News

Don't Forget: Register for Feb. 16 Clergy CEU Workshop

Feb. 16 is just two weeks away! Don't forget to register for the Clergy CEU workshop "Cultural Competency: A Leadership Skill for Building and Strengthening the Church," at Holy Cross United Methodist Church in Stockton on Thursday, Feb. 16 (9 a.m.-5 p.m.). Cultural Competency is defined as the willingness and ability to shift perspectives and change behavior, depending upon the cultural/racial context – and developing it requires a spiritual journey. The goal is to become...

Registration Opens for March 14 Gathering of Clergy

Register now to attend a day of soul-satisfying worship and re-affirmation of your call to ministry, Wednesday, March 14, 2012 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at San Ramon Valley United Methodist Church in Alamo, California. This day of worship and renewal for all clergy and candidates – in all orders of ministry, active and retired, appointed and not-currently-appointed – features worship and music leaders Mark Miller and Marcia McFee and is sponsored by the California-Nevada Annual...

Claremont Offers 'Transforming Ministry: New Best Practices' Conference in July

Experienced United Methodist pastors are invited to a one-week intensive introduction to emerging best practices in ministry, July 22-27 at Claremont School of Theology (CST) in Claremont, California. You will learn techniques and approaches from around the country – the practices that are helping pastors today to build successful churches for the new generation. The design of the conference will invite you into a learning community of your peers, who come from a variety of places and...

Register for Clergy CEU Workshop on Feb. 16

Online registration is available for a Clergy CEU workshop, Thursday, Feb. 16 at Holy Cross United Methodist Church in Stockton (9 a.m.-5 p.m.). The workshop cost is $85. The next Clergy CEU workshop will be on Tuesday, June 19, the day before Annual Conference Session begins, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., location TBD.   Click here to register for Feb. 16 workshop.   Download flyer here.   Holy Cross UMC is located at 1200 W. Hammer Lane, Stockton, CA 95209. Visit the...

'Living Bread, Living Stories': A Preaching Workshop, Feb. 3-5

"Living Bread; Living Stories," a preaching workshop and refresher course featuring the Rev. Jim Walker, is scheduled for Feb. 3-5 (Friday-Sunday) at Clovis Memorial United Methodist Church. It is sponsored by the Central Valley District Committee on Ministry. Walker, an Elder in full connection in The United Methodist Church and pastor of Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, uses a dynamic preaching style to bring life to biblical narratives....

Anne Dilenschneider Leads Transformational Leadership Course This Month in Stockton

Anne Dilenschneider returns to California in January to teach the annual CLayM pastors' course in spirituality and leadership, as she has done each year since 1999. This year she will be offering a mid-week, 11-hour (1.1 CEU credits) Transformational Leadership course for clergy and laity on Tuesday evening, January 17 (6-9 p.m.) and on Wednesday, January 18 (8 a.m.-4 p.m.) at Grace United Methodist Church in Stockton.   Transformational Leadership is a specific philosophy of community...

Save the Date for Extraordinary Orders Event in March!

Clergy and candidates: Set aside March 14 on your calendar now – for an event you will not want to miss! It will be a day of worship and renewal for all clergy and candidates – in all orders of ministry, active and retired, appointed and not-currently-appointed – featuring worship and music leaders Mark Miller* and Marcia McFee.**   This gathering of the orders is brought to you by the California-Nevada Annual Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, the Orders of...

Circuit Leaders Gather at Mount Hermon

Fifty-one of the California-Nevada Conference's circuit leaders gathered at Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center this week (Nov. 7-9, 2011) to share with and learn from each other, to be resourced and inspired by guest speakers, to dream, and to plan. Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr. attended, as well, as did district superintendents and several Conference staff members.   The three-day retreat focused on "unpacking" how the Conference-wide strategy for revival, renewal, and...

Conference Benefits Officer to Explain Insurance Changes, at Eight Locations

California-Nevada Annual Conference Benefits Officer Paul Extrum-Fernandez and Linda Lasell of the Board of Pensions invite you to attend one of eight presentations to learn about changes to 2012 health care insurance programs. New premium rates were adopted by the Board of Pensions on Sept. 28. Extrum-Fernandez and Lasell will review cost increases to the programs, how the new retiree subsidy program will be implemented, ways to save on medical care expenses, and how you can change health...

No Gathering of the Orders This Year; Circuit Leaders to Meet in November

By tradition, and with the encouragement of the Discipline, in recent years Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr. has invited all Orders to gather with him in the fall for a time of "retreat, learning, and strengthening relationships." This year, however, there will not be a Gathering of the Orders. In its place: a retreat for circuit leaders only, Nov. 7-9, at Mt. Hermon Retreat Center. The purpose of the Circuit Leaders' Retreat is to create an opportunity for circuit leaders to catch fire...

