Late For Your Own Funeral?

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
² a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

It actually happened - a funeral that started about 1 1/2 hours late because the deceased was late. There was a good reason: the motorcycle escort - all 18-some motorcycles - bringing Robbie Sturma's ashes got delayed.

When I heard that a biker group called "The Regulators" was bringing Robbie's urn to the church via motorcycle, I had a moment of fear: being a Stephen King fan, the word "regulator" brings to mind a very fearful image. However, these bikers were Regulators all right:

• Recovery
• Experiencing
• Gratitude
• Understanding
• Loyalty
• Accepting
• Tolerance and
• Obtaining
• Rewards
• Spiritually

Many of these folks were Narcotics Anonymous members, as Robbie was. The testimonies from friends and families were short but powerful. The "captain" of the group, a tattooed man in leather who walked with an obvious limp, spoke eloquently and passionately about the man whom he had sponsored in N.A. so many years ago, and how many people Robbie had befriended and helped along the way. Robbie was a BIG man - but it seems his heart was even bigger. His story was a story of redemption - and what a powerful story.

Many of these folks were REAL bikers - not just people like me who happen to ride a motorcycle. They looked and dressed the part. But as I have learned over the years, never

judge a book by its cover. Large imposing people often have hearts that match their size. "Rough looking" folks have often been weathered by life and have mastered disciplines and faithful lifestyles than many of us can only pray for. Both times that I have had motorcycle breakdowns, it was bikers that stopped both times to brings some tools or simple companionship to get me back on the road.

Some context: I have done more funerals this year that I care to count. Last week it was a couple that died in their sleep and a man who died from Parkinson's disease. I was getting depressed and fighting despair. Some preachers have been accused of being a "Marrying Sam", but I feared being called "Rev. Kevorkian." While the prospect of a biker funeral didn't really worry me, I worried about how church folks would handle men in leather vests and women in leather halters.

How did my church embrace these folks? With open arms. The funeral got started late - but folks waited patiently. And as is the tradition here at Reidland, a grief meal followed the funeral - and this time with food enough not only for the immediate family, but for EVERYONE gathered.

I cannot count the number of folks who came up to me and said how welcome they felt and how gracious my church was to them.

The Kingdom of God is like a lot of things. Sunday, it was like a biker funeral. I needed Sunday. It was a reminder to me of redemption and resurrection. God can do anything, if sometimes we will get out of the way.

Pax,

Sky+

A Culture of Distrust – Emulating Principalities and Powers

I have been attending Annual Conferences since 1986. I took a pastoral appointment in 1987. I even came to conference while away in Atlanta in seminary. I sat at the secretary’s table for several annual conferences. I now chair a conference commission. I represent the Order of St. Luke at the General Board of Discipleship. All to say that I think I am qualified to share some observations after attending twenty-three (23) sessions of the Memphis Annual Conference, as well as four General Conferences and three Jurisdictional Conferences, serving once as a delegate.

For several years, I thought we were unique among annual conferences – we are small, we all know each other fairly well, and we are very good about caring for and being involved in the lives of others. I think we are very good at nurture, especially when tragedy strikes.

But I fear that we have a very bad side – we are extremely ingrown, and annual conference sessions can become a time of jockeying, horse trading, oneupmanship, and manipulation. These are things that should not happen in a covenant community, but they do happen in a culture of distrust. If the divisions were as simple as conservative/liberal or orthodox/progressive, it might be a little more tolerable. But as one “outsider” remarked to me, it’s more like “20% vs 20% vs 20% vs 20% vs 20%.” We have factions. We have meetings after the meetings. And then sub-meetings after that meeting. I suspect there are text messages going on during THAT meeting.

It showed on the conference floor again this year. One person was able to “guilt” the conference into budgeting additional funding for a new conference position AND for our conference camp and retreat center. Both are certainly worthy causes; in fact, I don’t know any conference agency or outside agency that we help fund that isn’t a worthy cause. However, we only had enough income to fund 79% of our budget last year. Our conference finance folks held hearings to give folks the opportunity to make their case and allow them to prayerfully consider our conference budget – and presented their best work. We also managed to insult the Director of Program Ministries in the process – without a word or reprimand from anyone else. So not only did we guilt the conference into passing a higher budget that we are probably unable to fund, we did so AND shot down both a conference committee and a brother in Christ at the same time.

