Annual Conference 2024 Recap

What an amazing Annual Conference Session in Casper, Wyoming! Thank you for bringing wonderful gifts of music, hospitality, and care as we worshiped and conducted our annual business. Over the next several weeks, you will find many resources on the 2024 Annual Conference webpage and sub-pages.

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Worship and Video Resources

Soon we will share several enlightening videos to amplify with your congregations or to rewatch on your own. Culling through all of the enriching time together takes, well, a little time. We appreciate your patience and will post them in the order in which many of you have requested.

In the meantime, please accept a copy of the presentation made by Dr. Ashley Boggan, General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History, our keynote speaker who delighted the crowd. 

View Presentation - You may also read her entire speech here.

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Offerings to Annual Conference - over $9,000 given in Worship, Laity Session, and Clergy Session.

• Sand Creek Commitments
• A Table for All
• East Angola Pastors' Salary Support
• Kind Grounds Navigation Center – Casper, WY

We have already collected over $5,500 from 41 new donors to A Table For All in honor of Bishop Karen and Robin’s retirement!

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Save the date for next year's MSC Annual Conference:

June 11 - 14, 2025 - St. Andrew UMC (Highlands Ranch)

Worship with us tomorrow

Join us Sunday for worship at 10:15 a.m. in person or online here. 

Preview Sunday's bulletin here. 

Summer volunteers are needed! Sign up at greeter's table 

at the back of the sanctuary.

Happy birthday, John Wesley!

From John Wesley's journal entry for June 28, 1774:

"This being my birthday, the first day of my seventy-second year, I was considering. How is this, that I find just the same strength as I did thirty years ago? That my sight is considerably better now and my nerves firmer than there were then? That I have none of the infirmities of old age and have lost several I had in my youth? The grand cause is the good pleasure of God, who doth whatsoever pleaseth him. The chief means are: (1) My constantly rising at four, for about fifty years. (2) My generally preaching at five in the morning, one of the most healthy exercises in the world. (3) My never travelling less, by sea or land, than four thousand five hundred miles in a year."

Apple Palooza!

Come meet our unique "Tree of 40 Fruit" in front of the library. Hear local author Claudia Mills read from her new book, The Last Apple Tree, with a book sale and signing to follow. Enjoy apple-themed snacks and activities, listen to oral histories about apple trees, and celebrate all things apple-related. Registration requested - Sunday, June 30, 1 - 2:30 p.m.   https://calendar.boulderlibrary.org/event/12092562

Honor Bishop Karen Oliveto with a Donation for A Table for All

How does one thank someone who has spent 40 years dedicating her life to serving The United Methodist Church? Kind notes, beautiful flowers, or little tokens?

Or perhaps, the best way, a donation to her legacy project, A Table for All.

Bishop Karen Oliveto has spent decades strengthening churches by ensuring that all are welcome. This commitment is born from her childhood experience of being taught in Sunday School that “Jesus loves the little children, all little children in the world.” This sense of God’s generous grace and wide embrace fostered Bishop Karen’s call. And it has broken her heart over and over again that not every child of God has had such a rich experience of God’s love. Wherever she has served, she has sought to build Beloved Community. Our Mountain Sky Conference has experienced that commitment and the power of Beloved Community.

As Bishop Karen enters into retirement, we hope to deepen her legacy by strengthening A Table for All, which Bishop Karen helped establish with conference leadership to ensure that vital and inclusive congregations would exist across our 4+ states, so that children everywhere will find a warm welcome in The United Methodist Church in their areas.

You are invited to be a part of this legacy and honor Bishop Karen by contributing to A Table for All.

To date the bishop’s legacy project, A Table for All, has made a significant impact through financial gifts to 12 churches. Learn more about Cohort 1 and Cohort 2.    These churches have worked to create an inclusive environment, grow their congregations, become operationally stronger, and thrive within their communities.

With A Table for All donation, you are honoring Bishop Karen Oliveto for her commitment to show the world that God loves all people.

Watch the video that highlights how A Table for All is serving our communities.

May we all sit at A Table for All that encourages the gifts within all people to do more good in the world. To learn more, visit this link.

Wednesday check in!

We started the Wednesday morning check in during the early weeks of the pandemic. It has been a joy to see it continue and how each week sees us take a wandering road as we share with one another! Join us each week at 10:00 AM (Zoom link available in the News You Can Use), you'll be glad you did and so will we!

