222 Sidney Baker South,

Suite 528

Kerrville, TX 78028

Phone: 830-896-6400

kdumc@kdumc.org

Your Organization

EQUIPPING THE SAINTS 2015: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE Happy New Year! There are many things new happening all around us: A

new District, new Conference, new Churches, new ministry focus and new

faces. The Hill Country District has much to be thankful for. We, as a dis-

trict, are very involved outside the walls of our churches. Our Missional Fo-

cus extends across borders and we act as the Body of Christ giving hope, love

and outreach to communities and individuals. The churches in our district

are working to becoming Vital Congregations to bring the Word to individu-

als who might not get the chance to hear about God’s grace. We are working

to develop existing congregations, identify possible new church start areas

and encourage pastoral leadership as a way of life for clergy and laity. It is an

exciting time as we step forward into the new Rio Texas Conference.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Lunch Speaker .........................2

Mission Fair .............................3

Course Description ..................4

Course Description ..................5

Registration Form ...................6

SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST

CHILDCARE AVAILABLE. SEE REGISTRATION FORM

DISCIPLESHIP DATA BASE

REV. RAY ZIRKEL

“The Mission Fair is here for everyone to walk around, view and ask questions. It can be in lieu of a session; done at 10:50 tip 11:45 or even during lunch. Please take time to visit with folks and talk about your stories and maybe get some new ideas.

Are you reaching new and younger people in today's culture? Do you want to learn more about how to use media, visual arts, contem-porary music and experiential worship to help reach those around you and in the world? The worship team at Gruene UMC New Braunfels invites you to a day of worship, learning, and sharing in break out sessions / panel dis-

cussions so that we can all learn and grow and reach more people in the name of Jesus. We will discuss thematic worship approach, team planning, how to improve your sound, media / visual arts, how to take worship beyond the walls of the church and much, much more. Please bring a team with you (staff or volunteers): sound folks, worship leaders / music directors, me-dia / visual arts folks and the Lead Worshiper...the pastor who does most of the preaching! We will gather at 9:00 and start at 9:30. Snacks and lunch provided. We will conclude about 3 or 3:30. The cost is _____ per person or _____ max per church. Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015 9:00 am Gruene UMC 2629 E. Common St. New Braunfels, TX www.grueneumc.org

REV. RAY ZIRKEL KEYNOTE SPEAKER In 1995, we were invited by Dr. Luis Palomo, Bishop, to minister with the

Methodist Church in Costa Rica. Ray is an ordained elder in the Method-

ist Church and serves as a professor at the Evangelical Methodist Semi-

nary. In addition, Ray is a member of the Board of Directors of the

Methodist High School and Elementary School; and, he helps to plant

and develop local congregations. Lidia is the director of the Methodist

Children´s Home and we host approximately 25 short-term mission

teams each year who work on a variety of church related ministries.

Ray

Ray is a native Texan. He attended Southern Methodist University earn-

ing a B.A. in both History and Latin American Studies, a minor in Span-

ish and a Texas teaching certificate. While attending SMU, Ray was priv-

ileged to assume leadership positions within two Christian ministries on

campus: Campus Crusade for Christ and the university Sunday School

Class at Highland Park UMC. Through his work with these two groups

and the continual development of his personal relationship with Christ,

he sensed the Lord leading him into full time Christian ministry and

mission work. He began his ministry in 1989 as a missionary to Guate-

mala, teaching Spanish at a mission school. In 1990 he returned to the

USA to attend Seminary at Asbury Theological Seminary graduating in

1994 with a Masters of Divinity degree. It was while he was attending

seminary that he met Dr. Palomo and was invited to teach at the Method-

ist Seminary immediately following his graduation.

Lidia

Lidia is a native

Alabamian. She

attended the Univer-

sity of Alabama at

Birmingham earning

a B.A. in English

with a minor in Mar-

keting. While attend-

ing UAB, Lidia

worked full time in

financial marketing

and advertising. It

was while Lidia was

attending UAB that she became a Christian and felt the Lord leading her

into full time ministry. Lidia also graduated from Asbury Theological

Seminary with a Masters of Divinity degree in 1994. During Lidia´s first

year in Costa Rica she attended language school in San José.

