Welcome to the Washington Region Blog! In an effort to reduce the number of emails sent from the region, the blog will be updated on a weekly basis. You will receive an email reminder every week to come and check out the blog.



Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Apportionment Increases for 2012

Everyone should have received communication from our finance department last week regarding the 2012 apportionments. There were a number of churches with significant increases. To dispute errors in the documentation, please review your churches 2010 statistical report and contact Pam Mullay (pmullay@bwcumc.org) with any errors in the figures. The deadline to dispute the increase is July 8, 2011. The guidelines for the statistical reports can be found at http://www.bwcumc.org/sites/default/files/pdf/2010%20Statistical%20Reporting%20Guidelines.pdf.



Journal Information and Updates Needed
Dear pastors: Your personal and church contact information is stored in the Baltimore-Washington Conference’s database, Gateway. Each year we print a physical copy of these addresses in the Journal.

We will be pulling your contact information from Gateway on July 8, 2011 to include in this year’s Journal. You are solely responsible for keeping your contact information up-to-date, so please take this time to make sure your personal information is correct (address, phone, email) as well as your church’s information (address, phone, email). If you are unsure how to verify and change your information in Gateway, please check out this easy to follow tutorial video on how to change your information. If you have further questions, please contact your regional administrator. http://www.bwcumc.org/resources/videos/updateprofile
Thank you for ensuring the accuracy of this permanent Baltimore-Washington Conference record.

If you are transitioning July 1, you can find helpful resources on the pastoral transitions resource page: http://www.bwcumc.org/resources/pastoraltransitions

Blessings - BWC Journal Team



Change the World!
What is your church doing to Change The World and Be One of 15,000 in Mission on October 8-10, 2011? Please go to http://www.bwcumc.org/events/changetheworld to register and let us know what you are doing. Our goal is to have every church in the Conference participate. In addition to events at your church, the Conference Mission Center will be hosting a number of events on October 8, 2011. More details to follow.



Discipler Groups
The Discipler Groups have been confirmed and the information can be found at http://www.bwcumc.org/resources/disciplergroups. Discipler Groups will begin on September 6, 7 & 8, 2011. When reviewing the document, please note that we have included inclement weather policies for each church, included the schedule for the year and also included information regarding the make-up sessions.
Charge Conference dates, times and locations will be posted in the next week or so.


Fridays Off – Summer
The Conference Mission Center will be closed on Fridays from July 8, 2011 through August 26, 2011.



New Contact Information
Evan Young can be reached at 410-309-3445 and David Argo’s new phone number is 410-309-3432.



Call to Action Meetings
Registration for both locations now up and running! (Thank you for your patience)
We hope that after experiencing the transforming worship and moving presentations at Annual Conference, you are as excited as we are about making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. As various conference leaders shared in the State of the Church Address, we truly believe that the Call to Action is the way to redirect the flow of attention, energy and resources in order to foster and sustain vital congregations that are effectively making disciples for the transformation of the world. And we, the Washington Regional Team, want to affirm our commitment to support each of you and your congregation(s) in your efforts to move forward to foster or sustain the vitality of your congregation(s).

As part of our commitment we will be hosting workshops to help your congregation(s) complete the Ministry Plan that you will present at your Charge Conference this fall. As you will remember during your 2010 Charge Conference we shared that each church would be expected to present congregational goals at their 2011 Charge Conference. At the upcoming workshops we will help you transform the goals that you were already planning to present for 2011 into the format of the Ministry Plan. We will also help you gather the additional information needed for the Ministry Plan.

In order to help accommodate summer schedules, the following workshops have been set up:

For Central Maryland pastors and churches, the workshop will be held on July 16, 2011 from 9:00 am-11:30 am at Montgomery UMC, 28325 Kemptown Road, Damascus, MD.

For Greater Washington pastors and churches, the workshop will be held on July 16, 2011 from 1:30 pm- 4:00 pm at Colesville UMC, 52 Randolph Road, Silver Spring, MD.

For those who have a conflict on July 16, 2011, a make-up session is being offered on August 20, 2011 from 9:00 am-11:30 am at the Conference Mission Center, 11711 East Market Place, Fulton, MD.

Please register at http://www.bwcumc.org/academy/othertraining by July 11, 2011. We are asking that each pastor attend along with their Administrative Council Chairperson and two other church leaders of their choice. (No more than four people per church please.) Space is limited to the first 100 registrants at each location.

Please have as much of the plan completed as you can before coming to the workshop. You will find a blank copy of the Ministry Plan at http://www.bwcumc.org/sites/default/files/pdf/ctaplanning.pdf.

We look forward to working with you this summer and fall in order to help you develop the best possible Ministry Plan. Please remember that in the coming years, each Ministry Plan will be reviewed and possibly revised at least once a year at Charge Conference.



