annajo08

Use the Faith You've Found

Today the extended Branches family gathered under a big white tent to celebrate and dedicate the newly constructed Branches Florida City facility. The building, which also houses Branches UMC, will be the hub for Branches’ activities in southern Miami Dade County.

The ministry of Branches was born out of one tragedy- Hurricane Andrew in 1992- and suffered another blow in 2010 when a Pentacost Sunday fire destroyed the structure that had housed Branches’ after school programs, church gatherings, English classes, and financial stability services.

Since that time, Branches’ services in Florida City have never stopped. They simply relocated, first to a tent, then to portable units that, while functional, were woefully small for the number of children and families served there. For years, the staff at Branches Florida City created homemade dividers, set up offices in closets, and learned to work in the noise and chaos of holding 100+ children…

View original post 683 more words

Use the Faith You've Found

This past week, June 8^th-11^th, I had the privilege of participating in the 2014 West Ohio Annual Conference. For those of you not familiar with Methodism in the U.S., here is your crash course on the structures of the church and how annual conference works.

There are about 35,000 United Methodist congregations in the world, located in 125 countries. These churches are grouped regionally into annual conferences and then into jurisdictions. Annual conferences in the U.S. roughly follow state borders, sometimes crossing state lines or being sectioned off within them. There are 57 annual conferences in the United States, and West Ohio is my home conference.

Every year at the beginning of June, clergy and lay leaders within the West Ohio Conference gather in Lakeside, Ohio for our annual conference. This conference serves several purposes. Important matters to the church conference are discussed and voted…

View original post 791 more words