Lay Leader Training Coming in January

Everyone engaged in ministry – clergy and laity alike – needs good, positive opportunities for continuing education, and in The United Methodist Church, Clergy are required to earn CEU credits for regular continued education. Laity must be informed in order to be effective leaders.

The 2012 SOUTHWEST DISTRICT LEADERSHIP TRAINING is a fantastic opportunity for Lay Leaders, Trustees, SPRC Chairpersons, Finance Chairs, Ministry Leaders, Children & Youth Leaders, First Time Church Leaders, Administrative Council Chairpersons, Evangelism Chairs and Administrative Personnel.

Take advantage and sign up now for The 2012 SOUTHWEST DISTRICT LEADERSHIP TRAINING, hosted at Missouri City First United Methodist Church in Missouri City, Texas Saturday, January 28, 2012.

Clergy can earn 2.0 Continuing Education Units

Speakers include: Rev. Dr. Pat Sparks, Rev. Donald Smith, Rev. Kenneth Levingston, Rev. Eddie Hilliard, Rev. Lorna Bradley, Rev. Diane McGehee, Mr. Reggie Clemmons, Mrs. Terri Calder, Mrs. Enid Henderson, Rev. Marlin Fenn, Ms. Cheryl Lopez Earles, Mrs. Frankie Watson, Mrs. Stephanie Kimble, Rev. Ed Jones, Rev. Donna Reed, Dr. Craig Gilbert.

Topics include Becoming a Welcoming Church, How To Lead Effective Meetings, Understanding Staff Parrish Relations, Effective Youth Ministry, Nurturing New Leaders in the Church, Sound Financial Practices, I Am A Trustee, Now What? among others.

REGISTRATION
Send name, church, and e-mail address along with the number and name of the selected workshops. Persons are encouraged to sign up for two choices (A & B). Send info to the following: southwesttrainingevent@gmail.com

Saturday, January 28, 2012
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
3900 Lexington Blvd
MISSOURI CITY, TEXAS

AT-A GLANCE
8:15 – Registration

9:00 – Opening and General Session
Southwest District Superintendent Reverend Dr. Pat Sparks

9:15 – Dismiss to workshops
9:30-10:30 Workshop 1
A-1 Becoming A Welcoming Congregation
A-2 How to Lead a Church Meeting
A-3 Reaching Our Local Communities for Christ
A-4 Being a Connectional Church
A-5 Understanding the Role of the Staff, Pastor Relations Committee
A-6 Sound Financial Practices
A-7 Tracking Membership
A-8 Worship Together

10:45 – 11:45 – Panel Discussion- Strengthening the Church: Best Practices in Local Congregations
Panelists
Reverend Don Smith-St. Peter’s UMC- Katy, Texas;
Reverend Kenneth Levingston-Jones Memorial UMC-Houston, Texas
Reverend Eddie Hilliard-Addicks UMC –Houston, Texas
Moderator: Reverend Lorna Bradley


11:45-12:30 – Box Lunch
12:30 – 1:30 – Workshop 2
B-1 A Place For Me Too - Establishing a Special Needs Program in Your Church
B-2 Nurturing New Leaders
B-3 Advertising/Marketing
B-4 Money Matters
B-5 I Am A Trustee. Now What?
B-6 Small Group Curriculums
B-7 Putting God First Through Youth Worship