Severe weather response

Keep those impacted by the severe weather in the midwest in your prayers.

Iowa faces flood damage after a levee breach and over 150,000 people in Michigan are without power. More storms, including hail, winds, and possible tornadoes, are expected in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska, along with storms in South Dakota and Minnesota.

To support those affected by this and other disasters throughout the U.S., donate to https://bit.ly/umcorusdr.

Wednesday with the Wesleys

Good works are so far from being hindrances of our salvation; they are so far from being insignificant, from being of no account in Christianity; that, supposing them to spring from a right principle, they are the perfection of religion. They are the highest part of that spiritual building whereof Jesus Christ is the foundation. To those who attentively consider the thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, it will be undeniably plain that what St. Paul there describes as the highest of all Christian graces, is properly and directly the love of our neighbour [1 Cor. 13].

And to him who attentively considers the whole tenor both of the Old and New Testament, it will be equally plain, that works springing from this love are the highest part of the religion therein revealed. Of these our Lord himself says, ‘Hereby is my Father glorified, that ye bring forth much fruit.’ Much fruit! Does not the very expression imply the excellency of what is so termed? Is not the tree itself for the sake of the fruit? By bearing fruit, and by this alone, it attains the highest perfection it is capable of, and answers the end for which it was planted. Who, what is he then, that is called a Christian, and can speak lightly of good works?

~ John Wesley (The Reward of the Righteous)

Today in Methodist history

 

All that General Conference passed

When General Conference opened April 23, the lawmaking body of more than 750 United Methodists from around the globe had 1,099 petitions to consider.

By the assembly’s closing worship on May 3, the delegates had voted to support more than 500 pieces of legislation — setting a new course for The United Methodist Church. Some legislation took effect immediately.

To give readers a sense of the scope of what passed, United Methodist News has assembled a chart of all the petitions that the delegates moved forward. The chart includes each piece of legislation’s calendar item (basically the number assigned to it for consideration on the floor), a brief summary of what it does, the final vote tally and when it takes effect. Where possible, the summaries link to UM News articles or other websites where readers can gain more information on the legislation.

See the chart of legislation approved at this year’s General Conference here at this link.

Read more at this link.

This week @ St. Paul's UMC

 

Monday:

9:00 AM, Office Hours

 Tuesday:

9:00 AM, Office Hours

Wednesday:  

9:00 AM, Office Hours

9:00 AM, Wednesday Weeders

10:00 AM, Zoom Fellowship 

Thursday:

9:00 AM, Office Hours

1:00 PM, Ladies Summer Book Club

Friday: John Wesley's birthday

Saturday:

6:00 AM, BBKC Prayer Time

9:00 AM, Yoga class

 Sixth Sunday after Pentecost 

8:45 AM, Study Class

10:15 AM, Worship 

11:15 AM, Fellowship

12:30 PM, BBKC

Scripture lessons for June 30

Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter (Rome)

We bring the month of June to a close this week and with it, come our scripture lesson from Mark 5:21-43.

Ordination Service 2024

Mountain Sky Conference clergy

Clergy ready to process

The newest UMC elders

Final thoughts from our bishop

The highlight of Annual Conference each year is the celebration that is the ordination service. Today's service at First UMC in Casper, Wyoming was the final time we would hear from Bishop Oliveto before her retirement at summer's end.

Today, two were commissioned as Deaconess, nine were presented for recognition as Local Pastors, and one person was recognized as an Associate Member of the Annual Conference. Additionally, two more were commissioned on the elder track and seven more were ordained as Elders in Full Connection.

June 23 @ St. Paul's UMC: Prayers

 Joys: 

+We give thanks for Pastor Janeen Hill for bringing the message this morning.

+Pastor Charles lifts up in prayer all those who are being recognized, commissioned, or ordained today at the Mountain Sky Annual Conference ordination service in Casper, Wyoming.  

+Bishop Karen Oliveto reappointed Pastor Charles Alkula to serve the St. Paul's United Methodist Church Family for another year.

+We are thankful for this week's birthday: Betty Herrell. We also give thanks for this week's anniversary: Austin & Joan Cooper and Jim & Joey Vander Vorste.

