When one travels to Cuba, everyone knows that treasure awaits. They know about the aqua-blue ocean, the antique cars and Old Havana. They know about the beautiful weather and the salsa music that seems to hum continually in the background. But most don’t know about the greatest treasure of all – the one we found when we traveled to Cuba recently.

A group of 10 from Central went to Havana, Cuba in early March. Amid all the wonders of Cuba, the greatest treasure we found was the Cuban Methodist Church where, since 1996, revival has been ongoing. Through the work of the Holy Spirit and the visionary leadership of Bishop Ricardo Pereira, the church has been exploding with new decisions for Christ, thousands of Cubans growing in small groups and hundreds of house churches with young people leading the way!

Central’s outreach team took needed supplies with them for the Methodist Nursing Home in Havana, most of which were generously provided by the Wednesday morning Gathering group (women’s Bible study) as well as many, many members of Central. The group also took funds to help move the church forward, funds that will be used to provide furniture for seminary professors and scooters for pastors’ transportation, and to put a roof on a new church. We also helped dedicate Fontanar Mission, a church we helped purchase in 2017.

In addition, they put us to work for five days at the nursing home where we got to know the residents while helping to deconstruct the roof.

But the greatest treasures are memories of our time with the people of the church, and relationships with church leaders and lay people that continue to develop and deepen. We brought home the sense that God is using our church and people in big ways in this incredible country. What a treasure! Priceless!

Central, “thank you” for being a ‘sending’ church, one who believes that God is calling us beyond the walls of our church and into our community and around the world!

Group at Methodist Seminary donating computers

Pastor Armando Cruz and family at Santiago de

Las Vegas Methodist Church

Group donating supplies at Methodist Nursing Home

Group standing alongside the rubble that was

creating while taking down the nursing home roofDedication at Fontanar Mission, a new Methodist congregation

April 2018

Making Christ Central to Life

Inside this issue...An Abundance of Fruit

Building Update

Treasures of Cuba

What’s up with Wesley

Light Breaking In

New Room Recap

Dollars & Sense

A Look Ahead

On our recent trip to the Holy Land, everywhere we went on the streets of Jerusalem we noticed fruit stands laden with beautiful, fresh fruit. The carts were stacked with large, delicious-looking oranges, apples, grapefruits, and pomegranates too. Even though it was December, there was an abundance of fruit and the opportunity for sweet fruit juice.

Everywhere I go in our church, I also notice an abundance of fruit. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are appointed to go and bear fruit. Our life’s work is to produce good fruit for the kingdom of God. The fruit at Central United Methodist Church is abundant. Our fruit does not look like oranges, apples, grapefruits, or pomegranates. The fruit we bear is different.

Newcomers are welcomed with love and hospitality. Children and youth are taught the scriptures and raised in the faith. The Gospel is shared and non-believers come to know Jesus as Lord. Believers are strengthened in their faith and grow into maturity. People are convicted of sin and turn to God in repentance. Lives are transformed. The sick are healed of infirmities and diseases. Inner wounds are bound up and brokenness is repaired. Relationships are mended and blessed. Believers are called into Christian service and experience great joy doing the work of the Lord. The hungry are fed, the cold are clothed, the homeless find housing, the unemployed find meaningful work, the hopeless find

hope. The lonely are visited. Those who grieve are comforted.

Can you see the beautiful fruit of the kingdom of God all around our church? When people step onto our campuses they notice our fruit! The fruit of the Spirit shines through our people – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). May the fruit of the kingdom continue to grow rich and abundant in each of us!

“I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” John 15:16

The fruit of the Spirit shines through our people – love,

joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22).

ANABUNDANCE

OF FRUIT

By Jan Davis

Super Bowl Sunday is one of the largest events for human trafficking in the U.S. In this country alone, there are some 1.5 million people who fall victim to human

trafficking. This year, on Super Bowl Sunday, Central UMC took up a designated

offering for The Magdalene Serenity House. Magdalene House is a community of healing for women survivors of sexual

exploitation and addiction, where love is the most powerful force for change.

Thanks to your generous gifts, Central was able to bless Magdalene House with a check

for $3,151.10.

