Briefs

Feb. 27 funeral in Austin marks Wayne Smith’s death
Congregations join forces to build Habitat house
Traveling choir to perform at San Antonio church
Former Zimbabwe bishop to preach in San Antonio
Sager Brown Depot needs bedding, health kit supplies
Good News urges prayers for General Conference
SMU, Bush Foundation OK presidential library pact
Pew study raises questions about future of UMC in U.S.

Feb. 27 funeral in Austin marks Wayne Smith’s death
The funeral for the Rev. Wayne G. Smith was Feb. 27 at St. John’s UMC, Austin.
The retired Southwest Texas Conference clergy member died Feb. 22 in Austin. He was 88.
Smith began his ministry in 1937. He served congregations in Austin, Boerne, Cedar Park, Dilley, Leander, Mercedes, San Angelo, Stockdale and Taft. He retired in 1987.


Congregations join forces to build Habitat house
A San Antonio UM congregation broke ground March 2 with seven other faith groups on a Habitat for Humanity house.
St. Andrew’s UMC, San Antonio, is joining four Roman Catholic parishes, an Episcopal congregation and two Jewish synagogues to construct the home with a needy family in the Palo Alto neighborhood.


Traveling choir to perform at San Antonio church
Re-Creation, a youth musical group from Pennsylvania, is to perform its third annual concert at St. John’s UMC, San Antonio, March 29 at 4 p.m.
The free 60-minute performance, called “Vivid” this year, is designed as a worship service. The program includes singalong hymns, children’s songs, dramatic works and original music.
The 11 members of Re-Creation, all college students, volunteer a year of their lives to travel the country entertaining men and women in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. The group is funded through freewill offerings.
A covered-dish supper with the singers is to follow the performance.
Jefferson UMC, San Antonio, joins St. John’s in sponsoring the event.


Former Zimbabwe bishop to preach in San Antonio
The former leader of UMs in Zimbabwe is to preach May 11 at Trinity UMC, San Antonio.
Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa, 82, the first black prime minister of white-ruled Rhodesia, is to participate in the 9 and 11 a.m. worship services.
Muzorewa led the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area from 1968 to 1992. He headed the United African National Council in its fight for freedom and self-determination for Zimbabwe, a former British colony in southern Africa.

Sager Brown Depot needs bedding, health kit supplies
NEW YORK—The UM Committee on Relief’s supply warehouse in Baldwin, La., needs support to help provide bedding, sewing and layette kits to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Sager Brown Depot especially needs donations for 33,000 layette kits, 64,000 sewing kits and 1,000 bedding kits to meet upcoming needs. The depot is accepting complete kits, items in bulk and financial gifts. Details are available at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/getconnected/supplies/.


Good News urges prayers for General Conference
WILMORE, Ky.—The board of Good News, an unofficial UM advocacy group, has affirmed a National Call to Prayer for UM Renewal.
The prayer effort began Ash Wednesday and is to continue beyond this spring’s General Conference.
“We especially need prayer for the upcoming General Conference and the election of episcopal leaders at this summer’s jurisdictional conferences,” said the Rev. Tom Lambrecht, chairman of the board and senior pastor of Faith Community UMC in Greenville, Wis. The board’s affirmation came during its February meeting.


SMU, Bush Foundation OK presidential library pact
DALLAS—The Southern Methodist University board of trustees unanimously approved an agreement Feb. 22 to locate the George W. Bush presidential library, museum and policy institute on the Dallas campus.
The vote came hours after an official announcement that the Bush Presidential Library Foundation had chosen the UM-related school as home of the planned facility.
Opponents of the Bush library quickly responded by vowing to fight the school’s lease agreement in court.
Bush and his wife are members of Highland Park UMC, which sits at the edge of the SMU campus.


Pew study raises questions about future of UMC in U.S.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Mirroring most other U.S. mainline denominations, UMs are generally older, whiter and wealthier in a nation that is increasingly populated by young adults, people of color and families with modest incomes.
That UM portrait was presented in a landmark study of religion in America released Feb. 25 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
“There is no future for The United Methodist Church in the United States unless we can reach more people, younger people and more diverse people,” said the Rev. Lovett Weems, a researcher and professor of church leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, regarding the study’s findings.