Entries Tagged 'United Methodist Church' ↓

One of the requirements in the the final year of our ordination process is to complete an ordination project.

The ordination project is the newest part of our conference’s ordination process, added (actually it replaced another requirement) earlier this year (as a result of the formation of the new Susquehanna Conference). In the future, ordination candidates will have a full two years to plan and execute projects, but due to the mid-year change, our class of candidates will only have a few months.

According to the written instructions, it’s pretty wide-open, although (according to the unwritten instructions) it’s expected to be something fairly innovative and in line with the the UMC’s latest emphasis, Rethink Church.

Basically, it needs to be something we’d be doing anyway and we’ll just need to add some layers — writing a spiritual reflection paper and preparing and giving a 15-minute multimedia presentation to the Board of Ordained Ministry (due January 2011 and presented in March).

After submitting my proposal and receiving approval, I’m posting it here. One of the things that’s important to me is that it be a project that naturally flows out of where we’ve been and is the next faithful step at Centre Grove.

In that light, here’s the background I wrote for this project …

I arrived at Centre Grove in July 2008 with the initial goals of (1) getting acquainted/acclimated and (2) building a shared vision. To build a shared vision, I began leading Council on a 2-year journey through Bishop Schnase’s Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations in January 2009 (I began 2010 with a sermon series on the practices). As we finish up our engagement of the Five Practices, the next step is to rethink prayer in the life of a disciple-making/transformational church!

Here’s the purpose of this project …

The best way to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world is to be a prayer-saturated church. A prayer-saturated church is mission-driven and outward-focused. My goal, as a transformational leader, is to cultivate a place where prayer informs, guides, and empowers mission and ministry!

By the way, I’ve wrestled with a number of terms — praying congregation, prayer-centered church, prayer-based church. Prayer-saturated, which comes from a book title (below), is my favorite. More than being a “praying church” (prayer *can* be self-focused) I want to communicate the idea of prayer as foundation for mission and ministry (therefore, prayer-based is currently second on my list).

With all of that in mind, here’s the plan for executing this project …

1. Deepen my own personal prayer life through greater focus on spiritual disciplines (especially prayer, Scripture reading, journaling, and fasting).
2. Recruit prayer partners to pray for me and the mission/ministry of the church.
3. Develop a missional prayer guide based on the Lord’s Prayer.
4. Equip leaders to lead groups/committees in missional prayer.
5. Engage in missional prayer in Council meetings, particularly as we discuss Risk-Taking Mission and Service and create new ways to engage our community with the good news of Jesus Christ (fall 2010).
6. Equip people for missional prayer through preaching (fall 2010 series on the Lord’s Prayer, “What Would Jesus Pray?”) and teaching (emphasize missional prayer in new First Steps class, which grew out of our Five Practices discussion; open to all, required for membership).
7. Provide opportunities to model and/or engage in missional prayer (e.g., make prayer during worship more missional by praying intentionally for mission and ministry, in addition to personal needs) and prayer-walking/driving in our neighborhoods.

The project involves identifying the fruit/results of the project. While shaping the culture of a church is a long term effort, there are some short-term goals I’d like to accomplish in the next few months:

• Equip people to pray missionally (i.e., to saturate the church’s ministry in prayer).
• Be more intentional about praying missionally in worship gatherings, ministries, and meetings.
• Experience greater fruit from our mission/ministry.
• See more people get involved in the mission and ministry of the church (this one may take longer to see fruit, but it’s an important, if not long term, goal).

There are a number resources I’m planning to use, including resources by Bishop Rueben Job (Becoming a Praying Congregation; official site), Terry Teykl, Jim Cymbala, Bill Hybels (Too Busy Not to Pray), and Cheryl Sacks (The Prayer-Saturated Church; see BridgeBuilders; as a parent, I’m interested in Sacks’ Prayer-Saturated Kids).

While my time is limited, I am hoping to connect with and learn from other prayer-saturated churches (churches that saturate their mission and ministry in prayer).

