Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for March, 2009

My name is Milan Mrázek and I have the privilege to be a pastor in Tachov, Czech Republic.
Tachov is a small old town near the German border with a population of 12 thousand people.
It is placed in a beautiful hilly area with lots of woods. In the history it was important because a king´s road to Germany led through the town. A first note about Tachov in historical annals is from 12th century.
tachov12
The Methodist church was founded here in 1993 when some people became Christians during their studies in Plzen and wanted to share the gospel with the people in the town. At the begining, it was a mission station of the Maranatha Church in Plzen and later, when the Lord called more people, an independent church was established there in 2002. Nowadays the membership is 24, and there are about 65 people coming for different activities.  About 35 people meet on Sundays, mostly young families with children.

During the Communist time, Tachov was a place with a very strict regime because the border of Germany was near. It had a huge impact on the atmosphere and approach to the church. People are generally afraid and suspicious to come to a Christian service. There are Roman Catholics beside us in our town (they meet in the same numbers as we meet – 30 people) and also a small group at an Orthodox church (10 people on Sunday). So in the town with 12000 people, 75 people meet on Sunday. That is our mission target, and we know that it is a big challenge for us. We believe that Jesus died for every single person in Tachov and so we try to share the gospel with them. We understand that we need to work with children and young people and God has blessed this ministry a lot. We do a children´s club, Sunday School and club for mothers and children. Children like to come and mostly they come from non-Christian families. We are blessed to have a nice youth group with 12 active members.
Some of them attend the Bible study – Disciple.

We meet in rented rooms of the Town Hall. It  tachov21is located in the centre of the town at the main
square. Since January 2009, we have hosted Ali from England. She teaches English here as an outreach program. People in the Czech Republic like to study English, and we can use it for building relationships and then for inviting them to our services or other activities.
We have approximately 14 students, and they are non-church goers.

Two years ago we did our first Vacation Bible School in the summer with assistance of a team from our partner district Johnson City, and it has become very popular. This July, we are going to do VBS as well
and we are looking forward to it.                      tachov3

We hope that God will bless us and enable us to be the light and salt for our town despite the Communist influence in the past. We can see the spiritual thirst and hunger around us. Our responsibility is to show the way to the well.

Read Full Post »

Rev Don StansellRevival at Gladeville United Methodist Church
March 29, 09 – April 1, 09 7:00 pm
Rev. Don Stansell speaking
Special Singing each night
Sunday night – River Hill Christian Church (Youth)
Monday night – Close To Home
Tuesday night – River Hill Church Choir
Wednesday – Mt. Olivet Choir

 

Come and join us for this time of fellowship and worship
 

 

Read Full Post »

Originally posted at http://imagebearer.wordpress.com/

On Saturday Night April 4th @ 7pm

522 Main Street Hillsville Virginia

276-728-2434 or 276-730-0002

Free Coffee and Snacks with lots of Fun and Laughter

Charles Maynard

Master Storyteller

Charles Maynard is a storyteller, author, and an ordained United Methodist minister. He has authored or co-authored over 28 books, including 21 children’s books. Charles served churches in the Holston Conference for twenty years. He worked as the first executive director of Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Charles is currently the director of development for Holston Conference Camp and Retreat Ministries. He tells traditional Appalachian tales, personal stories of growing up in the Cumberlands, and stories from American history. Charles has traveled extensively with his wife Janice and their two daughters, Caroline and Anna. He is the proud grandfather of Anastasia and Ainsley.

Read Full Post »

This post was originally posted at http://imagebearer.wordpress.com/

Sunday Night Live this week: 6:30pm Sunday night March 29th @ FUMC Hillsville, Va.

SouledOut will play at 6:30 and then Laura will speak. You don’t want to miss this opportunity. Invite your friends and let’s pack the house on Sunday Night!

Ronnie

“I left my heart in the hands of Nicaraguan children.” The most beautiful, dirty, scarred, most perfect hands of children. This trip completely wrecked my life…
in the most amazing way possible. come find out how.“

Laura will be speaking about her recent trip – stories, etc. The highlight is that she will then speak about how it affected her spiritual life.

