5 Florida United Methodist Review Online

News at a Glance

Conference receives check for new ministry

Just before Christmas, the Florida Conference’s office of New Church Development and Church Redevelopment received a $665,000 check from the denomination’s General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) to fund a three-year inner-city ministry program in the Miami District, according to the Rev. Charles Courtoy, director of New Church Development and Church Redevelopment.

New Church Development is adding $235,000 of its own to the GBGM grant, which came from the board’s Millennium Fund.

"This is an illustration of a partnership between a general board and an annual conference for a very innovative ministry project," Courtoy said. "That $900,000 is going to be invested in the next three years into the core of the city of Miami to reach unchurched people through a program of house churches and ministries."

Courtoy and Miami District Superintendent Clarke Campbell-Evans are interviewing applicants this month to find a coordinator for the inner-city initiative.

Scholarship program reaches new heights

The Advancing the Flame scholarship program, which partners United Methodist-related Florida Southern College (FSC) and United Methodist churches throughout the United States, reached new heights for the 2000-01 school year. It is providing $245,000 in scholarships for full-time United Methodist students this year, an increase of nearly $50,000 over last year.

Sixty-eight churches gave $135,000 to help approximately 120 students, according to Kitty Carpenter, director of the college’s Church Relations office. Florida Southern matched $110,000.

The program encourages United Methodist churches to give scholarships to members of their congregations or staffs who attend FSC.

Advancing the Flame was established in 1997. For more information on the Advancing the Flame program, contact Carpenter at 863-680-6211.

Archivist elected first woman president

Nell Thrift, the Florida Conference’s archivist, was elected president of the Southeastern Jurisdiction Historical Society at its 2000 annual meeting. Thrift is the first woman and layperson to serve as society president, according to Art Swarthout, editor of the Society’s Notes newsletter, who announced the election in November.

Thrift has been a member of the jurisdictional society for 10 years and is a past chairwoman of the Florida Conference’s Commission on Archives and History. She is currently serving on both the jurisdictional and general Commissions on Archives and History.