Tears, celebration surround closing of Troy Conference

The gavel came down, and with a few words, the Rev. Greg Smith, Conference Secretary, ended the 178th Troy Annual Conference Session.  Instead of announcing a next annual session, the Secretary stated that members in Vermont will convene June 17 with the New England Annual Conference, and members from New York will meet June 19 for the uniting of a new Annual Conference in Upper New York. The Troy Conference itself will close permanently on June 30 and divide along state lines with the...

Bishop Matthews calls UNY United Methodists to prayer

 Dear Members and Friends of the Albany and New York West Areas,  "Grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:2   In just one month we will gather at the OnCenter in Syracuse, New York to witness the uniting of the Troy, Wyoming, Western New York and North Central New York Annual Conferences. As I travel across both Episcopal Areas, I can sense the excitement mounting for what God will do in response to this...

Covenant Hills Camping Covenant to be voted on at NEAC Session

The Camping Covenant that has been shared for decades between Troy Conference and the Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ, will be carried on by the New England Annual Conference.  To see the resolution that will be considered by the New England Conference,click here. ...

Register now for TAC, UNY and NE Sessions

Registration for final TAC Session is open Register for the closing session of Troy Annual Conference, Saturday, May 22, to be held at Christ United Methodist Church, 54 Bay St., Glens Falls. The closing session of the Troy Annual Conference will be held on Saturday, May 22, at Christ Church, 54 Bay St, Glens Falls, N.Y. Registration is $35 and includes lunch. Registrations received after April 28 will be $50.   Registration forms will not be mailed. Download the registration form and...

Emmaus UMC in Albany receives GBCS grant

  Emmaus Refugee and Immigrant Family Support Services Intervention with Newcomer Youths, a program of Emmaus United Methodist Church in Albany, N.Y., will receive a $5,000 Ethnic Minority Ministry Grant from the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS). The multi-ethnic and multi-national congregation seeks to address the educational needs of recent immigrants and refugee youths. The congregation includes persons from Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Myanmar, Democratic...

District class makes confirmation richer for youth

By Sandra Brands   It’s time to start confirmation classes, only there’s just one or two youth in the church ready to start. Such a small number doesn’t auger well for a successful program.   “For the youth and the teachers [of the class], that tends not to be much fun at all,” said the Rev. Michelle Bogue-Trost, pastor of the Newtonville United Methodist Church in New York. “If one or two youth from a three-person confirmation class has to be...

Trip offers glimpses into lives of poverty and joy

  Mission of Peace to India   By Lillian Coletta and Kenny John   India is a land of contrast, of some very rich and many very poor people. Of modernism and medievalism…India is not a poor country, she is abundantly supplied with everything that makes a country rich, yet her people are very poor. — Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister The Mission of Peace (MOP) is...

Web site options offered to TAC churches

For over seven years, Troy Conference has provided free web sites and a console management system to its churches, but as the conference transforms into its new entities, those web sites will no longer be available. Churches hosting their sites at troyconference.org will need to move to a new web provider before July 1.   There are two parts to consider when creating a web site: the web design service and the web page host provider. Web design software can range from Open Source Console...

Revitalized congregation balances tradition, embraces future

By Sandra Brands  From the outside, the Adirondack Community Church in Lake Placid, N.Y., is a quaint stone church set in a mountain village that hosts a steady stream of visitors, and Olympic hopefuls.   Inside, despite the Gothic architecture, dark pews and stained glass windows, the space is surprisingly contemporary. The altar is gone, rows of pews at the back of the worship area have been removed and walls have been blown away, creating a multipurpose gathering...

Troy Conference to host its final NEJCAH Annual Meeting in Vermont

By Karen Staulters   The Northeastern Jurisdiction of the Commission on Archives and History (NEJCAH) will meet at the Hilltop Inn in Barre, Vt., May 11 through 13. The event will be sponsored by the Troy Annual Conference, which will divide along state lines in July, with the New York churches becoming part of a new conference in Upper New York and the Vermont churches joining New England Annual Conference.   According to the NEJCAH newsletter, from the mid-1800s to the...

