PIM Team Leader Training: Saturday, January 8

PIM Team Leader Training: Saturday, January 8, 9 a.m.–3 p.m., First UMC, 539 Main St., Liberty, 77575, Kathie Mann, 713-521-9383, texaspim@methodists.net. Training for anyone planning to lead a mission team in the near future. Learn to recruit, develop and complete a successful mission. Cost: $15, includes manual, snacks and lunch.

GLOBAL MISSION STORE

Called by God through Jesus Christ our Savior, Partners-in-Mission (PIM) of the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church is committed to mission by proclaiming, serving and witnessing in love the Gospel of Jesus Christ through hands-on mission work projects to persons in need throughout the world...more>>

Early Responder Team Training: Saturday, November 20th

Early Responder Team Training: Saturday, November 20, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Van UMC, 304 W. Main, Van, 75790, Rev. T. Paul Kethley, 903-389-2556; Doris Nealy, 254-739-2167; Steve Reinhart, 903-312-9982. Teams are trained and equipped to enter a disaster site soon after one strikes; provide a caring Christian presence; are self-sustaining (cover their own transportation, fuel, food, equipment, and lodging. Cost: $25 includes lunch. tpaulkethley@gmail.com, dnrn0723@sbcglobal.net, cryfrosty@gmail.com.

TEAM LEADER TRAINING December 4, 2010

All Team Leaders volunteering at Partners In Mission mission sites must have Team Leader Training. This training will help you with the skills needed to recruit, organize, budget and send your team off on a positive mission journey. You will receive all the forms necessary for applications and end of mission reports.


December 4, 2010
Saturday
9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
A&M UMC
417 University Dr.
College Station, TX 77840
979-219-8305

$15.00 PER PERSON
Manual, snacks, lunch and Safe Sanctuary orientation included

PIM Mission Trip Leadership Training: Saturday, September 18,

PIM Mission Trip Leadership Training: Saturday, September 18, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., Falvey Memorial UMC, Hwy. 69, Wells, 75976, Katie and Joe Beran, 936-867-4525, joeberan1226@yahoo.com. For anyone wanting to lead a mission team locally, nationally or internationally. Learn to recruit, design team assignments and deliver a successful mission experience. Cost: $15 includes meal and manual.

Early Response Team training- @ Christ UMC

Saturday, May 1st @ Christ UMC 3300 Austin Pkwy, Sugar Land, TX. Time: 8:30 to 4:30 (lunch included). Certification is by UMCOR and no prerequisites required. Cost is $25 per person. Contact Renee Teel [renee@CUMCSL.ORG] or 281-690-4755 (direct line) for reservations.
Peace and Blessings, DeWitt Cox

Mission Opportunities

The West District needs more team members going to Shiprock , New Mexico , July 4 - 9. Kieth Iwig, kiethiwig@yahoo.com.

Mission to Cochabamba , Bolivia: July 18 - 30, Rev. Kelly Sullivan, 281-478-4673, ksullivan@txcumc.org. Team will help construct the Luz de Vida church and VBS. Cost: $2500 per person inclusive.

Russia Initiative Mission Trip: July 20 - August 3 , George Brigman, Marvin UMC, 300 W. Erwin, Tyler, 75702; 903-520-3050, geobrig@yahoo.com. Provide construction assistance to complete the Tomsk UMC and Christian ministry to orphans. Then, join a team from St. Paul 's UMC, Houston to work with Grace UMC in St. Petersburg . Cost: $3200 includes transportation, lodging, visa processing, supplies, materials, meals and most activities. Flight deadlines are quickly approaching.

Mission trip to Birchwood Camp, Chugiak , Alaska: July 23 - 30, Tennison UMC, Mt. Pleasant, Kathy Huffman, 903-563-6329, katannhuff@yahoo.com. Cost: $1500.

Construction work team needed: Four Corners-Shiprock, New Mexico , July 24 - 31 . John Ridlehuber, 254-749-7940, johnsgunsetc@gmail.com.