So, as we jump more deeply into this project at Centre Grove, I am excited about its impact on our mission and ministry. And I’m excited about the project itself — reflecting on what God will do during the next several months and presenting it to the Board of Ordained Ministry.

But with the excitement is a little trepidation. I *could* have chosen an easier project — something a bit more easily defined, something easier to measure, something I might have a little more control of. But, alas, I’ve never been one to take the easy way!

If you have any resources to recommend that would help this project or if you know any churches that saturate their mission and ministry in prayer, please leave a comment and let me know. And if this is something that interests you, watch for a report later.

Finally, I would appreciate your prayers for this effort (not just the “ordination project,” but more importantly, the initiative at Centre Grove!).

Ipicked up a copy of The Future of the United Methodist Church: 7 Vision Pathways at this year’s annual conference. I read it a couple weeks ago (just before vacation) and now that vacation is over, will blog some quotes and reflections.

The book was edited by Bishops Scott jones and Bruce Ough with contributions from eight other United Methodist bishops.

In a previous post, I listed 4 Talking Points about United Methodists, which the book expands on. As I understand it, the four areas of focus came out of the “seven pathways” (for simplification, apparently), as follows.

Focus Area 1: People: Creating New Places for New People by Starting Congregations and Renewing Existing Ones
Path 1: Planting New Congregations
Path 2: Transforming Existing Congregations

Focus Area 2: Leaders: Developing Principled Christian Leaders for the Church and the World
Path 3: Teaching the United Methodist Way
Path 4: Strengthening Clergy and Lay Leadership

Focus Area 3: Poverty: Engaging in Ministry with the Poor
Path 5: Children and Poverty
Path 6: Expanding Racial/Ethnic Ministries

Focus Area 4: Health: Stamping out Killer Diseases by Improving Health Globally
Path 7: Eliminating Poverty by Stamping out Disease

This framework is an attempt to help the UMC live out its mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Bishop Gregory Palmer writes …

No matter how well stated the mission of any movement or organization, it must also have a way to be embodied (ix).

The beginning of the book talks about the state of the church. Bishop Palmer laments …

… our United Methodist internal struggles are diminishing our capacity to offer hope for the world (xvii).

The editors note that the UMC has tremendous assets, specifically …

… there are United Methodist congregations in more than 95 percent of the counties in the United States … But too many of them are declining (2).

A key point in turning around the declining denomination is clarifying and recommitting to our God-given mission. Bishop G. Lindsay Davis uplifts the value of reaching unchurched people, a task he says we have been “neglecting,” writing …

Clearly reaching out to more than 195 million unchurched people in the United Stated must be a priority again for us. In fact, many of us believe it is the number one priority (4).

Bishop David provides a lot of good content on church planting and the kind of leaders needed to plant them. Bishop Robert Schnase, author of Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations (which we’ve written several posts about), writes the chapter on transforming existing congregations. While transforming churches is no easy task, and “[t]here are no easy answers, quick fixes, or simple formulas (31), Bishop Schnase reminds leaders that …

Transforming existing congregations is possible (19).

Bishop Schnase discusses the role of the church, stating …

As we grow in grace and develop our interior life (what Wesley calls ‘inner holiness’), we discern the call of God prompting us to make a positive difference in the lives of others through service, mission, and generosity. … By God’s grace, we are a changed people seeking to change the lives of others and thereby transform the world. (20)

Bishop Schanse contends that leaders who transform congregations …

… know that the principal mission field is ‘out there’ and not ‘in here’ (24).

Bishop Schnase offers several points of description about churches that experience transformation. One point is that each church …

… has experienced a radical change of attitude, a new clarity of mission, and a taste for excellence; and they follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit toward the fulfillment of that mission wherever it leads (24).

