| BWC leads conferences at Deaf congress 
BALTIMORE The Baltimore-Washington Conference delegation to the United Methodist Congress of the Deaf was the largest represented at the biennial gathering in Dallas, Texas, in July, reported the Rev. Peggy Johnson, pastor of Christ Church of the Deaf UMC. During the four-day congress, strategies for General Conference to make the deaf, hard-of-hearing and late-deafened community more visible were discussed. Johnson is a delegate to General Conference, and Daniel Kenyon, current president of the local chapter, is an alternate lay delegate to Jurisdictional Conference. In 2000, Ken Schroeder from this conference was the only deaf delegate. There are none for 2004. Very few of our conferences have intentional leadership development, Johnson told the United Methodist Reporter. Deaf United Methodists never get to be elected as board chairs. Our denomination needs to make that jump where we say, We want them to be empowered for ministry in the church. Festival will host 10 missionaries HUNTINGTOWN Ten Calvert County United Methodist churches will hold the biggest Mission Weekend to hit Calvert County, Oct. 4-5, said Gloria Hawkins. Saturday morning will begin with more than 10 missionaries from around the world sharing their experiences at St. Pauls UMC in Lusby, Waters Memorial UMC and Smithville UMC. From 4 to 7 p.m., the festival will take place for people from all the churches and community at Huntingtown UMC, Hawkins said. During the festival, missionaries will speak about work with the refugees in Bosnia, being abducted at gun point in Uganda, and growing up in Kenya. Missionaries from the Mercy Ship, Afghanistan, Haiti, India, Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, Mexico and the Four Corners in the United States are expected to share their stories. Sunday morning, Oct. 5, several churches will host missionaries, including Trinity UMC in Prince Frederick which will feature Johanna Stahl who will lead a trip to Kazakhstan. Church stands by Marine in prison BALTIMORE His pastor, family and church stood up for him in court and afterwards when Lance Cpl. Antoine D. Boykins, a member of Mt. Zion UMC, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a military judge Aug. 8, in Camp Lejeune, N.C. The young Marine admitted cutting suspension lines on 13 of 22 parachutes that were to be used in a training jump Sept. 21, 2002. He said he knew someone could be killed or injured because reserve chutes fail nearly half the time theyre used, the Baltimore Sun reported. As it happened, three Marines were injured in the jumps first wave and the exercise was canceled, the newspaper said. The judge, Col. Alvin Keller, told Boykins to heed the advice of your pastor. The Rev. Stephen Tillett, who is also a military chaplain, had testified that he told Boykins to find other Christians in prison and stick with them, and to take college courses while he serves his sentence. Members of Mt. Zion UMC submitted a videotape in which they talked about how much they cared for Boykins. Preschoolers get a new space  LA PLATA The clean, well-organized rooms of the Blessed Lambs Preschool at La Plata UMC are a far cry from the demolished education wing of the church, which received the brunt of a tornado April 28, 2002.
As the 40 tots came back to school this fall, they entered the newly rebuilt classrooms. A year ago, the preschool met in temporary modular units, dark trailers with few bathrooms. The new building is bigger the church offices have moved elsewhere each room has its own bathroom and the building is better designed, said Director Julie Robbins, a member of the church since childhood. Robbins remembered that spring day when the tornado struck. I thought wed been bombed, she told the Maryland Independent. | 
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