Mission Opportunities

"Spring Clean-up Week": Monday – Friday, April 5 – 9, Mt. Sequoyah , Arkansas . Bill Hedges, SCJ, 903-763-2933. UMs from the South Central Jurisdiction will help continue work on buildings damaged in the 2008 - 2009 winter storms. programs@mt.sequoia.org.

The West District needs more team members going to Shiprock , New Mexico , July 4 - 9. Kieth Iwig, kiethiwig@yahoo.com.

Construction work team needed: Four Corners-Shiprock, New Mexico , July 24 - 31. John Ridlehuber, 254-749-7940, johnsgunsetc@gmail.com.

Russia Initiative Mission Trip: July 20 - August 3

The George Brigman, Marvin UMC, 300 W. Erwin, Tyler, 75702; 903-520-3050, geobrig@yahoo.com . The team will provide Christian ministry to orphans in Tomsk and construction assistance to complete the Tomsk UMC. Then, the group will join a team from St. Paul 's UMC, Houston to work with Grace UMC in St. Petersburg . Cost: $3200 includes transportation, lodging, visa processing, supplies, materials, meals and most activities. Flight deadlines are quickly approaching.

Layette Kits Needed

Even before the 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti last month many Haitian mothers lacked swaddling clothes in which to wrap their newborns. In the days since the disaster, babies have been born amid rubble, in field hospitals and in rudimentary shelters, and surviving parents are even less likely to have clean clothes and diapers to welcome them.
Putting together layette kits is another way your church, school or community can help Haiti at this critical time. Each kit contains diapers, washcloths, one-piece body suits or shirts, gowns, diaper pins and receiving blankets. Click here for more information.

Team members interested in volunteering in Haiti

All team members interested in volunteering in Haiti in the next year must register on-line at http://secure.gbgm-umc.org/HaitiVolunteer/ . You will not be considered as a team member unless you register on this site. Once your name is registered, I will receive your information and be in contact with you.

Medical volunteers must also sign up on this same website. Medical specialists are being deployed now and working with groups already set up in Haiti.

All recovery team members must be Early Response and Team Leader trained. Safe Sanctuary training must be completed and a background check must be current. Volunteers who have previous experience in Haiti will be considered first. Those who speak French or Creole with Haiti experience will be on the top of the list.

No volunteers will be going to Haiti until an invitation comes from the Methodist Church of Haiti and the UMCOR offices.

What steps should you take now?

Register on the national database. See http://secure.gbgm-umc.org/HaitiVolunteer/scroll down to the picture marked "Register to Volunteer in Haiti".

1. Sign up for Team Leader Training - call Jan Bierwirth 713-521-9383.



2. Sign up for Early Response Training - call Clay Whitaker 281-452-2861.



3. PIM office will identify team leaders and help formulate teams.



4. Be ready when teams are allowed in and project scheduling begins.



5. Check passport expiration dates and immunizations. Check with county health or CDC for needed shots.
   
   
   Kathie Mann
   Director, Partners In Mission
   Texas Annual Conference

Haiti Update by Kathie Mann

President, Eglise Méthodiste d’Haiti Here is the latest news from the Methodist Church in Haiti. Please let your churches know that UMCOR is at work in Haiti but much has to be done before teams can begin to go in.

The Texas Annual Conference probably will not have teams going in early because one of the criteria for a team member is that they have experience in Haiti. Since many churches along the East Coast have been extremely active in Haiti over the past years with multiple teams going in through UMVIM, we in the South Central Jurisdictional will be ready after the first wave of volunteers serves.

This is a long term recovery area and we will be working with the churches and families in Haiti for many years. Thank you all for putting together the Health/Hygiene Kits and donating money to the recovery of Haiti. Thank you for your willingness to serve.

