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Important Happenings!

                                           L.I.F.E. @ Central

          On Wednesday, April 2, 2008, we will begin our second episode of "L.I.F.E. @ Central." The acronym L.I.F.E stands for "Leaders, Instructed, Fully-Equipped." and is based upon the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy:

      All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
      training in righteousness. So that the man and woman of God may be fully equipped
      for every good work (NIV).


          We will kick off this session of "L.I.F.E. @ Central" with our third Central Community Forum held at 7:00 PM in Kendall Hall. Our guest speakers will be Revs. John and Valerie Fairchild. John is Pastor of Calvary UMC in Phoenix, and Valerie is Associate Pastor of Tempe First UMC in Tempe. The Fairchilds' presentation is entitled A Legacy of Mission in India.
          In January of this year, Revs. John and Valerie Fairchild joined Kamal Solanki, a member of Calvary UMC, in Vadodara, India in the state of Gujarat. Mr. Solanki was born in this region and returns often as a part of his ministry. During their ten day trip, they preached and taught over twenty times in various settings in Methodist churches, district meetings, and Methodist schools. The state of Gujarat is a Hindu state where one must seek government permission in front of a judge in order to claim Christianity as his or her faith. This   pre- sentation presents a snapshot of life in this highly industrialized region and examines the influence of the Methodist church. Some questions raised before leaving for India were, "What is the result of mission work in this country? Has it had a lasting effect in transforming lives? What is the future of Methodism in India?" Mr. Solanki, John, and Valerie will help examine these questions and share their story with us.
          As always, we encouraged you to invite friends, family, neighbors, and acquaintances to any of our programs at Central UMC. Childcare will be available. To request childcare or for additional information about "L.I.F.E. @ Central" call the church office at 602-258-8048.
          On Wednesdays, April 9,16, 23, & 30, "L.I.F.E. @ Central" will gather at 7:00 PM in the East Dining Room. After a brief time for announcements and opening prayer, we will break into one of two elective classes.
    1. Pastor Bob will teach a four-week class entitled "A Christian Map for
        Navigating Political Discourse." Based upon the book God's Politics
        by Jim Wallis, this class will explore some Christian core values that
        can help us evaluate candidates' positions on various issues and
        policies.
    2. Have you ever wanted to make a special card for someone and just
        didn't know how to start? Carol Shears from Avondale, will be here
        to teach us beginning card making with special papers and stamps.
       There will be several to choose from each evening and you can sign 
       up for one night 
or all of them. Sign up on the Fine Arts Patio at
       10:30 AM on Sundays. There will be an opportuneity to donate to help
       defray Carol's cost of the materials as she will have everything ready 
       for you to assemble when you come to class. 
 

                    L.I.F.E. at Central
                         
February 6 & 13

    Hot Button Issues - Bob will be facilitating an investigation into hot button issues of our day. Special emphasis will be placed on taking seriously the roles of scripture (properly interpreted), tradition, reason, and experience in making decisions that reflect the priority of our commitment to Christ. How we decide will be as important as what we decide.
    Faith and the Family - Did you know that committed, interpersonal relationships are the laboratories in which Christian faith grows? Rev.
Tina Rees, an ordained United Methodist Deacon and a licensed clinical counselor, will share ideas for growing our Christian faith in the context of family. Newly wed or "oldly" wed; children (of any age) or no children, spouses or partners, even singles with a soul-mate - whatever your experience of family, you are welcome.
    SoulSpace - one component of a Wednesday "forum" will be 1 hour to 1.5 hours each Wednesday. Come and learn a new skill or brush up on an old one and maybe meet some new friends in the process! Child
Care will be provided if you call the office at 602-258-8048 by Monday of that week.
    This Olde Church - one component of a Wednesday "forum" will be 1 hour to 1.5 hour projects to enhance or repair specific areas or equipment around the campus. Volunteers will have a choice of projects
(materials and supplies pre-purchased and packaged for each project) that can be complete in one session. Staff leadership will be provided. This program is for short term volunteers (4 weeks). Plan to bring your
favorite tools, or "must have" cleaning supplies. We will be bright and shiny - in top working order in no time.

