SIC AC-- June 7, 2007

Paula Mayberry began this report saying we need to "Open our hearts and minds to let the wind blow through us. The wind of God's spirit - the Holy Spirit - is allowed to blow through us.

Ken Grubb of Acton UMC said with church growth, "We should step it up a notch to see if we can do the best job possible with requests for church new start activities. We are moving from quarterly meetings to meet more often."

Glenda Riggs of the small membership church section said 75 percent of the churches in the SIC are small membership churches. "We are very important to this conference and the UMC. We are charged with encouraging and challenging each district in serving small membership congregations, empower, celebrating the small membership."

Mayberry also reported that we (SIC) have a section on Hispanic and Latino ministries and work together with the NIC.

Gary Schaar of congregational development reported, "There is a great wealth of good people seeking ways to be engaged in ministry." His office wishes to identify and deploy coaches for new church development and small church support. He also addresses needs of ethnic minority churches and Native American ministries.

Mayberry reported that four evangelism workshops were held on April 28. A video by Bishop Coyner on evangelism will be distributed to all churches this summer.

The conference changed the name of this board to the Board of Evangelism and Church Growth. Jim Bushfield asked that the board consider the growing needs of mid-sized congregations.

Bishop asks conference to join a call to action

Bishop Mike Coyner told conference members that something new is going on in our denomination. He introduced four calls to action.

Our mission: Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World, which adds six more words to the mission statement.

The Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table make these four calls to action.

Our vision: Bringing the entire UMC into alignment with these actions, especially through 2009-2012. The denomination wishes to realign 47 percent of the general church budget to accomplish these four goals.

HIV/AIDS. The conference approved a "Lighten the Burden: Global HIV/AIDS" annual conference petition that asks each United Methodists in Indiana to pray for those living with HIV/AIDS, give $2 towards the Global HIV/AIDS Fund (Advance #982345) and distribute 25 percent of those gifts for HIV/AIDS work here in Indiana and 75 percent to the Advance Special. An offering was received Thursday morning for this advance.

Thursday afternoon

LIVE IT OUT LOUD - The Conference Board on Youth Ministries members shared their future plans for their higher education and vocations.

United Methodist Men have reorganized the church's relationship to Scouting and Civic Youth Serving Agencies announced a new name for scouting in the UMC. Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H and Campfire are now working together. A few copies of a video are available from the Scouting table in the lobby.

Lay Leader Ike Williams announced the Board of Laity will be holding an event on Friday, Feb. 29 and Saturday, March 5. The new event is called LEAP (Let's Express a Priority) and is designed help us share stories and connect people with Jesus Christ. More information will come.

Conference Board of Young Adult Ministries reported that university and colleges ministries met to talk about making a emphasis to young adults on campuses across Indiana. This board will be working on ways to build bridges among campus ministries, students and local churches.

The Spiritual Formation Committee exists to transform people's live through an intention program. Three-Year Covenant Community is an excellent opportunity for those who want to make a commitment to personal formation beyond the local church during a three-year period. Emphasis is upon, personal, community and societal spiritual formation. A new group will begin in August to be held in Central Indiana. There also is a shorter Five-Day Academy of Spiritual Formation. The Presbyterian Church has joined us with this program. The NIC also has launched a five-day academy. This committee has one action item. Beth Ann Cook, part of the Imagine Indiana prayer team, said she has been working with the North Indiana Conference with prayer groups. The conference approved a resolution to create a conference Prayer Ministry Team as part of the Conference Council on Ministries.

One question from the floor, asked why children's ministries was not included in this report. The Board of Discipleship will be working in this area during the next year. Another group for children is the Children and Poverty Committee of the conference which is not part of this board. These reports were approved.

What's in the Bishop's Bundle of Books?

Bishop Mike Coyner has asked the clergy to read and discuss these five books during the next conference year:

The bundle is available at the Cokesbury Bookstore in the lobby of IU Auditorium.

Mission Volunteers (from left) Mary Jane Compton, Joyce Conrad and Marilyn Griffith received items for Operation Classroom.

Thursday afternoon

Ike Williams, the conference lay leader, addressed the conference on Thursday afternoon beginning with this passage from Paul's letter to the church at Corinth found in 1 Corinthians 3:1-15.

