Discover How Your Easter Gifts Support MCC's Partner Ministry In Uganda

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Tearing Down Walls. Building Up Hope.   MCC 2011 PACESETTER CHURCHES Churches Participating in MCC's Easter Offering for Global Ministries    1.  achurch4me?  MCC (Chicago, Illinois) - Rev. Kevin Downer, Pastor   2.  Agape MCC (Ft, Worth, Texas) - Rev. David Wynn, Sr., Pastor   3.  All God's Children MCC (Minneapolis, Minnesota) - Rev. Paul Tucker, Pastor   4.  Central Texas MCC  (Waco, Texas) - Rev. Charley Garrison, Pastor   5.  Church of the Trinity MCC (Sarasota, Florida) - Rev. Charles Tigard, Pastor   6.  Cornerstone MCC (Mobile, Alabama) - Rev. Lee Carlton, Pastor   7.  Exodus MCC (Abilene, Texas) - Rev. Margaret Walker, Pastor   8.  First MCC (Wichita, Kansas) - Rev. Jackie Carter, Pastor   9.  FirstCoast MCC (St. Augustine, Florida) - Rev. Ruth Jensen-Forbell, Pastor   10. Heartland Community MCC (Springfield, Illinois) - Tony Thieman-Somora, Pastoral Leader   11.  Holy Covenant MCC (Brookfield, Illinois) - Rev. Danny Spears, Pastor   12.  Imago Dei MCC  (Pennsylvania) - Rev. Janice Bowker, Intentional Interim Specialist   13.  Joy MCC (Orlando, Florida) - Rev. Lisa Heilig, Interim Pastor   14.  King of Peace MCC (St. Petersburg, Florida) - Rev. Dr. Candace Shultis, Pastor   15.  Living Springs MCC (Bath, England) - Rev. Kieren Bourne, Pastor   16.  MCC Albuquerque (New Mexico) - Rev. Judith Maynard, Pastor   17.  MCC Austin (Texas) - Rev. Karen Thompson, Pastor   18.  MCC Boston  (Massachusetts) - Rev. Michael Cooper, Pastor   19.  MCC Cologne (Germany) - Rev. Ines-Paul Baumann   20.  MCC Detroit  (Michigan) - Rev. Mark Bidwell, Pastor   21.  MCC Family in Christ (Fort Collins, Colorado) - Rev. Ken Pilot, Pastor   22.  MCC Good Shepherd  (Granville, Australia) - Rev. Robert Clark, Pastor   23.  MCC Las Vegas  (Nevada) - Rev. Wayne Lindsey, Pastor   24.  MCC Los Angeles  (California) - Rev. Dr. Neil Thomas, Pastor   25.  MCC Lubbock (Texas) - Rev. Renae Phillips, Pastor   26.  MCC Newcastle Upon  Tyne (England) - Rev. Cecilia Eggleston, Pastor; Rev. Pressley Sutherland, Interim Support Pastor   27. MCC of Baton Rouge (Louisiana) - Rev. Keith Mozingo, Pastor   28.  MCC of Greater St. Louis (Missouri) - Rev. Carol Trissel, Pastor   29.  MCC of New York (New York) - Rev. Pat Bumgardner, Pastor   30.  MCC NOVA (Fairfax, Virginia) - Rev. Dr. Kharma Amos, Pastor   31.  MCC of Paducah  (Kentucky) - Rev. Lillian Ferguson, Pastor   32.  MCC of the Blue Ridge  (Roanoke, Virginia) - Rev. Joe Cobb, Pastor   33.  MCC of the Palm Beaches (Florida) - Rev. Dr. Lea Brown, Pastor   34.  MCC of the Spirit  (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) - Rev. Lori E. Rivera, Pastor   35.  MCC of Topeka  (Kansas) - Rev. Dr. Ty Sweeting, Pastor   36.  MCC Rehoboth  (Delaware) - Rev. Dr. Dusty Pruitt, Interim Pastor   37.  MCC Richmond  (Virginia) - Rev. Dr. Robin Gorsline, Pastor   38.  MCC San Antonio  (Texas) - Rev. Mick Hinson, Pastor   39.  MCC Winston-Salem (North Carolina) - Rev. Ron LaRocque, Pastor   40.  New Creation MCC (Columbus, Ohio) - Rev. Margaret Hawk, Pastor   41.  New Life MCC  (Charlotte, North Carolina) - Rev. Mark Deane Pastor   42.  New Light MCC  (Hagerstown, Maryland) - Rev. Michael Hydes, Pastor   43.  New Spirit MCC  (Cincinnati, Ohio) - Open Pulpit   44.  Open Arms MCC  (Rochester, New York) - Rev. Jim Mulcahy, Pastor   45.  Open Circle at The Villages MCC (Florida) - Rev. Carol Rawlings-Chambers, Pastor   46.  Our Hope MCC (Athens, Georgia) - Rev. Dr. Renee DuBose, Pastor   47.  Peninsula MCC (San Mateo, California) - Rev. Terri Echelbarger, Pastor   48.  Pikes Peak MCC  (Colorado Springs, Colorado) - Rev. Wes Mullins, Pastor   49.  Redeemer MCC (Flint, Michigan) - Rev. Ed Yates, Pastor   50.  Resurrection MCC (Houston, Texas) - Rev. Harry Knox, Pastor   51.  Resurrection Beach MCC (Costa Mesa, California) - Open Pulpit   52.  River of Life MCC  (Dorchester, England) - Rev Catherine Dearlove, Pastor   53.  Spirit of Life MCC (New Port Richey, Florida) - Rev. Vickie Miller, Interim Pastor   54.  St. John the Apostle MCC (Ft. Myers, Florida) - Rev. Steve Filizzi, Pastor   55.  St. Jude's MCC  (Wilmington NC) - Rev. John McLaughlin, Pastor   56.  SunCoast Cathedral MCC (Venice, Florida) - Rev. Dr. Sherry Kennedy, Pastor   57. The Rock MCC (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Rev. Brad Rice, Pastor   58.  Tree of Life MCC (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - Rev. Dr. Fran Mayes, Pastor   59.  Trinity MCC  (Gainesville, Florida) - Rev. Jim Merritt, Pastor   An Important Update from Rev. Nancy L. Wilson Office of the Moderator Metropolitan Community Churches   MCC's 2011 Easter Offering for Global Ministries     Dear MCC Friend:   Easter -- the holiest day in Christianity - is rapidly approaching!   The Easter message of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection has brought hope to millions of people across the centuries.   And through MCC's 2011 Easter Offerings for Global Ministries, we have a wonderful opportunity to share the Easter message of hope and to join hands with our brothers and sisters around the globe in their life-changing, life-saving ministries.   Today, I want to salute the 59 MCC congregations and the 59 MCC pastors who have already written to say they will receive an Easter Offering for Global Ministries.   