Published Bi-weekly by TPC Publications, Inc.
Publishers of The Progressive Christian Magazine
NeXus EDITOR Cynthia B. Astle, editor@umnexus.org
NeXus PUBLISHER Kathleen Palmer, skp@umnexus.org
Volume 3, Number 12

IN THIS ISSUE:
Commentary:
First Person: A Chaplain Reports from Afghanistan
By Howard S. Bell
Commentary:
Belated Truth Telling
By Jim Winkler, General Secretary General Board of Church & Society
Context:
UMC Gears Up to Aid Midwest Flood Victims
Compiled by UM NeXus
Context:
Opposition Spokesman Outlines Issues
Interview with William K. McElvaney
Context:
SMU Responds to Bush Complex Questions
Interview with Brad Cheves
Vice President for Development and External Affairs
E-Pistles
Quotables

NEWS BRIEFS

ZIMBABWE CRISIS: After a June 22 observance, United Methodists continue to pray fervently this week for their sisters and brothers in the southern African nation of Zimbabwe, as the political and humanitarian crisis there reached a new peak. The United Nations Security Council issued a unanimous declaration June 23 condemning pre-election violence that caused Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition party, to withdraw June 22 from a presidential runoff just five days before it was to be held, reported the New York Times. Tsvangirai, whom many believe won the presidential election in March, said he could not ask voters to risk their lives in the face of threats from forces backing President Robert Mugabe. At least 85 people are dead and thousands injured in the violence, according to tallies kept by doctors treating the victims. Mugabe said he would “go to war” before he would permit himself to be removed from office. “Only God, who appointed me, will remove me, not the M.D.C., not the British,” Mugabe was quoted by the NYTimes. “Only God will remove me!”

In a joint letter issued in Geneva June 24, the World Council of Churches and the World Student Christian Federation requested the UN, the South African Development Community and the African Union to pay “urgent attention to the humanitarian needs of the people of Zimbabwe, their freedom to exercise religion, the destabilization of the political situation and the need to end human rights abuses.” The letter added: “We have learned from our Zimbabwean brothers and sisters that some churches have been kept from offering worship while other church services have been violently dispersed. This situation, which is underreported in the media, is unacceptable and must receive urgent attention from the world community interests and safety of the people.” Linda Bloom of United Methodist News Service has written a wrap-up of UMC prayer services and other efforts on behalf of Zimbabwe.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief and the General Board of Global Ministries have been working behind the scenes with other international partners to bring humanitarian relief. However, since Mugabe threw all international relief agencies out of Zimbabwe in early June, saying that their giving out food aided his political opposition, very little assistance has gotten through even clandestine channels. United Methodists can continue to give to UMCOR’s Advance Special No. 199456, Zimbabwe Emergency in hopes that some kind of international intervention will enable relief to get to starving, embattled Zimbabweans.

WHAT WE BELIEVE: Americans are not dogmatic about their faith, reports the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life in part two of its landmark study on American religion. Focusing this time on what people believe, Pew reports that some 70 percent of Americans believe that more than one religion can lead to eternal life. Among mainline Protestants such as United Methodists, 83 percent believe that more than one faith can lead to salvation. Reflecting their heritage of personal interpretation of scripture, 82 percent of mainline Protestants said they believe “there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion.” Among many localized reports on the new findings, the Los Angeles Times reported the Pew study found that Californians are less religious than the rest of America. While 71 percent of Americans overall believe in God, 62 percent of Californians say they believe in God or a “universal spirit.”

‘WHITE-GUY METHODISTS’: While in Europe, President Bush described a global desire for democracy by saying that more people than merely “white-guy Methodists” (such as he and Vice President Dick Cheney) believe in freedom, reported New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. The president’s comment drew a sharp rebuke last week from United Methodist laywoman Ellen Kirby of Winston-Salem, NC. In a letter to the editor, Ms. Kirby wrote: “As a lifelong United Methodist laywoman, I was shocked to see this quote. Methodists have opposed many wars, including the war in Iraq. To add insult to injury, Mr. Bush made this comment while he was in England, the home of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church and a leading abolitionist. Methodism in all its varieties represents a broad stream of races, languages and national diversity around the world. Mr. Bush’s characterization is narrow and insulting.”

