Sept. 29, 2003
Gambling opponents exhort one another to stand strong
By Melissa Lauber*

WASHINGTON (UMNS) – For opponents of gambling, Maryland is a battleground state, where past victories are being challenged by renewed efforts to legalize slot machines.

It is also an example of how a bottom-up fight against legalized gambling can be won, said the Rev. Tom Grey, a United Methodist and anti-gambling activist.

For that reason, he said, Maryland was chosen as the site for the annual meeting of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling and the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion. Grey is executive director of both groups.

About 125 people from 38 states gathered in Baltimore for the annual meeting Sept. 26-27. Barbara Knickelbein, a United Methodist and co-chair of NOcasiNO, hosted the gathering, rallying the participants by emphasizing that, like David, they could defeat the casino Goliath.

Eight years ago, a grass-roots coalition of religious, civic and business groups defeated a move to bring casinos to Maryland. State Delegate Peter Franchot, a Democrat from Montgomery County, said state Gov. Robert Ehrlich is supporting the legalization of slot machines in an effort to collect more than $800 million to address budget shortfalls.

Franchot said Ehrlich, a United Methodist, is doing this by making budget cuts to "raise the pain level" and encouraging voters to support the legalization move.

The strategy is working, Franchot said, citing public opinion polls. "We’re perched on the edge of a cliff."

Maryland is not alone in fighting legalized gambling. This year, according to Grey, 19 states defeated efforts to bring slot machines to racetracks; five states successfully opposed the introduction of new casinos and seven opposed the expansion of casinos; six states won campaigns to deny lotteries; and five states defeated moves to allow convenience gambling in liquor, convenience and grocery stores and taverns.

However, 47 states have legalized gambling, said Richard C. Leone, an author of the 1999 National Gambling Impact Study and the keynote speaker at the conference.

"The bottom line is that gambling has become an economic and entertainment activity producing significant negative consequences for millions of individuals and families – consequences such as bankruptcy, divorce, crime and mental health disorders," he said. "At some point in their lives, more than 15 million Americans display problems associated with problem or pathological gambling. This year, Americans will spend more on gambling than they do on groceries."

Jim Winkler, top staff executive of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, condemned the "corrosive effects of gambling." Gambling, he said, offers "false hope for easy riches."

"The strongest words in all our denomination’s Social Principles speak against gambling," Winkler said.

In its Social Principles, the church condemns gambling as "a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, and destructive of good government." It calls upon Christians to abstain from gambling and to minister those who are victimized by the practice.

At the two-day conference, participants heard panel discussions about the legal, political, economic, psychological, criminal and ethical dimensions of gambling. Experts used statistics to show gambling’s impact:

The conference participants shared legal and lobbying strategies. Jeff Benedict of Connecticut told how lobbying efforts in his state helped defeat the expansion of Native American casinos.

"There is a better way than just visiting with legislators," said Benedict, who explained that politicians are moved by money, votes and adverse publicity. His organization gathered a database of e-mail addresses of civic leaders and encouraged them to forward a message they composed opposing the proposed statute. Then they encouraged the leaders to forward that message to 10 other people.

Legislators reported receiving more than 7,000 e-mail messages. "There’s power in organizing people committed to a common goal," Benedict said.

Winkler encouraged the participants to continue speaking as prophets, especially when they feel overwhelmed. "The central challenge for people of faith today is how to put their faith into action and live holy lives," he said.

He closed by telling a Native American story of a boy who approached his grandfather about two wolves struggling within him. One was a wolf of peace, love and kindness; the other of fear, greed and hatred. "Which one will win the struggle?" the boy asked. The grandfather answered, "Which ever one you feed."

"Gambling," Winkler said, "feeds the wolf of fear, greed and hatred."

*Lauber is associate editor of the UMConnection , the newspaper of the Baltimore-Washington Conference.


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Sept 25, 2003
Africa University perseveres in Zimbabwe’s hard times
By Pamela Crosby*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — United Methodist-related Africa University has managed to maintain its health and vitality despite the economic and social turmoil in its host country, Zimbabwe, school officials say.