LIVING OUR

BELIEFS

ADVANCED LAY

SERVANT MINISTRY

COURSE AND LEAD-

ERSHIP ORIENTA-

TION

FEBRUARY 27-

MARCH 1, 2015

2

THE WORSHIP TEAM AT GRUENE UMC NEW BRAUNFELS INVITES YOU!

SCHEDULE

8:45-9:15 Registration

9:15 – 9:45 Worship Led by Rev. Bill Henderson & Dis-

trict Choir

SESSION SCHEDULE Morning Session I 10:00-10:45

Sessions offered:

Volunteers in Mission Stewardship of God’s Provision: Local Church Finance (Basic)

Learning Styles for Christian Education & Worship Local Church Lay Leader

Mission Involvement for Every Church Beginners Mission 101

Moving into Mission 201 Mission Master 301

Morning Session II 10:00 - 11:45

PPRC/SPRC Let’s Talk Youth

Multimedia Technology & Social Media For the Church Volunteer 101

Hill Country District Missional Strategy with Local Independent School Districts

Local Church Trustees Reaching More Broadly Into Our Mission Field

LUNCH - SPEAKER

12:00 - 1:30 Includes small group question and answer session following

lunch with Rev. Ray Zirkel

Afternoon Session III 1:45 to 2:30

Sessions offered: HC District Lay Servant Ministry (formerly Lay Speaking)

Turn The Power On Methodist Tradition for Modern Ministry

Emergency Preparedness Plan for the Local Church

Afternoon Session IV 2:45 - 3:30

So, You want to go to Costa Rica? Mission Involvement for Every Church

Beginners Mission 101 Moving into Mission 201

Mission Master 301 Stewardship of God’s Provision:

Local Church Finance (Advanced Tools) Mission Fair

DISCIPLESHIP

DATA BASE

Have you ever

attended a confer-

ence or district

event and

thought, “I could

do that. I wonder

who chooses

speakers and pre-

senters for church

training events?”?

Or did you see ex-

citing pictures of a

Mission trip, and

think, ”I would

really love to do

that. How can I go

if my church is not

doing a mission

trip?”?

Or did you hear

about a retreat or

training that you

wished you had

known about?

Be sure and find

the

Discipleship

Data Base

Sign UP

3

3

(CONT) PPRC/SPRC

The committee consults with the lead pastor to rec-ommend staff positions to support the strategy of the church leadership team (church council). The committee recom-mends staff compensation, travel, housing, and other financial matters to the church council through con-sultation with the finance committee. The finance committee includes the sal-ary total in the budget, and the PPRC works with staff on allocation. The committee provides for annual evaluation of the pastor(s) and other staff for ongoing effective ministry. The committee creates and updates written policy for hiring, evaluating, promot-ing, retiring, and dismissing staff members who are not subject to episcopal ap-pointment. (Procedures must comply with local and state laws). This is recom-mended to the church coun-cil for adoption. The committee conducts proper screening (including background checks) for lay employees and volunteer staff. The chairperson is the con-gregation’s primary connec-tion with the district super-intendent and bishop relat-ed to appointed leadership of the congregation. he committee meets with the district superintendent and/or the bishop in an advisory capacity related to clergy leadership. Consider-ations include the age and stage of the congregation, an understanding of feel-ings and desires within the congregation about the pas-tor's leadership and ap-pointment, and the culture and needs of the communi-ty around the church. The committee enlists, eval-uates, and annually recom-mends to the charge confer-ence candidates for profes-sional ministry.

LOCAL CHURCH LEADERSHIP

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STEWARDSHIP OF GOD’S PRO-VISION: Local Church Finance – A look at how to account for and plan to handle the annual budget cycle in our congregations. The how and why of “apportionments”; planning for facility maintenance, risk man-agement and week to week cash handling/banking relationship and auditing. KEN BRUNER – Active in church work throughout his 23 year military career and beyond, his experience includes service on church boards for three congregations as either El-der or Deacon, teaching adult and youth Sunday school, as a lay chaplain and as a worship leader/pastor for ten years of an-nual cowboy gatherings. Ken has served Kerrville: First UMC for three years as Director of Opera-tions. A member of the National and United Methodist Associa-tions for Church administration, he is currently a Certified Lay Speaker, member of United Methodist Men at Kerrville First, and of the Hill Country Emmaus Community, Treasurer for the Kerrville/Hill Country District and a member of the new Rio Texas Conference Finance & Ad-ministration Council.