I got to thinking; heck, I could make an emotional case for the commission I chair (Equitable Compensation). I could say – and support – that we need more money to help supplement the pay of ethnic minority pastors and women in ministry. I could make an emotional plea on the basis of equality. I could say that we need to level the playing field for pastoral remuneration and that this is a justice issue. I could say that we are a commission bound by church law with fiduciary responsibilities to prior claim items. And I am willing to bet that I could have been persuasive and eloquent enough to have gotten it passed.

That doesn’t mean it would have been right. More to the point, it is not the way a covenant community should function. Do we want to model this kind of behavior for our children and those new to the faith? That might makes right, or manipulation makes success? If we don’t, we had better change – because that is exactly what we are modeling for them and preparing them to inherit. That is assuming as a conference we survive financially and in number.

No one seems to want to say it: we are dying.

An Annual Conference should not just be about business – it should be the public model for how Methodists are faithful to the Body of Christ. As Methodists, conferencing has the status of being a communal practice that is a means of grace – something that helps us become sanctified as we move on toward Christian perfection. My concern is that our annual conference’s way of “doing” annual conference doesn’t even come close to doing that – and people leave feeling numb, cynical, and often defeated.

Is it possible that instead of being counter-cultural and leading people to the Kingdom, we have simply given in to the culture around us, modeling the principalities and powers of the world instead of wrestling against them?

Instead of doing a 180°, we Methodists may have done a 360°, and ended up right where the Wesley’s started the Methodist movement.

Can we do conference better? I think we can. Can we clergy reacquaint ourselves with the spirit of Christ, and the spirit of the Wesleys to make Methodism vibrant, instead of a lifeless, dead sect? I certainly pray so. Otherwise, the great Methodist experiment is going to fail.

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach th’eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Bold I approach th’eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

- “And Can It Be, That I Should Gain?”
Charles Wesley, 1738

Pax,
Sky+

Going to Conference - Constitutional Amendments

I have no idea if these amendments will provoke debate or boredom. My hunch is most folks won't read them in detail, people will read what has been written in the Reporter, Laity and Clergy Sessions will have some lobbying for and against them, and a few folks will watch the various videos (pro and con) that people have uploaded on You Tube. Fellow blogger Mark Covington has even compiled a host of these writings and videos here. 

It is no secret that I am not in favor of the amendments, but it is less about being against "inclusivity" and more about honesty and practicality. If the proponents were honest and would say that this is a referendum about homosexuality and a backlash about one isolated incident in Virginia, it would perhaps institute an honest debate. As it stands, it seeks to institute change through a trap door. Some will say, "Whatever it takes." I don't think the Church can ever begin to be faithful by being dishonest. As the saying goes, "The ends do not justify the means."

Another aspect of all this that disturbs me are the words of a district superintendent in Liberia. While a big selling point to the amendments regarding the restructuring the General Church has been to empower our churches in Africa, Asia, and Europe, the Rev. Jerry Kulah of the Monrovia District says that no African leaders (or for that matter, no grassroots UM's in Africa) were even consulted about the matter. "Most United Methodists in Africa are not [even] aware” of the proposed amendments, much less have an understanding of the changes that could result if the amendments are passed. For that matter, he is “not sure that [most] United Methodists in America are [aware] either.” He concludes his video by saying, "Many of us who are leaders of the church in Africa do not favor passing these amendments right now."

The cynical side of me asks this: Have we become so agenda-laden as a denomination that we would use political correctness to dictate the canon law and doctrine of our church? If that's true, it is possible that we have created a real "P.C." problem: as a denomination, are we going to decide to be pro-homosexual at the cost of being anti-African? I shudder to think what would mean historically, theologically, and practically. Sounds like we are trading off "-isms."

