(GAINESVILLE, Fla.) Trinity United Methodist Church in Gainesville and the Gainesville Interfaith Forum invite members of all faiths and the community to the Trinity campus Sept. 10, 6–9 p.m., for an opportunity to get to know each other better. The evening will feature arts and educational crafts, cultural displays, food from various regions of the world, and a time of prayer for peace, understanding and hope. Guests are also invited to a time of prayer Sept. 11, 8:30–10:30 a.m., in remembrance of those who died in the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001. The ecumenical gathering is in response to plans by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville to host an International Day of Burning the Qur’an Sept. 11. “The time for silence has passed, and the time for Christians to speak has come,” said the Rev. Dan Johnson, senior pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church. “There should be no doubt around the globe that the Christian Church does not condone or support such an action. To remain silent would mean complicity to a terrible wrong.” More information is available at http://tiny.cc/tb3cj.

The Florida Conference Life Enrichment Retreat Center in Fruitland Park is looking for volunteers to help in its ministry of Christian hospitality to retreat groups.  

Front desk volunteers are needed to answer phones, greet people arriving at the center and prepare for groups by making signs, organizing room keys and other tasks. Dining room hosts are needed to welcome guests into the dining room, help those who need assistance moving through the meal line and returning trays to the dish room, and wipe tables at the end of the meal.

Most of this service will be on weekends, but a number of weekday options are also available.

Those who are interested are asked to contact Jess Schload, director of the Life Enrichment Center, at 352-787-0313 or jschload@flumc.org.

More information is available at http://www.lecretreats.org/page.asp?PKValue=129.

Teams from local churches interested in receiving training on early response after a disaster are invited to attend an Early Response Team training Oct. 29 at the Warren W. Willis United Methodist Camp in Fruitland Park.

Early Response Teams are specialized, self-contained teams that enter a disaster zone at the invitation of local emergency management. In addition to providing a caring Christian presence, the teams remove debris and provide temporary repairs to make a dwelling safe, sanitary and secure.

Attendees will receive a disaster response manual, certification and credentials identifying them as early responders for the Florida Conference. The training will focus on the types, phases and levels of a disaster and explain what is meant by early response. It will also cover spiritual and emotional care, support from the United Methodist Committee on Relief, faith-based response in disaster, and team leadership needs and equipment.

Because this is a specialized training requiring a higher level of expertise and commitment, participants must complete “Community Arise Basic Disaster Ministry Training” before taking Early Response Team training.

More information is available at http://www.flumc2.org/event_detail.asp?PKValue=2893.

Adults who love to hike are invited to spend a week hiking the Appalachian Trail with other hikers from across Florida Oct. 18-23.

Backpacking hikers will spend three or four nights on the trail. Day Hikers will take day hikes on different trails, while base camping in a mountain cabin near Bryson City, N.C.

Participants must be at least 18 years old and in good physical shape. All hikers must have a completed physical done within a month of the hike.

More information is available by contacting Joel Pancoast, program manager at the Warren W. Willis United Methodist Camp, at 352-787-4345, extension 3, or joel.pancoast@warrenwilliscamp.org or at http://www.warrenwilliscamp.org/page.asp?PKValue=29.

The United Methodist Global AIDS Fund and several United Methodist general agencies are sponsoring “Lighten the Burden III” Oct. 14-16 at the Radisson Central Hotel in Dallas, Texas

Dr. Musa Dube, an internationally known theologian from Botswana, will lead the conference’s Bible study. Other speakers include United Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcaño of the Phoenix Episcopal Area; Jeffrey Crowley, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, and Dr. Pauline Muchina, senior partnership adviser with UN AIDS.

More information is available at http://tinyurl.com/2a98trd.

The 2010 Men’s Spiritual Retreats, sponsored by Florida Conference United Methodist Men, will be held Oct. 8-10, 15-17 and 22-24 at the Florida Conference Life Enrichment Center and Warren W. Willis Youth Camp in Fruitland Park.

Each retreat, themed “In the Name of Jesus,” follows the same schedule, beginning Friday and ending Sunday morning with worship, but has its own worship leaders, speakers and musicians.