The Sanctuary modifications plan commenced in early January. To date, work has primarily consisted of a surgical demolition of the old structure, earthwork, rock excavation, utility relocations, drilling piers, installing the structural foundations, and roughing in below grade utilities. Steel delivery is scheduled for the end of April with steel construction to follow soon thereafter. Exterior wall framing will commence around the end of May followed by roofing, interior wall framing, drywall, elevator window installation, and masonry work that will carry on through July. Because the rock excavation took longer than anticipated, the project is now scheduled to finish in late August to early September.

The interior renovation commenced right after Easter. The existing organ was removed and sold to a firm from Tennessee for $5,000. A temporary wall has been installed in front of the existing chancel area. Worship will carry on in the Sanctuary while construction is underway through June 3. However, services will be suspended in the Sanctuary for the last three Sundays in June during which time combined services will be held in Central’s Activities Center. This will allow for new wood flooring to be installed throughout the Sanctuary. This work was not in the original schedule and has been added this spring. It cannot be completed without vacating the Sanctuary for three to four weeks. We anticipate to resuming services in the Sanctuary beginning July 1. The installation of the new organ will commence in late July.

BUILDING UPDATEBUILDING UPDATE

ANABUNDANCE

OF FRUIT

By Jan Davis

TREASURESOF CUBA

By Greg Gibson

As they continue to grow, the U of A Wesley College Ministry is always looking for new opportunities to meet the needs of the students they serve. Here is a look at two different outreaches that are providing a pathway for fellowship.

Long nights studying and late night snacks are a staple in the life of a college student. With Wesley’s new Zumba class, students are encouraged to take care of their bodies as well as their souls by dancing away the academic and other stresses in their lives.

Wesley’s College Pastor Emily Burch has a love for dance and became a certified Zumba instructor this past November to help bring this love into the ministry and use it as a tool for outreach. With sorority houses and dormitories surrounding the Wesley House, Zumba has also been a great way to reach students who might not otherwise have responded to an invitation to attend a college ministry. With a core group of 15 students showing up each week, Wesley has seen more than a dozen new faces come through the doors for Zumba since its start. Emily eventually hopes to interview with the UREC (University Recreation) at the U of A to teach both on campus as well as at Wesley.

The Zumba class welcomes all levels, from students that have experience dancing, to those moving to a beat for the first time. “I’m a beginner, but I feel so comfortable in this space. Being around people I know helps me let loose and just move to the music!” shared UA senior Betsy Hein.

Watching students have fun moving to the music and laughing together is truly a testament to the Holy Spirit being ever-present in this place, no matter the activity!

This past fall, Wesley launched a ministry specially geared towards giving graduate students at the U of A a place for Christian community and connection. While there are many ministries that successfully engage undergraduate students on our campus, not many make a focused effort to minister to the needs of graduate-level students.

Wesley believes that this older and more diverse graduate student population is in a unique stage that sets them apart from their undergraduate peers and, therefore, they need a community that speaks to their differing life experience.

Each Thursday at the Union, Wesley’s graduate ministry gathers to share in a fellowship meal, devotional, and prayer time together. Led by Pastoral Intern Taylor Loy, the Graduate Student Lunch allows students to engage in meaningful conversations and make connections with other graduate students across disciplines. Since its launch, they have welcomed 25 different faces at the Grad Lunch, with a regular attendance of a dozen students each week. We love nurturing a community that lends support and encouragement to students in very difficult academic programs and helps graduate students pursue their relationship with Christ, even as they pursue further education.

“When I started my graduate program at the U of A, I knew that I wanted this chapter to be different than my undergraduate experience,” shared Karli Moore, a first-year graduate student. “Through this welcoming and edifying ministry, I have found a faith community to call home for the first time since leaving my hometown. I feel like I have really grown in my faith here at Wesley by being challenged to embrace vulnerability and develop strong, Christ-filled relationships.”

Wesley’s Graduate Student Lunch has also served as a portal into its broader ministry’s life, as graduate students have also become avid participants in our weekly worship service at Wesley.

“Monday night Zumba is a lifesaver after a

ridiculously long day, and it boosts my mood when I’m stressed out

about school!” UA sophomore Maria Folkerth

“I have found a faith community to call home for the first time since leaving my hometown.”