The practical side of me wonders how many unintended consequences will result just by changing Article IV with the addition of "no conference or other organizational unit of the Church shall be structured so as to exclude any member or any constituent body." Does that mean that the UMW, UMM, UMYF, and other bodies and units would be unconstitutional? Does that mean that boards of ordained ministry can no longer examine candidates for ministry? And when it comes to church membership, do people have a "right" to claim membership - and implied discipleship - in the Kingdom of God? The Great Commission says we are to go make disciples. Discipleship requires cost and sacrifice. The amendment could be legally construed to render any questions regarding sacrifice, doctrine, and morality moot, since such things would run tangent to the proposed language, "all persons shall be eligible." Confirmation classes, new membership classes - all unnecessary, and perhaps even unconstitutional.

Practically, as far as the restructuring of the General Church is concerned - no one knows how the amended regional structures will be implemented - or how much it will cost. Given that we cannot afford our present structure, how can we budget and afford another level of bureaucracy?

I don't think that's what we intend, or even what we want. But I don't see how we'll avoid it - and instead of our decisions about church doctrine and practice being decided by the Holy Spirit, they will be decided by the Judicial Council, who will go by the law - which we're about to change. 

We have amended the U.S. Constitution twenty-seven (27) times since 1787. We are proposing thirty-two (32) amendments to the UMC's Constitution all at once. My colleague Randy Cooper asks us to ask ourselves two questions of each amendment before we vote: 

1. Will this amendment strengthen the mission and ministry of the church? 
2. Will this amendment make clearer the church’s witness as the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic” community called into being by Christ for the sake of the world?
   

I can't find many of the amendments to answer either of those questions in the affirmative. I fear that all this will do is further polarize people and issues in a denomination that is losing membership and becoming financially insolvent.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Pax,

Sky+

The Cloud of Witnesses

[From Newsletter, 5/20/09]

I got more than I bargained for in teaching Christianity 101 on Sunday nights. While the crowd that has come so far was not my target crowd of younger folks who wanted to know more about the faith, I have found myself challenged by seasoned Christians who want to know even more about their faith. So after dissecting the creeds and examining essential Christian doctrines – and thinking we were done - we are now delving into how God worked through people and history to illuminate His will and wishes for us. As a result, I have had to go back and “restudy” early Christian history and the Early Church Fathers. It is serendipitous that my studies have coincided with the celebration of Older Adult Sunday and our OWLS (Older, Wiser, Laughing Souls) Banquet today – I am so reminded of how grateful we should be for those saints who have gone before us and on whose shoulders we stand upon.

I am reminded of this quote from one of my mentors, Prof. Justo Gonzáles (who always said when getting one of our names wrong that we gringos looked all alike) from his book The Story of Christianity:

Like it or not, we are heirs of… diverse and even contradictory witnesses. Some of their actions we may find revolting, and others inspiring. But all of them form part of our journey. All of them, those whom we admire and well as those whom we despise, brought us to where we are now.

Without understanding that past, we are unable to understand ourselves, for in a sense the past still lives in us and influences who we are and how we understand the Christian message… When we stand, sit, or kneel in church, when we sing a hymn, recite a creed, or refuse to cite one, when we build a church or preach a sermon, a past of which we may not be aware is one of the factors involved in our actions.

Cindy Hubble painted this mural/banner for our use last Sunday morning. It is a reminder to us how important our past is to our future in the faith (click on it to enlarge it).

God’s wisdom is ageless. Let us be open to it – and pass it on.

Pax,
Sky+

What We Take For Granted – What Is Granted Without Merit

Three things happened to me within 15 minutes that are still affecting me today. Those of you that know me know how deeply I feel about getting back to our Methodist roots where grace and the sacraments are concerned. After Sunday, I feel even more strongly about it.

Two men and I took communion to the unwillingly absent last Sunday. One of them was a man who was near death, another a man recovering from heart surgery, and the third was a couple where the husband has Alzheimer’s. The gentleman who was near death needed our assistance to partake – we were humbled beyond measure. We joked with the man that was recovering from surgery that we were there for “Last Rites,” and he laughed harder than we did. And the couple we served were grateful as well, the wife with words and the man with a peaceful expression after drinking from the cup.