More information for each retreat is available at http://www.ummflconf.org/frameset4.html.

Confirmation classes are invited to attend the fall confirmation retreat Oct. 1-3 at the Warren W. Wills United Methodist Camp in Fruitland Park to receive sound teaching on the confirmation vows they will be asked on Confirmation Sunday.

Groups will participate in games and worship and bond as a class on the low initiatives portion of the camp’s ropes challenge course. Attendees will also experience being at camp with confirmands from around the state.

The camp will coordinate housing, meals, challenge course facilitation, meeting spaces and worship service. The camp schedule also includes three or four times for each church group to meet to cover the curriculum they are using. Church groups may program this time as needed to review confirmation lessons, cover new material or just get to know each other better.

More information is available at http://www.warrenwilliscamp.org/page.asp?PKValue=24.

Older adults and Wesley enthusiasts are invited to “Living with the Wesleys: Then and Now” Sept. 27-30 at Epworth By The Sea in St. Simons Island, Ga.

Wesley experts Drs. Richard Heitzenrater and S.T. Kimbrough Jr. will offer a variety of forms of participation and learning: performance, dialogue, music, conversations and off-site visits, all taking place in a location where the Wesleys lived and preached for a short time.

More information is available at http://www.epworthbythesea.org or 912-638-8688.

Lay and clergy leaders are invited to gather at Christ United Methodist Church in Mobile, Ala., Sept. 22-24 to consider ways to effectively reach non-Christians in today’s rapidly changing culture.

The “Catapult Conference” is in response to the dramatic changes taking place in society and The United Methodist Church, which loses about 1,500 members each week in the United States.

The conference is based on the idea that Christians must take church to people where they are, and that mission must be more than a committee or trip. Instead, it must become the organizing principle of the church. The goal is to help each congregation discern its ministry call and develop its own missional action plan.

Keynote speakers include Mike Slaughter, Reggie McNeal and others. A variety of breakout sessions focusing on action and implementation will also be offered.
 
More information is available at http://awfumc.org/events/detail/2287.

Children’s advocates from across the United States will gather Sept. 18-21 at the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center in Lake Junaluska, N.C., for the third annual Lake Junaluska Peace Conference.

Themed “Peace for the World’s Children,” keynote speakers and leaders include Marian Wright Edelman and Jeni Stepanek.

More information is available at http://www.lakejunaluska.com/peace/.

Church leaders and staff are invited to a nationwide training event Sept. 14-16 in Altanta, Ga., covering the essentials of church management, programming and church health. The emphasis is on ideas and helpful knowledge for churches of all sizes.

Coordinated by Leadership Nexus, the “IN Conference” revolves around inviting, involving, inspiring, investing and integrity — five concepts for church health.

The conference offers 65 workshops for all areas of ministry, as well as opportunities for fellowship, small group meetings, networking and panel presentations featuring best practices, emerging church, sages and an idea celebration.

Speakers include Bishop Larry Goodpaster, chair of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church; the Rev. Dan Kimball, leading author and speaker for the emerging church; Dr. Jan Love, president of Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.; Dr. Bob Pierson, executive director of Leadership Nexus; and others.

More information is available at http://www.leadershipnexus.org/conferences/inconf.php.

Harvest of Hope is offering people of all ages a chance to be in mission together for the hungry.

Harvest of Hope is the ecumenical study, worship and action mission trip program of the Society of St. Andrew, which has been salvaging fresh, nutritious produce from American farms and homes that otherwise would be left to rot and delivering it to agencies across the nation that serve the poor.

Through Harvest of Hope experiences, participants work in fields gleaning food for the hungry, study hunger issues and participate in Christian worship. Harvest of Hope educates participants about the hunger problem domestically and globally and encourages them to make lifelong commitments to being part of the solution.

Harvest of Hope intergenerational weekends for people ages 10-100 will take place Aug. 13-15, Sept. 24-26, Oct. 15-17 and Oct. 22-24. An overnight event for college students and young adults ages 18-30 is Oct. 1-2.

More information is available at http://www.endhunger.org/harvest.htm.