Kansas East congregations are encouraged to receive the offering on Rural Life Sunday. The suggested date is April 27.

Questions about this program should be addressed to KAUMRF executive director, Ronald Williams, at ronaldj@cox.net.

Learn more about United Methodist Rural Fellowship online at http://www.umrf.org/. The General Board of Global Ministries is developing new resources for 2008 under the theme "Born Again in Every Place: Seeds of Hope." The theme will be used April 26 at the Town and Country Celebration at General Conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

Rev. Gary Beach
Director of Connectional Ministries

Annual Conference News

Just Go! Register!
Yes, that's right you can now register for the 2008 Annual Conference.

The Session News, including registration forms, has been mailed to members of the annual conference to be returned by May 15.

If you prefer to register online we suggest that you visit the annual conference page at http://www.kansaseast.org/page.asp?PKValue=32 for more information.

To go directly to Annual Conference registration go to www.kansaseast.org/acregistration.

NOTE: Online registration does require payment with a credit card or by PayPal.

General News

Sign up today for General Conference news
Receive the latest news and information on the 2008 General Conference Session right in your e-mail inbox.

The 2008 General Conference, which will meet April 23 - May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas, is an important meeting in the life of our United Methodist denomination. Stay up-to-date with the latest on General Conference through a free, daily e-mail offered to you by the Kansas Area Marketing and Communications office.

This free daily e-mail will feature:

• Breaking news relevant to the Kansas East Conference
• Ability to track the progress of proposed legislation
• News of the day
• Photos
• Interviews and reflections from Kansas East Conference delegates

To receive this free e-mail in your inbox each day during General Conference (April 23 - May 2), sign up at www.kansaseast.org/stay_connected.asp.

Only those who have subscribed will receive the e-mails.

To learn more about the United Methodist General Conference Session, visit www.kansaseast.org/gc2008.

NOTE: On the sign-up page, you will see the following boxes in which to enter your information: First Name, Last Name, E-mail address and Security Code. The Security Code appears in a colored box above the box where you are to type the security code. If you are unable to read the code, click the link for a new one. If you are still having problems, please contact Beverly Fanestil in the Communications Office at Bfanestil@kswestumc.org for assistance.

Check out Classifieds on the Conference website
Local church staff openings are regularly posted on the conference website under "Classifieds." Check out current openings at: http://www.kansaseast.org/classifieds_find.asp.

If your church has an opening to advertise, log in to the Church Dashboard and post it. If you need help with your username and password, contact JoEllen in the conference office at office@kansaseast.org.

Wesley KU e-newsletter
Wesley KU regularly distributes an e-mail newsletter to keep constituents informed of the activities at the campus ministry. The latest issue features information about their new space, both at Lawrence First and in the Student Involvement and Leadership Center on campus. To subscribe, contact Creighton Alexander at wesleyku@ku.edu.

BeADisciple.com offers online workshops
The Institute for Discipleship at Southwestern College offers a number of online courses.

• How to Provide Your Workshop Online
• Crowning "Prince Caspian": An Evangelism and Discipleship Growth Opportunity
• Storytelling Beyond the Sermon
• Effective Communication with Little or No Money

The new BeADisciple website was recently launched. Visit http://www.beadisciple.com/ for more information on the Institute for Discipleship or the online courses offered.

General Conference presentations enter 21st century
General Conference is just around the corner, and several important presentations are planned for the first few days. Among those are the Young People's address and the Episcopal Address. Learn more about these two important messages at http://www.kansaseast.org/ in "News" on the homepage or the "News & Events" section.

Ground Broken for Plaza at Mount Sequoyah
Ground was broken at Mount Sequoyah, the official conference and retreat center of the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church, for a new facility to be known as Louisiana Friendship Plaza. The plaza comes to the Fayetteville, Arkansas located historic institution as a "thank you" gift from the Louisiana Conference of the UMC to the South Central Jurisdiction for the many disaster relief teams and hundreds of volunteers that have traveled to Louisiana to help with relief efforts since hurricanes Rita and Katrina just over two and one half years ago.

Read the full story online at http://www.kansaseast.org/.

Online game offers new opportunity to send nets, save lives
NASHVILLE - World Malaria Day is April 25. Now and throughout April, there's an easy new way to help eliminate malaria deaths in Africa and raise more money for nets through the Nothing But Nets malaria prevention campaign. Malaria is a serious and often fatal disease transmitted by mosquitoes. The World Health Organization estimates that 300-500 million cases of malaria occur each year.

Nothing But Nets has just launched a new online interactive game called "Deliver the Net" that makes it possible to send a net and save a life right from your keyboard. The game teaches users about bed net distribution and challenges individuals to deliver as many virtual nets as possible before the sun goes down and malaria-carrying mosquitoes come out to bite. From now until the end of the month, each time someone plays the game and signs up at http://www.nothingbutnets.net/, generous sponsors will donate $10 for a lifesaving insecticide-treated net.

To play the game and deliver a net, go to http://www.nothingbutnets.net/. Read the full story on the Kansas East website, http://www.kansaseast.org/.

GBOD shares hymnal research responses
Thanks to all who participated in GBOD's recent hymnal and music surveys - all 19,091 of you! The results are available at www.gbod.org/hymnal.

GBOD has reported ALL of the data from the surveys in sections that will allow you to read and consider this huge amount of information by subject area and interest. It is organized it as follows:

• What are the favorite hymns of UMs? The responses are organized by hymnal and The Faith We Sing, by age group (under 30, 30-50, 51-70, over 70), and by role in the church (pastor, musician, congregational singer, choir member, laity/clergy, organist, etc.).
• What hymns do you want included or removed from the hymnal and The Faith We Sing? What hymns and songs not in either book do you want to include in a new hymnal?
• What hymns and songs has your congregation sung over the last three years, and how often? We asked this question of only pastors and chief musicians.
• We asked pastors and chief musicians a number of questions about the hymnal's Psalter.
• We asked pastors and chief musicians a number of questions about worship resources, liturgy, and ritual in the hymnal.
• We invited ALL United Methodists to respond to about 35 wide-ranging statements about United Methodist worship, congregational singing, and our hymnal. Responses are available in total as well as broken down into age groups.

Featured Events

Find more Upcoming Events on the Conference Calendar.

SOULfeast early bird deadline April 30
Do you or your leaders ever need a time of renewal and inspiration? If so, think about attending SOULfeast, the Upper Room's signature spiritual formation event, which is set for this July 20-24 at Lake Junaluska, NC. Directors of Connectional Ministries will receive information packets and DVDs about the event in the near future. More information is available at http://www.upperroom.org/soulfeast/2008/index.htm

Institute registration online
The registration form for this summer's Institute are online at www.kansaseast.org/institute. Institute is June 16th - 21st and July 21st - 26th. The 2008 theme is "iBelieve."

In addition, applications for Care Group Leader and Hug Group Leader are going out this week. Watch for these forms in the mail and online. Watch the www.kansaseast.org/institute page.