Charge Conference!!!
Please, please, please go in and submit all of your forms from Charge Conference. It is imperative that these forms be submitted as soon as possible. The most important form - the Clergy Compensation Report - is essential in many ways. The total compensation from that report drives the pension calculation. If this form is not submitted, this will not only affect the church's budget, but the clergy's pension. Each church was responsible for having all forms except for the Lay Speaker Voting Form and Clergy Compensation Form submitted one week prior to their Charge Conference. After the Charge Conference, the deadline for submitting the Lay Speaker Voting Form and Clergy Compensation Form. Please make note of these deadlines for next year!



Gateway Updates
It is time to update the church and pastor profiles in Gateway. Please be sure when updating your pastor profile that your marital status is current and reflects the most recent change, if any, in status.



Scholarship Award Deadline
The 2010 Scholarships were awarded in June. If you know of anyone who was awarded a Scholarship and has not submitted the paperwork necessary to receive the award check, please have them do so no later than December 31, 2010. Completed paperwork must be postmarked by December 31, 2010 in order to be processed for payment. Please send paperwork via mail to the address below or or via fax to 410-309-9439.



Baltimore-Washington Conference
United Methodist Church
11711 East Market Place
Fulton, MD 20759-2594
Attention: Darryl Campbell



A complete packet must include the completed award letter with social security number, a copy of the student's fall semester bill and schedule.



Statistical Report Training (Please note change in time for evening training)

Statistical reports will be due January 20, 2011. They are not yet up online, however that time is coming soon. In preparation, the Regional Administrators along with Dave Schoeller, the newly hired business analyst for the Baltimore-Washington Conference (BWC), will be conducting two training sessions on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 here at the new BWC Mission Center. The afternoon session will run from 1—3 p.m. The early evening session will be from 6—8 p.m. (Please note time change from original post. The meeting was going to originally run from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.)

Both sessions will cover the same material: accessing the forms, entering the data, and discussion regarding the meaning of each question. This latter topic is important so that all churches are interpreting the questions in the same manner.

We recommend that pastors, church administrators and treasurers plan to attend one of the trainings offered.

There is no cost to attend training, however we do require a RSVP. If you have not done so, please RSVP to Darryl Campbell at dcampbell@bwcumc.org with the number of people in your group and which session you plan on attending. This will allow us to have the space and the materials ready and available for everyone.

Apportionment Information

It was voted at Annual Conference that the 2011 apportionment figures would remain the same as 2010. To figure out what your actual apportionment figure is, the pastor or treasurer can log into Gateway and access the church's Year-To-Date statement.

Every month an email is sent out to all pastors and current treasurers with a link to access their apportionment, medical and pension statements for current balances due and payments received. You can use that link to make a print-out of your statement. If you need to pay online via ACH you have to login and pay.

The Conference website has a real-time snapshot of goals and total payments with percentage paid for all churches. You can see this report by going to http://www.bwcumc.org/apportionments and selecting the district your church is in.

Clergy & Church Evaluations are Up and Running

The forms needed to complete the evaluation process are now up and ready to be accessed. Like the charge conference forms you can go to the web site and under Resources select the “Appointments and Evaluations” listing.

As with charge conference there are numerous resources available to help you fill out these forms. We encourage you to review the video, letter of introduction, SMART goal setting and tips for completing the forms as well as and the SAMPLES of the forms shown in this section before starting the process.

To begin to complete the forms you go to the website and sign in using your Gateway User ID and Password. As with other on-line forms only certain people can complete certain forms.

Clergy must complete:

·      Pastor/Deacon Self Evaluation Form,

·      Appropriate Advisory (including Clergy in Local Congregations, Deacons, and Clergy on Extension     Ministry)

·      Clergy Profile

·      Review Guide's comments on your self-evaluation form

·      Extension Ministry Report (only for clergy in Extension Ministry Appointments)

SPRC Chairs must complete:

·      Congregational Evaluation

·      Pastor Ministry Evaluation (one for each appointed pastor)

·      SPRC Advisory Form (one for each appointed pastor)

·      Appointment Evaluation (only after a change in appointment)

TOGETHER Clergy and SPRC Chairs must complete:

·      Church Profile

·      Review Guide's comments on your church evaluation forms

All forms must be completed by December 1, 2010 and must be submitted online in Gateway.

Your guide will provide feedback by January 31, 2011. You are then requested to view these comments.

Discipler Groups
Please go to http://www.bwcumc.org/content/discipler-groups-curriculum to download the December through February session material. Be sure to download a copy of the participant guide Session 42 – Ecological Justice and the attachment “What is your Ecological Footprint?” and bring it with you to Discipler Group.

Inclement Weather Reminder -- Our inclement weather policy is on the website when we approach the unpredictability of winter weather.

New Conference Center Address
Please use the new mailing address for the Conference Center. It is 11711 East Market Place, Fulton, MD 20759-2594. We are finding that mail sent to the old location takes at least two weeks to get redirected to our new location.

