The Georgia Florida United Methodist Federal Credit Union Announces 2010 Scholarships

Three $1,000 college scholarships will be awarded to one applicant from the Florida, North Georgia and South Georgia Conferences.  To apply, applicants must: be between the ages of 17-24; attend a United Methodist Church in one of our affiliated conferences; and be an existing (or new) member of the Credit Union.  Applications must be postmarked by April 30.  Winners will be announced during the Florida, North Georgia and South Georgia annual conference sessions. To print out...

There is Something Special about Print

By GLENN HANNIGAN You are holding a dinosaur in your hands. But you already knew that. We’ve been hearing it for years. Newspapers are dying and nearly extinct. And before long all news—and virtually all communications—will be digitally transmitted. As for print media, the obits have been written and eulogies delivered. We are just waiting for the burial. The emerging digital revolution, and the ability to move mountains of information at warp speed, has made print...

One Great Hour of Sharing Offering is UMCOR’s ‘Backbone’

BY LINDA BLOOM Eight days after the January earthquake in Haiti, Melissa Crutchfield led a small team to the island to start assessing emergency needs for the United Methodist Committee on Relief. The ability of her team to get to Haiti quickly was due in part to One Great Hour of Sharing, an annual churchwide offering for UMCOR taken on the fourth Sunday in Lent. This year’s offering is on March 14. To Crutchfield, who coordinates international emergency response for the relief...

Snellville Church Reaches out with Drive-Through

BY SHANE BLATT The Atlanta Journal-Constitution It's a drive-through that doesn't serve fast food. Just a soothing voice -- and a prayer. AJC Snellville United Methodist Church members Wyndie Powell (left) and Susan White wave to drivers on U.S. 78 while promoting the church's drive-through prayer. It's the second time the church has conducted the alternative prayer service. As thousands of drivers whizzed along U.S. 78 late one afternoon this week, about 25 vehicles pulled under...

Funds Needed as Haitians With Medical Emergencies Arrive in Atlanta

Atlanta area hospitals recently began receiving Haitian medical emergency cases. Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA), an agency supported in part by the North Georgia Conference, is providing the logistics for temporary housing and basic patient/family care. The primary need at this time is funding, according to RRISA staff members Tom Van Laningham and Leanne Rubenstein. To donate to RRISA  ...

One Great Hour of Sharing Offering is UMCOR’s ‘backbone’

BY LINDA BLOOM Eight days after the January earthquake in Haiti, Melissa Crutchfield led a small team to the island to start assessing emergency needs for the United Methodist Committee on Relief. The ability of her team to get to Haiti quickly was due in part to One Great Hour of Sharing, an annual churchwide offering for UMCOR taken on the fourth Sunday in Lent. This year’s offering is on March 14. To Crutchfield, who coordinates international emergency response for the...

North Georgia Continues to Respond to Metro Atlanta Floods

While much progress has been made, the North Georgia Conference is still hard at work responding to the needs of people affected by the September 2009 floods in Metro Atlanta. Working out of the Disaster Response Warehouse in Austell, the conference hosts approximately three volunteer work teams each week and are tackling about 10 houses at a time. “It takes five or six weeks to get a house done once we get started,” said Mike Yoder, chair of Disaster Response for the Conference....

Renew Your Subscription to the North Georgia Advocate this Month

March 1 is the kick off of the North Georgia Advocate subscription campaign.  We are encouraging every church to have a campaign in their church this month.  The goal is to have every pastor in the North Georgia Conference to subscribe, and to have each church in the conference to simply add at least five new subscriptions.  This will put the newspaper on a more solid foundation for the foreseeable future. For helpful promotional resources, visit http://www.ngumc.org/pages/det...

The Lodge at Simpsonwood Announces Two Meeting Specials

Enjoy two new meeting specials from the Lodge at Simpsonwood, a conference and retreat center of the North Georgia Conference.  Choose from two exciting opportunities: an all-inclusive day meeting package including breakfast, lunch, refreshment break, a meeting room, and basic AV equipment for $30.00 per person.  (there is a 20 person minimum); as well as an all-inclusive overnight meeting package including overnight accommodations, breakfast, lunch, dinner, refreshment break,...

One Great Hour of Sharing Sunday Offering is March 14

One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) is one of the six churchwide Special Sundays with offerings of The United Methodist Church. OGHS enables the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to live out its mission to alleviate human suffering.    UMCOR is humanitarian arm of The United Methodist Church. OGHS gifts underwrite UMCOR’s “costs of doing business,” meaning that every penny of every gift you make to a specific UMCOR project will be spent on that...