When I take communion to older members who remember the older communion liturgy, I usually serve them with these words: “Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving.” We were met with tears each time, which brought us close to tears as well.

I pray that we need not wait until death or our last years to finally figure out that God grants us as much grace as we need – if we’ll only open our arms to receive it. I know that I serve as a minister to all of these folks we took communion to on Sunday. But truth be told, on this particular Sunday I was as much ministered to as I was a minister. These people have a faith far beyond my own – and I pray that mine might increase each day.

Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom,

Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.

- Jacques Berthier, Taize Community, 1981

Pax,
Sky+

Change Lives With Grace, Not Law

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and is drawing the ire of Catholic bishops regarding some of her actions regarding abortion. Sebelius is Catholic, and while she is personally anti-abortion, she doesn’t believe that the law is the way to change people’s beliefs on abortion. Adoption and better public health is the direction she has approached combating abortion, and her actions have gotten results: abortion in Kansas decreased 10% during the six years she was governor of Kansas. However, Catholic bishops have vowed to refuse her communion if she continues to hold such public stances. I have a very high opinion and respect for Catholicism, but I think this action of the American bishops is flawed. Withholding a means of grace from committed and confessing baptized Christians is sacramental malpractice. (By the way... I know bishops are not perfect. Even United Methodist bishops have been known to make a mistake once in a while).

The reason this caught my eye is because this is the way I approach abortion – I believe all life is sacred. And I like our denomination’s stand on abortion: we do not affirm abortion as an acceptable means of birth control, and we unconditionally reject it as a means of gender selection, as well as oppose the use of late-term abortion. But using law to inform us of decisions of conscience in situations such as abortion simply doesn’t change hearts. And, more practically – I don’t think we should allow the government to “steal” the authority of the Christian Church.


The authority of Jesus Christ comes from the cross and from grace. As the Apostle Paul said, the Law served as our “keeper” until faith came – in other words, the law wasn’t nullified, it was ful-filled. Christ calls us to use faith and grace to change the world.

I’m certainly not advocating getting rid of the law; the law provides us order. But the only way hearts are changed are by grace and faith. Refusing a faithful person communion simply makes no sense in the light of Jesus Christ giving us the sacrament so that grace may abound. We believe that Jesus becomes really present at the Eucharist – denying Jesus to the repentant Christian simply makes no sense.

Pax,
Sky+

It’s All Good

[from Newsletter, 4/22/09]


It’s one of those phrases that is sometimes said when we don’t know what else to say. But today, I think it applies.

I have a good friend having a heart catheterization as I write this. One of our dear church members had a serious surgery Monday. Another one of our church family is missing. An uncle of mine has broken a hip while his son-in-law lies in the hospital with pancreatitis. A referee buddy of mine is at the hospital with his wife with complications with her pregnancy. People often tell me that being a pastor must be awful.

However, I also got to help celebrate our oldest church member’s birthday last Sunday – as a church, we and our preschool choir sang “Happy Birthday” to Violet Cummins. Violet’s family was instrumental in founding the Reidland community and shared in the beginnings of our church. And not 30 minutes ago, we planted a dogwood tree in the playground in memory of Abbie Swoope, a little girl who died last year yet left her light for all of us to see. Every spring, dogwoods bloom everywhere to remind us of the Easter promise of life everlasting – death does not have the last word.

We are a people of the Resurrection of Christ. Death doesn’t have the last word. It’s all good!

Pax,

Sky+

Fighting the Demons

[from Church Newsletter 4/15/09]

I was eating lunch yesterday and saw a familiar face on the television screen – one of our area basketball coaches. As I watched the story unfold, I find out that he’s been arrested for breaking into the home of friends of his to steal prescription drugs. He wasn't stealing money, valuables, a car, or even illegal drugs... but prescription drugs. I am not outraged – but I am moved to mercy. It is just a reminder to me that we all have demons that haunt us, and some of them can get a very strong hold on us.

