How We Got Here

Not everyone may be aware of how pastoral appointments are made in the United Methodist Church (UMC), so we thought we’d share briefly a little bit about the process we’ve gone through in the last couple of weeks. In the UMC, bishops (and district superintendents) have the responsibility of making pastoral appointments. In our conference, … Read more

More Transition

We’ve experienced a lot of change in recent weeks/months — bringing home a baby from Korea and becoming parents, and finishing our dissertations, and completing our doctor of ministry programs. If that wasn’t enough transition for one year, we’re throwing in some more. As we announced this morning in our worship services, we are moving … Read more

“Disciples Transforming the World”

You may have seen my post earlier this week about General Conference 2008. The UMC is providing an opportunity to stay tuned in to what’s happening at a website devoted to the quadrennial event: gc2008.org. An important part of General Conference is the Laity Address. This year, 60 manuscripts were submitted by various Conference Lay … Read more

General Conference 2008

Delegates from all across the United Methodist Church have gathered in Fort Worth, Texas for 10 days of “holy conferencing” under the slogan of “A Future with Hope.” The UMC’s General Conference takes place every four years. Please pray that God’s Spirit will be evident at General Conference 2008. You can follow the events of … Read more

Annual Conference Reflections

We returned from Annual Conference Saturday evening. It was a long, but good, four days. There was a lot of intense (but respectful) discussion this year. Overall, it was a very good conference. We had great guest speakers, Dr. Tex Sample and Dr. Charles Yrigoyen. Tex is an excellent communicator and storyteller and Chuck did … Read more

Off to Annual Conference …

The rest of the week is set aside for “holy conferencing.” This evening, we’re heading to Messiah College, where members of the Central Pennsylvania Conference will gather for Annual Conference, Wednesday through Saturday. The theme of Annual Conference will be “Leap of Faith!” Earlier, we wrote a brief preview. John Wesley described these types of … Read more

Reclaiming a Movement

Reflections on the direction of the United Methodist Church. We just read an article describing Bishop Janice Riggle Huie’s address to the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church: Bishops’ President Calls For New Church Movement. Bishop Huie, President of the Council of Bishops, challenged the leaders to reclaim the denomination’s heritage as a … Read more

United Methodists Recruit Missionaries

The United Methodist Church expands its ministry around the world! It was recently reported that the United Methodist Church, after cutting some of its missionary efforts in recent years, is re-igniting its missionary recruitment drive. We’re excited about that! As reported, while the UMC continues to decline in the US, it has grown an amazing … Read more

Leap of Faith!

United Methodists in Central Pennsylvania will gather June 6-9 for Annual Conference 2007. Our Conference publication, The Link, just published a preview of this year’s Annual Conference (which will have the theme, “Leap of Faith”): Not Your Grandparents’ Annual Conference. Annual Conference will take place at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. We’re looking forward to … Read more