Bishop Schnase also discusses the role of the conference in renewing existing churches. One observation he makes is that …

… conferences that promote transformation foster a culture of learning. The greatest difference between declining congregations and those that are growing in fruitfulness is their attitude toward learning. Thriving churches develop a culture of learning. (26)

Focus area 2 deals more specifically with leadership. Bishop Scott Jones writes about the role of teaching “the United Methodist Way” (see Living the United Methodist Way).

The editors write …

At our best, United Methodist Christians seek to evangelize, nurture, equip, and send forth disciples of Jesus Christ to transform the world (33).

I want to spend more time processing what Bishop Jones writes about the United Methodist Way (especially as we will be preparing for Board of Ordained Ministry interviews over the next several months, working toward ordination). He concludes the chapter, stating …

United Methodist Christians believe genuine human happiness comes from growing in holiness—toward being the men and women God intends us to be (46).

One of my favorite chapters is written by Bishop Hee-Soo Jung (who also shares a bit of his story from Korea). The pages of this chapter are largely yellow, thanks to my highlighter!

Bishop Jung writes about strengthening leadership in the UMC building on the foundation of the call to discipleship. Bishop Jung writes …

To be leaders in the church today, we must first identify our call to be Christian disciples. Disciples make other disciples. … The credibility of our leadership grows from our modeling as we claim our call to discipleship first. (48)

Bishop Jung specifically sounds a call for visionary leaders. He describes visionary leadership as …

attentiveness to God’s leadership. Leaders are asked first of all to be open to where God is leading. … The church, after all, has a mission—to share the good news of Christ with the world. Leaders are asked to discern what it means for their particular context to share the good news. (50)

Addressing the current condition of the UMC, Bishop Jung laments …

We have forgotten that the church is a vehicle from which to offer Christ’s love; it is a tool in our mission, not the end product of our work (52).

Building on the foundation of call to visionary leadership, Bishop Jung talks about the role of pastors in congregations. Page 53 in my book is almost completely yellow but I’ll whittle it down to this …

Though it may sound oversimplified, the primary role of the parish pastor … is leadership of a congregation. Every other task that a pastor might perform is secondary. Leadership is the core of who a pastor is called to be. (53)

Bishop Jung states that pastors have three major tasks …

1. “to lead the congregation in perceiving the particular mission and ministry to which it is being called by God” (53).
2. “to develop leadership in that congregation that is able to assist the congregation in responding to its call” (53).
3. “to work with lay leadership to assist and equip every member in perceiving and carrying out his or her own particular ministries” (53).

I love these points. It’s about leading people in our God-given mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!

The problem, however, Bishop Jung contends, is …

Many congregations have expectations of pastors that are in conflict with the call to pastoral leadership. … [T]he congregation expects a chaplain. Congregations who want a chaplain want to be left where they are—untouched by the demands from God—with members ‘ministered to’ by a professional staff. … Congregations who seek a chaplain do not want to be led anywhere. … [C]ongregations do not need chaplains; they need leaders.” (53)

Great words!

It’s going to take transformational leaders to turn around our declining denomination. The process of transforming an institution back into a movement will be no easy task. In fact, there will be many scars. But it’s necessary, if we’re going to be faithful to who God calls us to be!

Well, there’s a lot to process, and a lot I haven’t even touched on. But I’ll finish with a quote from Bishop Minerva Carcaño …

Unfortunately, we are living in days in which too many of us United Methodists have lost our way, substituting a comfortable, self-focused, and false understanding of discipleship for kingdom-building discipleship (84).

May God have mercy on us. May God help us to be who God intends us to be. May God empower us to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!

It’s Sunday and we’re on vacation so we needed to find a place to worship. It was an interesting process!

First, visiting churches has multiple purposes for us. With both of us being pastors, it’s a rare opportunity for the four of us to attend worship together as a family.

Because we are pastors, we do more than worship when we attend other churches — we also reflect and evaluate (it’s the way we’re wired)! Sometimes we’re thinking, “Uh oh, we do that, too — we need change that!” and other times, “That’s something we could try (or an adjustment we could make).”

