THE AMBASSADOR “So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians

5:20).”Volume 13, Issue 12 A newsletter for the Pastors and Lay Leadership of the Charlottesville District December 2015

Contributions

$51075 as of 11/24/15

$400,000 Goal

Heart Havens Donations

The above donation button is located on the home page of the Charlottesville District website. http://charlottesvilledistrictumc.org. This is a secure website, through PayPal, where you can go to donate to Heart Havens.

Advent Study- Wesley Memorial UMC

Need some more breathing room as we move through Advent to Christmas? Wondering how to make room for stillness and silence in the midst of shopping, family, work, school and the busy-ness of December? Want to take some time out with God and touch base with the stories and songs of Advent? Join us for a short and simple time of worship the first three Wednesdays in Advent (12/2, 12/9, and 12/16) at 12:30 pm in the sanctuary at Wesley Memorial UMC (1901 Thompson Rd). The sanctuary will be open from 12:15 pm each Wednesday for silent prayer, and worship begins at 12:30 pm. Light lunch follows in the fellowship hall directly after worship (free). Come for worship, come for lunch, or come for the whole thing and be back at work by 1:30pm. All are welcome - please share the event and the invitation.The Rev. Dr. Jan RiveroLead PastorWesley Memorial United Methodist Church1901 Thomson RoadCharlottesville, VA  22903

434-296-6976

Save the datesDistrict Common Table, Tuesday, January 5, 2016 at Madison UMC, 10:00 am

District Missions at 11 am on January 5 at Madison UMC

Nadia Bolz-Weber will be speaking at The Wesley Foundation at UVA on March 18 & 19, 2016.

At Large Annual Conference Delegates- 2016

David Bean Kimberly MoyersCindy Beazell Suzy MulfordKaren Chapman Mary E. ParrTommy Clark Deb ReynoldsPat Cutright Rebecca WagnerSusan Fletcher James WellsMary Jeffries Sue WellsSue Lewis Nina WinklerRachel Miller Connie PaceAnthony Moyers

Young Adult YouthEmily Dahnert Nicole KentAshley Oliver Keely Williamson

Alternates Wesley Foundation RepJulie Nitzsche Sandra ThorntonFrank OsburnWilliam Stead

Giving Tuesday December 1, 2015

The Theme this year is Activate Love. Transform Lives. Change the World.This year’s General Board of Global Ministries Giving Tuesday Campaign is sure to be more dynamic than ever, as more and more people have become aware of the day and what it means. The GBGM Tuesday campaign is unique because it provides opportunities for churches and conferences to combine Advent and Christmas season giving with global mission and outreach opportunities. During this campaign, United Methodists support Advance projects all over the world. That’s a reach many

organizations don’t have.

New Baby!

Dean Nelson Colwell was born on November 20, 2015 at 8:04 a.m. to Nelson and the Rev. Jessie Squires Colwell, Associate of Connect Ministries at Culpeper UMC. He weighed 8 pounds and measured 20.7 inches. We covet your prayers as we transition into this beautiful blessing.~ Jessie 

Rev. Jessie Squires ColwellAssociate Pastor of Connect MinistriesCulpeper United Methodist Church 

High School SeniorsDo you know a high school senior considering college and sensing a call to ministry?  Help us spread the word about the A. Purnell Bailey Pre-Ministerial Program for Ordained Ministry at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia.  As the oldest United Methodist College in the United States, Randolph-Macon is committed to nurturing young adults who are sensing a call to full-time Christian vocation.  Applicants are welcome from any Christian denomination.  This scholarship offers half-tuition during a student’s freshman and sophomore years and full-tuition during the junior and senior years.  We hope to remove the financial obstacles

from those who are seeking to follow God’s call and prepare for a life of ministry.  Find out more and apply at: http://www.rmc.edu/academics/pre-ministerial.

Church Loans“VUMCU, the conference credit union, currently has unsecured church loans at $20,000 or under at 3.75% up to a 10 year term. Contact Mike at 804-672-0200 or email: mhaydon@vumcu.org. All loans are subject to approval and credit restrictions apply.”Janie HightowerMarketing Manager(804) 672-0200  Office(804) 672-0444  Faxwww.vumcu.org

Christian ComedianFundraiser for our Heart Havens Apartment ComplexTickets on Sale NOW!!!!!!! Clean comedian Michael Joiner will do two performances on April 30th as a fundraiser for a Heart Havens apartment complex which is to be built in the Charlottesville District. The shows will be at 3:00 and 7:00 on Saturday, April 30,

2016 at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center at Charlottesville High School. Tickets will be $18 and are on sale on now (just in time for Christmas gifts!) through Eventbrite.com. All profits will go toward building an apartment complex for adults with intellectual disabilities in the Charlottesville District. Currently in our district, roughly 140 adults with intellectual disabilities are extremely vulnerable because they have an aging or disabled caregiver, are at risk of homelessness, abuse, neglect, or exploitation, or have physical or behavioral needs beyond what their caregivers can meet. You can help by attending this comedy show.

