. She mentioned the Meals on Wheels program that is now being headed up by Robin Martin. This is a good opportunity for our members to participate in mission work. Also, she informed the committee about the upcoming Stop Hunger Now event scheduled for February 11 – 13, at Canterbury UMC. An announcement of this will be put in the bulletin so our members will be aware of it. Information about this event can also be found on Canterbury’s website.
Elizabeth Davis asked for help in getting the word out to the Sunday school classes for the Rock-a-thon to support our Methodist mission at McCoy Adult Day Care. The Rock-a-thon will be held on February 22nd at Morgan UMC between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Several committee members took information on this to help Elizabeth.
Next Leonette spoke about the accountability of our donated funds. Rachel Estes of Canterbury UMC is going to send her some material to help us set up some accountability guidelines. She will pass information along to the committee when she receives it.
The committee agreed that our next committee meeting will be May 12th at 7:00 p.m. A sub committee consisting of Tom Duley, Mike Patrick, Sylvia Sumners, and Bennie Vinson was created to review and develop a list of donation candidates using the new guidelines. This sub committee will meet on April 23rd at 5:00 p.m. and then report their disbursement recommendations to the committee at large on May12th.
Finally, our youth representative on this committee, Hannah Shultz, expressed the need for this committee to promote mission projects that involve members from all age groups. She shared about the impact that working on the Appalachian Service Project had on her and how it sparked her interest in mission work. She strongly feels that involving young people with our older members in mission projects is so important. It impacts these young peoples’ lives with the relationships built with older members as well as making our mission work come together more as a church and not just groups. She would like to see mission opportunities for youth in the international arena and especially at the local level now that we have the Habitat House project. Tom confirmed that the minimum age limit set by Habitat is 14. Everyone agreed that it would be good to involve our youth with this in some manner and expose them to the joy of reaching out to others in Christ’s love.
Chairperson Slay gave the benediction and the meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bennie Vinson
Secretary
Missions Committee Notes December 2, 2013
December 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Missions Committee Meeting Minutes
Committee Chairperson, Leonette Slay, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and began the meeting with a prayer. The first order of business was for each person present to introduce themselves. In addition to Chairperson Slay and pastors, Mike Holly and Tom Duley, the following committee members were present: Elizabeth Davis, Sylvia Summers, Roy Shanlever, John Erwin, Ed Thomas, Bennie Vinson, Mike Patrick, Carole Armistead, Jack Armistead, Joe Kerns, and Georgia Pearson.
The next order of business was the elections of secretary and vice-chair. Bennie Vinson volunteered as nominee for secretary and Mike Patrick volunteered as nominee for vice- chair. Both candidates were duly elected to these positions by the committee. Leonette next gave some background information from the preliminary brainstorming meetings leading up to this meeting that she had with the pastors. These meetings brought forth some ideas about a possible mission focus for Bluff Park UMC.
The meeting was then turned over to Pastor Mike Holly to present the ideas coming out of the preliminary meetings. Mike shared that, early on after coming to Bluff Park, he faced the issue that many organizations request funding from this church. As a result he saw a need to have a focus and criteria to help determine which outreach ministries and organizations this church should support. He feels that this committee should be the one to establish a church-wide focus for missions. He reminded us that the church-directed missions have in the past primarily gone to VIM mission trips and a few others while special offerings like the Easter Love Gift have been the vehicle used to help fund organizations like Urban Ministries, United Community Center, etc.
Mike continued with an idea that came out of the preliminary meetings that maybe our church’s mission focus could rally around those ministries Jesus talked about in Matthew 25:35-36 of feeding the hungry, giving the thirsty drink, providing shelter for a stranger, giving clothes to the needy, caring for the sick, and visiting those in prison. He acknowledged that we are doing many of these things already through the Food Pantry, Under the Bridge, VIM, Kairos, and many more. Also, many Sunday school classes are supporting a variety of mission projects.
Mike pointed out that what we are doing is a lot already and trying to include all the ministries mentioned in Matthew 25:35-36 could be overwhelming and spread our mission ministry too thin to be effective. The idea he is presenting is that we can have a missions focus within the Matthew 25:35-36 framework that narrows (at least for now) to three of those mission ministry categories – Food, Water, and Shelter. If we focus on these three, we can be more effective and selective on funding requests we grant as well as having more impact on what we do support.
There was a time of questions and discussion among the committee members covering such topics as more accountability between us and the agencies we support; how has the Easter Love Offering been used in the past; establishing criteria for efficient fund distribution; using applications for mission aid to agencies; methods of church budgeting for missions; and creating logos and visuals to help the congregation understand the concept. Mike concluded by reiterating that Sunday school classes could and should continue supporting missions they want to independently; but, this committee can lead the church’s mission work by adopting the categories of food, water, and shelter as the basics for our missions and this can be the focus for all of us as we are led by the Holy Spirit.
Leonette asked if the committee wanted to take a vote on a proposal to be presented to the Board of Stewards. Jack Armistead made a motion that we vote on the proposal stated as follows: “The church adopts Matthew 25:35-36 as the framework of the mission programs of our church. Secondly, the church adopts three areas of focus within this framework. Those focus areas are food, water, and shelter”. Mike Patrick seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion passed. The proposal will be reported to the Board of Stewards at the January 26, 2014, meeting.
The meeting was then turned over to Pastor Tom Duley to report on the Mission Committee request to the Finance Committee. Tom reported the following responses to the Finance Committee 2014 Budget Input Form:
1. With the same funding level as last year, $3,000.00, we will use that funding again to support our domestic VIM trip. Such trip(s) will more than likely be defined by a weather emergency.
2. If new mission opportunities could be added this year we would take on a large project like a Habitat for Humanity home at a projected cost of $50,000.
3. If we have to reduce our budget funding there would be nothing to eliminate but the funding set aside for the domestic VIM trip. This is because there is only one line-item in the budget. All other mission funding beside this inadequate budget amount must come from other sources such as the Easter Love Gift, Pastor’s discretionary fund, fund raisers, and special gifts. The missions committee has set three priorities: 1. one domestic VIM trip per year; 2. one international VIM trip per year; 3. salary support for our covenant missionary partner in Chile, John Elmore. We would like to see these church-wide commitments funded through the church’s budget. The funding for these would be Domestic VIM for $15,000, International VIM for $25,000, John Elmore’s Salary for $3,000 for a Grand Total of $43,000.
The Finance Committee will meet on December 12, 2013. Tom said we will just have to see what they come back with. Leonette then moved on to other business. She felt the committee could function adequately by meeting four times a year. Since the passed proposal from this meeting is to be considered by the Board of Stewards, our next meeting should not be until after January 26, 2014, when the Board of Stewards meets. The committee agreed that Monday night is the best night of the week for the majority of the members and that meetings will probably be on the 1st early as February.
Leonette then shared with the committee from her reading some information about the theology of missions.
Pastor Tom Duley gave the benediction and the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bennie Vinson
Secretary
Green Team
June 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Creation Kids 2013
The Creation Kids are working hard – we had a blast harvesting – look at that huge squash!!! The Youth-Interns & volunteers-are making sure we have fun activities outside and inside the gym; the the UMW, Circles are taking turns feeding us Great lunches.
June 11th the fun begins!
June 18th we learned about Worms!! Then ate spaghetti for lunch – ha.
June 23rd we learned how to make Pesto!! with 4 cups of fresh Basil we picked out of our Gardens, yea!
June 25th we learned about Dirt! of yea we learned about soil and how to mix up a good growing batch.
