Beth Johnson serves food to the Ignite family.

PUBLISHED BY THE WEST VIRGINIA CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Vol 2 / Number 9

“We believe young people long to belong to something,” said the Rev. Matthew Johnson, co-leader of Ignite Morgantown, a new ministry based out of Suncrest United Methodist Church designed to reach college students and young adults.

“We want to create a family connected by purpose, not just blood.”

Johnson, 33, is an ordained United Methodist pastor and church planter. Before coming to Morgantown in 2013 to start Ignite, he helped launch a new faith community in

Florence, Kentucky. Tall and youthful, with a shock of brown hair and dark, square-framed glasses, he manages to flip burgers and greet everyone who walks past his grill station.

“When I first started coming, Matt and Beth remembered my name and my major,” said Lindsay Estill, a student from Fairmont, about 20 miles south of Morgantown. “That sounds like a small thing, but it means a lot.” That level of interest in her as person at other churches and campus ministries wasn’t always present, said Estill. Continued on page 3

IGNITED TO SERVE

“It’s about doing life together with Christ at the center of it,” said Johnson. “Jesus and the disciples were

not ministry colleagues they were family.”

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The West Virginia Conference partnered with local churches in McDowell County to host a community block party in Kimball, W.Va. in September.

Five Loaves and Two Fishes, a food pantry ministry operated in an old Sav-A-Lot grocery store was the perfect setting for the event, which featured pumpkin painting, cornhole and just about any kind of baked dessert you could imagine.

The block party was sponsored by the West Virginia conference evangelism team and several United Methodist churches in McDowell County. Crossfire Ministries, a biker church from Wilkesboro NC, were special guests for the event.

The Mountain Circuit P.O. Box 2313

Charleston, WV 25328 Voice (304) 344-8331 Fax: (304) 344-2871

email kthaxton@wvumc.org

Resident Bishop: Sandra Steiner Ball Editor: Laura Harbert Allen

Associate Editor: Adam Cunningham Production: Shawn Withrow

Find us online: wvumc.org

Special Sundays The West Virginia Conference raises awareness and funds for causes that show our faith in action through 20 special Sundays each year. For more information on all Special Sundays, visit bit.ly/SpecialSundays and umcgiving.org.

November9 Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness 30 United Methodist Student Day

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November 21-23 Youth Fall Workshop wvumc.org/youth 27-28 Conference Center Closed 30 United Methodist Student Day (Special Sunday)

December 2 Giving Tuesday 22-26 Conference Center Closed

For more information and the full calendar visit wvumc.org/ calendar. Email submissions to wvumc@wvumc.org.

CALENDAR

Larry Losch, husband of Gail LoschKaren Camden (AM-R) Martha Sherwood Parrish, mother of Suzanne Knight, wife of Rev. Roy Knight (FE)Shirley Irene Kincaid, wife of William Kincaid (PTLP)

WE REMEMBER

BLOCK PARTY

Last Spring, I stood on a busy street in Morgantown, snapping photographs. It was a sunny and cold March morning. There was still snow on the ground and students walked on slushy sidewalks as they made their way to class.

Two people stood on the corner, offering ashes to anyone who asked for them. Most people kept walking. Only a few decided to have the sign of the cross put on their forehead. A woman, a professor I think, asked me what was going on.“It’s Ash Wednesday,” I said. “They are offering ashes.”

“Oh that’s nice,” she said.I heard surprise in her voice. After all, you don’t see folks putting ashes on people’s foreheads everyday. I share this story, one event of many I have covered this year because it’s easy to forget the daily work of ministry. We get up and go out and do every day and it’s hard to remember how and why things happen the way they do.

The following Sunday, Matt preached the first sermon of a new worship service at the college house on the campus of Suncrest United Methodist Church.

Six months later, this ministry is growing and thriving (cover story). It is working because we (you, me, “the conference”) have learned and invested in ways to reach new people. This is a ministry that stands squarely on the shoulders of the efforts that came before it. Through apportionment giving, you were on that street in Morgantown with me last spring. Your church was there too. In fact, every story in this issue would not happen without apportionments. The Radical Discipleship Academy of Appalachia, Youth Fall Workshop, The Academy of Spiritual Formation, Clergy School, the block party in McDowell County...all made possible through apportionment giving.

Your giving. Thank you.

Laura Allen, Mountain Circuit Editor

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Group painting created by participants in the Radical Discipleship Academy of Appalachia.

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Continued from front page.

Rev. Matthew Johnson writes group suggestions on how to make Morgantown, W. Va. look a little more like Heaven.

Ignite hosts a Sunday worship service at 11 a.m. in the basement of Suncrest, with an average attendance of about 100 people per week. That’s in addition to the 400 or so worshippers who gather upstairs in the main sanctuary at the same time.

On Thursday night, college students come to the Johnson's house. On Friday, Matt and Beth open up their home to young adults.“It’s about doing life together with Christ at the center of it,” said Johnson. “Jesus and the disciples were not ministry colleagues, they were family.”

