Countless ways to make an impact at the Detroit Annual Conference

• By RJ Walters, Editor •

Detroit Annual Conference is a time of year where old friends join in healthy debate, make decisions about the future of the local church, and a share few memorable meals together, but it is also an annual celebration of purposeful giving.

The 2011 Detroit Annual Conference offers attendees a variety of ways to make a difference locally and globally, with special offerings and collections taking place throughout the four-day event.

To bring to life the theme of engaging in ministry with the poor, the DAC Program Committee is asking clergy and laity to give back to the community that has hosted Detroit Annual Conference for 42 years.

In cooperation with Adrian First United Methodist Church, the Program Committee is sponsoring a collection for food pantry items that will be distributed in Adrian.

Annual conference attendees are encouraged to bring the following goods: diapers and wipes for infants through size 6; toilet paper; boxed milk (that does not require refrigeration); canned fruit; and cereal.

According to county agencies there were more than 600 homeless people in Lenawee County in 2010 and untold more in need of a helping hand.

Another collection aimed at helping people close to home is the Bishop’s Seat Cover Project — an ongoing initiative to collect new underwear for children and youth in the Detroit Conference.

Churches can collect new packages of undergarments in creative ways such as hosting an “Undie Sunday” or making it a youth group-led mission. Underwear should then be delivered to the Ministry Fair at annual conference by May 21.

Any questions about the Bishop’s Seat Cover Project should be directed to Rev. Cathy Freeman at 734-665-5632 or cathyfreeman27@yahoo.com.

The Conference Board of Global Ministries is asking people to remember those suffering in Haiti as well, by helping with a collection of medical supplies.

Individuals and churches can purchase specific medical supplies listed on the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) website at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/.

Medical supplies kits are the only collections being accepted for this specific initiative and every container must include a $20 check made out to “Detroit Annual Conference” to cover shipping costs.

Sticking with the theme of international mission, a special offering will be taken at the opening worship on May 19 to support The Advance’s Hot Lunch Program in Haiti, as well as a safe haven known as Children’s Village in Liberia.

Through the Hot Lunch Program, Detroit and other conferences provide meals for nearly 20,000 children attending United Methodist-supported schools in Haiti.

Lunch costs continue to rise due to hikes in the cost of rice, fuel, and charcoal.

The Bishop Judith Craig’s Children’s Village in Liberia provides a safe and nurturing haven for children who have been orphaned by war, abandonment, death of parents due to HIV/AIDS, or extreme economic difficulties.

For more information on these projects, visit The Advance website at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/advance/.

Youth will also be getting involved in the giving through a fundraiser for SPLASH (Saving People’s Lives and Giving Hope) that is being run by the Conference Council on Youth Ministry.

Youth will be selling buttons and raising awareness about how the conference can help its neighbors in the Liberian United Methodist Church.

Through past efforts, the CCYM has raised enough money to build a well at the Liberian Annual Conference’s new youth center.

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LIVE FROM DAC 2010: The tale of the numbers

The sweating, disciple making, community building, story telling and debating of the 2010 Detroit Annual Conference is officially over.

The youth of the conference proved to be more than alive, the many different perspectives present converged to make some tough, but necessary decisions for the DAC, and the United Methodist Church proved to be grounded in connectionalism more than ever.

The next issue of The Michigan Area Reporter is set to ship by May 28 and it will be chalked full of stories and pictures from annual conference.

For now, head over to the Detroit Conference website for links to all of the videos, blogs and pictures of conference.

To give you a glimpse of what went on for four days here are some of the most important numbers coming out of conference and what they mean.

By RJ Walters, Editor

229,000,000 – The approximate number of steps that have been taking by eligible participants in the Virgin HealthMiles walking program. Check out www.virginhealthmiles.com/DAC for more information.

$9,737,237 — The adopted 2011 budget for the DAC, a slight decrease from the 2010 budget. $2,425,000 of that is for pensions.

$981,000 — The amount the conference gave to The Advance, a UMC ministry support program, in 2009. Adam Neal of The Advance provided the DAC with an award, recognizing it as the highest giver to missionary support of all the annual conferences in the North Central Jurisdiction for 2009.

94,679 — The total membership of the conference, down 2.24 percent from a year ago.

$79,000 — The total amount raised for various ministries during the annual conference.

$43,032 — Raised during the covenant offering for Haiti and Liberia

12,000 — Number of UMCOR health kits the conference put together in response to the Haiti earthquake during Lent.

8,812 — Pairs of underwear collected for underprivileged youth as part of the “Bishop's Seat Cover Project.”

13 – The age of the young participant at Annual Conference. Jacob Stone of Essexville: St. Luke’s UMC, moved adjournment for lunch on Sunday afternoon.

6 — The number of districts the DAC will have by July 1, 2011, one less than it has right now. It is the first reduction in nearly four decades.

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LIVE FROM DAC 2010: Small feet filling big wells

By RJ Walters, Editor

Bishop Jonathan Keaton expected to receive plenty of welcome greetings during the 2010 Detroit Annual Conference, but a check for $8,168.70 from a 12-year old?

Only Kelly Erickson of Plymouth FUMC could have imagined that.

The middle-school student presented Keaton with a check that will provide enough money to build three clean drinking wells for 9,000 people in Liberia through The Advance’s Water For Life project.

Erickson said she saw an advertisement speaking of the hardships Liberians were forced to endure just to get clean water, and she decided to pitch the idea to her local church.

One year, and what she said was a 78-hour time investment later, Erickson achieved her goal.

“Sixty-eight percent of Liberians rely on rivers, ponds, swamps and unfiltered wells to get their water,” she said. “This situation is worse during the dry season.”
Liberia has been devastated by more than 14 years of civil war, thus basic necessities are not always easy to come by.

Plymouth FUMC matched the first $3,000 the project sowed and Erickson said local businesses, schools and organizations made her vision a reality.

The project’s slogan was, “Can you help build a well one dollar at a time?” and her father created a website (www.wellsinafrica.ericksonflute.com). The duo also produced silicon wristbands to pass out to supporters.

Erickson’s presentation, as well as that of 17-year old Jessica Arnold of Waterford UMC, who continues to collect money for a Liberian school, overjoyed Keaton.

“If God can touch two young women with ideas, one 12, one 17, what else do I need to say? It’s in the spirit, it’s in the flesh…and I just got a check for $8,000 — that’s not too bad,” he said.

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