To find a church today, I searched online (can’t remember the last time I used a telephone book) at 10thousanddoors.org, the UMC’s Find-A-Church service. I searched for churches near our location. Amazingly, there are 147 United Methodist churches within 25 miles of the local zip code.

I breezed through at least 50 church pages. It was a fairly quick process because the vast majority did not personalize their pages (every United Methodist church is encouraged to update/maintain their church’s info page), which means there was no information on most of the churches.

Most churches had average attendance numbers, which appears to be included for most/all churches by default. Because so few were personalized, I only came across a few churches that had websites or photos posted. In the end, after weeding out small churches, churches with no info, photos, or service times, we settled on a church located 24.5 miles away, Chapel Hill UMC in Buckhannon, West Virginia (by the way, we weeded out small churches only because we didn’t want to stick out too much while on vacation).

I’ll share more detailed reflection and evaluation on today’s worship experience with leaders at Centre Grove, but here, I’ll simply say it was a learning experience, including a couple adjustments I want to make in our worship service. I also want to review Centre Grove’s Find-A-Church page. We’ve personalized it and I think it’s okay, but I want to take another look at it fresh from this experience (and keep it updated).

What experiences have you had finding churches to visit on vacation?

Joleen and I are both on track to be ordained Elders in The United Methodist Church on June 11, 2011 (a little over 11 months from now). It’s been a long journey, but we’re now in the final year, the home stretch.

Here are the requirements we must complete in the final year …

1. Application for Clergy Membership
2. Three personal reference forms
3. District Superintendent recommendation form
4. Medical exam form
5. Written responses to theological questions in the Book of Discipline.
6. Design and record worship service based on Joel 2.23-32
7. Ordination Project
8. Meet bi-monthly with mentor
9. Meet quarterly with regional learning covenant group (others in the process)
10. Overnight retreat (September 2010)
11. General Board of Global Ministries seminar (January 2011)
12. Board of Ordained Ministry interviews (March 2011)
13. Training Day on “Church Finances” (March 2011)
14. Overnight retreat with Bishop (May 2011)
15. Approval at Clergy Session of the Susquehanna Annual Conference (June 2011)

The changes that were made to the process heading into the final year ended the requirement of Covenant Groups (made up of people from our congregations; it’s being replaced by the regional learning covenant groups, made up of others who are going through the process with us). However, our covenant groups, which have been meeting together, have chosen to continue meeting for the next year, anyway, as we complete our reading/study of Simple Church, by Thom Rainer. (Needless to say, it’s been a positive experience!)

The bulk of the work must be completed in the next 5.5 months (by January 13, 2011). After submitting our work, we will be interviewed by four teams of people on the Board of Ordained Ministry in early March. The four teams will address different areas: Theology (on our responses to the questions in the Book of Discipline), Ordination Project (on a 15-minute multimedia presentation of our project and a 2-3 page spiritual reflection paper), Life Issues (on the medical/reference forms and one question from the Book of Discipline), and Worship & Preaching (on the recording of a worship service based on assigned text).

It’s going to be a busy year. It’s going to be an especially busy 4.5 months (after vacation later this month). If we successfully complete all of these steps, we will ordained at the next annual conference of the newly-formed Susquehanna Conference, June 11, 2011!

For more on our journey, see previous posts: Our Journey Toward Ordination and Becoming Provisional Elders.

Today, clergy and lay members from more than 950 churches throughout central and northeastern Pennsylvania gathered in Williamsport at the Williamsport Arts Center to form a new conference, the Susquehanna Conference, a Pennsylvania Conference of The United Methodist Church. It was the culmination of years of prayer, discernment, and planning.

Joleen and I left home around 6:30 a.m. and reached the Williamsport Arts Center about an hour and a half later, in time for registration and opening worship, which started at 9:30 a.m. After an hour of worship, we dealt with several action items related to the formation of the new conference.

The business portion of the day took nearly two hours. After lunch, the day concluded with an ordination service, which began at 2:30 p.m. and concluded between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m.

