Mission Festival—2009
You are invited to participate in our eleventh annual Mission Festival on May 1-3, 2009 at First United Methodist Church in Ardmore. It recognizes eleven years of serving our city, our state, our nation and even other parts of the world by stopping out and giving ourselves in mission.
The weekend event has something for everyone. A pot-luck dinner will start things off on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and continues with a missionary program. Saturday begins with a 7:00 a.m. breakfast and program. A workday will be held for children, youth, and adults at six or eight locations throughout the Ardmore area. Lunch will also be provided with a missionary-sharing opportunity. Except for Sunday morning, all events will be held in the Colvert Ministry Center. Sunday services highlight the weekend with keynote speaker, Rev. Larry Acton, a former Volunteers In Mission director for the Oklahoma Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.
Mission speakers for the festival include: Rev. Meri Whitaker, a United Methodist pastor and director of the Cookson Hills Center in northeastern Oklahoma; Dr. Elias Lara Aguirre, medical teams coordinator of Hands Together Ministry in Rio Bravo, Mexico; Judy Atwood, mission interpreter for the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church; and, the Rev. David Stephenson, pastor of the Skiatook (OK) UMC and chair of the Bolivia Committee of the Oklahoma Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.
On Sunday morning parishioners will have an opportunity to make a Faith Promise. This is a step of faith in God to provide through you, what God might otherwise not provide to you, because you promise to give it for God’s mission beyond the walls of the church. It can come from “extra income” (taking on an extra job), “sacrificial income” (making sacrifices to make money available), or “income out of the blue.”
The Faith Promise has allowed FUMC, Ardmore to reach out in “hands-on” mission to almost 70 missionaries, missions, and mission projects. This year it will enable us to support eleven missionaries on five continents, provide scholarships for members to go on a variety of mission ventures from Palestine to Nigeria, to Mexico, to various places around the United States. It will enable us to support the Oklahoma Volunteers In Mission and Disaster Relief, New Day Camp, Gideons International, African Mosquito Nets Project, Habitat for Humanity, Loaves and Fishes Emergency Fund and seminary students in the Congo, Nigeria, Mexico City, and Estonia. Locally, the Faith Promise will allow us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide medical care to the disadvantaged, support children in abusive situations, provide temporary shelter for travelers, help with utility bills for the poor, and build homes for the homeless.
Join us for our 2009 Mission Festival and Faith Promise Campaign. You are guaranteed to “make a Christian difference” in the life of someone here locally or on the other side of the world.