UMCD
President’s Report
Hello, Everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your summer!
Rev.
Peggy Johnson Elected Bishop
We celebrate Rev. Peggy Johnson's becoming a Bishop. With a strong advocate in
the Episcopacy, we hope other UMC Bishops will show more compassion and lend
their support to the Deaf, late-deafened, hard-of-hearing and deaf-blind
people in their annual conference. Separate articles about her are in this
newsletter and on our UMCD website - www.UMCD.org.
Hallelujah!
2009
UMCD Global Conference in
Seoul
,
Korea
I want to share with you about our UMCD planned 2009 trip to
Korea
. Rev. Joo Kang and I met with Rev. Dae Hwa Park, a hearing UMC pastor in the
Baltimore-Washington Conference. Rev. Park is a native of
Korea
and will be interpreting from Korean to English. One of our interpreters will,
of course, interpret in sign language for us.
We will be leaving from various cities in the U.S. on Wednesday, July 29, 2009
and arrive in Seoul, Korea the next day, Thursday, July 30, 2009. We plan to
stay at the Lotte Hotel for the nights of July 30 and 31 and August 1, 2009.
We will have tours all day on Friday and Saturday, July 31 and August 1 and
Sunday morning, August 2, 2009. We will then go outside of
Seoul
to the Kwanglim Seminar House (where we will stay for 3 nights) for our 2009
UMCD Global Gathering. The conference will begin around 2:00 pm on Sunday
afternoon, August 2 and continue until noon, Wednesday, August 5, 2009. After
touring some more that afternoon, we plan to stay at the Lotte Hotel (at a
different location, but closer to the airport). We will depart for the
U.S.
on Thursday, August 6, 2009. At this time, details for hotel and
transportation arrangements in
Seoul
are being worked out. You will be informed as soon as plans are finalized.
Tour plans for July 31 and August 1 - We plan to visit the Gyeongbokgung
Palace, National Museum of Korean History, National Place Museum of Korea,
Cheonggyechean Street (3-mile canal for strolling), Nanta Show, National Folk
Museum of Korea, Bazaar Market (where you can negotiate your purchases),
Seodaemun Prison History Hall (former concentration camp) and Missionary
Cemetary where Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian missionaries were buried).
Tour plans for August 2 - attend church services at
Historical
Korean
Methodist
Church
(9:00 am) and
Seoul
Korean
Methodist
Church
of the Deaf (11:00 am).
During our UMCD Global conference, we will visit the
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which is not far from the Kwanglim Seminar House. We
will do this on Tuesday, August 4.
Tour plans for August 5 - That afternoon, we will go to the Korea House and
Folk
Village
- a lot of visual (no verbal) entertainment here.
Additional tours may be added later.
Travel arrangements can be made in 3 different ways: 1) through Tzell Travel
Agency; 2) through your own travel agency; or 3) on-line, using Internet.
People who do not have a credit card may want to
reserve their airline tickets through Tzell. Tzell will contact you directly
and give you an airfare quote - you decide if you want to accept this quote or
not. If you accept, you must immediately send your airfare money to Deaf
Interfaith. Deaf Interfaith will then pay Tzell.
With oil prices dropping lately, it is possible that
airfare prices may come down. Please check the internet for airfare prices
from time to time, and you may decide which airline gives you the better deal.
Also, it strongly recommended that you purchase flight insurance for possible
cancellations due to illness, etc. And one very important item - be sure to
have a (current) passport!
So far, more than 35 people have either registered
and paid deposit or are considering going to
Korea
. It is not too late to sign up. Additonal information is on our registration
form. Please go to our UMCD.org website, complete the registration form, make
your check payable to Deaf Interfaith, and send your form and deposit to Toby
Witt-Dix, our registrar as soon as possible. If you decide you want to
purchase your own airline tickets, please email Toby at wittedix@verizon.net,
and inform her so that she will know that you are not planning to purchase
flight tickets from Tzell Travel Agency.
I'm sure that you don't want to miss this trip!!!
Fund-Raising
for
Korea
Trip
If you need ideas on how to raise money for your
trip, fund-raising ideas can be found on our UMCD website www.UMCD.org.
It gives you a lot of ideas of raising funds to go to
Korea
. You CAN raise funds in different ways. So, go to our UMCD.org website and
click on index, then click on Links/News Stories, then scroll down and click
on "
Fun Ways
to Fund Raise for Individuals or Groups".
Have You
Sign Up with UMCD’s Group Email Service?