SESSION ONE WORKSHOPS – 9:15-10:30
A-1 Becoming A Welcoming Congregation
One of the best ways to engage the entire congregation in developing a welcoming lifestyle and maintaining a dynamic and engaging welcome ministry is to provide training opportunities. This class will look at various things greeters and ushers can do to make the church inviting and accessible to both guests and members.
Rev. Ed Jones, Senior Pastor, Living Water UMC
A-2 How To Lead A Church Meeting
Leading effective church meetings, this session will also help leaders to understand their role as a spiritual leader in planning and achieving outcome-based meetings.
Frankie Watson-Jones Memorial UMC
A-3 Reaching Our Local Communities for Christ
We will examine the biblical basis for the statement: “The church exists for the mission of God.” Then, we will look at tools to connect with our local neighborhoods so that we can positively answer the question, “If this congregation were to disappear from this community today, what difference would it make to this community?”
Rev. Diane McGehee, TAC
A-4 Being A Connectional Church
We reach far beyond our congregation to do inspiring, life-changing ministry. Discover how that ministry happens through our shared missional giving. We will also look at how our extravagant generosity and directed giving can reach even more lives for Jesus Christ.
Rev. Marlin Fenn, First Methodist UMC, Katy
A-5 Understanding the Role of the Pastor Parish Relations Committee
Session includes an overview of the role and responsibility of the PPR Committee members and chairperson along with instruction from the perspective of our District Superintendent.
Rev. Dr. Pat Sparks, Southwest District Superintendent
A-6 Sound Financial Practices
This interactive session will cover effective budgeting, planning, money management, apportionments, and checks and balances. It is everything you need to know to be an effective member or chair of your Finance Committee.
Reggie Clemmons, Friendswood UMC
A-7 Tracking UMC Membership: All Them There New Fangled Rules!
For those dealing with membership records and wondering how to handle the missing in action and members who have moved away, this class will help you understand the new rules and give you a better understanding of the realities of membership and how it impacts your church in the district, the conference and the connectional Methodist church as a whole.
Cheryl Earles, SW District Administrator
A-8 Worship Together
A special presentation for Pastors, Worship Leaders, Music Directors, and anyone involved with music selection for worship. We will look at how we plan worship and choose music, both traditional and contemporary, so that we encourage the highest level of participation from our congregations. This will be an interactive workshop with working examples. Bring your favorite source of worship music, i.e. a hymnal, a praise chorus folder.
Dr. Craig Gilbert, Sugar Land First United Methodist Church
SESSION TWO WORKSHOPS – 12:30 – 1:30

B-1 A Place For Me Too! A Special Needs Program in your Church
Learn how to set up a program where every family member, whatever their mental or physical capabilities, is welcome, and where each person and each family finds opportunities to worship and grow in his/her faith.
Rev. D. Reed- Director of Children’s Ministry- Memorial Drive UMC
B-2 Nurturing New Leaders
Learn exciting new strategies in nurturing and motivating our new church leaders. Jesus trained his disciples by imparting:* Knowledge, through teaching, * Character, by modeling and example: * Skills, through guided experience. Learn to train the leaders in our churches to Think Biblically, Live Wisely and Serve Faithfully.
Frankie F. Watson, Jones Memorial UMC
B-3 - Advertising/Marketing -This exciting class gets you thinking about advertising and marketing for churches. Learn tips on how to reach out into your community and keep your information to the congregation relevant and fresh. Whether your presentation or print materials are intended to sell, entertain, educate, or inform, we can offer you suggestions to fit your needs, budget, and goals.
Enid Henderson, Living Water UMC
Terri Calder, Shepherd of the Heart UMC
B-4 Money Matters
We’ll examine timeless strategies for stewardship while examining how these principles can be applied to your unique ministry context.
Rev. Don Smith, St. Peter’s UMC, Katy
B-5 I Am A Trustee, Now What?
This interactive session will include discussion on property management, liabilities, insurance, equipment maintenance, bequests and memorials, reserved/designated funds, sales and purchases of property.
Reggie Clemmons, Friendswood UMC
B-6 Small Group Curriculum- This class will teach you how to develop small groups in your church establish the most effective way to grow disciples and help others to grow. Small groups are the place in the church where we know each other best, where we share our joys and concerns, where we search out answers to faith questions and where we are challenged to grow in becoming Jesus' disciples. There will be opportunities to order materials from Cokesbury Bookstore at this workshop.
Stephanie Kimble -Cokesbury Bookstore
B-7 Leading Youth Worship
Do you want youth to have a heart for a real relationship with God through worship? Do want the music in your worship to support this vision? Then this workshop is designed for you and your worship team, even if that team is just you. Bring yourself and anyone who helps choose, play, present, lead, or otherwise "do music" in your worship experiences and we will learn the mechanics, planning, and even theology behind music that opens up worship in a meaningful way.
Dr. Craig Gilbert, Sugar Land First United Methodist Church

Strengthening the Church: Best Practices in Local Congregations
Panelist Bios

Reverend Don Smith

Rev. Don Smith brings more than 25 years of experience in a variety of ministry contexts. After fruitful ministry in a town & country setting and a county seat church in North Texas, Don was appointed to start a new church in 1995 - - Stonebridge United Methodist in McKinney, Texas. Under his leadership as planting pastor, the church grew from zero to over 2,200 constituents of which 1,600 were professing members with a worship attendance of more than 1,200 in four weekend worship experiences.
In 2003, Don began a ministry of providing strategic support for starting United Methodist Churches as a Senior Associate for the Griffith Coaching Network. Since then, Don has provided church planting strategy support for more than 20 United Methodist conferences and ministry coaching support for 75 new church projects across the country. In addition to his ministry in new church development, Don has also facilitated church capital campaigns as a Ministry Strategist with the Horizons Stewardship Company.
In 2010, Don returned to the local church ministry context as Lead Pastor of St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Katy, Texas. While continuing to provide stewardship and new church development support as opportunities arise, Don is enjoying the rhythm of leading an established congregation in a season of growth and change.