Fall Discipleship Academy Online Registration
Fall Discipleship Academy classes are now open for online registration. Please go to http://www.bwcumc.org/academy/cls/washington for class information and to register.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Call to Action Meetings

We hope that after experiencing the transforming worship and moving presentations at Annual Conference, you are as excited as we are about making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. As various conference leaders shared in the State of the Church Address, we truly believe that the Call to Action is the way to redirect the flow of attention, energy and resources in order to foster and sustain vital congregations that are effectively making disciples for the transformation of the world. And we, the Washington Regional Team, want to affirm our commitment to support each of you and your congregation(s) in your efforts to move forward to foster or sustain the vitality of your congregation(s).

As part of our commitment we will be hosting workshops to help your congregation(s) complete the Ministry Plan that you will present at your Charge Conference this fall. As you will remember during your 2010 Charge Conference we shared that each church would be expected to present congregational goals at their 2011 Charge Conference. At the upcoming workshops we will help you transform the goals that you were already planning to present for 2011 into the format of the Ministry Plan. We will also help you gather the additional information needed for the Ministry Plan.

In order to help accommodate summer schedules, the following workshops have been set up:

For Central Maryland pastors and churches, the workshop will be held on July 16, 2011 from 9:00 am-11:30 am at Montgomery UMC, 28325 Kemptown Road, Damascus, MD.

For Greater Washington pastors and churches, the workshop will be held on July 16, 2011 from 1:30 pm- 4:00 pm at Colesville UMC, 52 Randolph Road, Silver Spring, MD.

For those who have a conflict on July 16, 2011, a make-up session is being offered on August 20, 2011 from 9:00 am-11:30 am at the Conference Mission Center, 11711 East Market Place, Fulton, MD.

Registration will be up and running after July 1, 2011. Please register at http://www.bwcumc.org/academy/othertraining by July 11, 2011. We are asking that each pastor attend along with their Administrative Council Chairperson and two other church leaders of their choice. (No more than four people per church please.) Space is limited to the first 100 registrants at each location.

Please have as much of the plan completed as you can before coming to the workshop. You will find a blank copy of the Ministry Plan at http://www.bwcumc.org/sites/default/files/pdf/ctaplanning.pdf.

We look forward to working with you this summer and fall in order to help you develop the best possible Ministry Plan. Please remember that in the coming years, each Ministry Plan will be reviewed and possibly revised at least once a year at Charge Conference.




Fall Discipleship Academy Online Registration
Fall Discipleship Academy classes are now open for online registration. Please go to http://www.bwcumc.org/academy/cls/washington for class information and to register.



Contact Information
For those involved in Change of Appointments, please be sure to contact Pam Mullay pmullay@bwcumc.org with your new contact information as soon as possible. This includes email, phone and address.





Church Administrators. . .
Please make sure that the information in the Gateway Database is correct. The yearly Conference Journal is based on data in Gateway it is very important it is up-to-date.





IMPORTANT: IRS Automatic Tax-Exempt Revocation List
Dear Pastors, Church Treasurers, and Finance Chairpersons:
The IRS published a tax-exempt revocation list yesterday that was meant to impact only those non-profits who had not submitted a Form 990 over the last 3 years. Churches are not required to submit 990s, so they were to be left off of the revocation list. The Finance staff has been working with GCFA to review preliminary lists of the “At Risk” entities during the past 12 months in an attempt to make sure none of our churches made the list. However, we are aware of at least one church from the Baltimore-Washington Conference that was included on the final IRS list. Other conferences have reported the same problem.

The IRS is in the process of sending letters to all the entities on the tax-exempt revocation list. If your church receives a notice, then please contact your Regional Administrator as soon as possible to enable the Conference Finance Staff to assist you in the process of correcting this problem.

Thank you for your vigilance in this important matter.

Blessings,
Paul Eichelberger
BWC Treasurer




Upcoming Events for the United Methodist Men
If your United Methodist Men group has an event you would like the BWC UMM to promote, send an email to me at rcampbell@bwcumm.org. Provide the title, date, time, contact information and a brief paragraph. Please send at least two weeks in advance of the event. Visit our web site at www.bwcumm.org for more upcoming events.
Blessings,
Richard K. Campbell
BWC UMM Secretary
443-517-3084 (Cell)

Baltimore Metropolitan UMM Car Wash Day - Sat. June 25
The men of the district are having a fund raising car wash on Saturday June 25, 2011 from 11am unitl 3pm. We are dedicating this day to raise money for our November 19,2011 potato project. Last year our project was a great success, so we're praying that this year will be an even greater success helping to end hunger! Our goal is to raise $4,000 to cover the cost of the Society of St. Andrews gleaning and delivery of the Maine potatoes. To help us meet this goal, we are asking each men's fellowship to have a car wash on June 25 and raise or donate $100 to the project. Please contact Bill Weller 443-354-5533 (billweller@verizon.net) or Bryon Gould 443-509-7277 (bryoney@hotmail.com).

Visit our web site at http://www.bwcumm.org/ for more upcoming events.



Time Is Running OUT! Annual Audit Are Due June 30, 2011
After you fill out the entire form including the name of the person who did the audit and the date it was completed, you should attach the electronic form to an e-mail and send it to Pam Mullay at pmullay@bwcumc.org. To access the form, please go to http://www.bwcumc.org/resources/auditform.

