April 2, 1999

Editon

Centennial celebration was homecoming for missionaries

   On Jan. 26, the Russian Ministry of Justice granted official status to The United Methodist Russia Annual Conference. For a handful of Florida Conference churches, this “extremely significant development” means they “can continue to go to Russia and be involved in the ministries” of the church there, said the Rev. Bob Fox, retired Leesburg district superintendent..
    The status granted by the Russian government means the Russian church is now “legal,” according to Fox. It now has the Russian government’s permission to use the words Russia or Russian in its name.   Full Story

Technology aims to improve matches

      The Florida Conference Cabinet met in early March to begin appointing pastors to churches for the next church year, which begins after the annual conference event June 1-5. What makes this year’s efforts unique is that cabinet members are using computer technology to help them make the matches.
      A newly-created database program called Ruah converts raw data taken from Florida Conference Journals of the past 25 years into charts and graphs, allowing acting Bishop J. Lloyd Knox, the conference’s 14 district superintendents and other cabinet members to see each church’s trends and the impact a pastor has had at previous appointments,    Full Story

      Last year’s conference event urged delegates to “carry the light.” This year, the Annual Conference Event Program Committee has developed an even stronger message to support the conference’s commitment to evangelism. It’s “Dare to Share Jesus” and the official theme for the June 1-5 gathering.
     The theme and logo were developed by a special brainstorming group working with a creative design team in Orlando. The group designed the theme as a call to action in the hopes of urging each delegate to share the message of Jesus Christ with people in their communities back home.          Full Story

Opportunities

Youth ministers invited to spring training

Conference experts present discipleship training

Retreat offers resources for deaf/disabled ministries

Video helps church historians

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