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Today, in Holston Conference News Briefs for May 2:

Wednesday on the Web @ holston.org

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TOP STORY: Lay nominee bios are now online

Lay members representing Holston at General Conference 2008 will be elected at Annual Conference, held June 10-13 at Lake Junaluska, N.C. In addition to lay nominee biographies published in the "Book of Reports," nominees had the option of also providing 200-word statements for online availability.

Seven lay and seven clergy delegates from Holston will be elected for General Conference, for a total of 14. Joining those delegates elected to General Conference, an additional seven lay and seven clergy will be elected for Jurisdictional Conference. In all, 28 delegates from Holston will be elected for Jurisdictional Conference.

Clergy delegates to the 2008 conferences will be nominated by clergy on site at Annual Conference in June. A list of clergy eligible to vote and to be nominated will be listed in the "Book of Reports," which will be mailed to all Annual Conference members this month.

Read the lay bios and statements now

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This Sunday: Take an offering for Brazil

On May 6 or an alternate date, Holston's 912 churches will take an offering to support the United Methodist Church of Brazil. The goal is $100,000. To help you promote the offering to your congregation, DVDs and videos are available in your district office. A DVD, bulletin insert, and other resources are also available at the link below.

Download bulletin insert and other resources

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Are you a Caring Congregation? 5 steps

In light of the Virginia Tech tragedy, conference leaders hope that all Holston churches will become "Caring Congregations." The May 4 edition of The Call explains the process. A Caring Congregation workshop will be offered at the "Mental Health Matters" seminar on Saturday, May 19, at Shady Grove UMC in Dandridge, Tenn.

Learn more about "Caring Congregations"

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Wanted: United Methodist missionaries

The United Methodist Church is launching a missionary recruitment campaign. Personnel are needed for work in evangelism, church development, education, medical care, agriculture, legal services, and financial missionary service. A majority, although not all, assignments are outside the United States.

Read about qualifications for missionary service

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Now online: 'Clergy Day' videos and transcripts

Active clergy were required to attend one of two day- long events, held March 27 at Cokesbury UMC and April 17 at State Street UMC. Six speakers were followed by a box lunch, small-group time, and a covenant service by Bishop James Swanson.

Download videos, reports, and handouts now

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African missionaries in Holston next month

Supporting congregations are encouraged to invite Maria and Bill Humbane, missionaries at Ishe Anesu in Zimbabwe, to their churches next month. The Humbanes will be in Holston Conference June 13-30. Call Bill Daugherty at (423) 253-4801.

Learn about our hands-on mission for Zimbabwe

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For Mother's Day and and the month of May

The General Board of Discipleship offers these resources:

* A Litany for Mother's Day
* Offertory prayers for May 2007

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1 million baptisms: Who said that?

"Every Southern Baptist should be both informed and alarmed that our declining baptism trend means we are not coming close to keeping up with population trends."

— Harry Lewis, executive vice president of missions with the North American Mission Board for the Southern Baptist Convention. Lewis was quoted in a Baptist Press article stating that the church's goal to baptize 1 million people in 2006 was not met. However, Baptist churches in Tennessee and Virginia did report increases.

Read the Baptist Press article

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New event announcements appear here. Visit our upcoming events page for other events. Be sure you have the newest Acrobat Reader or you may not be able to view PDFs.

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NOW AVAILABLE

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