The Scripture focus in the years leading up to today’s uniting conference has been Isaiah 43, particularly 43.19 — “For I am about to do something new.” (Ironically, if I remember correctly, Isaiah 43 was also Bishop’s Middleton Scripture text for the sermon she preached at her installation in 2004.)

It was an historic day, a day of celebrating what God is doing in our midst!

By the way, Susquehanna is the name of a major river that runs throughout much of the conference, including here in Clearfield. In fact, when Rev. W. Lee Spottswood writes about the river and its importance in the community around 1860, he was referring to the Susquehanna River.

One of my favorite moments from the day was the band playing the music to “Sweet Home Alabama” but singing “Sweet home, Susquehanna … where the river is so blue.”

If you were there, please add your thoughts on the day and/or your favorite moments.

During the first couple of years after responding to God’s call to ministry as a 19-year-old kid, my favorite reading material were the journals and memoirs of great preachers from the past, people whom God has used to lead times of spiritual awakening in recent centuries.

Well, after arriving at Centre Grove UMC in July 2008, I spent a little time in the church library looking for any historical information I could find on the church. I came across a book written by one of my predecessors, Rev. W. Lee Spottswood, who served the Clearfield Circuit from 1858 to 1860.

“Brief Annals” was published in 1888, and is Spottswood’s memoirs. The full text is available online at Google Books.

Chapter 12 is about his time as a presiding elder (i.e., district superintendent) and Chapter 13 is about his service as president of Dickinson Seminary (now Lycoming College). Chapter 8 is about his two-year stint in Clearfield (pages 168-194). (See photos of the book below. The photo of Spottswood is located inside the front cover of the copy in the West Side UMC church library; the photo is missing in Centre Grove’s copy.)

On the last page of the preceding chapter, Spottswood recounts a conversation between his wife and the Presiding Elder …

“Where do you want to go, sister Spottswood,” asked the Presiding Elder, of my wife. She emphatically answered: “Any where but to Clearfield and Curwensville.” (167)

Oh well.

Spottswood opens the chapter on his Clearfield experience by relating their expectations and first impressions of the town …

We fancied that it was on the verge of civilization, and I will tell you the reason why. As already seen, we lived in Milesburg, and in the spring we saw the “watermen” of Clearfield county as they were called, hardy, unshaven and unshorn, roughlooking and bronzed with their peculiar toil on the river. They sometimes came to our house, not to beg, but to buy bread; and my wife was afraid of them. We thought that we were going among a rough people and to a hard appointment. But we were young and brave … we did not think of backing down. (168)

Spottswood describes their journey to, and arrival in, Clearfield …

We started on our journey, spent the night at Tyrone, left in the morning on the plank road—then in a most wretched condition, running through the Bald Eagle valley. When we arrived at Bald Eagle furnace, the end of the plank road for us, a fellow came to the door of the coach, opened it and shouted: “Hip! hip! hoora! I’m one of your drinkin’, swearin’ kind.”

“See here, stranger,” said a passenger inside, “we’ve got a preacher in here, and there’s to be no swearing in this coach; if you swear, we’ll pitch you out head-foremost.” There was no swearing on the entire trip.

It was drug, drag, drag, on the dirt road—the mud up to the hub the most of the way. About four o’clock in the afternoon we reached Philipsburg, and dined. In the gloom and chill of a drizzling rain I thought that this town was a most forlorn-looking and God-forsaken place. Far on in the watches of the night we gained the top of the high hill overlooking Clearfield town, and a gentleman exclaimed: “There’s ‘Old Town.’” My wife asked: “How far is it to Clearfield?” The gentleman replied: “‘Old Town’ is Clearfield.” (168-69)

On getting to know and love the people of Clearfield, as well as the importance of the river and rafting in Clearfield, Spottswood writes …

Our first agreeable revelation was that the Clearfielders were not rough, but civilized people; and in all likelihood the rough-looking “watermen” clad in their coarse garments, and tanned by the wind and sun—some of them anyhow—were merchants, doctors, lawyers and even preachers, for everybody went down the river on a raft. The most of the people lived and dressed well, for lumbermen are remarkable for their liberal, sometimes extravagant outlay of money. It comes in a pile and goes in a pile; and many a home was elegant in all its appointments.

