News

Bishop to lead Holy Land Trip

Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton will lead a 10-day trip to the Holy Land Feb. 11-20, 2014. All inclusive packages starting from $3,196 with departures from St. Louis, Chicago or Indianapolis are available. Information on the trip and a downloadable brochure is available by visiting: www.igrc.org/holylandtrip. It also includes a link to complete registration for the trip.   Discounts are available for early registration based upon when a $300 deposit to hold your place is paid. The full...

Despite closures, Cokesbury will be at annual conference

While the Cokesbury display at Annual Conference has been a fixture for years, much has changed behind the scenes during the past year in an effort to provide more services to annual conferences. The United Methodist Publishing House, which oversees operations at Cokesbury, announced in November that it was shuttering all 57 of its brick and mortar stores, including those at United Methodist seminaries and moving to employing 50 community-based resource consultants (CRCs). One of the closed...

Get connected at Annual Conference

A variety of communication options are available to lay and clergy members as well as folks back home that wish to keep in touch during the 2013 Annual Conference. During the Annual Conference session, a live webstream will be broadcasting at www.igrc.org/AC2013Live. The webstream will on during all plenary and worship services.   Twitter users may tweet during Annual Conference with the hashtag #IGRC2013. Tweets with that hashtag will be aggregated on the 2013 Annual Conference...

Resolutions to be considered at annual conference

A plethora of legislative items awaits clergy and lay members to the 2013 Annual Conference when they meet in Peoria. In addition to the usual reports, the annual conference will consider a proposed capital campaign for Living Springs Camp, a modification to the Making Dreams Possible Scholarship initiative for Africa University and various social justice issues including a Christian response to violence spurred by the Newtown, Conn. Shooting; environmental issues such as coal miner...

Health insurance changes among issues to discuss, act upon

Lay and clergy members who have attended for several years know there are certain reports that are received and considered at annual conference each year, many of these with financial implications. This year’s reports include proposed changes to the conference’s health insurance program, the setting of pension rates for retirees; proposed changes to standing rules involving clergy housing, the closing of churches that have completed their mission; a resolution on employment...

Constitutional amendments now before the annual conference

The 130 annual conferences in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Philippines and the United States are being asked to ratify four proposed amendments to the United Methodist Constitution. General Conference 2012 approved the amendments (which appear at Legislative Item 116 a-d, pages 36-29, in the Blue Legislative Section of the Pre-Conference Workbook). To be ratified, a proposed amendment must be passed by at least two-thirds of the General Conference delegates, followed by a two-thirds affirmative...

Dixon Lodge Dedicated at Jensen Woods

MT. STERLING -- A time of celebration and reflection was a part of the April 13 dedication of Dixon Lodge at Jensen Woods Camp. The dedication service marks the completion of the new Jensen Chapel, a fully equipped commercial kitchen, and a basement that doubles as a storm shelter. Many years of dreaming and about 18 months of construction went in to making this occasion possible.   The addition doubles the floor space of the existing Dixon Lodge, which has served as a meeting...

It All Began with a Bishop's Dream

On March 24, as people gathered for the 20th anniversary celebration of Africa University in Old Mutare, Zimbabwe, few, if any, knew that 115 years earlier (on March 24), an event occurred in London that would ultimately determine the location of the school.   On that day, Cecil Rhodes – of Rhodes Scholarship fame – deeded 16,000 acres of land to Joseph C. Hartzell for Methodist mission work in Southern Rhodesia, which Rhodes was trying to develop through immigration of white...

Illinois Area Takes Africa University to Heart

On Saturday of the first week of the 1988 General Conference, the plenary session opened debate on establishing a university on the African continent. The air was electric with excitement and anticipation as if the contagious enthusiasm of Richard Reeves had spread throughout the throng of 1,000 delegates and 2,000 visitors. When the overwhelming approval came, plus $20 million for its 1988-1992 budget, spontaneously everyone rose as one body and applauded what we had done until our...

Speakers announced for Annual Conference

PEORIA – Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton has announced the speakers for the 2013 Annual Conference which will be June 5-8, at the Peoria Civic Center. Bishop William B. Lewis will be preaching the Memorial Service on Thursday and Rev. Louie F. Zuck, pastor of Geneseo Grace UMC and one of the Class of 2013 retirees, will be preaching the Retirees Recognition service – also on Thursday.   Bishop Keaton will be preaching the opening worship Wednesday night around the annual...

