Haiti Earthquake Relief

United Methodists are urged to be in prayer with and for the people of Haiti following the earthquake January 12th. Bishop Tim Whitaker has expressed his “profound sense of grief at the devastation, pain and misery being experienced in Haiti right now” in a statement posted on the Florida Conference Web site at www.flumc.org. The bishop is encouraging churches to send monetary donations to Haiti through the United Methodist Committee on Relief, which [you can do online here].

United Methodist News Service is offering continual coverage of this story [here]. Check it out – pictures, audiocasts, blogs, etc.

Scholarship Program Seeks Applicants

The United Methodist Foundation will accept applications for the 2010 Sinclair Scholarship from January 1 through March 12, 2010.  The undergraduate scholarship is available to United Methodist students who will be incoming freshmen in the fall of 2010.  The scholarship provides $1,500 per semester or $3,000 per year to help defray tuition costs for students who plan to attend a Florida or a United Methodist college or university. A complete set of scholarship guidelines and applications forms is available online from the Foundation website, www.fumf.org.

TAPESTRY III CONFERENCE: “Maturing Spiritually”

February 26-28, 2010

Hosted by the Beyond 50 Ministries Task Team of the Florida Annual Conference, Tapestry III will be held at the Life Enrichment Center. The Keynote Speaker will be Jane Marie Thibault, a clinical gerontologist and associate clinical professor of Family and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Registration materials are available by contacting Mary Mizell, the Southeast District representative to the Beyond 50 Ministries Task Team. She can be contacted by phone at 954-349-9457 or by email at marymizell@comcast.net.

Workshops in March aim at increasing Salty Service

A series of five workshops, spread throughout the Florida Conference, will help congregational leaders learn practical strategies for joining Jesus in mission to the least, the last and the lost. The Salty Service events are the fourth in a series of events focusing on the five discipling practices of effective congregations known as "The Methodist Way."

Dates and locations of the Salty Service events are:
Thursday, March 4           Grace United Methodist Church, Cape Coral
Friday, March 5                 Harris Chapel United Methodist Church, Oakland Park
Thursday, March 11         St. Paul United Methodist Church, Largo
Friday, March 12               First United Methodist Church, Deland
Saturday, March 13          St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Tallahassee