Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
We’ve listed several causes that are important to us, causes that we support financially (either occasionally, annually, or monthly). One of the recent additions to our list is the Central Conference Pension Initiative (of The United Methodist Church), which according to the website … is a long-term solution that provides retirement financial security for dedicated … Read more
Ever since the movie, The Great Debaters, was released, we’ve wanted to see it. We finally got a chance to watch it on DVD this past week. And we’re glad we did. “The Great Debaters” is about a debate team from Wiley College, an historically African-American United Methodist college, located in Marshall, Texas. The college … Read more
Sunday was a day of saying goodbye. We spent our final Sunday worshiping with, and teaching, the people we have been serving in our current ministry appointments. It was an emotionally intense day. We’re grateful for the time we’ve had here in the Juniata Valley and Huntingdon areas, for the people we’ve had the honor … Read more
Tired, sleep-deprived, and worn out. That’s an odd way to begin a post called “Re-energized!” But while annual conference is physically tiring (and not just annual conference, but annual conference with a baby for the first time), it is still very energizing, spiritually and missionally! Of course, while spending hours together with a community of … Read more
The big story this weekend is Ethan’s endurance. Ethan continues to grow as he experiences new things. In the recent past, highly social activities seemed to have (emotionally) taxed and drained Ethan. But no social event that we’ve participated in so far is anything like annual conference. For two entire days, we’ve been immersed in … Read more
Since we brought Ethan home from Korea in mid-February, we’ve made two trips to Wilmore, Kentucky — to defend our dissertations and to graduate. Tomorrow, we head back out on the road for our third trip in as many months. This time, we’re going to our conference’s annual conference (the yearly gathering of United Methodist … Read more
Following up on what I wrote in Circuit Riders 1.0, I think what challenges and inspires me to be an effective leader is the early circuit riders’ sense of mission — they simply went wherever the people were! Lovett H. Weems, Jr. describes the pioneering spirit of the early Methodists in his book, Leadership in … Read more
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
Since our announcement a couple weeks ago (i.e., about our upcoming move), we’ve been reflecting on the process of appointment making in The United Methodist Church (e.g., how we got here). In The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church (2004), ¶338 addresses “The Itinerant System” … The itinerant system is the accepted method … 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