Advance info on health, pension costs

A full house asked few questions at the first pre-conference meeting, April 14 at Anadarko-First. Crucial changes in clergy healthcare and pension benefits drive the discussion at these district meetings, which continue through May 9. Conference Treasurer Brian Bakeman urges each church’s financial officers to attend, as well as clergy and Annual Conference delegates. "We want the laity...

Pension and health plans: big changes

Pre-conference meetings will give delegates details By Holly McCray Changes looming in pension and health plans in 2014 intensify the need for Annual Conference delegates, both clergy and laity, to attend pre-conference meetings. These meetings begin April 14, for Clinton and Lawton District churches, at Anadarko. To comply with General Conference pension legislation and federal healthcare law,...

Offering pays tribute to elderly

Senior Living Ministries Sunday By Holly McCray Her hair is gray in all my memories. She was already in her late 40s when she moved in with us, and I merely a toddler. I remember her singing in the church choir, and her hands turning Bible pages as her head bowed to read at home. Yet I know her hair wasn’t always white from age. She married at 17, survived the Great Depression, hand-picked cotton alongside...

UM-affiliated nursing homes:

Shannon McClure of Oklahoma City comforts a patient at a hospital in Lugansk, Ukraine. Hospice team teaches in Ukraine We can serve Christ at every stage of our lives. The mostly older...

Medical network will change to Blue Cross Blue Shield in 2011

By Holly McCray The new year will bring a change in the health insurance network for the Oklahoma Conference’s self-insured medical plan. Beginning Jan. 1, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma (BCBS) will become the statewide network for the Conference’s Health Benefits Plan, which insures active Oklahoma United Methodist clergy members and lay employees. Their claims for hospital or physician services now will be...

Award goes to Tulsa man for jobs boost

Clark Millspaugh of Tulsa recently received the 2010 Community Service Award given by the Oklahoma Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. Millspaugh’s vision is transforming lives in an inner-city community of Tulsa, according to Steve Dickie, executive director of Oklahoma Methodist Manor, and Pastor Wade Paschal of Tulsa-First UMC. Millspaugh is founder and president of Summit Exploration, an oil and gas firm. He and his wife, Anne, are active members of Tulsa-First UMC....