Southwest Texas MFSA has sent a letter to 2014 delegates to the Southwest Texas Annual Conference. We will be electing delegates to 2016 General Conference this June. We have invited delegates to come by our vendor booth for conversation and to attend our Peace and Justice Luncheon. We wanted delegates to know that there are voices in our conference other than Methodist Renewal Movement and the United Methodist Men.
Read the letter here: Clergy Delegate Letter
Thursday, May 8
The Unification to Form the Rio Texas Conference:
What Will the Tapestry Woven by the Unification Look Like?
Join MFSA on Thursday, May 8, at Saint John’s UMC to hear Rev. Edward Garcia, pastor of Emmanuel UMC, share the story of the Unification of the Southwest Texas Conference and the Rio Grande Conference to form the Rio Texas Conference of the UMC. Rev. Garcia has been active in the Unification decision-making progress.
In June 2013, both conferences approved the Unification Implementation Team’s recommendations for the transition to the new conference. In February 2014, the conferences voted to name the new conference “Rio Texas”.
Some questions we will want to ask Rev. Garcia include:
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Please join us on Thursday, May 8, at Saint John’s UMC, 2140 Allandale Rd. for snacks at 6:30pm and the program at 7:00pm.
Since 1907, MFSA has been a leader in both the UMC and broader society for progressive issues like peace, integration, women’s reproductive health, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality.
In the upcoming weeks, we have a great opportunity. Thanks to the work of Bolder Giving and the Razoo Foundation, MFSA will be participating in Give OUT Day – a day of concentrated giving for organizations working in the field of LGBT advocacy. MFSA has worked tirelessly for the rights of LGBT people in The United Methodist Church. MFSA continues to do so by housing (and currently funding) the position of Coalition Coordinator for the Love Your Neighbor Coalition – 10 caucus groups within The United Methodist Church seeking a change in the denomination’s policies and practices around human difference. Likewise, MFSA is currently working with an interfaith network of agencies to encourage elected representatives to co-sponsor the Employment Non-Discrimination Act when it comes to Congress later this year.
Please consider a donation to MFSA on Give OUT Day to help us continue our advocacy work. Give OUT Day is great for two reasons:
Thank you for considering a gift to MFSA for our work of justice and advocacy. And thank you for all you do to make the world a better place.
Steve & Vickie Purdy
Sunday, May 18, 2014
3:00 PM
Manchaca UMC
1011 FM 1626
Manchaca, Tx
We will be collecting cards and notes of goodbyes and good wishes for Steve and Vickie, as well as things Austintacious” to send along with them on the journey out west. We hope you will join us as we bid them farewell.
On Sunday, April 27, many MFSA and RMN supporters celebrated A Service of Witness to the All-Inclusive Grace of God at First UMC, Austin, the first anniversary of the decision made by to affiliate as a congregation with the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN). Beginning with the Life in the City musical ensemble, plus a 70-voice choir, we prayed, sang, and shared Communion.
The featured preacher was the Reverend Frank Schaefer, who was put on trial and found guilty by the UMC in 2013 for performing a same-gender marriage of his own son. His sermon, “A Time for Action: Stepping Out on the Waters of Faith” was both inspiring and challenging.
Last month, the Boy Scouts of America revoked the troop charter of a Seattle-area United Methodist Church because the church would not boot the scoutmaster Geoffrey McGrath, a married, gay Eagle Scout. Mr. McGrath is first gay adult to be removed from the Boy Scouts of America since the organization’s vote in May of 2013 to end its ban on gay youth.
MFSA’s friend Rev. Dr. Monica Corsaro (left), the pastor of Ranier Beach UMC, explains why in this article in Time Magazine.
Washington state’s legislature sent this letter addressed to Rev. Corsaro in support of their retention of Mr. McGrath as Scoutmaster.
Matt Berryman, Executive Director of the Reconciling Ministries Network, will preach at University UMC – Austin on May 18.
Prior to joining the staff of RMN, Matt spent three years in law school at the Florida Coastal School during which time he worked for churches, law firms, and LexisNexis as a legal editor. From 2002-2009, Matt served United Methodist congregations in the Jacksonville area of the Florida Conference. In addition to serving churches in the United Kingdom, he has led training events and workshops for The United Methodist Church, The Fund for Theological Education, Emory University, and the Fellowship of United Methodists for Music and Worship Arts. He received a B.A. from the University of South Carolina and a M.Div. from Emory University.
The SWTX Chapter of MFSA will be active at Annual Conference in June in Corpus Christi.
We will again serve as a gathering point for progressive-minded Methodists in the exhibit hall, providing information and selling chocolate and books. We will again team up with the conference Reconciling Team to provide a safe place for conversations as well as recharging spiritual and cell phone batteries.
To mak
e this happen, we need volunteers to work at our information and book fair tables, we need people to attend the Peace and Justice Luncheon, we need people to attend the Reconciliation Service.
Most of all, we need volunteers willing to talk to Annual Conference delegates about our passions for social action, justice, peace, and inclusion in the UMC and the world. Contact Rowland Curry at rcurry@austin.rr.com for more information.
Anthony Graves is known by most as death row exoneree 138. But he is known by those close to him as a loving son, brother, father and friend taken away from them at a young age. Anthony lost eighteen and a half years of his life when he was wrongly convicted of a brutal crime and incarcerated in Texas prisons, sixteen of those years in solitary confinement, twelve on death row, with two execution dates. Ultimately, perseverance, faith and the tireless work of The Innocence Network and others on Anthony’s team, put enough pressure on the system from the outside, and from the inside, where Anthony remained strong. Anthony was proven innocent.
Today Anthony Graves is an advocate for those he left behind. He speaks worldwide about his case and others like it. In the Fall of 2013, Anthony established a scholarship at the University of Texas Law School in the name of his champion Professor Nicole Casarez. http://anthonybelieves.com/about-anthony/
Join us for this on-site luncheon. In addition, we’ll honor the recipients of the MFSA “Building a Just Community” Awards and the SWTX Conference Peace With Justice Awards
Link to the luncheon flyer: https://swtmfsa.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/mfsa_peace-and-justice-luncheon-2014.pdf
Pre-Conference Report: 2014 PreConf 42514
Cost: $12.00 in advance (by June 8) – Check or cash
$15.00 at the door (limited number available)
Or, pay by credit card* – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/peace-and-justice-luncheon-life-after-death-row-tickets-10873526009
For several years, SWT-MFSA has sponsored a Book Fair at Annual Conference. Members and friends box up their gently used religious and spiritual books, and we haul them to Corpus Christi. It becomes like a treasure hunt at our tables! People contribute to us according to what they think the books are worth to them. It has been quite successful for the past 4 or 5 years, but to make it happen, we need your books! Contact Rowland Curry (rcurry@austin.rr.com) and we will arrange to pick them up.
Friday, June 13, 2014 at 7am
First UMC, Corpus Christi, TX in the chapel
Join the SWTX Reconciling Team for the first-ever Reconciling Service
at our Annual Conference in Corpus Christi, TX
Communion will be served.
As reported earlier, Rev. Jen Stuart made the difficult decision to transfer from the Southwest Texas Annual Conference to the Pacific Northwest Conference as a result of our conference’s continuing support of the UMC’s discriminatory policies toward our GLBT brothers and sisters.
Bishop Grant Hagiya of the Pacific Northwest Conference has announced that Rev. Stuart will be serving the Ellensburg (Washington) UMC, effective July 1. We wish Jen all the best in this move!
Rio Texas Methodist Federation for Social Action 