Kathie Mann - Director, Partners in Mission

See Letter from Rev. Gesner Paul
President, Eglise Méthodiste d’Haiti

Life and Death in Haiti by Bishop Huie

Last week was a week of funerals for me. I attended the funeral of Dr. Sam Dixon in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the one for Rev. Clint Rabb held in Austin. Both men died as result of the earthquake in Haiti . In light of their deaths, I’ve been contemplating a statement made more than 50 years ago by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He said, “If a man [or woman] hasn’t discovered something he [she] will die for, he [she] isn’t fit to live.” Dr. King’s statement calls to mind similar words of Jesus, “Those who want to save their life will lose it, but those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

Over the last two years, I’ve had the privilege of working quite closely with Dr. Sam Dixon, who was the Deputy General Secretary of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. I know personally of his commitment to the humanitarian and relief work at the heart of UMCOR’s mission. Last year, we went together to Cote d’Ivoire to work with several West African Bishops and leaders to help them improve the health delivery system in their Episcopal areas. Sam was determined to make the good work of UMCOR even better. I was honored to work with him.

For more than 30 years, Bob and I have been friends with Rev. Clint Rabb, who led the unit on Mission Volunteers and was formerly a staff member in Evangelization and Church Growth. Bob likes to describe Clint as 50% old-fashioned Methodist circuit rider and 50% Indiana Jones. Clint helped start new congregations in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Estonia and the Baltic region and Russia. He relished introducing laity to hands-on global mission. Even as rescuers were trying to free him from the rubble, Clint told a reporter, “Tell the people of Haiti we are praying for them.”

We speak often of “risk-taking mission and service.” Both of these men and their families knew that phrase was a literal description of their ministries. While no one expected an earthquake in Haiti, some of situations into which they traveled were quite difficult. Nonetheless, they both felt that Christ had called them to their ministries, and they were passionate about what they did. Their lives invite us to continue their work.

Now two weeks after the earthquake, the extent of the devastation in Haiti is still unknown. It appears that the death toll will exceed 200,000 people, with as many as 1 million people homeless. Food, water and medicine are in short supply. The infrastructure needed to move assistance to the greatest area of need is limited.

As always, the people of The United Methodist Church are responding generously with both financial gifts and by volunteering to work in Haiti. Thank you. If you haven’t made a contribution, I would encourage you to do so. UMCOR is currently estimating a three to five year response to Haiti’s need.

As the Texas Annual Conference, we are offering a special gift to UMCOR and the Haiti Recovery. Our own Rev. Cynthia Harvey, Director of Missional Excellence, has agreed to serve “on loan” to UMCOR for three to six months to organize mission volunteers. She will leave for New York on Monday. We send our prayers and support with Cynthia as she leads a major volunteer organization process.

I also share a current story of risk-taking mission. By Monday, our UMCOR team will have returned to the U.S. They crossed the border safely from the Dominican Republic into Haiti with antibiotics and other supplies for Port-au-Prince. While there, they experienced high level earthquake aftershocks and have been able to communicate primarily by text messages and satellite feeds. They assessed the situation and coordinated with relief partners on appropriate courses of action. UMCOR will begin to call for volunteer teams after security and sanitation improves.

Late yesterday, I spoke with Melissa Crutchfield, our International Disaster Coordinator, as they were driving to the border. I was cautioning her and the others to be careful. She replied, “We will, but the work must continue. This is what Sam would have wanted. This is what UMCOR does.”

Dr. King said, “If a man [or woman] hasn’t discovered something he [she] will die for, he [she] isn’t fit to live.” Jesus said, “Those who want to save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives for my sake will find them.” From time to time, it is fitting to measure our own lives by those standards.

Grace and peace,
Janice Riggle Huie

Asking those who have expressed interest in helping Haiti

We now are asking those who have expressed interest in helping Haiti to please access the following website www.umrespond.org/Haiti to register in the national United Methodist database. This will readily identify experience/skills when forming future Volunteers in Mission medical, clean-up, repair/construction teams to Haiti. It will also help in identifying certain experience/skills (e.g. medical skills, Creole or French language skills) which will be needed first.

At this time Global Ministries has advised that it is not safe or possible for volunteers to go to Haiti. The city of Port-au-Prince and the whole country are in crisis, with severe lack of food, water and fuel. There are significant transportation and security challenges. Bishop Joel Martinez, Global Ministries’ interim General Secretary, has alerted United Methodists bishops of the inadvisability of sending volunteers at this point. As with all natural disaster situations, no teams will be dispatched until government and military personnel have assessed that areas are deemed safe and secure. Global Ministries will advise the jurisdictional and conference coordinators when our volunteers have permission to go.