I am baffled at some of the things Paul wrote. I'm an engineer and find Paul difficult to understand at times. But I do understand when he is writing about people issues like today's reading. The Corinthians were behaving as infants and not as mature Christians.

They were acting like everyone else. Being Christian means living differently than other people. It's living with Christ in us. As we live in Christ, we grow in wisdom and maturity.

I have experienced church infighting, but not in Indiana. We spent our energy and time bickering and not the work of Jesus. I asked myself, what would outsiders think. They would see a number of things that were not Christ-like. Outsiders should see Christians behave differently than other people. We often push our own agendas rather than finding common ground in Jesus Christ.

The London Telegraph recently reported about the six Orthodox Christian groups that oversee the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and a major dispute over the repair of the restrooms at the church. This sounds child-like.

As a mentor earlier this year, I was asked to read a book 365 Meditation for Teens. It helped me understand how a teenager would think and visualize faith. I also began to realize that this is a great resource for the basics of Christianity.

Vince Lombardi would start each season by holding up a football and saying, "Gentlemen, this is a football." He understood the importance of the basics. One of the conditions of maturity is that we not lose track of the basics. Paul asks congregations to review the basics of faith.

We should not lose perspective of our basic - Jesus' teachings about love, forgiveness, repentance and humility. The most basic is remembering to whom we belong - Jesus Christ. When in conflict, it's time to remind ourselves to whom we belong - Jesus and only Jesus.

Paul and Apollos were leaders in the early church and people began to argue about who was the one to follow. Paul reminded them all that we need to follow Christ and not any human leader.

Paul said, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." Seeds will not grow without the life that causes them to grow. Only God can give them life. As leaders we are servants working together not in competition.

Ron Williams and I started a UM Men group at our church in Carmel. We started the group and stepped aside after two years. We planted the seeds, others have done the watering. Now we have about 120 men actively involved in our ministries and mission. We only planted.

Life, love and legacy and the marks of great leadership. Important in good stewardship to pass on a better organization than we came. We are the leaders of the South Indiana Conference. We need to do the planting and watering and wait for God to grow the faith.

Albert Vicere of Penn State University has defined great leadership as stewardship. Stewardship in an organization, in his word, "a leader's relentless commitment to life, love and legacy." Great leaders enhance the quality of life, have a genuine love for the organization and its people, and are committed to passing the organization on to the next generation of leaders in better shape that it was when he or she took the helm.

Who are the great leaders in churches? We need to work as a team and use the strengths of others to make a mission work. Many churches now are building teams rather than committees. Teams are temporal and have a specific project or ministry to perform. We need to use all the skills available to work for a common goal. We can not let disagreements interfere with us. We build on a foundation that is 2,000 years old. We are called to join the community of saints that bears witness to Christ in all generations. The basics, servant leadership and teamwork.

Delegates elected to General, Jurisdictional Conferences to date

Clergy delegates elected to General Conference include: Ann Glass of Plainfield, Greg McGarvey of Carmel, David Penalva of Indianapolis, Darren Cushman Wood of Speedway and James Bushfield of Columbus with one more to elect. No clergy delegate was yet elected to Jurisdictional Conference.

Laity delegates elected to General Conference include: Ike Williams of Indianapolis, Patricia Miller of Indianapolis, Rita Gaither-Gant of Indianapolis, Vickie Newkirk of New Palestine, John Lawson of Westchester, David Crane of Newburgh. Jurisdictional Conference laity delegates elected include: Carolyn Marshall of Veedersburg, Luke Robbins, Dan Evans of Indianapolis, Benjamin Boruff of Indianapolis, with two more to elect.

Members of the annual conference enjoy a breezy evening, ice cream, dancing and jazz tunes by Residue.

Related institutions of the church reported on Thursday

Representatives of the South Indiana Conference-related health and welfare ministries were introduced including: Ted Murphy, interim director of Glenburn Home in Linton; Dan Evans of Clarian Health in Indianapolis; Barbara Jessen of United Methodist Youth Home in Evansville; Michele Tyring of conference Parish Nurses and Susan Bennett Indiana United Methodist Children's Home in Lebanon.

Joe Trueblood led a celebration of the Franklin United Methodist Community in Franklin which was established in 1957. The main building on campus built in 1957 is undergoing major renovations. See the Franklin Community report on the pre-conference DVD reports.