CHARITABLE GIVING: Religious organizations continued to receive a large slice of America’s philanthropic pie, taking in $102.32 billion, or 33 percent of the total $300 billion given in the United States in 2007, reported the New York Times. The annual statement by GivingUSA says that educational institutions received the second largest part, $43.32 billion, or 14.1 percent of the overall amount given. Donations to all charity rose slightly in 2007, but experts fear a decline this year as givers tighten their budgets in a recession. Meanwhile, the Christian Science Monitor reports that more donors are becoming comfortable with giving via the Internet.

RACIAL PAST: Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy for U.S. president excites many African Americans, but there’s still some anxiety at Mount Zion UMC in Philadelphia, MS, reported the Los Angeles Times. The black church, then known as Mount Zion Methodist, was burned down by the Ku Klux Klan in June, 1964. On June 21, 1964, three civil rights workers – two white men, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, and their black colleague, James Chaney – came to Mount Zion to register people to vote. They were later killed by the Klan. A memorial to the three men now sits outside the church. Because of this past, Mount Zion UMC member, Sylvia Campbell, 74, remains skeptical even in the face of Obama’s candidacy. “I know Mississippians,” she told the LA Times. “Barack Obama will never change the uneducated whites from the South.”

ECO-CHURCH: Bethesda Methodist Church in Cheltenham, England, has bought energy monitors in bulk for its members in a drive to shrink the congregation’s carbon footprint, reports the British newsletter, Ekklesia. Bethesda, which recently earned second ‘Eco-Congregation Award’, is buying Owl wireless energy monitors, which help reduce electricity consumption by enabling users to see exactly how much they are spending at any given moment. The monitors were launched to the UK market in September 2007, and enable users to see their usage through an easy to read portable monitor unit which can be placed anywhere in the home.

SCHOOL ANGELS: Hundreds of volunteers from St. James UMC in Kansas City, MO (Missouri Annual Conference) and the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, KS, (Kansas East Annual Conference) are removating Troost School in downtown Kansas City. They’re painting the school in bright colors, making repairs and creating murals in a two-week blitz, reported KMBC.com. The churches also will be supporting the school throughout the year with supplies, help for teachers and tutoring the youngsters, according to a report from Church of the Resurrection’s senior pastor, the Rev. Adam Hamilton, at last November’s Church and Society conference.

EXCITED GIVING: The UMC’s Connectional Giving blog has a June 23 post about how First United Methodist Church in Hopkinsville, KY, held Vacation Bible School June 8-12 with the theme “Beach Party: Surfin’ Through the Scriptures.” For their mission project, the church selected Nothing But Nets, as emphasized by the Cokesbury curriculum. The 80 kids at First-Hopkinsville got so excited about helping other youngsters avoid deadly malaria that they raised a total of $300. The Connectional Giving blog is produced by Tracy Wood, a five-year staffer at United Methodist Communications and web coordinator for UMCGiving.org, which offers resources on the denomination’s various church-wide funds.

FAMILY KILLED: Members of Custer Road UMC in Plano, TX, north of Dallas, are mourning the deaths of a popular and devoted church family killed when a car ran a red light and slammed into the family’s minivan as they headed home from June 22 worship. Killed were Geoff Hart, his wife, Christy, their 12-year-old daughter Rebekah and two foster children, reported the Dallas Morning News. Originally from Louisiana, the husband and wife, both 41 years old and, met at UM-related Centenary College. They joined Custer Road UMC in 1991 and taught Sunday school, worked with the junior high choir and volunteered for mission work in Mexico. Christy worked in the church office. “I don’t know why it happened but I do know this – that this morning, this family lived and they died and … they live now. They live with God,” the Rev. Ronald D. Henderson, Custer Road’s senior minister, told the Dallas newspaper.