                         A Justice for the Common Good
    On January 16, the week prior to our "L.I.F.E. @ Central" kickoff,
Rev. Tex Sample will be lecturing on "A Justice for the Common Good." Tex Sample is a sociologist of religion, lecturer, author, and emeritus Professor of Church and Society at the St. Paul School of Theology, a Methodist seminary in Kansas City, MO, where he taught from 1967-1999. He specializes in the areas of U.S. lifestyles, U.S. culture, social theory and social change, power, social class and theological ethics. He is a specialist in the study of blue collar and poor people.
    Sample has authored nine books: Blue Collar Ministry (Judson Press, 1984), U.S. Lifestyles and Mainline Churches (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990), Hard Living People and Mainstream Christians (Abingdon, 1993), Ministry in an Oral Culture: Living with Will Rogers, Uncle Remus, and Minnie Pearl (Westminster/John Knox, 1994), White Soul: Country Music, the Church and Working People Abingdon Press, 1996), The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired
World (Abingdon Press, 1998), Powerful Persuasion: Multisensory Witness in Christian Worship (Abingdon, 2005), Blue Collar Resistance and the Politics of Jesus (Abingdon, 2006), and Earthy Mysticism: Spirituality for Unspiritual People (Abingdon, January, 2008). He co-edited The Loyal Opposition: Struggling with the Church on Homosexuality (Abingdon, 2000) with Amy DeLong.
    As always, we encouraged you to invite friends, family, neighbors, and acquaintances to any of our programs at Central UMC. Childcare will be available. For additional information about "L.I.F.E. @ Central" call the church office at 602.258.8048.  

The Season of Advent

by Pastor Bob

 

    What is it to me if Mary is full of grace

    and I am not also full of grace?

    What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to a Son

    if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture?

--Meister Eckhart (1260 - c. 1328)

 

One commentator writes of Meister Eckhart,

 

...he offers hard, practical advice on how to discern one's spiritual path, how to follow that path, how to do the work required.... With time, any religion, any culture, any individual picks up baggage. After a while it is easy to overestimate the baggage's

importance. Eckhart will not let us do this. He constantly holds before us the only matter of substance, the only reality: our relationship to God.

 

    The anticipated arrival of a newborn child into our homes and our lives is an occasion for joyous preparation. Spare rooms filled with clutter and accumulation are emptied, cleaned, painted, and furnished as excitement builds to a feverish pitch. And all for what?

· For the arrival of one who will turn our routines upside-down.

· For the arrival of one who will totally reorder our self-centered
   priorities.

· For the arrival of one whose surviving and thriving in the world will
  depend entirely upon our
willingness to surrender to love.

· For the arrival of one who will enlarge our hearts and expand our
  capacity to experience both joy and
sorrow.

 

    Nineteenth century hymn writer Phillips Brooks echoed Eckhart's sentiment in what is one of my favorite lines in all Advent/Christmas hymnody:

 

    O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;

    cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.

   

    The season of Advent begins on Sunday, December 6. Advent is a season for house cleaning, for casting out, both literally and spiritually. It is a season for examining and discarding the accum-ulated clutter that renders our homes and our hearts uninhabitable for the holy Child of Bethlehem. Before abdicating control of your holiday finances and calendar in order to accumulate, consume, and entertain, make it your first priority to create space for deaccumulat-ing, for giving, and for time alone with God. Let every heart prepare

Him room...including yours and mine. 

                     Come to the Cross
       Desert Southwest Annual Conference
                         Thoughts by Bill Gary
   
I approached Annual Conference, not knowing what to
expect. I was very pleasantly surprised by a number of
things. From the first session on Thursday, it was clear
that parliamentary procedure was alive, well, and living
at Annual Conference. We'd probably still be there if it
weren't. This could be especially true this year as this
was the last Annual Conference prior to the General
Conference next year. There must have been more
legislation this year, knowing that, if approval was
sought, it had to be in 2007 in order to pass on to the
General Conference.
    Being the people watcher that I am, it was interesting
to observe the politicking that you could tell was going
on. I was reacquainted with a number of pastors and
laity whom I had met over the years on Emmaus
weekends. Everyone was dressed comfortably; shorts,
flip-flops, you name it. Of course Bishop Carcaño was
wearing a suit, as was her parliamentarian, founding
Bishop Elias Galvan.
    I was very impressed with the manner in which the
Bishop managed the conference; she was firm but
pleasant, and she has a great sense of humor. At one
point, when there was some ballot confusion, we were
waiting for the tellers who distributed and picked up the
ballots, to return to the convention hall from a brief
review of the balloting procedures. They ran over the
time expected, and Bishop Carcaño laughingly said,
"Brothers and sisters, the Rapture has come, and the
tellers have been taken up!"
    It was a privilege to be a part of your delegation to the
2007 DSW Annual Conference.
                 Thoughts by Thelma Sparks 
   