Mearle Griffin of the General Board of Health and Welfare Ministries presented the only Eagle accreditation in the UMC. David V.W. Owen received the award as board president of the Franklin Community. Franklin also was awarded the Best Practices Award from the UMC for excellent work including an excellent chaplains program.

Higher Education and Campus Ministry report was given by Jack Leonard. He asked, "Who will be with our United Methodist university students in the future? Now is one of the best times to be part of campus ministries." Budget in the past four years has been cut from $400,000 to under $200,000. Leonard, asked for three times the money budgeted so that campus ministry can be rebuilt in the South Indiana Conference.

Stephen Jennings, president of the University of Evansville, represented the three UM-related institutions of high education. Highlights of UE - working toward diversity by establishing a diversity program on campus; business college is appealing to Asians, new business building under construction, new university center being built, religious life program thriving (High Church in Blue Jeans), students active around the city and world. Most important is rise in nine pre-ministry students who are now interested in ministry. Transformation takes place on our university campuses. Jennings challenged pastors and churches to fund higher education. Scholarship funds are needed to fund the education of our youth and young adults. Please come visit our three universities at the University of Evansville, the University of Indianapolis and DePauw University in Greencastle.

A concern was raised about the conference's relationship to the United Ministries in Higher Education at Indiana University. The conference is no longer a part of this ministry. UMHE members are the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church USA and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Thursday evening

Bishop Woodie White, former bishop of Indiana and currently bishop in residence at UM-related Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Ga., addressed the conference.

I don't know how children in America begin the school day anymore? I began a school day by reciting the pledge to the American flag. I remember well the words "justice for all."

What does justice for all mean? In my early development, it meant fairness for everybody - the four freedoms. The Declaration of Independence said it was life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness or like the words in the hymn "New occasions teach new duties."

Justice began to have content to it when it meant everybody would be treated like somebody.

I learned justice expanded. What was just became more comprehensive - expansive. One era would be adequate for another era. Justice has expansive quality. Noble was that promise and pledge.

Then I learned this concept meant that justice only meant justice for some. This noble concept didn't always apply to people like me (as an African American).

United Methodists are people of five books - The Bible (foundation of ministry), The UM Hymnal, The UM Book of Worship (shaping our services, ordering our lives), The UM Book of Discipline (our guide in being UM, the way we order our lives), and The UM Book of Resolutions (describing how we live out our faith in the social order - political, economic, social).

When I first came to Indiana, I choose to meet with all the United Methodist legislators in the Indiana State General Assembly to invite them for breakfast, greet them, thank them for their service they were rendering to our state and presented each with a Book of Resolutions, letting them know the positions of their church. I wanted them to know that their church had some bearing on the lives of people in Indiana.

There are some things in the Bible I wished I would have never read. My life would have been a lot simpler not as a person of faith. I wish I would not have read that forgiveness is inexhaustible or to turn the other check or those that live by the sword die by the sword. Then I wouldn't have to say I didn't know. This book made life more complicated and challenging.

One of the most disturbing Scriptures I have ever read says, many will say to those at his right hand, when I was hungry you gave me food. When you did it to the least of these (Matthew 25).

Acts of justice, called justice ministries, are working for justice for all. This is part of our legacy.

John Wesley addressed the social issues of his day as an expressing of his faith - unfair working conditions, child labor, slavery. He was seeking in his own way that justice was done. Justice was God's vision for the people - not political nor economical. Isaiah and Amos spoke of justice for all. Every human being had value. When human life was devalued, Wesley stood against those who devalued it.

As United Methodists we continue to speak at the State House for a more just Indiana. It was God's vision for all of God's people. I learned that justice was not just for my nation, but justice for all was God's vision for all God's creation, even those who would not acknowledge him as Creator.

As the church, we need to work for justice for all. Let justice roll down like water. Justice is God's mission for all.

SIC AC-- June 7, 2007

Thursday morning

Evangelism, church growth, malaria, AIDS, action plans discussed

Evangelism and Church Growth

Bishop asks conference to join a call to action

Thursday afternoon

Discipleship reports on scouting, youth, young adults, spiritual formation

What's in the Bishop's Bundle of Books?

Thursday afternoon

Laity Address: Don't lose track of the basics

Delegates elected to General, Jurisdictional Conferences to date

Related institutions of the church reported on Thursday

Thursday evening

Bishop White challenges members to work for justice for all