CHURCH TRUSTEES -Effective Trustees are Christian stewards of the property God has entrusted to the congregation. Effective trus-tees supervise and maintain the property of the congregation to ensure that disciple-making min-istries of the congregation are ef-fective and that local legal re-quirements related to the proper-ty are satisfied. Larry Harrison has served as Chair of Trustees in the previous Southwest Texas Conference and is a member of FUMC Junction.

PPRC – Bill Henderson -The com-mittee leads the congregation to encourage, strengthen, nurture, support, and respect the pastor(s) and staff and their families. It helps the staff set priorities that

strengthen the congregation's to-tal ministry. (C0nt) Rev Bill Hen-derson is currently District Su-perintendent of the Hill Country District. He has served this dis-trict for 5 years and strives to empower laity in the local church. HILL COUNTRY DISTRICT LAY SERVANT TEAM – Scott Maderer presenter Come hear about the opportunities to serve the mission of the church through being a lay servant, a certified lay servant or certified lay speaker. How these have evolved from previous Lay Speaker ministry and discussion of how lay servants can fill mis-sional opportunities within your area. Scott Maderer has been serving as the Lay Leader at Lakehills UMC. He is currently the District Lay Servant Team Director. HCD LAY LEADER – The Lay Leader promotes the role of laity as we work to fulfill our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Local Church leaders have huge potential for increased vitality throughout The United Methodist Church. David Rush is a member of Kerrville: St Paul's UMC. He was very active with FUMC Eagle before retiring in Kerrville. LET’S TALK YOUTH – Panel for forum with youth leaders and youth as well as youth workers that are volunteers not staff. Dis-cussion about why those youth come…- Christy Winn Leakey UMC, Carrie Anders FUMC John-son City, Kendra Glass Bandera UMC REACHING MORE BROADLY INTO OUR MISSION - Conversa-tion about extending missional outreach in the Hispanic commu-nity and tools to bridge gaps be-tween two diverse cultures to con-tinue making Disciples for Christ together. Rev. Leyva is currently

INSIDE STORY HEADLINE

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that focus on current technologies or innovations in your field.

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column, a book review, a letter from the president, or an editorial. You can also profile

new employees or top customers or vendors. 4

5

serving as the organizing pastor of a new congregation in the Gruene area and as consultant to new Hispanic faith community development for the Rio Texas Annual Confer-ence. TURN ON THE POWER We all lead busy lives. This is a time for us to practice a Spiritual Discipline with a group of people. We hope we all can experience the love, grace and presence of God more powerfully while practicing these means of grace. Ryan Stratton is the Youth Minister at Buda UMC. He is also a candidate for ordained ministry.

METHODIST TRADITION FOR MODERN MINISTRY In this session, we’ll engage Scripture and Wesley’s brief “Character of a Methodist” to reflect on Wesley’s definition of key characteristics of a Methodist Chris-tian. Our time will also include small group conversa-tion to explore how Wesley’s writing speaks a reinvigor-ating word of faith to our modern ministry con-texts. This session is led by Rev. Todd Salmi, an en-gaged Wesleyan theologian; academically, practically, and spiritually. Todd developed WordsOfWesley.com, a website containing searchable copies of Wesley’s ser-mons. WordsOfWesley also features Wesley quotes via social media. Todd serves as associate pastor at First UMC San Marcos, where he lives with his wife and three kids.

MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY & SOCIAL MEDIA FOR THE CHURCH VOLUNTEER – In this session Rev. Will Rice will tell you everything you need to know about the web, technology, and social media. Well, maybe not everything. He will try to help your church take first steps, next steps and big steps in reaching the mission field through the use of technology. Topics will include: building or renovation of your website; using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to reach out and con-nect; live-streaming and trends in church technology. Whether you are a techie or just want to know where to star, we will have something for you. Rev. Will Rice is the Director of Communications and Media Support for the Rio Texas Annual Conference and formerly served as the Pastor of Communication and Outreach at University United Methodist Church in San Antonio.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PLAN IN THE LOCAL CHURCH – Pastor Celia recently led her congregation through the process of writing an emergency prepared-ness plan. In this course she will offer several of the dis-coveries she and her congregation learned along the way, including why your church needs to have a plan and how to begin the process of writing a plan. Rev. Ce-lia Halfacre has been pastor at Lakehills UMC for 2 years. She serves as the chair of the HCD Vitalizing Congregations Team. LEARNING STYLES FOR CHRISTIAN EDUCATION AND WORSHIP— In order to best reach persons of all ages, it is important to plan learning sessions and wor-ship which will reach those whose learning styles are different from our own. . We will explore the (at least) 7