WHAT’S UPWITH WESLEY

In Isaiah 42, God speaks to give comfort to His people. He sees their suffering in exile and feels it too. He says, “For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.” It is a jarring image, but it powerfully reveals the Lord’s urgency, intensity, and passion.

God cares about His creation. He is not apathetic about what happens to His people but is deeply involved in their lives. He proclaims their future deliverance, saying, “And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:76.

Over spring break, a group of 29 students and 8 adults from our student ministry traveled to the town of Vicente-Guerrero in the Mexican State Baja California. Vicente-Guerrero is a small, agricultural community of around 10,000 people. It could also easily be described as dark. Field laborers are severely underpaid, families are broken by abuse, and poverty is prominent. Many do not have adequate housing and there seems to be little hope for change.

Our team was blessed to be a conduit of God’s light breaking into this community. Over the course of four days, our students built houses for three families. They also donated money to the families for food and other needs and built relationships with parents and children despite the language barrier. In our short time there, we saw God’s kingdom begin to advance in real, powerful ways.

God’s light not only broke into the community of Vicente-Guerrero, but also into the lives of our students. Though the trip lasted only a week, we saw our students open up about their struggles to others and to God, have realizations about what it means to live a life of faith, and experience community and connection more deeply than they had before. In our serving, we were continually reminded of our own desperate need for help and healing. All of us need to be poured into to pour out, and God’s faithfulness and love overflowed.

The challenging situations we witness and encounter in life can make it seem hopeless and bleak at times. It can feel as though God is absent or indifferent. Experiences like these reaffirm the reality

that these feelings are not true. God is present. He is working. He is advancing. Often, He chooses to use His church to be His tool; not only to go into other communities, but to build up the ones we find ourselves in every day. Through His work in the lives of Central’s students and the community that has invested in them, we are given a beautiful reminder of God’s power and love to build up the youth of the church and send them out to accomplish His good will.

ANABUNDANCE

OF FRUIT

By Jan Davis

LIGHT BREAKING IN

By Mark Owens

“We saw God’s kingdom begin to advance in real, powerful ways.”

New Room Recap

By Steve Pulliam

One of the great movements currently within the Methodist and Wesleyan faith family is New Room, an initiative of Seedbed Publishing in Franklin, Tennessee. Rev. J.D. Walt, Jr., an Arkansas native from Dumas, University of Arkansas alumni, and former Central staff member, leads the ministries of Seedbed as their Sower-in-Chief. Each September, Seedbed holds the three-day New Room Conference in the Nashville, Tennessee area. Each spring, one-day New Room Gatherings are held in different cities across the country. Central was privileged to host one of four New Room Regional Gatherings this year. Other host cities included: Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia and Huntsville, Alabama. On March 15, approximately 250 people from Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Tennessee came together in Central’s Activities Center for a day of worship, prayer, teaching, and fellowship.

New Room gets its name from the first Methodist building, which continues as a place of ministry in Bristol, England today. Built in 1739, the Methodist New Room provided a space for many Kingdom endeavors, including a free medical dispensary for the sick, a school for children, and a place to feed and clothe the poor. Alongside these works of mercy, the New Room served as a place where the Methodists could “band together” in small groups for accountable discipleship in order to “watch over one another in love,” as John Wesley phrased it. Banding together in small groups of accountability

was a key—if not the key—strategy in the Methodist Revival of the 1700s.

Likewise, the New Room Gathering at Central focused on getting back to Methodist roots by banding together in accountable discipleship in order to sow for a great spiritual awakening. Dr. David Thomas, Executive Director of New Room, said, “Often God doesn’t do things in a big way that he hasn’t been doing first in small ways.” Spiritual awakening and revival often begin through “Seeds sown in small groups of men and women.”

Rev. Walt spoke of the importance of banding together in small groups of accountability for sustaining revival and spiritual awakening. Walt shared a quote from the great evangelist of Wesley’s day, Rev. George Whitfield. Reflecting back upon his years of ministry, Whitfield was struck with profound sadness at the lack of sustained impact from his ministry. Whitfield lamented, “My brother Wesley acted wisely—the souls that were awakened under his ministry he joined in class, and thus preserved the fruits of his labor. This I neglected, and my people are a rope of sand.”

