November 12, 1999 Edition

CHURCH DEVELOPMENT

Milestones Reached In Church Development

By Charles W. Courtoy
Executive Director of Church Development

New Church loans to be lower in 2000
The Conference Committee on New Church Development and Church Redevelopment voted at its Oct. 4 meeting to change its rate of interest for First Unit Loans for new churches from the current 8 percent fixed rate to an adjustable rate of 7 percent, 0.5 percent below the Florida United Methodist Development Fund rate. The rate is effective Jan. 1, 2000. This means all outstanding new church loans will drop to 7 percent, and all new loans made will be at the adjustable rate in effect at the time the loan is made.

Pastor will be appointed to launch new Leesburg District church
Bishop Cornelius L. Henderson and the cabinet decided at their October meeting to proceed with a plan to launch a church in the Villages of Lady Lake and appoint a pastor there effective Dec. 1, 1999. A 10-acre site in the Villages has already been purchased.

With this appointment, six new fast starts and four missions will have been started in this calendar year, the largest number of new congregations begun within the Florida Conference in one year since the early 1960s.

LakeSide Fellowship United Methodist Church holds first service
On Oct. 10, 164 people attended the first worship service of LakeSide Fellowship United Methodist Church in the Heathrow area of the Orlando District. The Rev. Bob Martin was appointed in June to launch the new church. Services are being held Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in the Seminole Mall Theater complex.

Cabinet authorizes two major initiatives
After seeing the Percept demographic study of the Florida Conference, Bishop Henderson noted there are several growing urban areas in our conference with significant numbers of people not being reached. He invited Dr. Randy Nugent, general secretary of the Board of Global Ministries, to meet with the cabinet and leaders of the conference to discuss a possible partnership to launch a major urban initiative here. Dr. Nugent urged the group to submit a significant funding proposal for such an initiative. A task force led by Miami District Superintendent Clarke Campbell-Evans is working on the proposal and expects to submit it by the end of the year.

A second initiative grew from the September cabinet retreat and focuses on The National Comprehensive Hispanic Plan. The Hispanic/Latino population is the fastest growing segment of the population in the conference and is fast approaching 20 percent of the total population, which means one in five people will be Hispanic/Latino. The cabinet endorsed the Hispanic Plan as the strategy to reach that population and named a task group led by Council on Ministries Director Bill Walker to implement the plan.

Stay tuned. Your support of Church Development has made, is making and will make a significant difference.

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 © 1999 Florida United Methodist Review Online