"In spite of the fact that Zimbabwe is experiencing crippling inflation and unbelievable shortages of food and fuel and other things, the superb budget management of our bursar, vice chancellor, general secretaries and many others have made it possible to finish each of the last three fiscal years with no deficit," said Aubrey K. Lucas, president emeritus of the University of Southern Mississippi and treasurer for the Africa University Board of Directors.

While acknowledging the school’s resilience, Africa University’s development committee is also confronting the need for increasing support from the denomination.

Nancy M. Carruth, a long-time champion of higher education, asked the group at its September meeting to encourage all delegates to the 2004 General Conference to continue support for Africa University. "Let them know that when the Africa University petition comes to the floor, saying ‘yes’ is a vote for the students of Africa University and future leadership on the African continent."

Committee members strategized about helping United Methodists understand that the denomination’s original commitment of $20 million to the university for the quadrennium – $10 million toward the apportionment and $10 million toward the World Service Special endowment – has never been met. Local churches must give equally to both the apportionment and the endowment in order for the university to meet its day-to-day and operational needs, the committee said.

Africa University’s Vice Chancellor Rukudzo Murapa thanked the school’s Legacy Society – whose members invest in the school through planned giving – as well as the development committee for their commitment to the university.

Bishop Ernest S. Lyght of the church’s New York Area – the newest member to the board of directors and the development committee – expressed excitement about the committee’s work. "When you hear about the wars, when you hear about the rumors of wars, when you hear about what is going on in Zimbabwe and other places, remember that God is on the throne. … The morning is coming. It is a new day."

During the development committee’s biannual meeting, staff executive James Salley told members that Africa University’s ability to "survive within an unfriendly economic and political environment reinforces our belief that the university is a gift from God." Salley is Africa University’s associate vice chancellor for institutional advancement.

The university began classes Aug. 18 with a projected enrollment of 1,200 students representing 21 African countries. "In spite of the scarcity of certain commodities in the country," Salley said, "the dining hall did not miss a meal."

Committee members celebrated a $1.6 million in-kind gift through a collaboration with the Christian Alliance for Humanitarian Aid, which is partnering with Africa University and others to ship medical supplies, seeds, food concentrates and items to Zimbabwe.

In other business, the committee:
Learned that the Christian Alliance for Humanitarian Aid has stored and prepared for shipment 100,000 HIV/AIDS test kits for Africa University. Prescription medicines, vitamins, and mineral products also have been donated.
Highlighted the results of the Usahwira (you-suh-we-rah) project, which helps local churches begin a relationship with the university in a variety of ways.

*Crosby is a staff member of the Office of Interpretation of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.


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Sept. 25, 2003
Hurricane recovery requires time, money, relief workers say
By Joretta Purdue*

WASHINGTON (UMNS) – Recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Isabel will take time, work and money, say United Methodist leaders in the hardest-hit areas.

The storm came ashore Sept. 18 in North Carolina and wreaked havoc along the East Coast. At least 36 people were killed, and President Bush declared North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia disaster areas.

"It’s a devastated place," said Bishop Marion Edwards of the church’s Raleigh (N.C.) Area, after visiting the village of Hatteras, N.C., by boat Sept. 23. "Many of the homes and businesses have been completely wiped out or moved off their foundations. Some have disappeared into the ocean."

The hurricane created a waterway that cut off the village from the rest of Cape Hatteras. People were without utilities until the state brought generators from the mainland. Water supplies were limited, and many homes and businesses were destroyed or damaged.

The Rev. Charles Moseley, pastor for a three-point charge, was in the village of Hatteras, where one of his churches is located. He told reporters that he was wearing his last clean underwear and had no means of doing laundry, since the village was without water and power.

Another pastor elsewhere on the cape decided she could address that need. The Rev. Susannah Fitch-Slater and members of St. Johns United Methodist Church in Kinnakeet, Va., arranged to do laundry for Hatteras residents. An area of the Hatteras United Methodist Church is designated for dropping off bagged dirty laundry and another area is designated for pickup. The laundry is transported by boat.

The bishop, with North Carolina Conference disaster and mission workers, visited Hatteras on a three-day tour of hard-hit areas. The day before, they were in Swan Quarter, N.C., where Edwards noted that most of the homes and three of the eight United Methodist churches in surrounding Hyde County had been flooded.