Michael Joiner is the 1st Place winner of the Hollywood Improv's "FUNNIEST COMIC IN L.A." 2008, and 2010 Christian Music Hall of Fame "COMEDIAN OF THE YEAR" nominee, Joiner has attracted wide praise for his routines that blend a sarcastic edginess with a devotion to clean humor. Joiner has headlined at The LA AREA Improvs, The Funny Bone, The Ice House and other comedy clubs across the country while also performing at colleges and sold out Clean Comedy Concerts nationwide. He's also written for "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

Michael has been performing nationwide for over 25 years and is rated one of the nation's funniest Clean Stand up Comedians. The TV Guide Network calls Michael "One of the funniest, most original, stand up Comedians working today!" For more information, contact Kim Crater at omo@ths85.net.

Another show just added on Friday, April 29, 2016 at 7 pm at Culpeper Baptist Church. Check out Eventbrite.com for tickets.

December 2015 Page2

Ministry of Mineral UMCIn addition to their ongoing weekly support of food donations to the Louisa County Resource Center (the local food pantry), Mineral UMC has continued their practice of holding a special food drive where all food donated on the first three Sundays in November is designated for a Mattaponi Indian project. Howard

Adams, a member of Mineral UMC and an Upper Mattaponi tribal member, coordinated the delivery of 600 lbs. of non-perishable food to Sharon Sun Eagle on Nov. 18. She then distributes the food through her Spirit Rising Charities to needy

Mattaponi and other Native Americans in the Richmond area.

Steve Trapani, Stan Yackel, Howard Adams, and Jim Church

are ready to roll with all the food collected at Mineral UMC.

Sharon Sun Eagle is shown singing a prayer of appreciation for the generous donation.

Pictures from District Training Nov. 14

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An anniversary to remember!

Members of the United Methodist Church in Sperryville pose on the church steps after a celebration of the building’s 100th anniversary.The United Methodist Church in Sperryville recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of what some call the “prettiest church in Rappahannock.” On May 6, 1854, according to an article published in 1974 by the Rappahannock News, the land was sold by Lucy Wood for $25 to seven men, the trustees of Sperryville Methodist Church, now named the United Methodist Church. In 1915, the original church was torn down and the present church built on the same site. The cornerstone was laid with Masonic ceremonies on Aug. 12, 1915.Pastor Sara Keeling, during last Sunday’s remembrance, poignantly spoke before a rapt audience of parishioners of the more than 5,000 sermons that had taken place in the hallowed sanctuary over a 100-year period. The church, she said, “contains the spirits of those parishioners” — parishioners whose names are etched in Rappahannock hillsides, including the Estes, Dodsons and many more, ancestors of families who still attend the church.“Think of all the music . . . the hymns, and prayers, the relationships formed, the hugs enjoyed, the pain and anguish of life experiences shared, still lingering in this room and hovering in the air,” she said. Attending the service I was struck by the warm hellos, familiar faces and heartfelt hugs and handshakes, welcoming a guest into their midst.Lunch followed the service, complemented by the sounds of

The Inoperables, a talented musical trio, one of the band members being a parishioner. As they sang and strummed, conversations in the enthusiastic din were overheard, including one woman who reminisced with a smile that she’d been married in this very church 56 years ago.Folks admired the plentiful spread of great homemade foods, including a dessert table bedecked with such delectables as

Mary Frances Bywater’s lemon meringue pies and Aline Johnson’s Tyler pudding. Tom Pellikaan, in signature style,

efficiently orchestrated the congregation’s photo op. They laughed, smiled and sang “Happy Birthday” on the entrance steps. I’m sure Norman Rockwell was smiling from above.

Ray and Ce Pike members of Sperryville UMC.

Ray and Ce fifty years later at Trunk or Treat.