You will find a list of this year's participating churches in the left-hand column. If your church is not yet listed, I invite you to write to me today at Easter@MCCchurch.net and let me know of your participation.   In recent weeks, I've shared how this year's Easter offerings will support MCC's anchor efforts in Asia and extend MCC's ministry in Russia.   ______________________________________________________    Today, I want to share with you why your Easter giving is so vital to the lives of LGBT people in the East Africa nation of Uganda. ______________________________________________________     At a time when many nations are recognizing that LGBT rights are human rights, Uganda is moving rapidly in the opposite direction. In a country where gay sex is already illegal, Uganda's Parliament has spent two years debating new anti-gay laws which, in various versions, would mandate the death penalty for gays and lesbians, require a sentence of life in prison for engaging in a gay sex act, and even imprison persons who fail to report to authorities if they overhear a conversation in which someone acknowledges they are gay.   It gets worse...   Sadly, some Uganda church leaders are fueling the anti-LGBT frenzy. For example, Rev. Martin Ssempa, pastor of an evangelical church in Uganda's capital city, regularly hold anti-gay rallies at which he describes all gay people as pedophiles and deserving of imprisonment or death. He even shows hard-core pornography at churches and Christian conferences to fuel anti-gay sentiment.   Think that's bad?   But it gets worse...   A number of American fundamentalist churches -- including some mega-church pastors -- are sending funds to support anti-gay in Uganda!   Horrified?   It gets still worse...   The current anti-gay frenzy in Uganda has created a climate of threats, intimidation and violence against LGBT people. The situation has become so volatile that many human rights groups now describe the situation there as a "Gay Genocide."   On January 26 of this year, David Kato, head of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), was murdered in his home in Mukono, Uganda.   The late David Kato, Ugandan human rights activist, murdered on January 26, 2111, in an anti-gay hate crime.   MCC's Global Justice Institute organized David Kato's memorial service at New York City's historic Abyssinian Baptist Church and helped organize a major rally at the site of Uganda's mission to the United Nations.   And MCC has partnered with SMUG and Integrity to establish St. Paul's Reconciliation & Equality Center, which offers safe space to LGBT Ugandans.   MCC is partnering with Integrity and SMUG to provide this safe space for our LGBT sisters and brothers in Uganda.    This Center meets a pressing need for Ugandans who live under the daily threat of anti-gay violence. For some, it is a safe space where they can experience a time of freedom from persecution. And for others, it offers temporary housing while awaiting asylum to other countries.    ______________________________________________________   Your gifts to MCC's  Easter Offerings for Global Ministries will help support this life-saving safe space for LGBT Ugandans! ______________________________________________________     I hope you sense why your church's participation in MCC's 2011 Easter Offerings for Global Ministries is so very, very vital.   That is why I am asking for your help and inviting your church to receive an Easter Offering for Global Ministries.   If your church will participate this year, I am asking that your church take the following steps today:   1. Send an e-mail to me at Easter@MCCchurch.net and let me know of your commitment. When you write, let me know whether you will receive your offering on Easter Sunday, or on a Sunday close to Easter. As soon as I hear from you, we'll add your church to the list of 2011 Pacesetter Churches -- churches that are "setting the pace" in support of MCC's commitment to global ministry.   2. Let your congregation know about this Easter Offering by sharing the information in these weekly letters. And I especially encourage you to remember our brothers and sisters in Uganda, Russia, and the Philippines in prayer during worship services leading up to Easter Sunday.   Through our shared giving this Easter, we can make a profound difference in our world.   Won't you write to me at Easter@MCCchurch.net today?   Grace and peace,   + Nancy   Rev. Nancy L. Wilson Moderator Metropolitan Community Churches Easter@MCCchurch.net     P.S. May I share one more thought? You may be tempted to think your gifts won't make a significant difference. I'm reminded of the little boy who brought his few loaves and fishes to Jesus. It wasn't a large gift -- certainly not in the face of the need. But the key was this: He did what he could and he gave what he had -- and then Jesus miraculously multiplied them.   I think it's the same with our Easter giving. When we do what we can and give what we have, God will use our gifts in miraculous ways. Won't you write to me today at Easter@MCCchurch.net?     Rev. Pat Bumgardner (center, with microphone), executive director of MCC's Global Justice Institute, addresses New York City vigil for slain activist David Kato, at Uganda's mission to the United Nations.

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