He continues …

The minds of the very children were imbued with the idea of rafting; it was their play in its season. My wife had charge of the infant class in Sunday school, and taught the children every Sabbath a text of scripture. One Sabbath this was the text: “Let not the sun go down on your wrath.” A little one with a bright face and a sweet voice said to her mother: “Mamma, I know what the text was to-day.” “Well, what was it, my dear?” “Why, it was: ‘Don’t let your son go down on a raft.’ (172-73)

One of the spiritual events that Spottswood shares is a story about the conversion and subsequent faith struggle of a man who became a friend …

Dr. Thompson, of Curwensville, was present. He often went to church simply because it was the fashion, and when there, as he himself said to me, “heard nothing, but spent the time thinking and planning how to make five dollars.” The oddity of this sermon arrested his attention; he listened to it carefully from beginning to end; it awakened and convicted him of sin. He was soon afterwards converted, and received into the Methodist Episcopal Church. Religion produced in him a great and wonderful change—felt by himself and seen by all. He became a rapid learner in Christian experience, was made a class-leader, managed with great skill and success the subscriptions for the new church, and superintended with constancy and good judgment its building from its foundation to cap-stone.

I was with him on the first fierce assault of Satan after his conversion—summoned at midnight to his side by his wife. My wife followed me. I found him kneeling in the middle of the room, and pleading piteously with God; “Oh! Lord God, have mercy on me.” “Stop, Dr.,” I said, “and let us see what is the matter.” “Oh! Mr. Spottswood, I have doubted; Lord Jesus, have mercy on my soul.”

It was a sad hour—a dreadful conflict! I explained the situation to him as best I could. I prayed for him. And when we arose from our knees, I asked him: “How do you feel now?” He answered: “A little better.” We talked again. I prayed once more. And Dr. Thompson gained a signal victory. That night’s terrific conflict taught him that the Christian life is a battle, and that night’s hard-won victory showed him how in future assaults to foil the mighty foe. (177-78)

On the spiritual awakening that took place in town, at one point during his ministry here, he writes …

We had a glorious camp-meeting, and many of the chief citizens were converted. Brother G., of Clearfield town, where there had been a long, religious dearth, went around the camp-ground, crying: “Oo, oo! I do believe the Lord is going to do something for Clearfield.” (180)

Spottswood obviously enjoyed is time in Clearfield. His departure from Clearfield was pretty dramatic …

The time came to leave one of the pleasantest charges we ever had, where God crowned our labors with signal success; but we staid a week after our goods were packed up in the interest of the revival. At last we left with regret, and three hundred dollars saved from our salary. We were driven in a two-horse sleigh to Clearfield town, and thence to the bank of Clearfield creek, then to take the stage, waiting for us.

A flood had swept away the bridge, and to reach the stage we had to cross a foot-log. My wife slipped. One foot was off the log. She pressed her side against an upright, seized the slender railing above her with one hand, and drew herself up with a super-human effort. She was saved from falling into the stream beneath her, either to be swept away in its angry waters, or to be dashed to pieces upon its jagged rocks. How true it is, as David said to Jonathan, in a time of danger: “There is but a step between me and death.” (187)

It’s encouraging and challenging to read about ministry that took place here 150 years ago. No doubt, there were seasons of renewal as well as seasons of dryness. My hope and prayer — my aim — is that we experience another season of awakening in the near future!

I say “surviving” rather than “survived” because, technically, we’re between sessions of Annual Conference this year. Last weekend, the Central Pennsylvania Conference held its 222nd and final session. This coming Saturday will be the first Annual Conference of the new Susquehanna Conference (with a special session to be held later in September).