“What I learned and what changed me, etc.”

Laura spent a week in a refugee community in Nicaragua called Nueva Vida (meaning, New Life). Nueva Vida was destroyed by Hurricane Mitch a few years ago and has since been an area of extreme poverty. The people living in the community are either unemployed, or work in sweat shops making barely enough to survive. Most families have barely enough money for one or two
meals a day.

They spent a week focusing on the Children in the community.
“Basically – we took them out of their everyday surroundings of poverty and let them have FUN and be normal kids. We built relationships with these kids and by the end of the week had difficult goodbyes facing each of us. I was taught true joy, true happiness, and true compassion through this trip.”

“By the World’s standard these people are poor, but spiritually they are the richest people I have ever seen.”

Come hear about the change in Laura’s life through the trip she took to Nicaragua. Hear her stories about a Tarantula in her shower, rats in her room, and eating rice and beans every day. Hear about worshiping outside, teaching the kids a song from SouledOut and having her body completely covered in face paint by the children. Hear about Marvin’s Shoes, Anielka’s ear rings, and the festival for families affected by prostitution. Hear about the community living in the dump, but most importantly come hear about what God has taught Laura and the change in her life that took place outside her Nation’s borders.

Read Full Post »

REVIVAL

Rev Don StansellRevival at Gladeville United Methodist ChurchMarch 29, 09 – April 1, 09   7:00 pm

Rev. Don Stansell speaking

Special Singing each night
Sunday night – River Hill Christian Church (Youth)
Monday night – Close To Home
Tuesday night – River Hill Church Choir
Wednesday – Mt. Olivet Choir

Come and join us for this time of fellowship and worship 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Learn how your Church Can Be On Mission With God

Discover
*God’s Love for the World
*Your Purpose in God’s Great Commission Plan
*A New Perspective on the People of the World
*Balanced and Practical Strategies for Reaching People at Home and Around the World

Beginning Friday March 27, 2009 at 5:30pm and Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8:30 am
Pulaski First United Methodist Church
134 4th St. Pulaski, Va.

Cost is $25.00 per person $35.00 after March 20 – includes notebook, Friday dinner and Saturday Continental breakfast and lunch

To register contact
The Wytheville District Office at 800-686-5376 or email wydist@holston.org

For additional information contact
Tammy Wright 540-639-3529 or Jerry Krebs 540-639-1841

Read Full Post »

Sudan Team Returns

Sudan team returns home with stronger bonds, bigger goals
By Annette Spence

Team leader Danny Howe is greeted by children at the United Methodist compound

Team leader Danny Howe is greeted by children at the United Methodist compound

What they say is true. If you go to Sudan, the people will win your heart. And then your heart will break for them. On March 4, Holston’s sixth mission team to south Sudan returned home from a 16-day journey. A seventh team immediately followed, arriving back safely in the U.S. on March 14.

In the weeks ahead, The Call will report on the sixth team’s experience, with photos and video. The coverage will lead Holston up to its 2009 Annual Conference offering, designated for Yei, Sudan. The goal is at least $125,000, collected by mid-June.

Bishop James Swanson joined the sixth team to Sudan, along with Bishop Felton May of the General Board of Global Ministries and Bishop Daniel Wandabula of the East Africa Conference. Shortly after the bishops’ arrival in Yei, they visited the city’s dismally lacking hospital. Swanson ended up sobbing outside the hospital along with Holston workers. They had seen an infant’s lifeless body in a bed, then learned that three more babies had succumbed within five minutes. However, some lives were saved. The Holston team included physicians and pharmacy workers from Kingsport, Tenn., and Marion, Va. They brought suitcases and suitcases of donated medicine and saw 3,000 patients.

The Rev. Fred Dearing and the Rev. Andrew Amodei led training for 55 pastors and lay leaders representing 17 churches. For six days, they tackled questions about the Book of Discipline, starting new churches, baptism, female leadership — and polygamy. Steve Hodges of Jubilee Project was on the team. The Sneedville-based missionary combed Yei for every speck of agricultural and business information. (“He’s like a termite in new wood,” observed team leader Danny Howe.) By trip’s end, Hodges had figured out a pilot project for Sudanese women to raise chickens and grow green vegetables, addressing a desperate need for both nutrition and income.

