Southwest Texans can vote for favorite hymns
Men outnumber women in ’07-’08 freshman class
Online course offers tips for staff-parish committees
Laity assemblies planned for San Antonio, Kingsville
Secretaries can sign up for certification training
Nigerian bishop, 40, dies Jan. 11; funeral Tuesday
UM pension board selects new chief financial officer
Relief committee begins 4th year of tsunami aid
Communications agency offers course on giving

Southwest Texans can vote for favorite hymns
Southwest Texas UMs have until Jan. 31 to vote for songs they would like to see in a new hymnal.
The General Board of Discipleship is conducting three online surveys before March 1. Results are to be reported to the April 23-May 2 General Conference. It is to vote on whether to publish a new hymnal.
The first survey, which runs through Jan. 31, asks participants to name up to five favorite hymns from the current hymnal, five from The Faith We Sing and five not in either collection. People can vote only once.
Later surveys will ask about hymnal content.
To participate in the current survey, visit www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp? act=reader&item_id=45894.


Men outnumber women in ’07-’08 freshman class
For the first time in a half century, men made up more of the incoming freshman class at UM-related Houston-Tillotson University this year than women.
Fifty-eight percent of first-year students who started classes in August were men, officials of the historically black school in Austin announced last month. For nearly 50 years, the student population has been 51 percent female.
University officials credit tradition and scholarship opportunities for the increase in male students.


Online course offers tips for staff-parish committees
Staff-parish relations committee members can learn how to apply the “Rules of Christ for the Church” to their work in an online course that begins Monday.
The Institute for Discipleship at UM-related Southwestern College, Winfield, Kan., is offering the three-week course on Matthew 18 Jan. 28 through Feb. 18.
Fee is $100.
The course is to show students how staff-parish relations committees can apply Christ’s rules to complaints and concerns from the congregation. Class materials include an outline for presenting lessons to other committee members.
For information and registration, check www.beadisciple.com.


Laity assemblies planned for San Antonio, Kingsville
Leading laypeople from Southwest Texas congregations can sign up for one of two laity assemblies next month.
The Board of Laity is sponsoring the “Sooner” gathering Feb. 22-23 at University UMC, San Antonio.
The “Later” assembly is set for Feb. 29-March 1 at First UMC, Kingsville.
The Rev. Sue White, Southwest Texas Conference evangelism consultant, is to be featured speaker at both sessions. She is to discuss “Seven Styles of Evangelism—Telling Your Faith Story.”
Registration fee is $30 per person. For information contact the conference registrar at (210) 408-4500 or toll free (888) 349-4191.


Secretaries can sign up for certification training
Southwest Texas church secretaries can begin signing up now for certification training this summer.
UM-related Emory University, Atlanta, is offering the Certification Institute July 20 through 25 in conjunction with the Professional Association of UM Church Secretaries and the General Council on Finance and Administration.
Registration deadline is May 16.
Classes offer advanced professional training and enrichment for church secretaries. Topics include office management, taxes, team building, conflict resolution and ethics.
The training is one step toward certification as a professional UM church secretary through the UM finance agency.
Registration fee is $300 per person. On-campus accommodations run $38 (single) or $30 (double) per night.
For information contact Cynthia Haralson at charalson@gcfa.org.

Nigerian bishop, 40, dies Jan. 11; funeral Tuesday
JALINGO, Nigeria—The funeral for Bishop Kefas K. Mavula of Nigeria is to be Tuesday in Jalingo.
Mavula, 40, was hospitalized and died Jan. 11 of an undetermined illness, less than a year after his election as bishop. An autopsy was conducted. Results are pending.
Florida churches see drop in ’08 insurance premiums
LAKELAND, Fla.—Congregations in hurricane-prone Florida began 2008 with good news: a 22 percent decrease in the cost of property and casualty insurance premiums.
Compared with 2007, the total cost of premiums is expected to decrease by $4.1 million to about $15 million for the 750 congregations in the Florida Conference, said Mark Thomas, director of the conference Ministry Protection department.
The Florida Conference experienced record-high premiums in the wake of Hurricanes Charley, Jeanne, Frances and Wilma in 2004-05, Thomas said.


UM pension board selects new chief financial officer
EVANSTON, Ill.—The General Board of Pension and Health Benefits has hired Timothy C. Koch as its chief financial officer.
Koch is to oversee the accounting and actuarial departments for the agency, which administers retirement, health and welfare benefit plans and other programs for more than 74,000 clergy and laity employees of the denomination.


Relief committee begins 4th year of tsunami aid
NEW YORK—The UM Committee on Relief continues helping tsunami survivors find a “new normal” more than three years after one of the world’s worst natural disasters killed some 230,000 people and displaced millions in 11 countries.
In Indonesia and Sri Lanka—the countries most affected by the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami—relief committee offices continue to work daily to help survivors recover whatever possible.


Communications agency offers course on giving
NASHVILLE. TENN.—The General Commission on Communication has launched a new online course called “Turning Connectional Living into Connectional Giving.”
The free four-part, self-directed course is designed to help UMs understand and interpret connectional giving through apportioned and designated funds.
To register for the current online session, which continues through Feb. 20, visit http://moodle.umcom.org.