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A Report from the DirectorCollective Genius The innovative leader must create a community of innovation by developing both an atmosphere and the people capable of functioning in a complex and chaotic environment.Much conventional wisdom about leadership has assumed a sole visionary providing primary leadership for a group. The temptation, likewise, is to think that the answer for our congregation is a single innovative leader. The right pastoral leader is surely important, but we are long beyond the ability of any single individual to solve today’s challenges. One leader, even one with a compelling vision, is insufficient for spirit-led innovative leadership. The innovative leader must create a community of innovation by developing both an atmosphere and the people capable of functioning in a more complex and chaotic environment. The church has faced such times in its history but not in our lifetimes. No one person can lead this expedition into uncharted lands.A single leader still plays an important role in our congregations, but today it is not so much the more linear “casting a vision.” It now is a role of serving as a spiritual inquirer and discerner who elicits from a range of sources clues for God’s next faithful step. One person’s wisdom is not sufficient, but neither is the more political process of gathering up a group’s preferences and calling it a vision. A leader can create a context in which many ideas emerge, most not fully formed, and from which experiments and trials come. Some of these efforts will turn out to be well-intentioned failures, but, without judgment, another try emerges that may be so blessed by God’s spirit that everyone will know it has promise for the future.God, indeed, put all the separate parts into the body on purpose, but we can easily forget that truth. We spend inordinate time longing for the leader who will make things, if not right, at least better. Paul reminds us in I Corinthians 12 of the inappropriateness of such thinking. About a decade ago, Linda Hill and other researchers set out to study innovative organizations from a range of fields and nations. Their goal was to understand the role of the primary leader in creating innovative organizations. They discovered in each organization studied that their leaders had moved away from the more traditional roles of direction setting and undertaken the new role of creating a culture in which innovation thrives. They call this “collective genius.”Traditional leadership seems to still work when the problems are clear cut and the solutions are, even if difficult, at least known. But these are not usual times for congregations and their leaders. The challenges are not always apparent, and few speak with assurance about solutions. They found that innovative leaders no longer could afford to surround themselves with “their” people who instinctively supported the leader’s ideas. Rather, these new leaders had to ensure that

diverse people with a range of interests, personalities, and gifts were included. This is where pastoral leaders in particular become anxious. Differences and conflict are inevitable when you seek diversity in the makeup of those involved. But it is out of creative tension that innovation is born.There must always be a bias for action, usually a great deal of trial and error. Helping everyone become comfortable with acting their way forward rather than planning their way forward is a new role for leaders. This involves a greater willingness to take risks than most churches now possess.But there is one lesson Hill and her colleagues learned concerning where this new leader must continue the best of traditional leadership. While experiments and risks are required for innovation, all those involved must be clear that they are pursuing a common purpose and shared values. Unless leaders make sure that purpose and values stay true and at the forefront of everything, then the result will more likely be chaos than innovation.Lovett H. Weems, Jr.Lovett H. Weems, Jr., is director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership and professor of church leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary. His latest book written with Tom Berlin is High Yield: Seven Disciplines of the Fruitful

Leader.

Youth MinistrySave the Date!

District Youth RetreatFebruary 26-28, 2016

We will be collecting Toiletries for TOP and Campbell Soup Labels for Henry Fork Service Center.  Each church is challenged to raise at least $150 so we can have another Stop Hunger Now packaging event.

Like us on Facebook atCharlottesville United Methodist District Youth

Rev. Danny J. Kesner and his sister Lynda Stanley having fun with Stone Keeling. Pastor Sara’s son.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE DISTRICT UMWAdvent Prayer Breakfast Saturday, December 5th9:30 AM to 12 noonGordonsville UMC407 North Main Street, Gordonsville 22942Join us for Breakfast, Fellowship, Worship, and CommunionSpeakerReverend Rebecca ParsonsElder - Virginia United Methodist ChurchVirginia Missionary – Church and Community Worker Executive Director, Community Outreach Program of RoanokeOffering - 50% Mission Giving / 50% Community Outreach Program of RoanokePlease bring: Paper Goods (paper towels, plates/cups, plasticware, napkins) Box Tops for Education.

December 2015 Page6

The United Methodist Church

Charlottesville District Office 914 E. Jefferson St., Suite 104Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 http://CharlottesvilleDistrictUMC.org Email: CharlottesvilleDistrict@vaumc.org

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Newsletter Deadline - December 15Please send your submissions for the January 2016 issue ofThe Ambassador to Carol Frost at cifrost@aol.com by December 15.

The Ambassador by emailIf you would like to receive The Ambassador by email, or if your email address has changed recently, please send an email to the District Office with your request to CharlottesvilleDistrict@vaumc.org.

December 1 Giving TuesdayDecember 5 UMW Advent Prayer BreakfastDecember 15 Deadline for January issue of The Ambassador

January 5 Common Table at Madison UMC, 10:00 a.m.

December 2015 Page

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