IGRC Embarks on New Scholarships Fund

The Illinois Great Rivers Conference (IGRC) is expanding it support for Africa University by raising an additional $250,000 for scholarships. The conference's plan is to provide immediate support and help at least 10 students to complete four years of study. Each of the conference's 10 districts is being asked to raise $25,000, which would support one student from freshman year to graduation day. The IGRC's Africa University Committee announced the effort at the 2012 Annual Conference....

Volunteer Fire Chaplaincy: a Growing Ministry, a 'Second Congregation'

Some numbers become such a part of our national experience that they become deeply engrained in our societal memory, sticking with us, perhaps forever. Numbers like 9-11. Numbers like 343. All of us know what happened in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. Most of us are aware that 343 New York Fire Department personnel lost their lives trying to save others at the World Trade Center. But few of us realize that the very first FDNY member who lost his life that fateful day was not a firefighter or...

Extravagant Generosity: My Itineracy as an Army Chaplain

It’s been a little less than 29 years when I answered the specific and nuanced call to serve as a military Chaplain. It has always been and remains a “grace work”. Short the period of time that I was treated for leukemia from May 1992 with retirement in August 1992, and then my subsequent return to active duty in November 1994, it has been continual service. I am at 26 ½ years of service to our God, our Church and our Nation and still feel that this is...

Three Insights from Chaplaincy to Parish

In 1977 I entered active duty as a Navy chaplain, retiring in 2005 to return to local church ministry. Now that I am eight years into that transition, I offer three insights that ministry as a military chaplain offered me that have transferred with rich benefit to ministry in the local church. I chose three in honor of the Trinity and because Augustine said that a good sermon, like a good stool, needs three legs.   First, get out of the office. “Chapel-dweller” chaplains were...

Ministry to Military Members (Where There Are None in Town)

Given the location of most United Methodist churches and the average age of most members, ministry to those in the military is a stretch for most of our congregations. Scott Air Force Base in Belleville is the only military installation of any size within the conference. Many churches that have a long and yellowed “Roll of Honor” list of dozens who served in World War II posted in the fellowship hall (or stashed in a closet off the hall) could not match that output today because of...

Chaplaincy: Part of the Team Providing a Faithful Witness

The mission of the Naval Academy is "to develop Midshipmen morally, mentally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty in order to graduate leaders who are dedicated to a career of naval service and have potential for future development in mind and character to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government." As a battalion chaplain, my ministry includes serving more than 800 midshipmen and staff members from...

Barber Scholarship Applicants Sought

Applications are now being accepted for the Barber Scholarship administered by a committee at the Onarga UMC. Applications may be received by contacting the Barber Scholarship Committee at the Onarga UMC either by fax, U.S. Mail or E-mail.  Requests should include complete mailing addresses as applications are sent by U.S. Mail. Applications are due by May 31 with the announcement of recipients being made in July. Scholarships are awarded to persons pursuing Christian service...

NIU: Five Years Later

Five years ago, on February 14, 2008, news came out of Northern Illinois University that stunned not only the campus, but the community, our church, the nation and the world. A former student, slipped into a lecture hall and opened fire on 27 students, killing five and injuring 21 before turning the gun on himself.   Mayhem erupted and misinformation was rampant, according to then Senior Pastor of First United Methodist of DeKalb the Rev. Jane Eesley who now serves as Senior Pastor at...

Five Years Later: A Search for Common Ground on Gun Violence

DECATUR – For IGRC retired pastor Miley Palmer, the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School causes he and his family to relive a five-year-old nightmare all over again. It was on Feb. 14, 2008, that a shooter entered a lecture hall of 160 students in Cole Hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University, killing five students, including 19-year-old Ryanne Mace. Mace was the granddaughter of Palmer and his wife Janet, as well as the granddaughter of fellow retired IGRC...

Faith, Courage and Selflessness: The Story of the Four Chaplains

Lt. George L. Fox’s tenure as pastor of the Downs Methodist Episcopal Church was rather uneventful but his legacy as an Army chaplain just 14 years later lives on. Fox was one of four chaplains that perished on the U.S.A.T. Dorchester when it was hit by a torpedo from a German U-boat off the coast of Newfoundland Feb. 3, 1943.   Fox, who graduated with a A.B. degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1931 was pastor at Downs from 1929 to 1931. He had served as a veteran of World...