News

Debra Wallace-Padgett Endorsed as Episcopal Candidate

Rev. Dr. Debra Wallace-Padgett, Lead Pastor of St. Luke UMC, Lexington, Ky., has received the unanimous support of the Kentucky Conference Delegation as an Episcopal Nominee for the Southeastern Jurisdiction. The meeting and endorsement of the delegation follow the endorsement she also received at the Kentucky Annual Conference Session in June. In a follow-up email to the delegation Wallace-Padgett wrote, “It is both affirming and humbling to receive this endorsement.”  Wallace...

Morrissey Blog Update - Dress Shrine

Our Community Has a Ghost Dress Shrine Most Thai people are Buddhist, and most Buddhists in Thailand have some form of "Spirit House" and shrine in their yard or in their house.  Even businesses, shopping  malls, and the entrance to sub-divisions have spirit houses shrines.  A spirit house is looks like a dollhouse, except for it is meant to be a home for the ghosts of persons who used to live in the house or area.  The shrines are for providing food, drink,...

Venezuelan Seminary Update January 2012

We are excited to share with you from Venezuela something of the work God is doing here. Below is our most recent report. Please read it and feel free to pass it along to all your friends. --Dr. Warren Lathem President, Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela Fear or Faith? We live in a time a great fear.  Yesterday we awoke to a severe earthquake here in Venezuela.  Later in the day we visited with our friend, Yoe, one of the worship leaders at Ondas de Paz United Methodist Church....

Singing, Service Highlight 2012 Winter Blitz

Louisville’s Broadbent Arena was alive with music and laughter January 27-29 as it hosted Winter Blitz 2012. The annual event, sponsored by the Kentucky Annual Conference Ministry with Young People, draws youth from around Kentucky as well as from nearby states. With a humble beginning in Owensboro, Ky. in 1994 of about 250 in attendance, this year’s event drew some 3,000 people to fill the arena. The program was incredible as they enjoyed the music of Nic Gonzales of Salvador and...

The Journey of Lent and the Body of Christ

Beginning with Ash Wednesday, the season of Lent in the Christian year is a period of 40 days in which we look forward with anticipation to the celebration and joy of Easter.  The 40 days of prayer, fasting and self-reflection has its origin in the biblical stories of the flood and the years of wilderness wanderings by Moses and the Hebrew people. The heart of Lent has its foundation in scriptures like Psalm 51: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit...

Kentucky United Methodists Train Leaders in Uganda

The Kentucky Annual Conference (KAC) partnership with the East Africa Annual Conference continues to yield new ministry opportunities. Last fall, Chris Patterson, pastor of St. James UMC in Bowling Green, and Heath Ray, a former Peace Corps volunteer and current lay leader in English as a Second Language (ESL) at St. James, traveled to Kampala, Uganda. Along with African leaders, they taught a national International Leadership Institute (ILI) conference for UM leaders from East Africa. The...

Dwaine Morgan, GBGM Missionary, to Visit Kentucky

"Anywhere in the world that people are hurting, whether due to man-made scarcity or to natural disaster, God’s people, by their presence and action, are a sign of God’s redeeming presence." --Dwaine Morgan - Missionary Board of Global Ministries   Dwaine Morgan, a Church and Community Worker in the United Methodist Church who serves as manager of the Disaster Response Center in the Western NC Annual Conference, will be itinerating in the Kentucky Annual Conference...

Kentucky Wesleyan Choir Invited to Sing at General Conference

The Kentucky Wesleyan College Chamber Singers will sing at the 2012 General Conference. Here is an excerpt from a communication from Rev. Kent Lewis, Chaplain & Director of Church Relations at the college. As Chaplain and Director of Church Relations at Kentucky Wesleyan College, President Craig Turner has given me permission to announce that we have accepted an invitation for the Kentucky Wesleyan Chamber Singers, directed by Professor Paul E. Oakley and Professor Dennis Jewett, to sing...

Excellent 2011 & Exciting 2012: Update on Venezuelan Seminary

Half of our 2011 Annual Conference Mission Offering went to support the education and development of church planters in Venezuela. In this excerpt from a letter, Dr. Warren Lathem, President of Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela, gives an update on the Seminary’s 2011 ministry highlights and looks ahead to goals for 2012. “Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come (Rev. 1:4).”   Our Lord is the Lord of the present, the past and the future....