Don and his wife Amy have been married for 29 years. They have two grown children. A 1981 graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX, Don received his ministry training at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Don enjoys distance running (at a very slow pace), plays about a dozen rounds of golf a year, and has played the guitar since he was nine years old. Don and Amy love to travel. One of Don’s ministries through the years has been taking groups to the Holy Land, having led thirteen tours to Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Greece and Turkey since 1992.


Reverend Kenneth Levingston
Married to Shanda Kaye for 23 years
Children: Brittany Nycole, 18 years old; Ke’Andra Nycole, 17 years old
Pastor in Texas Annual Conference: 26 years
Served eleven years as Senior Pastor of St. Paul United Methodist Church, Huntsville, Texas. St. Paul grew from less than 75 members to over 400 members. This appointment grew from a part time appointment to a full time appointment during this time.
Served four years as Executive Pastor of First United Methodist Church Houston – Westchase Campus, where attendance increased each year.
Serving Jones Memorial United Methodist Church on September 1, 2008. The church has received more than 300 new members during this time and now has a membership of over 900. Worship attendance has grown from an average of 345 per Sunday to over 500 per Sunday. This year 23 person have made professions of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Education: Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Houston 1997, Master of Divinity, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University 2000, Ordained Deacon United Methodist Church 1999, Ordained Elder United Methodist Church 2000
Service: To The United Methodist Church:
2011- Elected Delegate 2012 General Conference of the United Methodist Church
2009- present: Board of Ordained Ministry United Methodist Church
2009- present: Board Member of Hope Through Grace
2008- Alternate Delegate General Conference of United Methodist Church
2008- Delegate Jurisdictional Conference, South Central Jurisdiction of UMC
2008- present: Appointed to Methodist Hospital Board of Directors
2006-present: Preaching Instructor Texas Annual Conference Local Pastor’s School
2006-2008 Member District Leadership Team Central South District
2006-2008 CORE Leadership Team Texas Annual Conference

Pastor Kenneth R. Levingston grew up in Homer La., a small town of less than four thousand people and moved to 5th Ward Texas when he was 12 years old. His family joined New Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church where he was nurtured and cared for by the saints of God in this community. He later united with Brooks Chapel United Methodist church where he came to accept the call of God upon his life to preach, teach and pastor God’s people. During the past 26 years Pastor Levingston has been the pastor of congregations in rural, urban, suburban, and multicultural settings.
Pastor Levingston believes that people need to know that God in Jesus Christ, died for their sins and wants to be in an intimate and personal relationship with them. He teaches the word of God in a manner that is relevant and transformational, challenging the hearers “to live like we belong to Jesus.” He believes, teaches and preaches that the bible still “contains all things necessary to salvation,” and that this salvation as revealed in the bible is by faith in Christ and Christ alone. He is passionate and insistent in following the teachings of Jesus Christ to feed the hungry, clothed the naked, visit the sick and minister to those who are in prison.

Reverend Eddie Hilliard
Eddie Hilliard is a bi-vocational pastor after spending 30 years working for a Fortune 100 corporation. He held a number of ever increasing jobs managing as much as a $900,000,000.00 budget and leading teams of competent executives. This background has given him unique insights into the business side of church work. Beyond this it has offered unique perspectives on meeting people where they are in their life. He continues as a successful part of a local sales organization.
From 2008 through 2010 Eddie was Executive Director of The Texas Annual Conference’s disaster recovery efforts following Hurricane Ike. This was accomplished with a staff of eight dedicated workers and over 10,000 volunteers. These caring people were able to return 169 families to their homes; without this support these families may not have been able to return home. In addition, nearly a thousand additional people were touched by the efforts of the Disaster Recovery group. This was accomplished by seed funding from the United Methodist Church but the DR group raised 80 cents for every dollar from the UMC.
Eddie and his wife Wanda have been active missioners for years. They have led multiple teams to Guatemala and Cuba. They have both served at the conference level in numerous volunteer positions in an effort to promote social justice.
Eddie currently serves as the part time local pastor of Addicks United Methodist Church. This 100+ year old church is a growing outpost of the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit has been active here and the Family of Faith has caught fire as well.