We will have discussions on these issues through our UMCD@yahoogroups.com.
If you haven’t yet sign up to our UMCD group email, please email your
request, along with your email address, to Rev. Rick Springer at
umc.deaf.ministry@sbcglobal.net if you wish to be added to this
UMCD group email list. Don’t be left out!
You are welcome to join UMCD or renew your membership
or to make a donation. Please complete the form at the end of the newsletter
and send your dues and/or donations to our treasurer, Rev. Tom Hudspeth. Thank
you!
This issue only has news from the NEJ and SCJ. If you
have news concerning your church, your annual conference, past events, coming
events, pictures, etc., please share them with UMCD members and send your news
items to Mary Jane, our UMCD Newsletter editor at dmj730@comcast.net
for our next UMCD Newsletter. We want to hear from you!. Thank you.
The Holidays will be coming fast. Please remember to
always give thanks for what we have.
Blessings and Peace,
Dan Kenyon
Electing a Bishop
By Rev. Leo Yates, Jr.
On July 17th, the life of Rev. Dr. Peggy
A. Johnson changed forever. Not
only was her life changed, but the life of the denomination changed when the
delegates at the Northeastern Jurisdiction Conference in
Harrisburg
,
PA
elected Johnson as the new bishop during this Quadrennium. On Friday, July 18th,
Johnson was consecrated bishop at
Grace
United
Methodist
Church
in
Harrisburg
.
Bishop Johnson was raised in the
Baltimore
area and graduated from college with a music degree. After teaching music, she
felt God calling her to ministry. Johnson attended a seminary in
Kentucky
where she met her future husband; the two later married.
Johnson’s call to ministry evolved when her life
was touched by the language of deaf people. After seeing a deaf choir perform,
it ignited her passion to enter into deaf ministry. Her passion was influenced
by Rev. Leroy Schauer and other colleagues in deaf ministry. She came to be
the pastor at
Christ
United
Methodist
Church
of the Deaf in 1988. Stepping into the pulpit at a deaf church set the stage
and her future in deaf ministry for the next twenty years. Johnson was the
pastor at
Christ
Church
from 1988 to 2008. She joins the ranks of other long attending pastors such as
Daniel Moylan and Louis Foxwell, Sr.
Her last worship service at
Christ
Church
was on Sunday, August 10th. This was the most attended worship
service in a long time. There were even more people than on an Easter Sunday.
Johnson preached and celebrated the Holy Communion with the congregation for a
long time. Her dedication to the ministry, her hard work to growing the church
a handful of people to over 150 people, and most of all, her compassion for
marginalized people will always be treasured and remembered.
Bishop Johnson now serves two annual conferences.
Literally, on the back door of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Johnson is
the Episcopal leader (bishop) of the Peninsula-Delaware and the Eastern
Pennsylvania Conferences.
Walking in the
Steps of a Bishop
By Mary
Jane Kenyon
Christ
United
Methodist
Church
of the Deaf (
Christ
Church
),
Baltimore
,
MD
is adjusting to the loss of their
beloved pastor, Rev. Peggy A. Johnson (now Bishop Peggy A. Johnson). She left
to be a bishop in the Episcopal area of eastern
Pennsylvania
and
Delaware
. The new pastor of
Christ
Deaf
Church
is less known but has his roots in deaf ministry.
At the Northeastern Jurisdiction Conference (NEJ) in
Harrisburg
,
PA
, Johnson was elected bishop. Twelve
other official candidates also ran for Bishop.
Bishop Johnson’s life was forever changed as she departed
Harrisburg
.
The pastor replacing Bishop Johnson at
Christ
Church
was the associate pastor there. Rev.
Leo Yates, Jr. officially began his appointment to
Christ
Church
on September 1, 2008. Rev. Yates,
whose parents are Deaf, was a member of the Washington UMC of the Deaf in
Takoma Park
,
MD.
Many years later he transferred
his membership to
Christ
Church
,
Baltimore
,
MD.
He was the pastor at
Magothy
United
Methodist
Church
of the Deaf,
Pasadena
,
MD
from 2003 to 2006, He was appointed as the associate pastor to
Christ
Church
in 2007. Aside from being a pastor, Rev. Yates is a certified interpreter and
has authored a book, “Interpreting At Church.”
When asked, Yates admits he has some big shoes to
fill. “The members of
Christ
Church
have graciously accepted me as their new pastor. When it was announced to them
that I was replacing Peggy, their cheer (hands waving) was overwhelming,”
said Rev. Yates.