learning styles and discover ways in which leaders can engage as many individuals as possible. Carol Ann Wes-ton-Director of Christian Education at St. Paul’s FUMC, Kerrville. Has served as Director of Christian Education in churches in Harlingen, Portland and Kerrville for over 30 years and is a certified Godly Play Trainer for the United States.

MISSION INVOLVEMENT/PRESENCE IN THE LO-CAL CHURCH – HCD Mission Team to provide 3 dif-ferent panel discussions for churches with:

Little or no activity;: Beginners Mission 101. George Barnett & John Fink moderators

Moving into Mission 201—moderate activity to include mission trip beyond Eagle Pass or Border. Dr. David Pope, Rev Tom Tarver, Vicki McCuistion

Master Mission 301—active global and community mis-sion awareness. Bob Dibble FUMC Boerne, Rev. KP Polk, Phyllis Nichols

VOLUNTEERS IN MISSION (VIM): HOW TO LEAD A MISSION TEAM– how to create mission team/volunteers in local church. Judy is a member of Freder-icksburg United Methodist Church, is the immediate past International Coordinator for Volunteers In Mis-sion for the Southwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, and a member of Fredericksburg Morning Rotary Club. Judy has participated on many medical and construction missions to Haiti, Afghani-stan, Guatemala, Mexico, India, Russia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Malawi over the last 15 years. She travels to Mexico at least 5-6 times per year fora medi-cal mission to 10 very remote villages. Judy retired from active nursing after working for 20 years. Her passion is helping women and children with health and wellness.

SO YOU WANT TO GO TO Costa Rica – Costa Rica!!!!! Come learn all the nuts and bolts that go into taking a short term mission trip to Costa Rica! Dan Magee, Brad & Sharon Pederson from Kerrville: FUMC will be sharing the details of their 2015 Costa Rica Mission Trip.

HOW TO REACH OUT AND GET INVOLVED WITH YOUR LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT: Ideas from week-end food help for students to mentoring to school sup-plies to fields of faith and beyond! Including Back-Pack Ministries. Vicki McCuistion has been the Director of the Barnabas Connection since its inception as an outreach min-istry of Wimberley UMC in 2004. As Director, she has grown an idea into a successful community organization that re-ceived 501(c) 3 status in 2014. The Barnabas Connection connects people in need with resources to help them, focusing on health and human services, advocacy, and education. . Vicki has an extensive background in grassroots organiz-ing, communications and fundraising. .

CHILDCARE

AVAILABLE

If you are in need of

childcare for the event

you must register

each child with

Name & Age

By

January 20, 2015

CALL LIZ

AT DISTRICT

OFFICE

REGISTRATION FORM – DEADLINE: JANUARY 21, 2015

Mail this form to the:

Kerrville District Office 222 Sidney Baker South, Suite 528

Kerrville, TX 78028 – FAX to 830-896-6407 or register by phone at 830-896-6400.

Church Name: _________________________ Address:____________________________________

Name: _________________________________ Name: _____________________________________

Name: _________________________________ Name: _____________________________________

Name: _________________________________ Name: _____________________________________

Name: _________________________________ Name: _____________________________________

Name: _________________________________ Name: _____________________________________

Name: _________________________________ Name: _____________________________________

Name: _________________________________ Name: _____________________________________

Pre-registration with a check for all lunch reservations will ensure a speedy check-in. NAMETAGS WILL BE PRINTED AHEAD OF TIME.

Persons registering at the door will be seated at the meal on a space-available basis, only.

To confirm a meal, contact the District Office by January 20, 2014. Please make checks payable to “Kerrville District” - $12.00 per person.

PLEASE PLACE STAMP HERE

222 Sidney Baker South

Suite 528

Kerrville, TX 78028

Phone: 830-896-6400

kdumc@kdumc.org

hcdumc.org

Liz Cover—Admin. Assist.

Pam Elliot-District Program