Attendance at opening day of the United Methodist
Church Annual Conference is an experience for every
Methodist to encounter the high Spirit like no other. 
    The Memorial and Anointing services, held on
Wednesday evening, were amazingly warm. The
message, "By Your Spirit, Make Us," was rendered
wonderfully by Rev. Ed Bonneau.
    The 2007 theme for our Desert Southwest Annual
Conference of the United Methodist Church was Come to
the Cross
. During our daily worship services, ministers
exceptionally addressed the theme through messages,
we are called to be "One With Christ," "One With Each
Other," "One in Ministry," "To All the World," "Until Christ comes in Final Victory," "And We Feast at Your Heavenly
Banquet." The Cross is an intersection of Love!
    Rev. Dr. Stephen Bryant, World Editor/Publisher of the
Upper Room, our study leader, excitedly presented his
desire for pastors to be imaginative in order to provide a
setting for new expressions for leadership and
congregational development.
    The children's choir from First United Methodist Church of Gilbert furnished music during one of the sessions.
    The hymn,
And Are We Yet Alive, took on new meaning for me. There is nothing like hearing Methodist
preachers singing it.
    And are we yet alive, and see each other's face?
    Glory and thanks to Jesus give for his almighty grace!
    Let us take up the cross till we the crown obtain,
    And gladly reckon all things loss so we may Jesus
        again.                            -- Charles Wesley, verses 1 and 6
                  Thoughts by Don Morse
   
The business and administrative end of Annual
Conference is governed by a healthy system of rules and
procedures which are reviewed and amended each year.
The work of the conference is heard through reports and
all business is conducted by careful parliamentary
procedures.
    T
his year it was again time to elect one clergy and one lay delegate to the General Conference to be held next
year. After numerous ballots, District Superintendent
Sharon Ragland was elected by the clergy, and young
adult Devin Mauney, a college student from Tucson, was
elected by the laity. Also elected were representatives to
Western Jurisdictional Conference; that body will elect
one new Bishop who is then assigned to a specific
conference by the Council of Bishops.
    Voting at Annual Conference is conducted by strict
procedure and each resolution presented to the body is
discussed, debated, and reviewed by the some 400
delegates. Any Conference committee, organization, or
group of individuals can present resolutions to be placed
before the body. Among the regular issues were rules,
budgets, equitable ompensation, nominations, and
property issues.
   
The special resolutions passed this year were positions on the topics of Right To Worship; Boards and Agencies
meeting times, Civility and Substance in Elections, Global
Warming and Climate Change, Denominational
Inclusivity, Donative Liens, Recycling at Conference and
District events; and finally a series of recommendations
to General Conference to change to the Book of
Discipline, (1) Defining Membership, (2) Equity in
Ordination and (3) Institute on Religion and Democracy.
There is always healthy debate, amidst the weavings of
careful preparation sometimes contrasted with
spontaneity, and the every surprising vote. 
 

                          Trustee Update
     Nancy Connolly, President, Board of Trustees 
  We have had a busy first half of the year. Some projects have been completed, some are almost completed, and others will that be getting underway are:
* As evidenced by the missing sidewalks on Central Avenue, the sale of our frontage has been finalized thanks to the efforts of Bob Daniels and Patience Huntwork.
* The permit for the replacement of our old sign on the corner of Central and Palm Lane has been obtained. The new sign will be similar in design to the one we currently share with the Phoenix Art Museum. Construction on the new sign will begin when the construction on Central Avenue nears completion. Thanks to James Huntwork, his secretary, Joyce Mlejnek, and (again) Bob Daniels for their help in resolving issues surrounding our sign permits.
* Work on the Columbarium has almost been completed. Thank you to Milton Harvey for seeing this project through to completion. 
* Our 23+ year old phone system is being replaced with an up-to-date communication system. Our staff will now have separate voice mail which can be accessed outside of normal office hours. The old system can no longer be supported, and the phones cannot be replaced. The new system will be all inclusive, supplying phone service as well as high speed internet access. Thank you to Wray Clark, Eric Thomas, and Chryl Bohnenkamp who worked with Don Morse to review numerous various proposals and determine which services were most needed by our church.
* More good news!!! Our charter school is returning next year, and we may have an additional tenant, Rosie's House. Rosie's House is a not-for-profit arts organization that provides classical music instruction to underprivileged students. It has cultural support within the valley and is a nationally recognized organization. Both schools are looking forward to working together.
* An interdenominational prayer group has requested space on our campus. The board feels this group would be an addition to our church family and discussions are under way.
* The pigeon problem is being addressed. Vendor contracts were reviewed by the board, and one was selected. Work will begin soon, and with some luck we will have fewer pigeons in the near future 
* Finally, smaller projects include broken vertical blinds in some of our classrooms, signage for the Palm Lane parking lot, and the continuing challenge of storage space. Many thanks to Girma Tilahun, Don Morse, and especially to the Wednesday Wonders for their invaluable contributions to the upkeep of our church home.