He expressed, “How does one step into Peggy’s
shoes? By being organized, with
humility, by remembering that many are grieving and need this time to adjust,
and most importantly, with lots of prayer.”
His immediate goals: To just be present with the
people, to ensure they know that he cares for them and that the church is
there for them. For Rev. Yates,
one of his concerns is the continued inclusion of the Deaf group-home people
who are made up of mentally ill, developmentally disabled, and/or other adults
with personal challenges. Yates
states this is where you will find Christ.
Walking in the steps of a bishop makes it easier,
because the road has been traveled. He is following the path that has been
made by others who went before him.
Ephphatha!
By Rev. Joo Kang
I have been working at
Gallaudet
University
as chaplain since the fall of 2006. I was thrilled to have opportunities to
meet Gallaudet students who may well be called elites in the deaf community.
Needless to say,
Gallaudet
University
has been revered and cherished as the
Mecca
of the Deaf world because of its character as the only liberal arts university
in the world that was established to educate Deaf students. It would be not
surprising to see many of them maintain the intensity of their pride in
deafness, Deaf Culture and sign language. I believe it is a healthy attitude
to maintain a pride in deafness. I once was a victim of inferiority and
shameful feeling about deafness when I was young.
I was shocked, however, to learn that
there is a tendency among them to regard Jesus Christ as audist who regards
hearing preferable to deaf and therefore reject him as anti-deaf. In other
words, Jesus Christ was not popular among them. Even some students complained
that Jesus should not have cured deafness as found in the chapter 7 of Mark. I
heard that there was once a movement at
Gallaudet
University
to remove the word, “Ephphatha!” which is fingerspelled in the official
seal. The reason is that they felt the word repugnant because it means, Be
opened and it implies that deafness is something to be eliminated.
It is not hard to understand their logic.
If we carefully read the narrative of Jesus’ healing of a deaf man as shown
in Mark 7, we will immediately construe that “Ephphatha”
has something to do with opening the ears and mouth. It makes sense to
interpret the Aramaic word, “Ephphatha” which means Be opened as opening
the deaf man’s ears and mouth so that he might be able to hear and speak as
hearing people.
I, however, don’t like to take a myopic
outlook. There is no subject or object of the word “Ephphatha” to be sure.
Jesus did not mention about the object or subject of “Be opened.” He did
not say, “Let the ears and mouth
be opened.” He simply said,
“Be opened!” Of course, it would be reasonable to infer that the subject
of the word, “Ephphatha” should be the ears and mouth of the deaf man from
the context of the narrative of the deaf man’s healing. But again, there is
no mention about the subject of, “Be opened!”
What does it mean? It means that we can widen the subject of “Ephphatha”
to more than just ears and mouth. It would be no mistake to conclude that
Jesus wanted to open not only the ears and mouth, but also the doors of many
opportunities that had been tightly shut to deaf people. He wanted to open
educational, vocational, and linguistic opportunities for us. We must thank
Jesus for opening great opportunities for us because he has commanded in a
firm tone to be opened (Ephphatha) for the sake of the deaf man.
There is much historical evidence that
Christianity has been the forerunner of deaf education in the world. It is
Christianity that has been actively recognizing the inherent value of deaf
people as created in the image of God. It is Christianity that has been very
active in spreading the gospel among deaf people. Only Christianity has been
proud to produce a large number of deaf clergy. I have not heard of any deaf
Buddhist or Muslim clergy members. We should be grateful to have Jesus Christ
as our Lord. Certainly, he is the Son of the living God and our Savior. He is
the Real Friend to deaf people!
“He looked up to heaven
and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be
opened!”) (Mark 7:34)
Carol Stevens leaving
Christ
Church
By Mary Jane Kenyon
Carol Stevens is a member of Christ UMC of the Deaf,
Baltimore
,
MD.
She has been involved and worked with the Deaf Ministry for 45 years. She is
well-known and established the Deaf Shalom Zone, Inc. in January, 2000. She is
Executive Director of the Deaf Shalom Zone. The Deaf Shalom Zone provides
services to meet the needs for the Deaf community in the
Baltimore
area. It also serves Deaf/Blind and Hard of Hearing community with their needs
as well. Ms. Stevens is a certified American Sign language interpreter and a
therapist. We truly all have been blessed by her faithful mission work for the
Deaf, Deaf/Blind, Hard of Hearing and Late-Deafened.