Providence United Methodist Church in Swan Quarter had just completed extensive renovation after Hurricane Floyd’s flooding in 1999. The congregation had one service in the new sanctuary before Hurricane Isabel struck, flooding the first floor.

"We have a well-organized North Carolina response team in place," Edwards said. He added that the conference learned from Hurricane Fran in 1996 and later Floyd.

Bishop Joe Pennel of the Virginia Area also praised his conference’s disaster team.

"We have widespread destruction," he reported Sept. 23. "A lot of it is insurable – that is to say, trees and houses and things of that sort. The people who are suffering the most are people who did not have insurance. The poor are hit the hardest.

"We still have a large number of people without electricity, and water has become the big issue because the water is polluted. People are having to find ways to get water to drink."

A tree, about three feet in diameter, fell across the office used by the Rev. Tommy Herndon, Portsmouth (Va.) District superintendent. He said a crane would remove the tree after the insurance adjuster viewed the destruction. "There were thousands and thousands of trees down," he said.

"We had church (services) at almost all of our churches Sunday," Herndon said. Many of the buildings were dark, so services were held outdoors or in areas with windows.

Sue Robinson in Poquoson, Va., said the two United Methodist churches there had extreme water damage. Trinity United Methodist Church, where she is a secretary, had just completed a $1 million addition and renovation last year. Tabernacle United Methodist, where she worships, had about 6 inches of floodwater in its sanctuary, offices and first-floor classrooms.

"My own home was destroyed by the floodwaters, but the sight of our church really did me in when I went for services on Sunday," she said.

United Methodist Committee on Relief workers are helping conference officials assess the needs of people in areas most affected by the storm. UMCOR is processing emergency grants in response to requests from the North Carolina, Virginia, Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware annual conferences.

The agency is receiving money for the hurricane relief through "Hurricanes 2003," Advance No. 982438. Check donations can be made out to UMCOR, designated for either advance and placed in the offering plates or sent to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit card donors can call (800) 554-8583, and online donations can be made at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor .

Volunteers can contact UMCOR at (800) 918-3100.

*Purdue is a United Methodist News Service news writer.


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Sept. 30, 2003
Church must continue reaching to Hispanics, commission told
By Linda Bloom*

HOUSTON (UMNS) – When the Rev. Minerva Carcano was growing up in Edinburgh, Texas, there were two Methodist churches in town – one for Hispanics and one for "Anglos."

She was thrilled when the two churches joined forces for vacation Bible school – held during the first summer at her own church and the second summer at the other church, which she had never been inside before.

Her joy turned to dismay when it became clear that the school’s final program would be confined to the fellowship hall because the Anglo congregation "did not want their sanctuary soiled by brown children."

Carcano, now almost 50 years old and serving as a United Methodist clergywoman in the Oregon-Idaho Conference, recalled that experience of her youth during the Sept. 25-28 meeting of the Commission on the Status and Role of Women.

Her presentations and Bible studies were part of an emphasis during the meeting on Hispanic United Methodists, particularly women. The denomination has encouraged the growth of Hispanic members and congregations during the past decade through its National Plan for Hispanic Ministry.

The Rev. Jeannie Trevino-Teddlie, a commission member from Dallas, pointed out that Latinos and Latinas would soon be the majority population in Texas, and she added that if the church is serious about its call to make disciples for Christ, it must be serious about mission with this population.

Trevino-Teddlie, director of the Mexican-American Program at Perkins School of Theology, led commission members through part of "Pentecost Journey," a basic resource that she helped put together for the National Plan for Hispanic Ministry. The curriculum sensitizes congregations to issues relating to Hispanics.

Carcano said she has celebrated the improvements in her own life because of her faith and involvement in the church, but stressed that she knows "people of my generation" who continue to struggle and live in poverty.

That struggle has intensified with the economic decline of recent years, she added, recalling church families who were "working hard but not making it."

Maria Cantu, a candidate for lay missioner from Vida Nueva United Methodist Church in Houston, agreed that poverty, along with immigration status and difficulty with language, were the major problems faced by Hispanics today. She participated in a panel discussion with two other local Hispanic women and two Hispanic commission members.