Church Newsletters
If your church publishes a newsletter, your guide and district superintendent would love to receive a copy. They would greatly appreciate receiving a copy via email. If not, please mail the newsletter to the new mailing address.

Charge Conference
Please remember to go into Gateway and submit any forms you have not submitted yet. Reminder emails will be sent out and we appreciate you taking the time to make sure your charge conference forms can be finalized correctly in Gateway.

A Welcoming Life Immersion Series

Have you heard? Fully Alive, an Immersion Series of the Baltimore-Washington Conference (BWC), received top honors at the United Methodist Association of Communicators Conference in San Francisco this fall. The BWC is now offering its newest Immersion Series, produced by the same team who created Fully Alive.

A Welcoming Life is a six-week Bible study, corresponding sermon series, related worship resources and a daily devotional guide focused on compelling faith sharing and radical hospitality so that your congregations may become even more welcoming places for all God’s children. This study was designed for participants to experience the wideness of God’s mercy by extending grace to others in the form of hospitality. Familiarity with people who are different from ourselves helps to break down artificial barriers we place between ourselves and others. For your convenience, each lesson is one-hour long. See how this study can transform lives and faith communities as a Sunday school lesson or small group study. The study is a perfect complement to the Advent season.

Materials needed for the study:

• Each person in your small group should purchase a participant's guide at a cost of $5 each.
• The group leader may purchase all the participant guides online at one time or each person may purchase their own online.
• One DVD per church at $10 each. (A 50% discount is being offered to those who purchased the Fully Alive series. Please contact Pam Bowen at pbowen@bwcumc.org to take advantage of this special offer)

Learn more about A Welcoming Life, see a promotional video and purchase the series. Visit www.bwcumc.org/welcominglife.

Appointment Season

It is that time of year when Bishop Schol and the Cabinet begin to prepare for the new appointment season. The pastoral advisory form is due on December 1st along with the other evaluations. Please be prompt in completing this and letting us know if you are requesting to stay in your present appointment, would like a change, or are requesting a change to a different status. It is especially important that we hear from any of you that intend to retire this year by the December 1st deadline.

 Quality of Life Retreats

The Quality of Life Retreats are a ministry under the Grow Mission Project of the Baltimore-Washington Conference and was started in 1988 as a result of an article written about a man who had HIV/AIDS dying alone. It was a time of ignorance, fear and avoidance. There was no satisfactory medication or support network. Some conference staff and clergy thought this death sad and unfortunate. From this event, Quality of Life Retreats for Persons with HIV/AIDS was born. The Rev. Terri Rae Chattin directed the first retreat at West River in 1988. Now in 2010 we have sponsored 84 retreats and serviced more than 3,291 participants.

Quality of Life plans to continue this ministry until it is no longer needed. New support and participation are needed. In particular, we are in need of resource people who can provide educational and medical information, arts & crafts persons, snacks, juices, water and sodas, homemade kits, and health bags. Also your church might consider a partial or full scholarship (approximately $225.00) to support participants at any of our retreats, as we only request a $20.00 registration fee from our participants.

For more information, please go to www.bwcumc.org/files/pdf/QualityofLifeInfo.pdf.

Annual Clergywomen's Christmas Lunch

The lunch will be held on Monday, December 6, 2010 at 12:00 p.m. at the Morniningside Inn in New Market, MD.  Cost is $15. Menu will consist of old-fashioned potato soup, make your own sandwich/salad bar and bread pudding. Please email Revdeb8@aol.com for reservations by November 22. Bring checks or cash that day.

Bishop's Day Apart
This is just a reminder that the last day to register for the Bishop’s Day Apart is this Friday, November 6. There will be no room for walk-ins at the door. The cost is $30 per person. The event will take place on Thursday, November 11 beginning at 9:00 am with worship and concluding at 3:00 pm.The day’s activities will take place at Glen Mar UMC, 4701New Cut Road, Ellicott City, MD.

Our guest speaker is Dr. Lovett Weems, Professor and Director of the Lewis Leadership Center at Wesley Theological Seminary. Just click on the link and login using your gateway username and password http://www.bwcumc.org/clergydayapartnov2010. We look forward to having you with us.

Charge Conference Follow Up
Please be sure to go into Gateway and submit the clergy compensation report and the layspeaker voting form after your Charge Conference has been completed. Charge Conference Minutes should be sent to Darryl Campbell at dcampbell@bwcumc.org. Also, be sure that all of your other committee reports have been submitted.

Bud Brown and Judy Young
Sometime in the next few days, both Bud Brown and Judy Young will be having surgery. Bud is suffering from severely herniated disks in his spine. He has been out of action for over a week, and the recovery will take some time – roughly four to six weeks. As of this morning, we are still not certain exactly when the surgery will take place, but it is supposed to be as soon as possible, and the doctor said sometime this week. Chuck Shacochis is the associate with Bud and he will be carrying the responsibility of the parish in Bud’s absence.