+We give thanks for those participating in today's worship service: Amy Abshire (liturgist), Sandy Bainbridge (greeter), Lylah Bishop (acolyte), Tim Cook (class), Lorie Courier (piano), Etta Levitt (Zoom usher), Kathy Lloyd (Zoom host), Suzanne Polacek (piano), and Jim & Joey Vander Vorste (fellowship/flowers).

Concerns: 

+We lift up the family of Tammy Paup (daughter of former St. Paul's pastor, Bishop Ed Paup) following her death last Sunday.

+Prayers for Dean H. who is dealing with medical challenges in Winside, Nebraska. Prayers for him and all who love and care for him. (Pastor Charles served the United Methodist Church there when he first married Belinda in 1997.)

+Praying for the people of Ruidoso New Mexico, who are starting to recover from a major fire and the death of two residents who didn’t escape the fire. The whole state is mourning.

+We continue to pray for those in the midst of conflict in Haiti, Yemen, South Sudan, Ukraine & Russia, Gaza & Israel, and wherever else God's people are in distress.

June 23 @ St. Paul's UMC: Announcements

+Yesterday at Annual Conference, two video presentations were offered. View the video tribute for Bishop Oliveto that was shared at AC at this link. View the video love song from Bishop Oliveto that she shared with the AC at this link.

+The Women’s Summer Book Group will begin meeting weekly via Zoom on Thursday, June 27, from 3:00 to 4:30. We will be reading and discussing the Overture and Chapter One of Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Anne Lamott. The book is available on Amazon and in local bookstores. Please join us if you enjoy lively and interesting discussion. Belinda will be happy to send you the Zoom link.

+July 7 will see the beginning of Pastor Charles' annual summer sermon series. This year, the series is inspired by Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who by Frederick Buechner. It will invite us to consider how people just like us, people with flaws and strengths, hopes and fears, along with emotional baggage and spiritual gifts, have something to share and teach us. This year’s series looks at some of the persons found in the scriptures that perhaps don’t get as much attention as those whose names adorn buildings and who are depicted in art and hymns. From the Old Testament we will hear about Balaam, Bathsheba, Gehazi, and Gideon, while the stories of Onesimus, Zaccheus, and Festus will come from the New Testament.

+Virtual Adult Mission u Study: “Welcome Home” Join us for the 2024 free online summer study on July 9, 16, 23, 30 (Tuesdays) from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. The study leader is Janeen Hill. The study book is Welcome Home. This study

explores how we can know God as an intimate friend who welcomes us. The study leads participants outward so that what starts in our homes expands to welcoming others to join us in our work as co-creators to establish God’s kin-dom on earth. The registration link will be in next week’s News You Can Use. Contact Belinda Alkula if you have questions.

+A former pastor of St. Paul's, Bishop Ed Paup's eldest daughter, Tammy Paup, passed away on Father's Day. While Bishop Paup was serving at St. Paul's UMC, Tammy received a kidney transplant and wasn't expected to live past age 12. She was 56. She lived with her mother who has been her close companion and sole caregiver since Ed's passing in 2011. She remained a positive and joyful person even with her recent blindness. Please keep her mother, sisters, and extended family in your prayers as they adjust to this loss amidst graduations and planned celebrations. If you'd like to send a note or card to the family, Carol's address is: 1101 Calle del Valle, Rio Communities, NM 87002.

June 23 @ St. Paul's UMC: Worship

Pastor Janeen Hill offers the sermon

Lorie Courier & Suzanne Polacek offer a duet

Lylah does her duties as our acolyte

Working on a jigsaw puzzle after worship

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Today's recording Part One and Part Two

Today’s Meditation Verse: “The Lord is a safe place for the oppressed – a safe place in difficult times.” —Psalm 9:9

Welcome...Rev. Janeen Hill

Prelude...Suzanne Polacek / “Breathe on Me, Breath of God,” arranged by Jonathan Lee

*Call to Worship (Psalm 107, The Message)...Amy Abshire

Leader: Oh, thank God – he’s so good! His love never runs out.

People: All of you set free by God, tell the world! Tell how he freed you from oppression, then rounded you up from all over the place.

Leader: Some of you set sail in big ships; you put to sea to do business in faraway ports. Out at sea you saw God in action, saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean.

People: With a word he called up the wind – an ocean storm, towering waves!

Leader: Then you called out to God in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time. He quieted the wind down to a whisper, put a muzzle on all the big

waves. 

People: So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves. Lift high your praises when the people assemble.

