Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
Ilove history, especially the history of great Christ-following leaders who’ve gone before us. While reading about the UMC’s itinerant system for the previous post, I was once again challenged by the character and the courage of the early “circuit riders.” The term “circuit riders” has stuck, even though it has evolved over time (e.g., the … Read more
General Conference 2008, the top decision-making body in the United Methodist Church, a gathering of delegates from all across the connection, is nearing an end. I’ve been reading the daily wrap-ups and other news items at the website devoted to GC 2008, and decided to share some thoughts on a *few* of the many items … Read more
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
One day, I caught Joleen holding Ethan in front of her daily-fix-machine. Fortunately, the camera was nearby. 😆
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
A couple of weeks ago, on one of the earlier nice spring days, we spent an afternoon at an area state park, Greenwood Furnace. Here are a few images from the day …
Good news: we both successfully defended our dissertations! Over the course of 84 hours, we drove to and from Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY (nearly 20 hours roundtrip), and met with our dissertation committees: Randy met with Russell West (mentor), Chris Kiesling (second reader), and Milton Lowe (D.Min. team representative). Joleen met Russell West … Read more
Ever since we brought Ethan home 9 weeks ago, we’ve wondered how this trip to Kentucky would go, mainly because Ethan doesn’t always handle the car seat very well. But Ethan traveled surprisingly well. He got a little tired and fussy toward the end, but that was understandable — it was a long trip, and … Read more
During our first two months with Ethan, we’ve experienced a number of firsts. This week, we will experience another first — a road trip. Tomorrow morning after breakfast, we will drive to Asbury in Wilmore, KY where we are scheduled to defend our dissertations Thursday afternoon (Randy) and Friday morning (Joleen) before driving back Friday … Read more
It’s our first day back to work (after parental leave). As we get back to the cause of leading our churches in mission, I’m thinking about an image I saw while we were in Korea. During our tour of Kwanglim Methodist Church, I saw a large wall poster of John Wesley on horseback, which included … Read more