INQUIRY CONTINUES: The investigation continues into the slaying of Rosemary “Rose” Todd Wynn, the 51-year-old estranged wife of the Rev. Sam Wynn, reported the Fayetteville (NC) Observer June 22. Mrs. Wynn was found June 4 badly beaten and unconscious on the kitchen floor of the couple’s Hoke County home. She died the following day. The state medical examiner’s office has ruled her death a homicide. No charges have been filed in the case. Rev. Wynn, a prominent Native American church leader, was appointed district superintendent of the Fayetteville region’s United Methodist churches June 14. The Hoke County sheriff’s office has named him a “person of interest” in his wife’s murder. He has requested a 60-day paid family leave before taking his new position, according to Bishop Al Gwinn (Raleigh, NC, Area).

RUSSIAN EFFORTS: Local schools in Russia are embracing a fervor for Russian Orthodoxy, reports the Los Angeles Times – the new enthusiasm appears to be similar to that of an Orthodox bishop who forced the closing of a United Methodist Sunday school this past spring. Some school officials say they support the classes because they bring cultural cohesion to Russia’s increasingly diverse population. Meanwhile, the General Board of Global Ministries announced a new partnership between the Minnesota and the Northwest Russia Annual Conferences to establish a new United Methodist Center in St. Petersburg, Russia. United Methodists in Minnesota have already given $500,000 toward the facility and expect to add $100,000 in the near future. The 120th anniversary of Methodism’s arrival in Russia, with the first base in St. Petersburg, will be observed next year, writes Elliott Wright of the mission board communications staff.

SMU LAND: Southern Methodist University appears to be getting a break from the city of University Park over the cost of a strip of city land once eyed for the Bush presidential library, reports the Dallas Morning News. The city has offered to get a three-way panel to come up with a price for the land after SMU balked at paying the $2.45 million a city examiner said the property was worth and decided to hire its own appraiser for a second opinion. At issue is Potomac Park, an undeveloped, three-quarter-acre parcel, dotted with oak trees and shrubs, behind a shopping strip. Voters agreed to sell the parcel last year when SMU said it might be needed for the George W. Bush presidential library, museum and policy center. Since then, officials decided to build the Bush complex a couple of blocks north, but still wants to acquire the park.

ONE OF OURS: The Toledo Blade has taken note of the 2008 General Conference vote that officially recognized Nazi resistance leader Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor, as a 20th century martyr for United Methodists. The Rev. Charles Sigman, a United Methodist pastor in Newport, Ark., submitted a resolution to the 2008 General Conference that said, “In keeping in line with the Church of England and the Church of Wales, we, as United Methodists, should also recognize Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a modern-day martyr for the cause of Christ.”

RADIO BISHOP: Retiring Bishop Beverly Shamana (San Francisco Area) was a guest on Sacramento Public Radio’s “Insight” program recently. According to the California-Nevada Conference’s “Instant Connection” newsletter: “In response to questions from host Jeffrey Callison, Bishop Shamana talked about the history, structure, and philosophy of The United Methodist Church, General Conference decisions on human sexuality issues, her personal stance on those issues, and the Children and Poverty initiative, among other matters.” Listen to or download the June 11 interview.

FILL THE BAG: Give a cheer for the West Virginia Annual Conference. During its annual session June 6, clergy and laity in attendance at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon filled a canvas bag with $2,924.11 for the Global AIDS Fund, according to a conference report. Similar to those given to delegates at the 2008 General Conference, the bag was imprinted in honor of this year’s 60th anniversary of The Advance for Christ and His Church, the UMC’s “second-mile” mission-giving program. Chris Heckert of The Advance staff, who brought the empty bag that Bishop Ernest Lyght sent around for donations, also presented a plaque indicating that West Virginia had the largest increase in local church participation in The Advance of any conference in the Northeastern Jurisdiction in 2007.
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