exclusive – Countdown to summer camp! @ holston.org- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
TOP STORY: More than 700 flock to ‘Children’s Day’
Moving the location from Annual Conference at Lake Junaluska to camps across the conference, ministry workers scored big on May 22 when more than 700 kids and adults gathered for "Children's Day" activities. Six Holston camps hosted children representing more than 70 churches for a Saturday of canoeing, crafts, music, and other camp activities. Many participants reportedly had not been previously exposed to Holston camps.
The first-ever "Children's Day" at camp replaces the same-named event of Annual Conferences past, which typically attracted about 100 participants. Hosting camps included Buffalo Mountain, Dickenson, Ft. Blackmore, Laurel, Lookout, and Wesley Woods. For information on other children's activities, click here.
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Annual Conference: Don’t forget missions offering
Churches only have a few more Sundays to take special offerings for a conference-wide effort to raise $125,000 for missions in India. Local-church leaders are reminded to place their offerings in envelopes recently mailed to church treasurers. The offerings (in check form, please) will be collected at a missions festival on Sunday, June 13, at Annual Conference in Lake Junaluska, N.C. For more information on the missions offering, click here.
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Live from Lake Junaluska, it’s Holston Conference
Not attending Annual Conference? Church members back home will again have access to a live web stream from Stuart Auditorium in North Carolina, every day from June 13 through June 16. Visit www.holston.org, where you'll be directed to www.eviewlive.com for video or audio coverage. For more information on Annual Conference, click here or see the upcoming June 4 edition of "The Call."
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African church needs used choir robes
Bill Daugherty, Holston missions coordinator, requests used choir robes for Hilltop United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. According to Daugherty, the request comes from missionaries Bill and Maria Humbane, who seek robes in any color for a 40- to 50-member choir. The robes are needed by June 10. Call Daugherty at (865) 690-4080 or e-mail .
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Want to help a new college student succeed?
"Orientation" is an annual magazine designed for graduating high-school seniors, first-year college students, and their parents. Published by the Campus Ministry Section, the magazine offers a "warm spiritual welcome" for students with its 2004 theme, "Get a Life! Not Just a Job." To order the magazine online ($3 plus shipping and handling), click here.
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Legalizing gay marriages: Who said that?
"I'm not sure the church has very much credibility in dealing with gay marriage because we haven't done a very convincing job on heterosexual marriage."
– Bishop Ken Carder of Mississippi, formerly of Holston Conference, in a recent United Methodist News Service article concerning legalizing gay marriages.
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Your online calendar: Remember these dates
Aug. 1: “Holston Night at the Ballpark” (click here)