Several weeks ago, Ms. Stevens announced that she will be leaving Christ
UMC of the Deaf on December 31, 2008. She said, "God is calling me to do
Deaf Ministry work in
Delaware
and the Eastern Shore of Maryland."
On Saturday, October 11, 2008, we attended the
meeting at
Christ
Church
related to the Deaf Shalom Zone. We discussed various issues and ideas to keep
the Deaf Shalom Zone going, such as: 1) volunteers for Deaf Shalom Zone, 2)
visiting home-bound people, 3) picking up clients and taking them to
appointments, 4) collecting food for Deaf Shalom Zone food bank, etc., 5)
provide interpreting services, etc.
If you want to contact Carol Stevens, her email
address is carolstevens100@hotmail.com
We will miss her dearly. Please pray for her as God guides her.
SCJ Retreat/Gathering
By Karen Harrell
We had a wonderful retreat and it was held at
San Antonio
,
TX
, October 3-5, 2008. About 40
people attended the retreat. It
was good to see some old faces and new ones.
The speaker and workshop
host was Chad Entinger of Deaf Missions Council Bluff,
Iowa
, was wonderful. It was an all day
workshop called, “ASL Translations.” It
explained to us the understanding and clarification of the Bible verses.
It helped us understand better. Names,
chapters and verses in the Bible are in the DVD in ASL translation with the
New Testament. Coming soon the Old
testament will be in DVD in ASL translation, also. The
ASL Translation Workshop was so awesome!
We enjoyed Fiesta dinner and watched young girls dancing in Mexican
music. Also, the next evening we
went to Golden Corral and then went to Riverwalk to ride the ferry boat.
We had a blast!
Our next SCJ Gathering will
be held in
Houston
,
TX
in the fall of 2010.
Smile,
God loves you!
Executive Officers
President: Dan Kenyon
dmj730@comcast.net
Vice-President: Rev. Joo Kang
lordseakang@hotmail.com
Secretary: Pat Lancet
pklancet@yahoo.com
Treasurer:
Rev. Tom Hudspeth
thudspeth@llumc.org
Jurisdiction Presidents
NCJ Vice-President: Rev. Elke Sharma
pastorelke@yahoo.com
NEJ President: Darlene Koontz
koontz9@comcast.net
SCJ President: Karen Harrell
karenharrell76@cox.net
SEJ President: Toni Parrish
THPDeaf@aol.com
WJ President: Candis Shannon
fireweedccs@yahoo.com
Int’l. Conf. President: Vacant
Committee Chairs
Archives and History - Francine Kenyon
fmkyn@yahoo.com
Church Promotion Deaf Ministries - Karen
Harrell
karenharrell76@cox.net
Church Promotion of Late-Deafened and Hard of
Hearing - Rev. Elke Sharma
pastorelke@yahoo.com
Communications Technology - Rev. Rick
Springer
UMC.Deaf.Ministry@sbcglobal.net
Interpreter Committee - Michelle Menefee
mlmenefee@sbcglobal.net
Membership Roster - Rev. Bob Vaughn
rvaughn@infionline.net
Youth Ministry - Carmela Kenyon
wwecrazydiva@gmail.com
Other Officers
Past President: Candis Shannon
fireweedccs@yahoo.com
Newsletter Editor:
MaryJane Kenyon
dmj730@comcast.net
UMCD Membership and Endowment Fund
UMCD established the Endowment Fund for the
purpose of encouraging local churches to develop new ministries with those who
are Deaf, Hard of Hearing,
Late Deafened or Deaf-Blind. Your donation to
the Endowment is a sign of support and challenge to United Methodists.
If you did not attend the 2007 UMCD conference and want to renew your
membership or if you want to join UMCD, you may use the form below. Please
send your tax-deductible UMCD Membership and/or Endowment Fund donation to the
address below. Many thanks!!
Help the Endowment
Fund Grow!
_______________________________________________________________________
UMCD Membership and
Donations
Name: ______________________________________________
Address: ____________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Telephone: ________________________
Voice/TTY (Circle which applicable)
Email: _________________________________________
$ _________ UMCD Dues ($10.00 per year or $20 for 2 years)
$ _________ Donation to Endowment Fund
$ _________ Donation for _________________
$ _________ Total Enclosed
Make your check payable to UMCD, memo
“Membership” and/or “Endowment Fund”
Mail To:
Tom Hudspeth, Treasurer
Lovers Lane UMC
9200 Inwood Rd.
Dallas
,
Texas
75220
Thank you for supporting the United Methodist Congress of the Deaf.
