Annual Conference
Hello to you all from Oklahoma City where I, and our clergy and elected representatives, have gathered with United Methodist from all over the state. It has been funny to see it through Pastor Sherri’s eyes as she compares this experience with what they do in the Baltimore Washington conference. Bishop Merrill had us all say “Yee Haw” to affirm the new candidates for ministry. It was fun and it made me laugh but it was definitely not something that you would ever hear in the northeast part of the country. Our first full day was hearing from Dr. Ashley Boggan who is the General Secretary of the Commission on Archives and History. She taught us about the early Methodist movement and inspired us to reclaim some of the language and spirit of the early church. She challenged us to (using a phrase from John Wesley’s journal) be “more vile” by leaving the walls of the building and going to where the people are to “focus on the hurts and needs of our community” before trying to teach them the Bible. My favorite quote from her today was “Wesley took people who had been discarded and made them leaders.” She taught us about a woman named Sarah Ryan who was cast out and described as “untouchable.” John Wesley asked her to be the manager of the New Room which was the first church ministry center for Methodist. As a historian, I loved hearing the stories about the early church. I was reminded of the Wesley Pilgrimage that I went on for ten days in England and how inspired I was about the roots of our tradition.
Our theme for Annual Conference is “What if love?” which is also the theme for the current worship series. It has been fun to spend time with people from all over the state. Yesterday, I enjoyed sharing dinner with Mike Miller and April Sellers White. We were joined by Stacy Reaves who came out of Faith and is now serving Coweta and Porter churches. We also broke bread with Pastor Charla and her daughter Elizabeth and her new associate minister. I have enjoyed running into old friends who helped shape me as a youth. Our worship service last night was the Memorial Service for those ministers and spouses that died in the last year. Our very own Bruce Brotherton was honored. There were also several other ministers who I have know over the years who have gone on to their heavenly reward. Some of the ministers and I reflected on the joy of having this event at Church of the Servant after the pain of them voting twice over disaffiliation. We are thankful that the faithful people of this congregation refused to allow their church to leave the denomination despite the clergy leadership.
This has been a joy filled conference so far and I look forward to sharing more of what we have heard with you soon.
I love you and God loves you,