2011 Clergy Age Trends Report Shows More Older and Younger Clergy

WASHINGTON, DC—The Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary has released its annual report, "Clergy Age Trends in The United Methodist Church." This year's report, prepared with assistance from the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits, shows an increase in the number of both older and younger clergy. Conversely, the percentage of middle age elders has shrunk dramatically over the past decade. Also of note, older clergy between the ages of 55 and...

Cal-Nev Pastor Publishes New History of Methodism in Nevada

Nevada Humanities has published two major articles on the history of Methodism in Nevada authored by The Rev. John Herbert Emerson, pastor emeritus of First United Methodist Church of Reno. This first updated history of the denomination in this state since Leon L. Loofbourow's Steeples Among the Sage (1964) is said to be "arguably the most comprehensive treatment of the subject covering the entire state for the years 1859 through 2010. The two articles appear on the Nevada Humanities...

This Week's Board of Pensions Briefings

Conference Benefits Officer Paul Extrum-Fernandez will be at Pioneer United Methodist Church in Auburn Friday, May 6 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for a conversation about a proposed change to the health care insurance subsidy provided to retired clergy and lay employees of the California-Nevada Annual Conference. The new premium subsidy proposal will cap the maximum amount that will be provided to a Conference retiree health plan member based on the available funds that the Board of Pensions has...

Sign up for May 5 One-Day Cross-Cultural Training

Sign up for Cross-Cultural Training on May 5,* 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the United Methodist Center (California-Nevada Annual Conference Center), 1276 Halyard Drive, West Sacramento, CA 95691. The training will be facilitated by Dr. Shan McSpadden, Coordinator of International Student Support at Pacific School of Religion.   Lunch will be provided.   If you plan to attend this workshop and need a hotel reservation, contact the Ramada Inn at 916.371.2100. The room rate is $79...

Register Now for Pre-ACS Cultural Competency Workshop

Sign up now to develop your Cultural Competency leadership skills at a pre-Annual Conference Session clergy workshop in Sacramento. It will be offered on Tuesday June 14, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (the day before Annual Conference Session begins), at First United Methodist Church of Sacramento, located near the Sacramento Convention Center.   The session is designed with a mixture of activities – presentations, experiential activities, small group discussions, films/videos, and...

Candidacy Mentor Training Offered May 17 at Conference Center

Candidacy Mentor Training will be offered Tuesday, May 17, 1-3 p.m. at the United Methodist Center (Conference Center) in West Sacramento. The training is for all active and retired clergy interested in receiving training and updates on mentoring a candidate who is exploring a call to ministry. It will cover resources available, the online process, and proctoring the psychological evaluations. The training will be led by the Rev. Jennifer Goto, mentor coordinator. If you plan to attend, please...

$25,000 Raised for West Angola Pastors' Support

Pastors in the California-Nevada Annual Conference now have raised more than $25,000 to support the salaries of pastors in West Angola. Twenty-five pastors in this Conference give 1% of their salaries, designated to supplement salaries of pastors in West Angola whose salaries have not been fully paid in their local situations. In all, 197 pastors in West Angola do not receive their full salaries.   "Every $100 that we send will help supplement a West Angolan pastor for one month....

Cultural Competency – A Leadership Skill for Building and Strengthening the Church: Two Workshop Opportunities for Clergy

There will be two opportunities in the spring to develop your Cultural Competency leadership skills. Cultural Competency is defined as the willingness and ability to shift perspectives and change behavior, depending upon the cultural/racial context – and developing it requires a spiritual journey. The goal is to become more effective witnesses for the gospel of Jesus. Clergy workshops will be offered on Thursday March 24, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at United Japanese Church in Clovis, and on...

Cal-Nevada's Jeffrey Kuan Is Featured on Home Page of Drew Website

The Rev. Dr. Kah-Jin Jeffrey Kuan, a member of the California-Nevada Nevada Annual Conference, is the subject of the current "cover story" on the Home Page of the Drew University website at http://www.drew.edu/. Kuan, formerly an associate professor at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley and chair of the Conference's Commission on Religion and Race, was named Dean of the Drew Theological School in June, 2010. He began work there January 1 – becoming the first Asian American...

Meeting Explores Best Practices for Developing Young Clergy

By Vicki Brown* Rachel Billups grew up in a church of 50 members that was part of a two-point charge served by local pastors, but she said those pastors in that small church "stirred within me a sense of call."   Billups, now an ordained elder and pastor of a church of about 300 members, talked about her own call as part of a young clergy panel during the Annual Conference Recruiters Network meeting sponsored by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. The...