Advocate
Or Current Occupant
Volume 27 No. 5
Sept.-Oct. 2011
The Advocate - A Publication of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference of The United Methodist Church
Three from OIMC among delegation to World Methodist Conference After three fund raisers (a lot of Indian tacos), some help from the Oklahoma Conference and their personal contributions Rev. David Wilson, Rev. Margaret Battiest and Josephine Deere joined up with the delegates from the Oklahoma Conference to form the Oklahoma Delegation to the World Methodist Conference held in Durban, South Africa. After 18 hours of flying the delegation arrived in Durban on August 2nd to wonderful cool – football – weather. The World Methodist Conference convenes every five years to bring together members of the worldwide association of churches in the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition. The 2011 World Methodist Conference marks the 20th gathering of the Methodist/ Wesleyan family from 74 member churches representing more than 132 countries. The theme of the conference for this year was “Jesus Christ: For the Healing of the Nations.” There were 1,826 registrants representing 58 countries. The World Methodist Council met just prior to the opening of the conference where they elected a new General Secretary as well as a new president. Bishop Ivan Abrahams, presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa was inducted as the next General Secretary of the World Methodist Council. Abrahams is the first African to be elected to such a position. Bishop Abrahams will begin his new assignment January 2012 and will be residing at Lake Junaluska, North
Carolina where the WMC headquarters is located. Rev. Dr. Paulo Lockmann, from the Methodist Church of Brazil was elected president of the WMC. Those elected from the UMC of the USA were: Mr. Kirby Hickey, Treasurer; Bishop Lindsey Davis Member of the Presidium; Bishop B. Michael Watson, chairperson of Evangelism; Mr. Jorge Lockward, chairperson of Worship and Liturgy; Bishop William Hutchinson, chairperson Personnel Committee; and Mr. Byrd Bonner chairperson ATV Investment Committee. Rosalind Colwill, a champion of mental health care in Nigeria was the recipient of the 2011 Methodist Peace Award. The Peace Award concept was initiated in 1976 by Dr Stanley Leyland during the 13th WMC held in Dublin - during the time of intense conflict in Northern Ireland. Criteria for this award are courage, creativity and consistency in work and witness to peace. Ms Colwill joins other Peace Award winners such as Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Our delegation had the opportunity to participate two afternoons in a food packaging for Stop Hunger Now program. We assisted in the packaging of over 100,000 food packets to be distributed to those suffering from malnutrition due to famine. The majority of the packages were being shipped to Somalia. It was a wonderful feeling to know that what you were doing was going to help someone in need of food and maybe to save a life. We went one afternoon and the next morning a plea was given that more workers were needed to complete the task, so we went back that afternoon. At the final count we
Pictured left to right: Josephine Deere, Rev. Margaret Battiest and Rev. David Wilson had packaged 101,000 meals! Some of the other highlights included: the parade of banners of member churches; Bible study by Dr. Joy Moore, Associate Dean of Duke Divinity School; Africa University Choir; Durban Metro Young Men’s Guild Choir; street parade and rally; worshiping in a local church. Following the completion of the conference, the Oklahoma delegation was able to spend a few days visiting in other parts of South Africa. Jeremy Basset, of the Oklahoma Conference and originally from South Africa, arranged for us to have a guide so we could experience the country. We spent two days exploring Kruger National Park where all the wild animals of Africa roam free. We were able to go to a reserve where we spent time with some cheetahs and tried to take a walk with some lion cubs but they weren’t interested in walking. We visited an animal rehabilitation center for injured and/or mistreated animals. We were able to see the beautiful country,
the mountains, and the different crops that are grown in that area and experience the cuisine. A special thank you to Jeremy for arranging this opportunity, it was fantastic and definitely a once-in-a-life-time experience. A special thank you to Rev. Donna Pewo, Rev. Bernadine Dowdy, Rev. Anna Stilwell and Lucille Miller for their help at the taco dinners; Glenpool Fellowship and Leland Clegg UMC for the use of their facilities and all of you who bought a taco without your help this would not have been a reality.
Kneeling William and Keith our guides, Joe Harris. 2nd Row: Josephine Deere, Margaret Battiest, Jeremy Basset, Norma Quinn. 3rd Row: Randy Mitchell, Helen Mitchell, Hershel Beard, Sam Powers, David Wilson, Cynthia Havlik, Victor McCullough, Bishop Hayes, Brian Bakeman, Cheryl Powers, Nancy Harris
At the conclusion of food packaging for Stop Hunger.
The Advocate is published six times a year by the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference of The United Methodist Church. For subscription information, contact the office at 3020 S. Harvey, OKC. OK. 73109. Phone: 405-632-2006; Fax: 405632-0209. E-mail: jdeere@oimc.org