Ethan was with us each of the last two years, but Sarah made it our first time with two children. Fortunately, we had a suite on campus with plenty of room, because we needed it!

We’ve been attending annual conferences for twelve years and how different they are with children! The kids kept us moving — getting up early to make sure we’re all ready in time for breakfast, then getting them to childcare. After the morning and afternoon sessions, we walked to another building on campus to pick up the kids before going to the cafeteria for lunch or dinner. Anyway, it’s a busy time!

Sarah didn’t sleep too well (especially Friday night). But our biggest concern, which I mentioned Thursday night, was how the kids would handle childcare in an unfamiliar place with people they didn’t know. But, actually, we were very proud of how well both Ethan and Sarah handled childcare both days we were there! The fact that they both did well was a huge relief for us!

Of course, writing for the Daily Link also adds to our busyness there (although, since we’ve had kid(s), we’ve been doing lighter duty). But it’s part of our annual conference experience — the only year we haven’t written for the conference publication, so far, was our first (1999)!

Cokesbury always sets up a bookstore at annual conference. Browsing bookstores is always a bittersweet experience for me — I see so many books I want to read but know I can’t read them all! But I did come away with 4 books (a gift card and a coupon made me do it!): The Future of the United Methodist Church: 7 Vision Pathways, Five Practices of Fruitful Living, Reading Scripture as Wesleyans, and This We Believe: The Core of Wesleyan Faith and Practice (I also added a few others to my Amazon Wish List which has well over 100 items on it already!).

The last two books on the list are in connection with the Wesley Study Bible. The only reason I haven’t picked up a copy of this study Bible is because we expect to receive copies when we are ordained (at least, that’s what those who were ordained last year received).

Speaking of ordination, the first ordination service of the new Susquehanna Conference will conclude this Saturday’s uniting conference. Afterward, Joleen and I (along with those in our ordination class) will be “on deck” (that is, we’re on track to be ordained next year!).

Till then, here are some photos from our final night at annual conference this past weekend …

This afternoon, we traveled to Messiah College where the Central Pennsylvania Conference is meeting for its 222nd and final annual conference! We will meet again next Saturday (6/12) to unite with the Pennsylvania churches from the Wyoming Conference (northeastern PA) to form the Susquehanna Conference. Exciting times.

This is Sarah’s first time here. It’s amazing how much longer it takes to get ready to go to annual conference with two kids!

We finally arrived in town around 6:00 p.m. We had a picnic dinner at a local park with Penny, a friend of Joleen’s from high school who lives in the area. We had great weather for the trip but as we arrived at the park, so did a thunderstorm. It was some of the heaviest rain I’ve seen in a while. By the time we finished eating and packed it in, we were all at least a little bit wet.

When we arrived on campus, we were greeted by a nice rainbow (a double rainbow, at one point). We got everything loaded into our room around 8:00 p.m. and as expected, it took the kids a while to unwind. Sarah finally went to sleep a few minutes ago, around 10:30 p.m. Before that, it was a rather loud hour!

The big concern now is how the kids handle child care with strangers. Ethan has not usually handled it too well, especially the drop-off. We’ll find out how he handles it this year (his third trip to annual conference) as well as how Sarah handles her first time here!

Well, we’re in for a couple of long days. In the meantime, here are some photos from the day …

As I wrote in my last post, we attended a seminar at the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) in Washington, D.C. last week. Here are a few reflections on the seminar experience which took place on Capitol Hill.

GBCS, which addresses social issues, began as The Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals. It is housed in the United Methodist Building, which was built in 1923. It is the only non-governmental building located on Capitol Hill (how cool is that?).

The focus of this seminar was economic justice with specific sessions devoted to connecting mercy and justice, biblical engagement on civil and human rights, biblical and theological reflections on health care, as well as racism.