Make worship better in 2010

Register now. The cost is $49 for a one-day seminar, $79 for both days.   Corral your worship team and bring them to a Midnight Oil seminar this spring. Get inspired. Learn how to make your worship services more creative. Give your congregation an experience of God through better use of art, image, team and technology.   Join Len Wilson and Jason Moore of Midnight Oil Productions for one- or two-days and learn how to use media to create powerful and exciting God experiences in...

High expectations shared as Upper New York Senior Executive staff named

By Marilyn Kasperek Rev. Bill Gottschalk-Fielding Rev. Maidstone Mulenga Sherri Mackey Vicki Putney ...

Announcement about shifts in supervision in the Albany Episcopal Area

Bishop Susan W. Hassinger, interim bishop of the Albany Episcopal Area has issued the following announcement for both Wyoming and Troy Annual Conferences. Some time ago, the Rev.Jan Marsi, Superintendent of the Oneonta District for the past seven years, had indicated her desire to be appointed as a pastor to a local church. (A district superintendent’s appointment is year-to-year, as is the appointment of every elder. Superintendents’ term, as per the United Methodist Book of...

Outreach transformed

Does your church have a Food Shelf or offer a Community Meal? Are you involved in other outreach activities that engage folks with members of the community? Have you discovered that there are some individuals who will readily say, ‘sure, I’ll help,’ and there are others who know they should but hesitate or find an excuse not to?   For some of us, this sort of work comes easily and naturally; for others of us, it takes a strong effort. I would suggest that these...

New book on history of Troy Conference to be released

By Karen Staulters The Troy Conference Commission on Archives and History, looking ahead to the June 30 dissolution of Troy Conference, has arranged for the publication of book, The Enduring Flame, to record the last decades of conference history. The book also includes a history of the camping program of the conference, from the camp meeting days to the present. The book looks at denominational life in upper Northeastern New York and Vermont. Written by the Rev. Ralph Marino, a retired...

What to do with Health Care and other UMCOR Kits

Churches can drop off Health and other UMCOR kits at the Conference Office, 396 Louden Rd., Saratoga Springs, NY 12866, instead of sending them directly to the UMCOR depot at Sager-Brown in Baldwin, La., or to Mission Central in Pennsylvania. Conference office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Click Here for Health Kit content information.  or kits delivered to the Conference Office for distribution, please include $1 for toothpaste for each kit and a donation...

Two UMCOR mission personnel die of earthquake-related injuries

By Linda Bloom, United Methodist News Service The Rev. Dr. Sam Dixon The Rev. Dr. Sam Dixon, head of the humanitarian relief agency of The United Methodist Church, and the Rev. Clinton Rabb, 60, who organized mission volunteers for the church, have died as a result of injuries sustained during the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. Earlier, both men had been reported rescued from the...

Blog: I Am With You

a blog by the Rev. Larry Hollon, General Secretary of United Methodist Communications   Over the course of a lifetime, I have come to the conviction that we are closest to God when we are most vulnerable and exposed. When we are at our most human. The events in Haiti bring this conviction to the top of my mind once again. I see children in the streets unattached to adult family members. I see the wounded, exposed on the sidewalk in front of broken buildings. I hear the stories...

United Methodists rescued from hotel rubble in Haiti

By Linda Bloom, United Methodist News Service Three United Methodist church staff were rescued late Thursday night from the rubble of the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Rev. Sam Dixon, top executive of the United Methodist Committee on Relief; the Rev. Clinton Rabb, head of Mission Volunteers; and the Rev. James Gulley, an UMCOR consultant, are now safe, said the Rev. Tom Hazelwood, an UMCOR official. “Sam and Clint are on their way to the hospital,” he told...

United Methodists lift up hope, prayers for Haiti quake victims

By Kathy Gilbert, United Methodist News Service United Methodists are giving thanks, packing boxes of supplies, wiping away tears and, above all, praying as news comes in about the death and destruction in Haiti. Churches and annual (regional) conferences in the United States are starting to get word from their mission teams who were in Haiti when the massive earthquake hit. Many are safe. Some are wounded. Others have not been heard from. Officials with the United Methodist Board of Global...