Barbara Ann Miller, 62, dies Sept. 12 in Houston
52 UM congregations pay ’07 apportionments in full
Veribest UMC celebrates 100th birthday Aug. 19
World Communion gifts support educational grants
Author to discuss terrorism at church in San Antonio
Connectional giving runs $343,000 ahead of ’06 total
Conference receives grant for Hispanic-ministry work
Church budget tightens around 4 areas of focus
General Conference briefing set for leaders, reporters
4 conferences to consider realignment of boundaries
Connectional Table names 1st executive secretary
UMC treasurer announces plans for June retirement

Barbara Ann Miller, 62, dies Sept. 12 in Houston
The funeral for the Rev. Barbara Ann Miller was Sept. 22 at First UMC, Seguin.
Miller, 62, pastor of Wesley Harper UMC, Seguin, since 2006, died Sept. 12 in Houston after suffering from cancer.
Miller began her ministry in 1982. She served congregations in Altair, Columbus, Corpus Christi, Edna, El Campo, Garwood and San Antonio.


52 UM congregations pay ’07 apportionments in full
Fifty-two of the 348 Southwest Texas congregations had paid their 2007 apportionments in full as of Aug. 31.
Bruni UMC led the list. The 20-member congregation had paid 101 percent of its share of expenses for ministries across the state, nation and world.
The count of “100 percent” congregations by district was Austin, 12; Corpus Christi, 7; Kerrville, 7; McAllen, 4; San Angelo, 9; San Antonio, 4; and Victoria, 9.


Veribest UMC celebrates 100th birthday Aug. 19
More than 240 members and friends of Veribest UMC marked the congregation’s 100th birthday Aug. 19. Average worship attendance is 28.
“This was absolutely the most awesome celebration,” said Gini Christian, a member of the congregation and program director for the San Angelo District.
Visitors came from Bruni, Corpus Christi, Katy, Gladewater and Albuquerque, N.M.


World Communion gifts support educational grants
Southwest Texas UMs can join Oct. 7 in a worldwide expression of Christian fellowship.
Followers of Christ around the globe are to celebrate Holy Communion that day—World Communion Sunday.
A denominationwide special offering—one of six on the UM calendar each year—is to be collected as part of the special day. Gifts support Crusade Scholarships for international and ethnic-minority students in the United States.


Author to discuss terrorism at church in San Antonio
Southwest Texans can learn about what terrorists want Oct. 4 in San Antonio.
Louise Richardson, author of What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy, Containing the Threat, is to address the topic at 7 p.m. at Travis Park UMC.
The free presentation is part is part of the Travis Park Justice in Action speaker series.


Connectional giving runs $343,000 ahead of ’06 total
Southwest Texas congregations gave $343,258 more to connectional causes through August than they did during the first eight months of 2006.
Contributions to apportioned funds totaled $5.87 million. That’s 58.1 percent of the $10.1 million asking for the year. The remittance rate is up 1.6 percent from August 2006.
The San Angelo District had paid the highest percentage of apportionments through August—70. Other district percentages were Kerrville, 68; Victoria, 61; San Antonio, 57; Corpus Christi, 56; McAllen, 56; and Austin, 54.

Conference receives grant for Hispanic-ministry work
The General Board of Global Ministries awarded the Southwest Texas Conference a $50,000 grant last month for Hispanic Ministry.
The money is to be paid over three years and used to strengthen Latino ministries.
The grant, announced Aug. 30, comes from the National Committee for Hispanic/Latino Ministries.

Church budget tightens around 4 areas of focus
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The UMC is facing the “very hard, very painful” work of cutting ministries and shifting resources while building its denominational budget around four newly named areas of focus.
After months of reviewing a proposed budget that doesn’t keep pace with inflation, the chief executives of the denomination’s program agencies pledged Sept. 7 to preserve ministries that address those four areas—leadership development, congregational growth, global health and poverty.
However, programs and ministries outside those initiatives will be reviewed for possible adjustments and cuts if the church’s top legislative assembly approves the $642 million four-year spending plan next spring.


General Conference briefing set for leaders, reporters
FORT WORTH—A Pre-General Conference News Briefing Jan. 24-26 in Fort Worth is to help heads of delegations, church communicators and secular journalists prepare for the UMC’s legislative gathering in the spring.
The briefing, sponsored by the General Commission on Communication, is to focus on key issues and legislation facing General Conference. Nearly 1,000 delegates from around the world are to gather at the General Conference April 23 to May 2 to set direction for the church through 2012.


4 conferences to consider realignment of boundaries
AKRON, N.Y.—Four annual conferences and four bishops are to be part of one discussion on one resolution in concurrent Oct. 6 sessions of the Western New York, North Central New York, Troy and Wyoming conferences.
The sessions at four sites—connected by simulcast—are to consider a revised resolution calling upon the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference to create a new episcopal area in July 2008 from all or portions of these four adjoining and other contiguous conferences.
The resolution asks that the realignments and reconfiguration be implemented by 2010.


Connectional Table names 1st executive secretary
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Connectional Table coordinating agency has hired a North Texas laywoman as its first executive secretary.
Mary Brooke Casad, 52, director of connectional ministries for the North Texas Conference since 1997, is to begin work Nov. 1. She will be based in Dallas.


UMC treasurer announces plans for June retirement
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The UMC’s treasurer has announced plans to retire June 30 after 12 years leading the denominational finance agency.
Sandra Lackore, 63, told the staff of the General Council on Finance and Administration of her plans Sept. 17.