Ben Mallicote, a member of First Broad Street United Methodist Church and vice mayor of Kingsport, came to Sudan. He ceremoniously gave a “key to the city of Kingsport” to Yei’s highest ranking official, Col. David Moses. Then Mallicote was invited back to discuss city infrastructure as the colonel’s soldiers stood by.

In future stories, you will meet Edina, the 31-year-old Sudanese born leader who risks her life to advocate for women and children. She walks seven miles every day to serve at the United Methodist compound in Yei. She does it without pay. Edina is too thin.

You will meet Elias, a 33-year-old former child soldier who now works for UMCOR as a logistics officer. He’s also a pastor who teaches the youth of Yei to love all people, regardless of tribe. He routinely fasts and prays for peace.

Upcoming stories and photos will reveal a region scarred by decades of war, still threatened by rebels and government conflict. Some of it is not pretty. The rutted dirt roads are scattered with litter. Sanitation is far from reality. The children wear tattered clothing discarded by richer nations. One girl wore a stained “Porsche” shirt; another seemed oblivious to the American profanity on her shirt. Many are barefoot. Some of the children’s bodies are too small for their ages. Too many are orphans. Through interpreters, they recount in small voices the violent war acts and dreadful diseases that snatched away their parents — their most reliable providers of food and shelter. Yet, the Sudanese are so quick to smile and extend their hands in greeting. Their worship services – as long as four hours – brim with dance and drum, song and testimony, passion and prayer. Friendships bubble up between temporary Holston volunteers and residential African workers. Love is shared over mutual goals. Then it’s time to say good-bye until another Holston team returns.

In weeks to come, The Call will report what’s already been accomplished by Holston and the United Methodist Church in south Sudan. The reports will also explain what Holston leaders now believe God is calling them to do. It’s big. It’s in progress. And there is so much to do.

Related stories:
‘Commentary: Spring break! Why Africa and not Myrtle Beach? (2/5/09) Hope from Sudan: Holston prepares for productive year (January 2009) United Methodists unite to send help to Sudan (6/26/08) Holston, East Africa conferences sign Sudan covenant (2/26/08)
Annette Spence, editor of The Call, was a participant in the Feb. 16-March 4 mission trip to Sudan.

http://holston.org/about/communications/the-call/volE/num49/back-sudan-back-sudan/

Read Full Post »

Country Breakfast

church21

Big Country Breakfast at Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church
6878 Carrollton Pike, Galax, Va.
Saturday, March 14, 2009 – 7am-10am
ALL YOU CAN EAT
Pancakes, Sausage, Bacon, Eggs, Biscuits and Gravy
Adults $6.00 Children 12 and under $3.00

Read Full Post »

Slovakia Mission Trip 2009

 SLOVAKIA MISSION TRIP 2009 

The Wytheville District Mission Trip to Slovakia was very successful in April 2008.

We are currently seeking those who may be interested in the upcoming trip this Fall.

 Trip dates: Oct. 12-22, 2009

 Focus: Construction

 Cost: $1500-$1800 per person

 Fund Raisers: Slovakia Bread Offering that was taken on World Communion Sunday and a District Wide Yard Sale is scheduled for August 22, 2009 at Mt. Olivet UM Church in Galax . We will be accepting donated items for this yard sale.  All items will be sold by donation only.   

If you are feeling the call from God to be a part of the Mission teams this Fall or for more information, please contact:

Janet Richardson 276-238-0376 janet@pronetsinc.com

Read Full Post »

In the past couple of years, Gladeville UM Church has been supporting several family members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.  For each troop we have hung a yellow ribbon on trees in the yard at the church.  On Sunday March 8, 2009 we celebrated and removed the last 2 ribbons that were hung for our troops.  Praise God that our troops have returned home safely.

img_1529

While deployed, members of the church sent cards,  letters and phone cards monthly so the troops would be able to call home.  But, most importantly, we sent up lots of prayers.  We ask that everyone pray for all of the troops no matter where they may be.  To view more photos of ribbon tying and cuttings Click Here.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »