UMCOR expert visits with Piedmont tornado survivors

Fairland UMC, where worship averages 56 people, contributed 26 cleaning buckets, eight kits, and $600 to the VIM Annual Conference collection for UMCOR. "With so many floods and storms, we need to support the efforts of UMCOR," said member Jess Robinson. Richard Norman of the VIM office reports work is...

After a storm, how can we help most?

After a major disaster strikes, compassionate people everywhere want to help. Think before you give or go. The UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) website offers these questions to guide responses that will be the most helpful. • Is the organization reputable? How much of your gift will go to disaster response and how much will be used for administrative costs? • If you are donating goods, has there been a direct request for the items? Sometimes it is more labor-intensive...

Conference-wide policy proposed for Volunteers In Mission

Let’s fill the truck! Oklahoma VIM is collecting emergency supply kits during the Annual Conference, to be distributed where people are in great need of humanitarian aid due to disasters. Deliver donations Sunday through Wednesday to the designated truck parked in the lot north of OCU Freede Center. ...

Oklahoma Volunteers In Mission pledge ongoing service

HOPE IN HAITI—Children surround their new friend, Jeanne Hathcock of Yukon, an Oklahoma Volunteer In Mission who served in the quake-ravaged country in early November. The gate sign at top identifies the guest house, where the VIM team stayed, which is operated by the Methodist Church of Haiti.   Seeking hope in Haiti One year ago this month, an earthquake struck Haiti, in the Caribbean, and the horrific results...

VIM explores ways to connect with young adults

Following the Plan: This article continues a series focusing on the Oklahoma Conference Strategic Plan. "We want to reach more people, more diverse people, and more young people."—A core belief of the Strategic Plan By Sarah Malloy Nichols Working and researching for Oklahoma Volunteers In Mission (VIM), I have learned more than I ever thought possible about Generations X and Y, and how they and the Church...

VIM puts safety first with training

Participants practice chainsaw safety skills. They are Richard Norman, Ed Bevers, Kent Carbaugh, Mike Sheehan, trainer Joe Glenn, Curtis Cromwell, and Scott Stone. Some disaster response volunteers were puzzled. Did they really need three days to learn about chainsaw safety? In the "Storm Damage CleanUp Course," six Oklahoma volunteers came to value that time commitment. Trainer Joe Glenn, a...

Booked for travel

Photo by Amelia Ballew Mike Brown and Evelyn Phyffer of OKC-Crown Heights UMC are surrounded by boxes filled with books, ready for shipment to Ganta United Methodist School, Liberia, for a new library. The book drive began in November, and the donations filled several rooms at Crown Heights. Total: 12,000 books and 1,000 periodicals, in 271 boxes. Phyffer said donors were creative in procuring materials. One church member visited the...

Bolivian folk musicians trumpet Christ's cause

Pastor Robert Rose greets a member of Anyi, a folk-music group from Bolivia, when their tour stopped at his church, OKC-Chapel Hill UMC. By Aloise McCullough A concert-and-dinner series in March met with mild success in raising money for...

How can we help?

By Richard Norman, Disaster Response Coordinator       At New Light UMC in Lawton, Steven Clay of Carnegie UMC maneuvers carefully while trimming a tree damaged by the late January ice storm. ...

When the Body is broken

VIM’s Kristin Terrell-Wilkes, left, and Mary Alice Young sort health kits for Haiti. "We thank you. You have kept us in your prayers, and we are grateful. You have sent donations through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). You have expressed selfless interest in volunteering to come to Haiti to help ... "Teams of Volunteers In Mission (VIM) will be integral in...

Tulsa-based Engineers In Action get UMCOR funds

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has announced a grant of $9,600 to Tulsa-based Engineers In Action (EIA). The engineers group was formed out of the partnership between the Evangelical Methodist Church of Bolivia and the Oklahoma Conference. David Stephenson leads the Bolivia-Oklahoma ministry committee and is pastor at Skiatook UMC. Rev. Stephenson said, "11 Bolivian children die every hour from a...

VIM transfers oversight of Manos Juntas to Mexican Methodists

On Dec. 2, a covenant ceremony transferred oversight of the Oklahoma Conference Volunteers In Mission (VIM) ministry in Rio Bravo, Mexico, to the Eastern Conference of The Mexico Methodist Church. A delegation of Oklahoma leaders traveled to Rio Bravo to watch two bishops sign the historic ministry agreement involving Manos Juntas Mexico. Oklahoma’s Bishop Robert Hayes Jr. and Bishop Raul Garcia of...

Volunteers In Mission realigns staff, structures

Did you know? National missions--57. Total volunteers--450. Seven of the missions were in partnership with the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. International missions--88. Total...

Ministry through music - VIM team performs in Poland

Annell Thompson is seated at the drum set, center, and Claremore-First Pastor Ray Crawford is at far left in a Roman Catholic church at Miedzyrzecz, Poland. The large banner proclaims "Let us care for life," Thompson said. By Aloise...

VIM recruiting teams for Nicaragua

Oklahoma Volunteers In Mission (VIMs) are preparing to expand their ministry into Nicaragua. Larry Calderon of Nicaragua visited Oklahoma on May 4-6 and spoke about the witness of the Evangelical Methodist Church of Nicaragua. Calderon has been the VIM coordinator for the Church in Nicaragua for four months. He said the Church in Nicaragua typically welcomes three to five VIM teams each year from the United States. The denomination is 20 years old. In its first decade, the Church consisted of...

'Many times I had pictured myself returning'

Editor’s note: Rev. George Gilland, a Vietnam War veteran and pastor at Yukon-First church, took part in the VIM Vietnam mission. By George Gilland I know that people who experience physical, emotional, and spiritual trauma are inexorably tied to the time and place of that trauma. As a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, I am tied or joined to Vietnam and her people. The question has to do with the nature of this tie,...

Please help our people find Christ

  (photo on the right) Larry Blackburn of Oklahoma, left, and Hoi Chung, pastor of Le Tho Phoung United Methodist Church in Vietnam, sing during Mission Bible School at the church. (photo on left), Tommy Walters helps a child with crafts...

VIM leads drive for 5 kinds of emergency kits

Deliver gifts for UMCOR to Annual Conference On a Spring Break tour, McAlester District youth mission team members enter the UMCOR supply site at Baldwin, La. Volunteers In Mission will again collect emergency kits in conjunction with the Annual Conference in late May. This year’s drive will gather five types of...

Funds will assist Oklahoma tornado victims

  United Methodists are praying for and extending aid to Oklahomans in areas hit by tornadoes Feb. 10. Some residents of Lone Grove, just west of Ardmore, died in the storm. Property damage was extensive in that community and in parts of Oklahoma City. How you can help If you or your church would like to financially help the victims of the recent tornados, send donations to the...

Neighbors in other nations

  Partnership projects are connecting Oklahomans with people in Bolivia and South Africa. These pictures show moments in two recent trips to those nations by United Methodist groups from the state. Bishop Robert Hayes Jr. participated with both. Above, children surround Bishop Hayes as he breaks ground in Johannesburg, South Africa, for Come Back Mission home, for people affected by HIV/AIDS. At left, VIM Director...