News In Brief - Oct. 9, 2009

Brief items for use in local church newsletters
Prepared by United Methodist News Service

Through a partnership with Woodycrest United Methodist Church in Bronx, N.Y., and an antipoverty think tank, the new, $1.5 billion incarnation of Yankee Stadium also is catering to the hungry. The uneaten hot dogs, hamburgers, sushi and other food from game days are being packaged up and sent for distribution to neighborhood feeding centers, such as one six blocks away at 166th Street near Woodycrest Avenue.

For the first time in more than a century, The United Methodist Church is putting a national priority on planting new churches. And it is looking for 150 good women and men to help lead others in the work of building new congregations, church leaders said. The first Path 1 Coaching Forum will be held Jan. 7-9 at West End United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn. Details are available at www.path1.org/coach.

Amanda Sentz prayed with a classmate needing a kidney donation at the Wesley Foundation campus ministry at Florida State University in Tallahassee. The senior also knew she had the same blood type as Noel Hutchinson, 23, and could see the graduate student becoming weaker. What the two women prayed for – and in the end what both received – was the strength, step by step, to take a leap of faith. And last May, Sentz, 21, donated a kidney to Hutchinson.

Average attendance at Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., was 488 when the Rev. Jorge Acevedo was appointed senior pastor in 1996. By 2008, it had risen to 2,388 congregants spread among three campuses. The growth is a key reason Acevedo was recognized by The Foundation for Evangelism as the 2009 Distinguished Evangelist of The United Methodist Church.

At a time when many young people are still in school, young United Methodist Natalie Brown is saving lives all over the world. Her passion is AIDS education geared toward her at-risk peers. Brown is reaching kids in her hometown, across the border in Mexico, and as far away as Africa. She is a member of First United Methodist Church of Tucson and serves on the Desert Southwest AIDS Taskforce. UMTV’s “Student AIDS Educator” can be seen at http://www.umtv.org/archives/student_aids_educator.htm.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is supporting a medical mission from Wesley United Methodist Church in Honolulu for community-level planning and re-establishment of rural district health care services in parts of Western Samoa. More than 170 people were killed and tens of thousands displaced when four tsunamis struck Tonga, Samoa and American Samoa. A church and a parsonage in Samoa were destroyed Sept. 29, said the Rev. Afereti Samuelu, president of the Methodist Church of Samoa. The Rev. Tom Hazelwood with UMCOR spoke with Finau Ahio, president of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, who reported that 90 percent of the homes were damaged. The church is helping families with needs such as food and clothing. Donations can be made to “South Pacific Earthquake and Tsunamis, International Disaster Response,” UMCOR Advance #982450.

The theme for this year’s Society of St. Andrew’s annual Advent devotions is “Prayers of Hope: What do you hope for in the coming of Christ?” The Society of St. Andrew (Advance #801600) is a hunger-relief ministry that distributes rescued food to agencies across the United States at no cost. The Society of St. Andrew asks for donations during Advent, and last year it provided more than 1.2 million servings of food to the hungry. Materials for the devotional program are free. Go to www.endhunger.org/advent.htm or call (800) 333-4597.

Led by the Louisiana Annual Conference, a free HIV/AIDS testing program was held recently in Baton Rouge-area churches, the first in a series of ecumenical efforts to raise awareness of the illness. “Baton Rouge is ranked third in the nation for new cases, and New Orleans is second. Through this pilot, we were able to offer free HIV/AIDS testing to the public as well as offering counseling and educational materials,” said Margaret Johnson, Conference Vision Team. Planning is under way for events that will take place Dec. 1, World AIDS Day.

The United Methodist Board of Church and Society awarded $83,100 in grants to 11 ethnic local church programs during its fall meeting, Sept. 23-27. Two programs shared $32,200 for Human Relations Day grants. A program that provides mentors for youth whose parents are incarcerated was awarded $7,200, and $25,000 went to United Methodist conferences outside the United States to conduct seminars on restorative justice.