An estimated 150-200,000 lives have been lost in Haiti. One million people, including orphans, are now homeless. The already fragile infrastructure within the country has been severely damaged. Clearly, the recovery in Haiti will take the helping hands of many, many people. Many Volunteers in Mission teams will be needed to help rebuild and the effort is expected to continue for years.

Thanks for volunteering. Our expectation is that those who will be needed first are those with specialty medical skills, etc. So please be patient if you are not contacted until a later date. Please pass this on to anyone who is interested in future medical or construction teams to Haiti.

Disaster do-gooders can actually hinder help!

Disaster do-gooders can actually hinder help More than a week after an earthquake devastated Haiti, disaster organizers say they're seeing the first signs of a problem that can hamper even the most ambitious recovery efforts: good intentions gone wrong.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34958965/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/from/ET

Call for Health Kits

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has issued a call for Health Kits, which provide basic necessities to people who have been forced to leave their homes because of human conflict or natural disaster.

· What is Sager-Brown?
Sager-Brown is the UMCOR depot in La. just across the Texas border.

· How often do you accept/send out health kits?
We accept kits year round and your kits will be resupplying the kits that have already left for Haiti.

· How are they shipped?
Shipments will go to military transport departing to the island on a regular basis for now.

· Who is collecting the kits?
Kits will be delivered to: Old River Terrace UMC, 161 I-10 East, Channelview, TX, 77530
Please follow the directions exactly. Include all items; do not add items that are not on the lists.

Note: All items must be new.
Place the following items inside a sealed one-gallon plastic bag:
1 hand towel (15" x 25" up to 17" x 27")
1 washcloth
1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)
1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, No child-size brushes)
1 large tube of toothpaste (4.5 oz. or larger, expiration date must be 6 months or longer in advance of the date of shipment to UMCOR Sager Brown)
6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages
Value: $12 per kit.
ADD: $1 for to UMCOR Sager-Brown for processing and shipping to Haiti.

http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/getconnected/supplies/health-kit/
This link will get you to the UMCOR Health Kit page. All information connecting this effort to an international relief organization is there.

Send other Monetary donations payable to:
Texas Annual Conference
5215 Main Street
Houston, Texas, 77002
Memo line: UMCOR International Disaster Response Advance #418325.

Medical volunteers -The U.S. Department of Health

Please see note below regarding medical volunteersresponding through National Disaster Medical Assistance. This may be anoption for some of your health care volunteers.Note web sites: http://www.hhs.gov/ and http://www.medicalreservecorps.gov/

Barbara StoneConsultant
--Mission Volunteers
--UMCORUnited Methodist Global
Ministriesbcstone@ktis.net
573-253-1374

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is requesting physicians ofspecific specialities to deploy with the National Disaster MedicalAssistance teams to Haiti. The need is for trauma surgeons, orthopedists,anesthesiologists, and others with experience in treating crushinjuries. Volunteers must be able to serve for at least 2 weeks, and bewilling to live and work in spartan conditions.
Preference will be given to physicians who are Creole or French speakers, and to thosecurrently credentialed through the Medical Reserve Corps in their home state,or the ESAR-VHP program (Emergency Services Advanced Registration of VolunteerHealth Personnel).
These volunteers will need to be credentialed as temporary federal employees andwill need to be able to provide credentialing paperwork as soon as asked. Credentialing normally takes about a week. Volunteers with these clinicalskills should contact Michala Koch at Michala.Koch@hhs.gov. Not everyone who wishes to help will necessarily be deployed, and those withoutthe requisite skills may not receive a direct response.

For medical professionals wishing to help in this way in future relief efforts,please take a few minutes to learn about the Medical Reserve Corps, identifyyour local unit, and register to become part of the corps. To do so,visit http://www.medicalreservecorps.gov/. This is the channel through which medical volunteers are deployed immediatelyfollowing an event, and only those registered beforehand are likely to bedeployed.