Martin Luther King Day Celebration a Joyful Occasion

On Saturday more than 80 people braved the cold and the forecast of inclement weather to gather at St. Paul UMC in Frankfort, KY for the conference-wide observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. The observance, sponsored by the Kentucky Conference Commission on Religion and Race, featured workshops in the morning and a powerful multi-cultural worship service in the afternoon. The workshops covered many topics, ranging from bullying to immigration issues to how to reach a diverse...

Retiree Health Liability Task Force "Listening Sessions"

A year ago Bishop Davis named a Healthcare Taskforce to address our unfunded liability of $53 million related to our retiree healthcare plan. The Taskforce has been in conversation with CFA, the Cabinet and the Board of Pensions to find our best next steps. We are planning Listening Sessions in each District to hear feedback on our recommendations. We will be sharing our progress report and seeking your input as we refine our recommendations. WHO IS INVITED? Full-time...

Portland Promise Center Match

Portland Promise Center has received a match challenge gift from three families for $31,000. If matched, it will become $62,000. Make a donation by January 15 here and mark your donation “2011 Match Challenge”. ...

Morrissey Blog Update - New Year

The Newly Planted Mai Ya Church is Thriving Sherri and I and Christine Villa, the new missionary at Blessing Home, had the privilege of spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Pastors Jerron and On of Mai Ya church, a church that was planted just a few months ago (August 2011).  Pastors Jerron and On are veteran church pioneers, having planted a church with us at Bowin which is now thriving and self-supporting.  Now they have planted a second church in Mai Ya, Pastor Jerron's...

Conference Secretaries Gather in New York for Update on UMC Mission Work

The conference secretaries for the General Board of Global Ministries (CSGMs) from the Southeastern conferences gathered in New York City as the guests of the General Board. Our group of 15 stayed in the Alma Matthew's house, the property of the Women’s Division, located in a charming neighborhood in Greenwich Village, and traveled each day by subway to Riverside Drive for breakfast, lunch and scheduled meetings with various ministry representatives. Each day began with morning...

Erlanger UMC Honors Military Veterans

The long-standing tradition of honoring military veterans continued at Erlanger United Methodist Church (Covington District) on Sunday, November 13, 2011. Church members invited family and friends who served in the various branches of the military services to be a part of the event during morning worship and to enjoy a terrific noon meal in our Fellowship Hall afterwards. Photos of many of the honored members and guests, in their military uniforms, were presented in a “slide show...

Aldersgate Camp Breaks Ground on New Lodge

On October 27, 2011, at a fund raising dinner for the New Aldersgate Camp Lodge and Dining Room, Lee Padgett, Aldersgate Camp Director, was pleased to announce the receipt of a gift of $100,000.00 from the J. W. Kinzer Foundation of Eastern KY. With this exciting gift, the entrance and lobby of the upcoming New Lodge and Dining Room will be named the Lucy Kinzer Lobby. The dinner, held at the Marriott Griffin-Gate Resort in Lexington, was a festive and joyful event with singing, sharing,...

GCFA Partnership Team Begins Meetings

The General Council on Finance and Administration, through its office of Philanthropic Services, is involved in developing strategies to assist annual conferences in identifying revenue generating opportunities designed to increase funds for ministry.  Sharon Clapp, Director of the Office of Philanthropic Services, is one of the project coordinators for the GCFA Annual Conference Partnership Initiative. Rev. Clapp and the team recently travelled to the Upper New York, Eastern...

Morrissey Blog Update

The following is submitted by Kentucky Annual Conference missionaries, Mike and Sherri Morrissey, missionaries to Thailand, serving the Thailand Methodist Mission. We and the children and staff of Blessing Home wish you a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!   On Friday, we celebrated Christmas at Blessing Home with our annual Christmas Family Outreach.  As always, the place was packed to overflowing, and we could not fit everyone in the room. The children were divided into 4...

Global AIDS Fund Committee Hosts Lighten the Burden IV

The United Methodist Global AIDS Fund Committee will sponsor the “Lighten the Burden IV” HIV/AIDS briefing at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa, Fla. on April 23, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The one-day briefing aims to heighten awareness of United Methodists about HIV/AIDS and highlight the ways faith-based organizations are addressing the issue. The event immediately precedes the United Methodist General Conference, a meeting of the denomination’s top...

Corona de Vida Consecrates Building

"Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is a day of rejoicing. We have come together to consecrate this building of Corona de Vida United Methodist Mission Congregation. Let us open our hearts and minds to receive God's word of faith." With those words Dr. Jay Smith, Madisonville District Superintendent, began the Service of Consecration for Corona de Vida. Approximately 200 people came out to be a part of this special occasion. Corona de Vida pastor Dr. Isabel Soberal, along with...