But the Mexican native and grandmother of 11 had high praise for the freedom she felt within the church. "As Hispanic women, we are now free to express ourselves – we can preach, we can teach," she told commission members. "All women, Hispanic or not, have gifts to bring to the church."

Irma Turrubistes, a pastoral leader at Vida Nueva, also sees value in her neighborhood evangelistic work and involvement in the church, despite the lack of economic resources. "One of the reasons I have come to the United Methodist Church is that I see a big future," she said.

The Rev. Maria T. Santiago, a commission member from Puerto Rico, still finds barriers for women, both inside and outside the church. In Puerto Rico, for example, men usually are pastors of the big churches, while "women tend to be sent to missions, sometimes impossible missions. We go where nobody wants to go.

"We have to empower ourselves," she added. "No one is going to do it for us."

Even low-income women can empower themselves. Turrubistes noted that every morning a small group of women comes to her home to pray, eat and prepare for the tasks of the day. In the church itself, about 35 women sell food to raise money for mission. "It’s the women who are doing it," she said. "They come with their children."

In the neighborhood around Central Park United Methodist Church, the Rev. Guadeloupe Diaz has been organizing the women and other residents, many of them immigrants, for the past four years. Programs range from a counseling program for abused women to preschool classes to spiritual guidance. "We never close our doors, even if we can’t pay our bills," Diaz said.

Commission members visited Central Park and witnessed the work that has been put into the building, with the help of volunteer labor and a $25,000 grant. As she showed them around, Diaz mentioned it was not unusual, on a given day, to have a viewing organized by a nearby funeral home take place in the sanctuary as preschool kids played in the social hall and women prepared meals in the attached kitchen.

Commission members also visited Iglesia Metodista Unida San Marcos, the first Hispanic church chartered by the Texas Annual Conference in 1989. In addition to a meal and lively worship, the Rev. Silverio Sanchez shared his journey from Mexico to the United States and from small-business owner to pastor.

He told how his congregation bought and converted a former bank building into a house of worship. "We’re still in the saving business," he quipped.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.


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Oct. 1, 2003
Financial cloud lifts as NCC drops debts, doubles assets
By Linda Bloom*

NEW YORK (UMNS) – The National Council of Churches is debt-free and has doubled its assets in the past year.

That was the news from the council’s 2002-03 fiscal year, which ended in June. The budget audit was shared Sept. 30 with members of the council’s executive board.

The Rev. Robert Edgar, a United Methodist who serves as the NCC’s chief executive, said it was a "historic moment." He reminded the board of the situation four years ago, when the financial crisis was so great that the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns temporarily suspended funding from the denomination until assured that a viable recovery plan would be implemented.

The suspension eventually was lifted. Various denominations, including the United Methodist Church, pledged a total of $2 million to help stabilize the ecumenical agency’s finances. With action by the council – ranging from a significant staff cut to aggressive solicitation of donors to the streamlining of business functions and accounting procedures – a balanced budget has been achieved for the second year in a row.

"We’ve now shaped the staff component to meet the revenues coming in," Edgar told the executive board.

More importantly, thanks to a $6.3 million anonymous unrestricted gift in March, the NCC has more than $9 million in its long-term reserves. At the end of the previous fiscal year, the reserves were $2.5 million. Total assets doubled from $6.3 million in 2001-02 to $12.6 million in 2002-03.

Five percent of the interest and earnings from the reserves will be allocated to the regular budget. Because some NCC members are facing their own financial difficulties, the anonymous gift "makes up for the downturn in funding from some of our member communions," Edgar said.

In 2002, the NCC also received a three-year, $500,000 grant from Lilly Endowment to help develop resources for new programs.

Edgar told United Methodist News Service he eventually would like to see $25 million to $30 million in long-term reserves, noting that the rule of thumb is that interest earnings on reserves should equal 20 percent of an annual budget to ensure smooth sailing when regular income does not meet expectations.

He pointed out that the NCC had $24 million in reserves as late as 1994, but that amount had dropped to less than $3 million at the end of 1999. Edgar became the council’s leader in January 2000.

The council’s budget crisis was attributed to the depletion of unrestricted reserves in 1998 and to 1999 expenses of nearly $4 million that were authorized by the executive board but not part of the regular budget. About half of those expenses involved payment to a consulting firm hired to review and redirect the council’s fiscal management policies and practices. Other items included a pension contribution adjustment of $680,000 and a contribution to the council’s burned churches fund.