United Methodists Respond to Chile Earthquake

To submit donations to United Methodist Committee on Relief in care of the North Georgia Conference Chile Emergency Fund, please make your check payable to the North Georgia Conference with "Chile Emergency - fund number 4230"  in the memo line.  Please mail donations to the Conference Treasurer’s Office at P.O. Box 102417, Atlanta, GA 30368-2417.  100% of all donations received go directly to those in need in Chile. ---------------------------------------------...

UM Association of Health and Welfare Ministries Awards Augusta Man

(Vandalia, OH) The United Methodist Association of Health and Welfare Ministries (UMA) will honor outstanding leadership and recognize their commitment to ministry during UMA’s 70th National Convention. North Georgia’s own Anthony P. Wood of St. John Towers in Augusta has been named as the 2010 Public Relations/Development/Marketing Director of the Year.  Mr. Wood will be honored during UMA’s national convention which will be held on March 4 at the Hyatt Regency San...

Turn tax season into outreach time

(UMCOM, NASHVILLE)  Setting up a tax clinic at your church is a good way to help your congregation and to draw community members inside your facility. Your church can serve as a center of relief as the April 15 Internal Revenue Service deadline approaches. A tax clinic requires planning, preparation and implementation. Tax clinics can take many shapes. You might enlist the services of members who are trained tax preparers. You could also invite a local accounting firm to provide or...

Athens First Sunday School Class Celebrates 100 Years

By JOE VANHOOSE - joe.vanhoose@onlineathens.com Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 Photo by Kelly Wegel Gene Weekley has spent his Sunday mornings for the past 35 years in the Tuck Sunday School class at Athens First United Methodist Church. In those 35 years - or the 100 years the class celebrates this week - not much has changed, he said. "It's the same way," said the 86-year-old, his yellow glasses matching the padding on the wooden...

Housing and Homeless Offering is this Sunday

The Homeless Offering is set for this Sunday, February 28. Please make plans to hold this very special offering in your local church this Sunday.  Offering monies collected will be distributed to ministries which serve poor and homeless people throughout the North Georgia Conference. This is the 21st year the Homeless Offering has been collected, with over $3.1 million distributed making a difference in the lives of homeless and poor people throughout north Georgia. There is a misnomer...

Special Contact Information for PACT

United Methodist Property and Casualty Trust (PACT) was initially incorporated in 2005 to make property and liability insurance available to the United Methodist Connection in the United States. Today, PACT provides insurance for more than 30% of our conferences and general agencies.  If you are interested in a quote from PACT, please send all inquires to Joy Melton @ jmelton@umcpact.org NOT Daryl Cowan as Daryl is longer the agent that services PACT....

D-I-V-O-R-C-E spells opportunity to help

About half of all U.S. marriages end in divorce, and people who divorce are more likely to have been infrequent churchgoers, according to Barna Group research.  Showing the church’s commitment to helping separated and divorced people manage their emotional, spiritual and economic challenges can open the opportunities for people who may feel estranged from religion after their marriage fails. Give them an opportunity with a divorce recovery group.  For more information,...

A Once in a Lifetime Invitation: Singing at the National Prayer Breakfast

By RALPH FREEMAN   Since 1980 my vocal-music ministry has carried me across 43 states and five continents. But the 2010 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. will be one of my most memorable experiences.   On Feb. 3, I boarded a flight in Atlanta bound for Reagan International Airport to meet with Senator Johnny Isakson, who had invited me to sing the closing song following a speech by President Barack Obama.  To say the least, I was extremely excited about this...

Bishop Watson wants you to subscribe to the North Georgia Advocate

I need your help. It is one of my goals this year to support the long-term viability of the North Georgia Advocate--our conference’s official print news source. This will not require a massive effort. I believe in the North Georgia Advocate. I am a proud subscriber. If you are too, I am sure you agree with me that it is a valuable resource.  If you do not currently subscribe, I hope that you will purchase a subscription and discover the personal stories and important news of our...

Coming up in the North Georgia Advocate: Q&A with Bishop Watson

For the past three decades, Bishop Mike Watson has been reading the Bible through each year, from Genesis to Revelation. The North Georgia Advocate recently asked him some questions related to this spiritual discipline. Here is a sampling of those responses (full Q&A will appear in the Feb. 19 edition of the Advocate): NGA: How has this affected your faith? Bishop Watson: Spending fifteen minutes a day reading through the Bible in a year has enriched my daily devotional time, increased...