The New Room Gathering was a day of passionate worship, fervent prayer, inspiring teaching, and grace-filled conversation. However, the New Room event was not just about what happened on one day in March 2018. Our prayer is that the spiritual seeds sown will sprout up in groups of loving and grace-filled accountable discipleship that we might awaken one another to the depths of God’s holy love and through these bonds witness to the world.

If you would like to know more about New Room Bands at Central, please contact Susan Williams, Director of Discipleship Ministries, at 479-442-1831 or swilliams@centraltolife.com. Also, look for more information about how to join a New Room Band in the coming weeks and months.

A Look Ahead

2018 Budget 2018 ActualTotal Operational Income 4,875,000 940,652

Total Ministry Areas 313,905 69,747

Total Operations 3,277,267 899,342

Total Debt Service 312,500 74,851

Total Conf/Dist. Shared Ministry 565,208 40,737

Genesis Church 374,620 89,569

Wesley Foundation Subsidy 31,500 6,888

Total Operational Expenses 4,875,000 1,181,134

Net Surplus (Deficit) - (240,482)

INCOME & EXPENSES -3/31/2018

Connecting Point for Women - Women of Central are invited to Connecting Point on Friday, April 20, from 6:30 - 8 p.m. on the second floor of the Student Ministries Building. The night will feature worship, a short message from Kim Witte, and time to connect with other women over coffee and snacks. Childcare is available but you must pre-register by April 16 at centraltolife.com.

Stephen Ministry Discovery Luncheon - For 20 years, Central has offered Stephen Ministry, a program designed to equip lay persons to provide distinctively Christian one-to-one care to members of our congregation who are experiencing all kinds of life needs and circumstances. Do you feel that God is calling you to be a Stephen Minister? Please plan to attend a Stephen Ministry Discovery Luncheon on Sunday, April 22, from 12-1 p.m. in Central’s Activities Center (CAC) rooms 3 and 4. For more information and registration, visit centraltolife.com.

AARP Driver Safety Course - An AARP Driver Safety Course will be held on Saturday, April 28, from 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. in Wesley 310 to help participants brush up on the rules of the road and learn defensive driving skills. The cost is $15 for AARP members and $20 for non-members. Register at centraltolife.com.

CCM Mother-Daughter Bake Off - Join us on Friday, May 11, from 6 - 8 p.m. for an evening of mother-daughter cake decorating at Rick’s Bakery! Dinner will be served along with delicious sweet treats. Register online at centraltolife.com/childrensevents

CSM Summer Missions- This summer CSM will serve as part of three different projects. Sr. High students are invited to the Ozark Mission Project in Texarkana, June 24-30; Jr. High students are also invited to the Ozark Mission Project in Fayetteville, July 10-14; and both Jr. and Sr. High students are invited to Service Over Self in Memphis, June 3-9. Register at centraltolife.com/studentevents.

CCM VBS & Camp Central - June 11-15 from 9-11:30 a.m. rising kindergartners - 3rd graders are welcome to join us for VBS in Central’s Activities Center while rising 4th - 6th graders are welcome to attend Camp Central in the Student Ministries Building. Register online at centraltolife.com/childrensevents. If you would like to serve on the VBS or Camp Central Team, contact Jennifer Kidd at jkidd@centraltolife.com.

GoodTimers Branson Excursion - GoodTimers, join us on June 12, from 10 a.m. - 9 p.m., for a trip to see Sampson at the Sight & Sound Theatre in Branson, Missouri. Register online by May 18 at centraltolife.com/goodtimers.

Wesley Heritage Tour to England - From November 6-15, join Rev. Tony Holifield & Dr. Jack Wilson on a journey through England. Discover the roots of the early Church and the ministry of John Wesley. Visit London, Oxford, Epworth, the Old Rectory where John Wesley grew up, and much more. Registration is open at centraltolife.com.

Check out Genesis’ new van! The new van was paid for through a combination of

designated gifts and Arkansas Conference grant funds.

Great is Thy Faithfulness Pledges

Pledges Received

2,844,438 1,804,535

Note Payable - SMB/Parking Deck 1,402,840

Note Payable - Post Office 2,779,691

Total Notes Payable 4,182,531

LONG-TERM LIABILITIES