                          St. John's Bible
    Newsweek magazine called the St. John's Bible America's Book of Kells." Steve Nelson, a Trustee of the Phoenix Art Museum and a lay Benedictine from St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, will offer a presentation on the St. John's Bible at 2:00 pm on Sunday, April 15, in the Sanctuary of Central United Methodist Church.
    The Saint John's Bible is a collaboration between the Benedictine Monks of Saint John's Abbey and Donald Jackson, a former scribe to Queen Elizabeth. The Saint John's Bible was created by hand in calligraphy and illuminations and is the first project of its kind since the middle ages when the printing press was invented. The work will have taken eight years for the team of scribes and artists to complete.
    In keeping with the Saint John's Benedictine heritage of ecumenism, the text chosen was the New Revised Standard Version. The calligraphy and illuminations are powerful and inspiring. It is a contemporary work made with medieval techniques. For example, it includes the Twin Towers, images from the Hubble space telescope, and the double helix of DNA. Other themes that receive focus in the work are hospitality, the Jewish roots of Christianity, stories of women in the Bible, and stories of the poor and oppressed.
    For those of you who will be attending the 11:00 am worship service on April 15, a lunch ($7.00) will be available by members of our Mission Committee. All  roceeds will be used to support their many projects.
    Please invite your friends to join you for this informative and inspiring presentation

                              Sanctuary & Organ News
    During January, The Sanctuary Renewal and Organ Design team was in Phoenix for five comprehensive days of study, measurement, and analysis. Members included Stefan Stuerzer, President of Glatter-Gotz Organ Builders (Owingen, Germany), Heinz Kremnitzer, engineer of Glatter-Gotz Organ Builders, Graham Tristram, architect from the firm of Campbell and Arnott (Edinburgh, Scotland), Dana Kirkegaard, Kirkegaard Acoustics, Downers Grover, IL, and Manuel Rosales, Rosales Pipe Organ Services, Los Angeles. They met with staff members Don Morse and Homer Ferguson, as well as the Sanctuary Renewal and Organ Committee to begin the in-depth planning
process for the remodeling of the sanctuary and new organ.
    The Central United Methodist Church Board of Trustees approved a motion to purchase a small portative organ built by Taylor and Boody Organbuilders of Staunton, Virginia, from a designated gift contributed for that specific purpose. The organ will serve as a worship instrument for the Sanctuary until a new organ is funded and constructed. It is the topic of much excitement in the city both in academic and chamber music circles. Delivery is scheduled for September of this year.
    At the same meeting, the CUMC Board of Trustees approved a motion to sell our present instrument to The United Methodist Church of Northridge, CA. They are seeking the pipework of an instrument suitable for their Sanctuary which is 1/3 the size of ours, and the Reuter pipework will be a perfect match in this smaller setting. Everyone is very pleased that portions of our instrument will continue to make music for the Glory of God in a United Methodist setting, perfectly sized for the pipe scales. The Reuter Organ will be decommissioned on Reformation Sunday, October 28 and will accompany a Requiem on All Saints Sunday, November 4, and be dismantled and packed for shipping on November 5. This will be a special time of nostalgia and thanksgiving for its 37 years of service to our church.

                                Lenten Organ Recitals
   
Beginning February 28 and running through April 7, Central Church will host a Lenten Organ Recital Series in the Sanctuary. This series will highlight the Reuter organ by inviting former organists and other guests to perform and share their memories of this instrument and what their ministry has meant to them at Central Church.
    This series will serve as a series of farewell and thanksgiving for the many years that our Sanctuary organ has led us in worship. Now, as plans and funds are being drawn up and collected for the installation of a new pipe organ, it is time to take a moment to remember. As we are thankful for all of God's gifts to us, these 30-minute recitals allow us the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of the sacrifice Christ made for us. It is during the Lenten season that we must take a moment from our daily routine to refocus our attention on what is truly important in this world. Please join us on Wednesday afternoons in Lent at 12:15 pm in the Sanctuary.
    Of special note, on March 28, Gordon McMillan will join us at the console of our Reuter, Opus 1679. Gordon was the Minister of Music at Central Church from the mid 1960s to the early 1970s. Not only do many of us share very fond memories of his ministry here, but he was also the organist who dedicated the organ! Please be sure to invite your friends, neighbors, and former members. as it will be a program you will certainly not want to miss.