Volunteers and Teams in Wake of Haiti Earthquake

From: Bishop Joel N. Martinez Interim General Secretary

This is a follow-up to an earlier memo in which I said that the time was not right for sending volunteer teams, or even individual volunteers, into Haiti for post-earthquake service.
I am here repeating that request with renewed emphasis.
We know that the church seeks to respond to the great crisis in Haiti. We are in touch with many persons and groups wanting to reach out in tangible ways to provide relief for suffering people there. We have already received an outpouring of inquiries and offers for volunteers to provide a variety of services. While we are encouraged by this spirit of support, we strongly advise that teams and others not set out for Haiti at this time.

There will be great need for short-term and long-term volunteer mission groups in due course—for medical care, rebuilding, and responses to many other needs. However, the current state of Haiti is not conducive to the safety and welfare of the volunteers; security is a major concern; infrastructures are shattered. There is little access to water, power, fuel, and even roads.

An UMCOR Team is on the ground, coordinating with relief partners on appropriate courses of action. As you know, the United Nations (representing government) and the Red Cross go into to massive disaster areas first. This is long-established international protocol. Church-related and other relief organizations follow. Objectives of our initial team include the assessment and organization for the reception of volunteers.

In collaboration with jurisdictional coordinators of UMVIM, we are making a registry of potential individual volunteers and teams. The time for volunteers will come and their assistance will be crucial.

In the meantime, the best way for congregations and individuals to respond to the Haiti crisis is by supporting the work of UMCOR. Not only are funds needed but also health kits. Please direct persons to http://umcorhaiti.org/.

I will be glad to receive your questions arising from this memo, and I pledge to keep you informed on our relief operations in Haiti.

United Methodists Respond with Prayer, Aid for Haiti

By Linda Bloom and Kathy L. Gilbert, UMNS
“We are OK, the building held up, thanks for your prayers.”

After hours of uncertainty in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake that rocked Haiti, those words from his wife, Pam, and two other members of a mission team were an answered prayer for the Rev. Kenneth Carter Jr. of Providence United Methodist Church in Charlotte, N.C.

The three volunteers were safe inside the Methodist Guest House in the capital of Port-au-Prince Tuesday evening. The three had gone ahead to Haiti to prepare for a larger team from the church that had planned to leave North Carolina Wednesday morning, Jan. 13. The trip is delayed, Carter said.

Many are feared dead in the earthquake, which had a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 and was centered about 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince. Early news reports told of a hospital collapsing and houses falling into a ravine in the poor nation where many live in substandard housing...more>>

Your Help is Needed for the People of Haiti

The United Methodist Committee on Relief has issued a call for Health Kits, which provide basic necessities to people who have been forced to leave their homes because of human conflict or natural disaster. Health kits are also used as learning tools in personal hygiene and nutrition classes. When people gain the knowledge and materials to maintain personal hygiene, their overall health improves.

Please follow the directions exactly. Include all items; do not add items that are not on the lists. Extra gifts, though given with the best of intentions, render a kit unusable and must be removed. Note: All items must be new.


Place the following items inside a sealed one-gallon plastic bag:
1 hand towel (15" x 25" up to 17" x 27")
1 washcloth
1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)
1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, No child-size brushes)
1 large tube of toothpaste (4.5 oz. or larger, expiration date must be 6 months or longer in advance of the date of shipment to UMCOR Sager Brown)
6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages
Value: $12 per kit.

In a separate envelope, please send a check for at least $1 for each kit to help UMCOR Sager Brown with the costs of processing and shipping kits around the world. Important: Please do not include any religious, political or patriotic notes or emblems in any kit.

Deliver kits to TAC Disaster Response Consultant Rev. Clay Whitaker at Old River Terrace UMC, 161 I-10 East, Channelview , TX , 77530 .0

United Methodists Respond with Prayer, Aid for Haiti
View the latest news, blogs and audio about the UM Response
A Message from Bishop Huie