Campaign updates and a friendly competition

Photo by Karen Stoffers Pugh

Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!

I hope that your Easter celebration included some experience of Resurrection and new life, whether that looked like spring flowers blooming, healing of past pain, new personal or professional opportunities, forgiveness and letting go, the joy of children's energy and innocence, or some other miracle, large or small. As we enter the season of Eastertide, I want to let you know how things are going with the Imagine No Malaria campaign in the Rocky Mountain Conference.

As of February 28, 2013 (the last month for which donations received at the Nashville campaign headquarters have been tallied), RMCUMC is credited with bringing in $42,127.89 to Imagine No Malaria directly, in addition to the $125,673.32 donated in honor of Bishop and Mrs. Brown that was used to purchase bed nets for distribution in Angola last year. In addition, individual members and leaders have pledged another $16,810.00 over the next year. That brings us to $184,611.21 raised, or about 15.4% of our total goal. (We know that a number of additional contributions are en route.)

So far, at least 45 churches in our conference have either taken an offering or been represented by trackable individual donations. The largest amounts sent in so far come from:

• Grand Junction First: $4,000
• Casper First: $1,335
• Arvada: $1,311
• Newcastle First: $1,025
• Montrose First: $1,016
• Windsor First: $1,000

When the amount sent in is divided by the church's average weekly attendance for 2012, the largest donations per capita so far are from:

• Newcastle First:                      $14.44/attendee          (4.58/member)
• Wheatland:                              $13.11/attendee          ($7.02/member)
• Grand Junction First:             $12.94/attendee           ($4.55/member)
• Johnson Memorial, Dolores:   $9.36/attendee            ($3.38/member)
• Ovid:                                       $9.01/attendee            ($5.54/member)
• Estes Park:                              $8.41/attendee            ($5.43/member)
• Windsor First:                         $7.58/attendee            ($4.98/member)

We are off to a great start! Three churches have already reached the level of saving one life per worship attendee ($10). And First UMC in Casper, Wyoming, is the first RMC church to notify us of their official fundraising goal ($11,000).  

Now is the time to start building even greater momentum; our goal of $1.2 million given or pledged by April 2014 requires an average of $20 per UMC member in our conference, or $40 per worship attendee.

To try to spread their enthusiasm for the life-saving mission of Imagine No Malaria, two pastors in Utah are challenging the other members of their sub-district to a little friendly competition.

Rev. Olga Hard of Mountain Vista UMC in West Jordan, and Rev. Dennis Shaw of Hilltop UMC in Sandy, have proposed that the Utah church that raises the highest dollar amount per capita (based on 2012 average weekly attendance) between April 1 and September 30, 2013, will receive a certificate, will be featured on this blog and in RMC News, and will have "bragging rights" - in addition to the satisfaction of transforming lives and communities in Africa! Rev. Shaw clarifies, "Money has to be sent to the RMC and is for money sent during the period of competition."

If any other (sub-)districts are interested in establishing their own competition, please let me know! We will be announcing campaign results to date at Annual Conference this June, and since the Rocky Mountain Conference campaign continues through spring of 2014, there is still time to make plans for congregational education and awareness-raising efforts, community engagement events, and other creative activities.

Check out the latest news article on ImagineNoMalaria.org about the diverse approaches churches in the Holston Conference are taking, and help us change lives and make history as together we seek to end preventable deaths from malaria in Africa!