A major focus of the program involved preparing participants for visits to the offices of the two Senators from Pennsylvania. Our group of 17 pastors visited Senator Casey’s office on Tuesday afternoon and Senator Specter’s office Wednesday morning. In each visit, we focused on advocating for the poor (on various issues), who many times, do not have a voice or advocate in places of power. It was a new experience for Joleen and me, but a very good one.

Going in to this seminar, I was particularly interested in what exactly GBCS does. Susan quoted one GBCS staff member who describes their purpose this way …

We are the ones responsible for making sure what General Conference decides doesn’t sit on shelves and collect dust.

I also like the description of the difference between lobbyists and advocates that Susan Burton, Director for Seminar Design, gave. Lobbyists may support politicians financially. Since GBCS is a non-profit organization, as part of the UMC, it cannot support specific candidates (financially or otherwise), so staff members of GBCS are not lobbyists. But they are advocates, advocating values more than specific political positions.

One of the things I appreciate most about this seminar is that it was not political in nature. It wasn’t about political parties or even specific legislative bills; it was more about the theological values that serve as a foundation for our opinions and actions.

Bill Mefford offered a question to ask ourselves when approaching social issues, especially ones that the Scriptures do not specifically address …

How do we as people of faith, shaped and formed by the entirety of Scripture, begin now to approach this issue?

I must say that I was extra-interested in this seminar in light of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s words of thanks to The United Methodist Church, during her closing arguments just before the House voted on the health care reform bill. But even though we had a session on health care there was hardly any discussion of what GBCS did to earn Pelosi’s gratitude. I appreciate the humility (but I still would’ve liked to have heard more about the events leading up to the vote! ).

So, it was a good experience. We were challenged to think about some issues. And I left with a heightened sense that I need to be a stronger voice for the least, the last, the lost, and the lonely!

Iwrote several posts last year about the Virgin HealthMiles activity rewards program, including last year’s first ever HealthFlex HealthMiles challenge (see my preview and recap posts). HealthFlex is our UMC health insurance program.

Last year’s challenge started in July so I was caught a little off guard with this year’s challenge which begins Monday (4/19). It’ll be another 29-day challenge, involving at least as many people (around 3,000, at the moment) from all across the U.S.

There are fairly significant changes this year, mainly a much greater focus on the team competition with little mention of individual rewards (other than some healthmiles/rewards points). Last year, the money went to individuals (the top 50). This year, $500 goes to the team (i.e., conferences/organizations) with the highest average number of steps per person and another $500 goes to the team with the highest percentage of eligible participants who sign up.

I like the new emphasis on the team competition. Last year, our conference placed somewhere around 7 out of 30-something teams (if I remember correctly). I’m hoping we can do better this year!

Since last year’s challenge, I haven’t really known what my goal would be for this year’s challenge. In some ways, I’m still recovering from last year’s challenge (or more likely the things that have taken place since then, like going to Korea and returning with a second baby!).

I will have a couple extra challenges this year …

1. We have two kids, both under 3. With two kids, whose nap/sleeping schedules aren’t always in sync, it’ll be a little harder this time around.

2. My biggest time concern is a 4-day trip to Washington, D.C. to visit the General Board of Church and Society as part of conference requirements for ordination, one week into the challenge. And the (old/historic) place we’re staying does not appear to have a fitness center/treadmill. That’s gonna be tough!

But I know two things: (1) I will view it as a personal test (physical and mental) to see what I can do, and (2) I am a competitor.

And having reached the daily limit (30,000 steps) every day last year, I’ll probably at least start out shooting for the max again. Funny thing is, if it weren’t for the daily limit, I probably wouldn’t do as many steps because I’d never be able to keep up with the marathon runners in the group (there were 2-3 guys last year who uploaded their 30,000 steps between 10:00 am and noon most days, as I recall; it took me all day every day to get mine!).

To reach my goal, I’ll need to get up extra early every morning and walk for 1.0-1.5 hours (while praying, reading Scripture, and/or listening to worship/inspirational music) and probably finish the day with another walk, with a fairly normal/active day in between!

I’ll try to take it one day at a time. It should be fun!