                              Disciple I & II

   Disciple is an in-depth Bible Study for people who are eager to study God's Word.

 

   Central Connections will be offering Disciple I & II on Wednesdays in 2007. The first of two eight week sessions begins Wednesday, January 17. Dinner will continue to be offered at 5:15 pm (cost $5), followed by a time of music and worship at 6:00 pm. Disciple Classes will run from 6:15-7:30 pm. The text is $5.00 All are encouraged to attend. Call the church office, 602-258-8048, if you plan to participate to ensure there is enough food and materials.

 

Disciple I: Invitation to the Old Testament led by Rev. Dean Humbert

January 17       The Making of the Hebrew Bible

January 24       The Creation Story of Israel

January 31       Out of Bondage

February 7       Promise and Problem in the Land

February 14     Israel Has a King

February 21  Ash Wednesday Service

February 28     Division and the Rise of Prophecy

March 7           Exile and Response

March 14         Restoration and Renewal

 

Disciple II: Genesis led by Rev. Bob Mitchell is for those who have completed Disciple I

January 17       The God Who Speaks

January 24       God Scatters the Proud

January 31       God Invites

February 7       Carrying the Covenant

February 14     Conflict Within the Family

February 21  Ash Wednesday Service

February 28     Wrestling With God

March 7           In God's Time

March 14         God Works for Good

 

Following these sessions, the group will take a break from Disciple for special Central Connections programs. 

 

                          UMFCU provides support for
              Central UMC and a family devastated by a house fire
 
    The home of Neal and Cindy McNeely's family was completely destroyed by fire on a recent Sunday afternoon. It appears that very little of their personal goods, including clothing was salvaged, and, unfortunately the family had no insurance.
    The McNeely's are not members of Central; however, they are a part of the extended family through Cindy's work with Central Community Theatre where she has been the Administrative Assistant for the past two years. You might not recognize her name but you would certainly recognize her always smiling face behind the ticket counter at most CCT performances.
    The family obviously has many short and long term needs including housing, furniture and all those hundreds items necessary for setting up a home from scratch. As time goes on, there will be more ways suggested to help in these areas. In the meantime, an account has been opened at United Methodist Federal Credit Union to facilitate donations for the family to meet their immediate needs.
    If you would like to donate to this fund, you may mail or deliver your check payable to Neal and Cindy McNeely to:
    United Methodist Federal Credit Union
    Attention: Kelly Jans
    1550 E Meadowbrook Suite B
    Phoenix, AZ 85014
 

                Introducing Bob and Kathy Mitchell
    Kathy and I want to express our gratitude to Pastor David Weber and the Central UMC Staff Parish Relations Committee for giving us this opportunity to introduce ourselves to you. We are looking forward to getting to know you personally beginning in July!
    Kathy and I met as undergraduate music students at Ashland College in Ashland, Ohio. We were married in August of 1970 between our junior and senior years. Following our graduation we moved to Mesa, Arizona, where I pursued a Masters Degree in Music Theory from ASU, while Kathy supported us by teaching music in the Mesa Public Schools. After completing my degree in 1974, I decided to take a break from academia and accepted a position working with young adults and the youth choir at a church in north Phoenix. Two years later, in 1976, I discerned a call to full time pastoral ministry, and Kathy, our son, Nathan, and I moved to Pasadena, California, where I began my seminary studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. While in Pasadena our daughter, Amy, was born.
    After graduating from Fuller in 1980 Kathy and I moved to Elkhart, Indiana, where I had been called to serve as Associate Pastor at Winding Waters Brethren Church. I was ordained as an Elder in The Brethren Church (Ashland, Ohio) on August 2, 1981. After three years in Elkhart we returned to the Phoenix area where I served two small Brethren congregations until November of 1987 and Kathy resumed her teaching career in Mesa.
   On July 1, 1988, I was hired to be an Associate Pastor at First United Methodist Church, Mesa. I began immediately to take the United Methodist history, doctrine, and polity classes required for my eventual appointment as an Elder in The United Methodist Church. On July 1, 1989, I was appointed by Bishop Galván as an Elder from another denomination to Mesa First UMC. I was subsequently appointed as a Probationary Elder and then into full membership as an Elder in the Desert Southwest Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
    After four years at First UMC, Mesa, I was appointed to start a new United Methodist fellowship in the Ahwatukee-Foothills area of Phoenix. I served Desert Foothills United Methodist Church for ten years before being appointed to Chandler United Methodist Church in 2002.
    Throughout these years, my wife continued to teach in the Mesa Public Schools. She retired last year and has chosen to continue teaching half-time. Our children are grown and on their own?more or less. Our daughter, Amy, married Steve Voida on June 30, 2001, in Pioneer Chapel at Central UMC. They are currently living in Atlanta, Georgia, where she and Steve are in the PhD program in computer science at Georgia Tech. Our son, Nathan, lives in Tempe and is a professional musician. Kathy and I are also in the process of being trained by three cats?Calvin, Hobbes, and Harley.
    We look forward to hearing the stories of your lives and to their incorporation into the tapestry of our lives, whose pattern is known only to God. Blessings to you all!    

