wfn.org | Texas Youth Repair Church

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3106 notes).

Note 3104 by UMNS on Aug. 6, 1996 at 16:15 Eastern (3067 characters).

SEARCH: First, Aldersgate, mission, repair, conference

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Green                              390(10-71){3104}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              Aug. 6, 1996

The following article may be used as a sidebar to UMNS #389 {3103}

Texas Youth experience Aldersgate
by cleaning, repairing church

     NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A youth group from Texas prepared for a
conference on the Holy Spirit here July 31-Aug. 4 by helping a
congregation clean and touch up its newly acquired building.
     Thirty youth from First United Methodist Church, Bedford,
Texas, worked on repairing the Ernest Newman United Methodist
Church here before joining 246 other youth at Aldersgate '96. 
     The Aldersgate conference is an annual, international and
primarily United Methodist, charismatic conference on the Holy
Spirit with lively worship and praise. The annual family gathering
focuses on rebirth, power, prayer, renewal, revival and reunion.
     According to Gene "Coach" Carter, the youth director at the
Texas church, the youth came to the Nashville church to build
community, receive a sense of purpose and gain a vision of what
they can do with their talents.
     He said they worked at the church as a way to showcase the
Aldersgate conference's emphasis on renewal and changing lives.
     The lives of the members of Ernest Newman United Methodist
Church were forever changed when the Tennessee Annual Conference
this past June closed Bordeaux United Methodist Church and awarded
the facilities to the Ernest Newman congregation. 
     For the past eight years, the Ernest Newman Church has
conducted worship and church business in a double-wide trailer.
     The Bordeaux church, a white congregation located in a
changing neighborhood, dwindled in membership and could not
maintain the facilities, according to the Rev. James Peters, of
the Ernest Newman congregation.
     Stella Venson, an Ernest Newman member, said, "We were
struggling for a building and the Lord has answered many prayers." 
She said that while there are people burning churches down, "we
have youth groups and others that are building churches up."
     The Bedford, Texas, youth cleaned, painted, touched up and
repaired parts of the building.
     "The experience of coming to help the congregation of Ernest
Newman before attending Aldersgate '96 was a time of ministry and
of growing closer to each other and to God," said 14-year old
Natalie Lewinn.
     According to Justin Hildebrand, 17, "participating in the
mission project was just like Aldersgate. It was a renewing and a
rekindling of the spirit."
     The 30 youth helped restore the faith of some Ernest Newman
members in teenagers and in humanity. Calling their actions
"divine intervention," Ruby Smith congratulated the young people
for their witness of mission.
                           #  #  #     

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