Judy is also facing surgery for a very early-detected cancer. She is hoping the surgery will be this week as well, possibly on Thursday. She has been undergoing many tests and expects that the recovery will be fairly quick and relatively easy because it was found so early in the process. Please keep both Bud and Judy and their families in your prayers - Chuck too! We will post updates on Bud and Judy in the prayer requests section on the blog as soon as we get them.

Clergy Women's Consultation
The NEJ Clergywomen's Consultation is scheduled for February 27 - March 2, 2011 (Pre-conference Racial/Ethnic Clergywomen's Forum starts on February 26) at the Lancaster Host & Conference Center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A copy of the brochure will be mailed to all clergywomen, however, you may print the brochure and register online at http://www.epaumc.org/nejclergywomen.

New Year's Eve Watch Night Worship Service and Holy Ghost Party
A New Year is almost upon us, but we can’t move forward into the New Year until we close out the old. You and your congregation are invited to join us at the First United Methodist Church of Hyattsville (6201 Belcrest Road, Hyattsville, MD) for a New Year’s Eve Watch Night Worship Service and Holy Ghost Party on Friday, December 31, 2010.
Bishop Violet Fisher will be our preacher. The service will begin at 10:30 PM filled with singing, testimonies, prayer and preaching as we bring in the New Year. At 12:10 AM, the Holy Ghost Party will begin with food and music in our Fellowship Hall.
We are also looking for a choir(s) to bring musical selections during the service. If you have a choir(s) that would be interested, please contact Theresa Y. Wells, First Church Administrative Assistant at (301) 927-6133, ext. 14 or Joan Carter-Rimbach at pastorjcr@fumchy.org.
We look forward to hearing from you and hope that you and your congregation would welcome this opportunity to fellowship with us.

Free Web Ministry Training
November 9, 6:30-9:30 p.m. Grace UMC, 712 Church St., Hagerstown

Effective web ministries will attract people to your church, engage your current members, promote your mission and ministries, and help your church members in their evangelization efforts. While many churches have websites, most of these websites are not appealing or utilized in an effective manner. Creating and maintaining a successful website and web ministry does take effort, but the rewards can be great. 

Topics to be covered:
Why does my church need an effective website and web ministry
What is the purpose of our church website and who is the target audience
Website basics
What makes for a good/bad home page and website design
What are the best / easiest technologies for creating and running church websites
Do’s and don’ts for church websites
Should my church use Facebook and Twitter and how should we use them
Can I add audio and video to my website
Unleashing your church's web ministry
Creating a plan that meets your churches personality and needs
Engaging members
Making your web ministry an enabler of all your church's missions and ministries

Presenter: Paul Keogan, Back Office Thinking, West Chester, Pa.

Questions about the training or registration?  Please contact Lesley Carter 800-492-2525, ext. 303 for assistance.

Register NOW by going to the BWCUMC Website under EVENTS > Web Ministry Training landing page. You will need your Gateway Log-in ID and Password to register.  

Clergy & Church Evaluations are Up and Running
The forms needed to complete the evaluation process are now up and ready to be accessed. As with charge conference there are numerous resources available to help you fill out these forms. We encourage you to review the video, letter of introduction, SMART goal setting and tips for completing the forms as well as and the SAMPLES of the forms shown in this section before starting the process.

Go to http://www.bwcumc.org/content/appointment-evaluations-landing.  To begin to complete the forms you go to the website and sign in using your Gateway user ID and password. As with other online forms only certain people can complete certain forms.

Clergy must complete:
Pastor/Deacon Self Evaluation Form
Appropriate Advisory (including Clergy in Local Congregations, Deacons, and Clergy on Extension   Ministry)
Clergy Profile
Review Guide's comments on your self-evaluation form
Extension Ministry Report (only for clergy in Extension Ministry Appointments)

SPRC Chairs must complete:
Congregational Evaluation
Pastor Ministry Evaluation (one for each appointed pastor)
SPRC Advisory Form (one for each appointed pastor)
Appointment Evaluation (only after a change in appointment)

TOGETHER Clergy and SPRC Chairs must complete:
Church Profile
Review Guide's comments on your church evaluation forms

All forms must be completed by December 1st, 2010 and must be submitted online in Gateway. Your Guide or District Superintendent will provide feedback by January 31 2011; you are then requested to view those comments.


Leadership Day and Spring Discipleship Academy
We are in the final stages of planning Leadership Day and the Spring Discipleship Academy. In an effort to make these events run smoother and successfully in the future, we have set a strict policy that all attendees must be pre-registered in order to attend these events. We will no longer be offering the option of registering on the day of the event nor will we be taking registrations over the phone or via regular mail. Our main goal is to use online registration.

Leadership Day is set for Saturday, January 29, 2011. On that day only, we will hold an open registration for Spring Discipleship Academy for those who cannot register online. More details will be forthcoming. As always, we appreciate your consideration and support in this matter.