       Patricia Goss to be Commissioned and Preach
                       Sunday May  21st 

     Becky Louter, Executive Secretary of the Deaconess Program Office of the General Board of Global Ministries announced that Patricia Ann Armstrong Goss, "Pat" was  commissioned as a Deaconess at semi-annual meeting of the Board on April 4, 2006, in Stamford, Ct.  "A Deaconess is a lay woman who is a professionally trained person who has been led by the Holy Spirit to devote her life to Christlike service under the authority of the Church."  Pat said, "My work in the Church as a lay person has always been the ministry that I have felt called to.  I just needed someone to challenge me to step out of my comfort zone.  Thank you for your notes of encouragement, prayers and time away to complete my course work.  I look forward to our ministry together."  
     Upon Commissioning, Pat will be the only active Deaconess in the Desert Southwest Conference.  Pat is the Administrative Assistant for
Central United Methodist Church and the Refugee Resettlement Coordinator for the Desert Southwest Conference.
 

UMOM New Day Centers
Capital Building Campaign
A $12 million Capital Building Campaign at the
New Day Center located at Van Buren and 32nd Street

How?
    The $2 Million Church-wide Campaign will be achieved through gifts from families of The United Methodist Church.
The remaining $10 million will be raised through public/corporate campaign to begin in June 2006, and an ongoing government grants campaign.
     For more information go to the
     UMOM web site www.umom.org
 

Central United Methodist Church
Celebrating 135th Anniversary

The oldest Protestant Congregation in Arizona, Central United Methodist Church will begin it's year long, 135th Anniversary Celebration, Sunday, April 17th. The Congregation first began meeting on the banks of the Salt River.

Rev. Kermit Long served as president of the Greater Phoenix Council of Churches, a member of the Boards of YMCA, Goodwill Industries, and Executive Club. In 8 ¨ö years, Central Church received 5,000 new members, 2,000 on profession of faith, thus meriting the title of "Methodism's Fastest Growing Church." In addition to social involvement in the community and an aggressive missionary program, the church assisted greatly in establishing new churches, three of them entirely on their own.


United Methodist Federal Credit Union
    Recently UMFCU opened a branch office here in Phoenix, and

Central UMC joined as a corporate customer. The invitation is open for you to join as well. Here are the benefits:
    * e-Branch internet home banking
    * FREE Interest-earning Checking
    * Extraordinary VISA programs (Classic, Gold, and Platinum VISA).
    * Accessibility 24-hours a day, 7-days a week via Phone Express Audio 
      Response System, and ATM.
    * Money Market Accounts
    * Xtreme Savers Youth Accounts
    * Real estate loans: 1st, 2nd , and Home Equity Lines of Credit
    * Low rate new and used car loans.
    * Great consumer loans.

Desert Southwest, Annual Conference Branch
550 E. Meadowbrook Ave., Suite B, Phoenix, AZ 85014
Phone: (602) 277-5325 FAX: (602) 277-5340
www.umfcu.org
 

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UM Power

    The General Board of Church and Society has created a new web site called UM Power. This site will make it easier to understand the complex issues and to empower you to make a difference where it matters!
    In also provides easy access to your senators and representives. Just enter your zip code