*Hymn...“Stand by Me” (UMH #512) v. 1-3

A Summer Litany for Grace...Amy Abshire

L: God of gentle rains and warm sun, God who encourages growth,

P: We are creatures who sometimes grow quickly and sometimes get stuck.

L: God of freedom, of liberation, of binding ropes being cut,

P: We are bound in ways we don’t always understand or recognize.

L: God of exodus and exile and homecoming, God who calls us to leave where we are and come home,

P: Help us to have the courage to make the journey and to trust in the path.

L: God of health and healing, God who wants us to be made whole,

P: We come as people who are wounded in body and in spirit, people who seek healing.

L: God who has laid out a way for us to live, who has given us rules for living in community,

P: We come as people who sometimes go astray, people who stretch the rules.

L: God of Grace, we come as people who live through that Grace.

P: And so, we praise You for the growth, we rejoice in being set free, we dance along the path that leads us home, we give thanks for the healing we have received; we relax in the knowledge that we are forgiven, and we live as people of Grace. Amen.

—Rev. Gord, posted on Worship Offerings

Old Testament Lesson: Job 38:1-11...Amy Abshire

Special Music...Suzanne Polacek and Lorie Courier / “Come, Christians, Join to Sing,” arranged by Mark Hayes

Community prayer requests, concerns, and celebrations

Pastoral Prayer / The Lord’s Prayer...Rev. Janeen Hill

Gospel Lesson: Mark 4:35-41...Rev. Janeen Hill

Leader: This is the Word of God for the people of God. People: Thanks be to God.

Sermon...Rev. Janeen Hill / “Who Is This?”

*Hymn...“Give to the Winds Thy Fears” (UMH #129) v. 1-4

*Words for the Journey...Rev. Janeen Hill

Postlude...Suzanne Polacek and Lorie Courier / “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee,” arranged by Mark Hayes

Annual Conference - Day 3

GCAH General Secretary speaks to the assembly

Litany of farewell

Part of the Litany of Farewell

Bishop's farewell remarks to the Annual Conference

The final day of Annual Conference was a whirl of presentations, voting on various topics, and a heartfelt farewell to our bishop who is retiring at the end of the summer.

View the video tribute for Bishop Oliveto that was shared at AC at this link.

View the video love song from Bishop Oliveto that she shared with the AC at this link.

Next year, the Annual Conference sessions will be held at St. Andrew UMC in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, June 11-14.

Pictures of Bishop Karen Oliveto's Visit to Boulder St. Paul's UMC -- Featured in Her Retirement PowerPoint Presentations

 

L-R: The Rev. Dr. Charles Alkula, charter members Dennis & Marcia Hult,

and Bishop Karen Oliveto

Today, during the annual conference of The Mountain Sky Conference of The United Methodist Church in Casper, Wyoming -- We enjoyed a great presentation of pictures from Bishop Karen Oliveto's time as our bishop -- which included this picture of when she preached at St. Paul's UMC - Boulder (in Boulder, Colorado) on April 7, 2024 -- to celebrate the church's 60 years in ministry. View the presentation at this link.

A second picture from her visit appeared in a musical slideshow Bishop Oliveto offered to the Annual Conference with her love and appreciation for her time in the Mountain Sky Conference. She sang a special song composed which was set to a tune from the Carpenter's. See the slideshow at this link.

Church Blog: https://bolderstpauls.blogspot.com/.../april-7-st-pauls...

United Women in Faith Breakfast Gathering at Annual Conference Today

 
Deaconesses in the Mountain Sky Conference

(All pictures taken by The Rev. Dr. Charles Alkula)

Deaconess Robin Ridenour leads the program

Wonderful participation in person!

Folks also participated via Zoom!

Great gathering at First United Methodist Church in Casper, Wyoming, today! We appreciate Deaconess Robin Ridenour presenting a wonderful program about the Deaconess and Home Missioner Order in The United Methodist Church. To learn more about this order, click here. 🧡

Here is the link to the recording of the program that was uploaded to our conference's United Women in Faith YouTube channel. 

Sunday's coming!

  Join us Sunday for worship at 10:15 a.m. in person or online here. 

Preview the bulletin at this link.

Retired pastor, Janeen Hill will be our worship leader while Pastor Charles is at the Mountain Sky Annual Conference.

Worship with us!

Join us Sunday for worship at 10:15 a.m. in person or online here. 

Preview Sunday's bulletin here.