United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert, an executive board member, said he still believes the United Methodist suspension of funding four years ago was necessary "for the good of the whole ecumenical movement" to serve as a catalyst for action.

"I was never of the opinion that the council would fail," he said. But he added that NCC leaders needed to commit to live within their means and become aggressive fundraisers. The accomplishment of both those tasks "has made it possible to get us where we are."

Now, Talbert said, "communions can feel excited about being a part of this organization."

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.


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Sept. 26, 2003
Pension agency considers investment plan changes
A UMNS Report
By John Lovelace*

Not even its $10 billion in holdings can shield the United Methodist clergy pension system from the onrush of baby boomer-era retirements, particularly when exacerbated by a long-lived bear market.

Boomers and older retirees are taking more money out of the system than current participants are putting in. This is forcing the church’s Board of Pension and Health Benefits to establish increasingly higher levels of reserves.

After extended study, the board’s Asset/Liability Committee has unanimously recommended that the board replace its reserve-based Diversified Investment Fund with the Multiple Asset Fund that the board established some 18 months ago. A board spokesman gave the proposal a "better than 50 percent" chance of approval at the board’s meeting Nov. 21-22 in Chicago. Actual implementation is not expected until after Jan. 1.

A question-and-answer discussion on the board’s Web site explains that a market-based fund is like a traditional mutual fund, with assets subject to daily valuation and change.

The main difference between a market-based fund and a reserve fund, the site says, is that a reserve-based fund absorbs "shocks" caused by aberrant moves in the value of the assets while market-based funds can experience gains and losses more readily.

The United Methodist Diversified Investment Fund absorbs rapid changes in market value via a reserve cushion of 14 percent of the fund’s assets. But last March, when the market was at its lowest, the fund fell to about 84 cents of assets for each dollar it owed participants, or 2 percent below the built-in cushion of 14 percent. Nonetheless, the board has continued to credit each participating account at full value. As of Sept. 12, thanks to an improved market, the reserve has a positive balance of 2 percent, or $1.02 for each dollar owed to participants.

"The DIF has served the denomination well by allowing participants to fully benefit from the market gains during the prolonged bull market while also protecting participants from severe market conditions," said Gale Whitson-Schmidt, a staff executive and the treasurer for the board in Evanston, Ill. "However, participants ultimately bear the risk of sustained negative markets, and the reserve nature of DIF provides less than adequate security and support to all participants of a mature pension plan."

About 65 percent of assets in both the Diversified Investment Fund and the Multiple Asset Fund are invested in U.S. and international stocks and 35 percent in U.S. and international fixed income investments. Board data show the Multiple Asset Fund has outperformed its industry benchmarks since its launch. More information is available at http://www.gbophb.org/invest/funds/maf.html.

In the Web site Q&A, the Asset/Liability Committee "recognizes that many participants have a low tolerance for market risk and are nervous about the possible reduction in the value of their accounts. ... (The committee) believes that participants have been exposed to market risk all along. The nature of the reserve fund masks that exposure. ... (The committee) believes that participants who continue to maintain a long-term investment in a market-based fund will have the best chance of maintaining their lifestyle into retirement."

The approximately 21,000 current retirees and spouses will not be affected by the proposed change, and a low-risk fund option will be available to some 3,600 participants over age 60. Normal retirement age for United Methodist clergy is 65.

If the board of directors approves the committee’s commendation, the first funds to be moved will be balances in the Ministerial Pension Plan (25,500 participants, $3.3 billion in assets) and the Staff Retirement Benefits Program (1,100 participants, $110 million in assets). An additional $653 million is already in the Multiple Asset Fund via participants’ Personal Investment Plans.

Bishop William W. Morris, who leads the church’s Nashville (Tenn.) Area, is chairman of the 39-member board. William Green of Stamford, Conn., leads the seven-member Asset/Liability Committee.

Details on the proposed change are available at http://www.gbophb.org/news/releases/20030912pr.html and http://www.gbophb.org/news/releases/20030912qa.html.
*Lovelace is editor emeritus of the Dallas-based United Methodist Reporter .