IGNITED TO SERVE

This story shows what can happen when people giVe what they have in faith. Apportionments

create a foundation for effective ministry all over the world that no single United Methodist church or conference could

do on their own. Here's some of the ways they help.

He took the five loaves and the two fishes,

lifted his face toward heaven in prayer, blessed ... and gave the bread

to his disciples, and the disciples in turn gave it to the people. They ate their fill ...

the disciples gathered 12 baskets of leftovers. -Mark 6:41-44 (The Message)

MISSIONS

Cleaning Buckets

Vital training

Backpacks filled with school supplies

Learning together

Education is vital to empower us to reach our communities and fulfill our calling.

Provides care for pastors; so that they can care for churches and be effective in ministry.

HEALTHCARE & PENSIONS

Our words and deeds confess the redeeming activity of God in Christ in the human family.

Want to see how your church's fair shared is calculated? Contact

Jim Berner at tresrr@aol.com or at 1-800-788-3746, ext.

35 for a report.

Visit wvumc.org/GIW for more information.

LEARN MORE!CONTINUING EDUCATION

Helping those in need.

Being challenged to change

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The Radical Discipleship Academy of Appalachia (RDAA) began as a desire from young adults and Conference leaders to provide an opportunity for deeper spiritual formation for youth.

RDAA hosted its inaugural retreat at Spring Heights last summer, but three months later the academy continues. Young people from around the Conference are meeting regularly in covenant groups through group messaging, conference calls and face-to-face meetings.

RDAA

A covenant group goes in for a group "all-in" during the summer RDAA retreat at Spring Heights.

Participants pray for each other, engage in Bible study, and join in group discussions on their faith and spiritual life. One group is currently participating in a chapter-a-day study of the Gospel of Luke. They said they're gaining a deeper appreciation for Bible study through the process. "I've learned to analyze and look deeper into what it actually means," Jenna said.

Group leaders said participants are becoming involved more in their local churches too. One young person, Alissa, hosted a bake sale to raise money for the

Conference Global AIDS initiative. Others have become involved in acolyting and scripture reading; as well as involvement in district lead teams and Conference Council on Youth Ministries (CCYM).

If you'd like to nominate someone in your church for the next RDAA, email Rev. Cindy Briggs-Biondi at rdaa@springheights.org or 304-989-2749. You can also visit springheights.org/radical-discipleship to learn more. The program is open to students who are completing the 8th – 11th grade in 2016.

The Rev. Dr. Heather Murray Elkins presents at the Academy for Spiritual Formation in September. The retreat theme was “Space for Grace: Sustaining Your Life in Christ,” and it was a time for intentional spiritual growth in a disciplined community of prayer, study, worship and fellowship.

We've collected Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas liturgies and prayers that you can use in your church on our website at wvumc.org. You can also sign up for a daily email Advent devotional prepared by Conference Lay Leader, Rich Shaffer. The devotionals are written by a variety of people from around the Conference.

View the full list at http://wvumc.org/featured/thanksgiving-and-advent-resources

“Without love, the church just makes a lot of noise,” said Rev. Telley Gadson during her closing worship sermon during the 2014 edition of Clergy School in the West Virginia Annual Conference.

Gadson leads St. Mark United Methodist Church in Taylors, S.C., and was the official guest preacher for this year’s school.

The three day event focused on how pastors and churches can utilize a 21st century tools and ideas in their ministry context to show the love of Christ. Digital media provides a new platform from which the church can cultivate something pastors know an awful lot about: relationships with each other and with Christ.

Guest speaker Rachel Held Evans told clergy that is what the millennial generation longs for.

“This generation has been marketed to like crazy,” said Evans. “We can get all the information about God we want. But we long, more than anything, to experience God.” Digital tools, such as blogs and social media can help engage young people in conversation and to begin exploring a deeper relationship with Christ, said Evans.

Evans is best known as the writer of a popular blog and as the author of “A Year of Biblical Womanhood,” where she shared her efforts to live according to the rules for women outlined in the Bible.

She lives in Dayton, Tennessee, site of the historic Scopes Trial, which was the first “trial by media” in the country. Americans tuned in to the trial via radio in 1925. Rev. Dr. Jason Vickers reminded attendees that God is always at the heart of ministry. “God is the agent of God’s own holiness, our job is to watch and listen,” he said.

Vickers teaches at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.

Check out photos from Clergy School here:flickr.com/wvumc

Listen to an interview with Rachel Held Evans here: http://bit.ly/clergyschool

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CLERGY SCHOOL 2014

Rachel Held Evans answers questions during the annual Clergy School at the John XXIII Center in Charleston, W. Va.

ADVENT & CHRISTMAS RESOURCES

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The annual Youth Fall Workshop is scheduled for November 21-23 at Cedar Lakes near Ripley, W. Va. More information and registration is available at wvumc.org/youth.