The Audits are NOT to be included in your Charge Conference materials because they are due June 30 well before Charge Conference Meetings. These files are being stored electronically so you do NOT need to send a hard-copy of the form to your District Superintendent.



African American Methodist Heritage Center
10th Year Commemoration Benefit
Friday, December 9, 2011 - 6 p.m.
JW Marriott
1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

Concert - The Journey of African American Church Music
Celebration Banquet
Honoring Bishop Forrest C. Stith's 53 Years in Ministry

Contact: Ozzie Jenkins-Gibson at 301-860-0600



Open Positions
Minister for Middle School Youth (part-time position 15 hours per week)
Applications should be sent to Pastor Mary Ka Kanahan, maryka.kanahan@glenmarumc.org

The Glen Mar mission is to praise God, to make disciples, and to serve the world. Staff members are leaders called to be examples to the rest of the church and are held to higher standards. Staff members model the values of constructive, positive relationship, caring and courtesy for all persons and humility as servant leaders. Staff sets the tone and pace and has a significant role in shaping the heart and character of the entire congregation. It is vital that we walk the path together by actively encouraging wholeness in personal, physical, emotional and spiritual health for each. Spiritually healthy leaders will produce a spiritually healthy church. To achieve these goals staff members are expected to pursue a disciplined lifestyle that is demonstrated by positive character and behavior, expectation and evidence of belief that God is alive and acts in today’s world, and considered actions that conform to denominational standards of practice.

With supervision from the Pastor for Community Life, the minister in this position will be able to administer, oversee and coordinate the planning, organizing, training and equipping of leadership for a comprehensive ministry for youth ages 11-13 years and their families. Generally, this means that this minister supports the vision, mission and values of the church and has oversight and responsibility for the programs and ministries; and all related activities of community life which disciples youth in 6th to 8th grade. This minister may supervise unpaid leadership who work with these populations. This minister relates to other age-level ministers and staff, and is a member of the staff team shepherded by the Pastor for Community Life, as well as the church staff team led by the Senior Pastor. It is important that the Minister for Middle School Youth have a strong, positive working relationship with the Pastor for Community Life, the Lead Pastor, and the other age-level ministers and staff that results in a unified spirit in response to God’s call.

The minister in this position will be available to perform all the administrative, managerial and supervisory duties as needed to fulfill God’s call to servant leadership as Minister for Middle School Youth as they support the other paid and unpaid servants of Jesus Christ at GMUMC. This person will support the theology of the United Methodist Church.

Particular emphasis will be given to developing and implementing the ministry of the local church to root youth and families in the life-giving message of Jesus Christ. This may be done through Christian education, special events, workshops or retreats, worship and service to others as the mission of the church is carried out in the world.

Leads the development, management, administration and evaluation of all areas of middle school youth ministries to support the physical, emotional, spiritual and social needs of youth in grades 6-8. Stays informed of new and effective ways to develop the middle school youth ministry and share such knowledge with others in the church. Selects curriculum; recruits, selects and trains teachers and leaders; and evaluates the ministries. Coordinates with other ministers and ministries of the church and persons beyond the church. Ecumenical relationships and intentional connection with United Methodist events shall be sought.
1. Provides leadership in all areas of administration, budget and finance, program development, goal setting, allocation of resources for middle school youth ministry.
2. Provides ministry leadership to unpaid staff – specifically, Parent Council, Youth Council, and the Christian Education leaders. (eg. Sunday School Teachers, Confirmation Leadership Team). In cooperation with the Pastor for Community Life, the Minister of Operations, and the other age-level ministers of GMUMC, implement and support the policies of Glen Mar Church, including the Safe Sanctuaries policy and process.
3. Provides leadership, organization and direction to the Glen Mar UMC Middle School Youth, ministry, to include, but not be limited to Sunday School and Confirmation class, Youth Group, Retreats, Worship, Weekend , Mid-week or Special events, Age-level groups, and service opportunities.
4. Preparation of goals and objectives, reports, budgets, publicity and promotion, and evaluations for all ministries. Support for fund-raising events and scholarship funds.
5. Attends team and staff meetings as required. Other duties as assigned by supervising Pastor(s).

Specific Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Minimum Education: Bachelor’s Degree preferred, with training in youth ministry, Christian education, secondary education or related field. Minimum of 2 years experience working with youth. Related certification considered.
Spiritual gifts which support ministry with middle school youth. Ability to articulate a call to ministry.
Ability to recruit, train, manage and lead others.
Knowledge of Christian education curriculum and program design, planning and organization.
Knowledge of the learning and spiritual formation processes of youth.
Knowledge and experience with basic computer skills and use of technology for ministry.
Ability to be resourceful, creative and collaborative in the development of ministry. Ability to work with ministry colleagues and groups in the church and community.
Excellent oral and written communication skills. Excellent interpersonal relationship skills with the ability to resolve conflict in healthy ways.
Ability to establish and maintain a consistent weekly schedule and good time management practices that include regular office hours.