I tend not to be judgmental about addictions and struggles like this, for this simple reason: we all have our various ways of coping with problems, some of them healthy and some not so healthy. I know that I can be a workaholic, which is no better than being an alcoholic or any other –holic. I know how stressful life can be, and I know how all of these things can pile up and pile on us. These demons that haunt us are real. And while these demons might not have pointed ears and pitchforks, they are nonetheless relenting and dangerous. Allowing them to continue in our lives and have control over us is dangerous. More often than not, we need help to conquer them.


The Easter promise of Jesus Christ is so enabling to us in combating our brokenness, because it acknowledges that we are a people in need of healing and accepts us where we are in our struggles. It seems too good to be true that God accepts us and forgives us “no matter what.” The advantage of having a God who is omnipotent and all-knowing is that He already knows our struggles before we ask for help, yet is so willing to hear us, embrace us, and love us up as we cry out. That is not cheap grace – it is costly, powerful grace; it came at the cost of the Crucifixion. The Good News is that brokenness was triumphed by the Resurrection! That message needs to be spread to a broken world of broken people.

It is our call as Christians to embrace the broken. Those of us who have fought the demons are among the most qualified to help others along. The wounded are among the best healers – and no one knows that better than Jesus Christ the Crucified – and Resurrected!

Pax,
Sky+

Christianity 101 – Essentials

[from the church newsletter, 4/8/09]

After 5 weeks of experiencing Christianity 101, let me share what we’ve learned.

• Grace underlies all that we do. Any Christian action, any Christian doctrine, must be understood with the assumption that we humans are at best flawed and yet God’s divine grace embraces us, accepts us, and saves us from ourselves. 
  
• The organized church has often strayed away from the essentials and instead “majored in the minors.” The essentials? Scripture as viewed through the lenses of God-given reason, experience, and tradition; salvation; sanctification; the humanity and divinity of Christ; the sacraments as a means of grace; holiness of heart and life lived out through works of piety and works of mercy; discipleship.
  

Last week, our discussion turned lively. How often have we (“we” being all of Christendom) allowed Jesus not to be present at meetings and conferences and argued over trivial things instead – in essence, majoring in the minors? How often have clergy forgotten their call and instead focused on their careers? How often has bureaucracy gotten in the way of making disciples – which is supposed to be our primary task? How long have we coasted on the hard work and faith of our ancestors, riding on their coattails instead of standing on their shoulders?

As you can see – our meetings have been lively!!

We are going to take a break until May and will then begin to focus on the creeds – the Apostles’ and the Nicene – and “dissect” them line by line to reacquaint ourselves with these things that we say we believe (remember: the word creed literally means “I/we believe”). We will resume our Christianity 101 studies on Sunday, May 3, at 6 PM. I hope you will join us. While attending all the classes certainly won’t hurt you, feel free to jump in or drop by on any Sunday evening. You will be more than welcome. And there are no tests or quizzes. [grin]

Pax,
Sky+

Redux: Tubby Smith, Billy Donavan, and Thinking Outside the Paint

Note: Since Billy Clyde is out, I thought I would reprint this blog from two years ago just for the heck of it. If John Calipari does indeed take the job, I thought he might need to be ready for the worst.

Peace.

[Originally posted 3/26/07]

Having just returned from the Kentucky Boys Sweet 16 High School Tournament, and having watched college tournament action on television all week, I have to admit that basketball is on the brain. We all sit in the same seats every year (the picture shows my view; great seats!). Every morning I get there a little early, drink my coffee, and read the newspapers. I read a book review in the Lexington Herald-Leader that caught my eye last Thursday: “Hoops Philosophy: Knight Morally Above Wooden?”

Bobby Knight? The General? When he was at Indiana, didn't he throw a chair once when they were playing Purdue?

Don’t laugh. While Adolph Rupp and John Wooden are certainly kings, they weren’t always known for playing by the rules. They were wizards with the magnificent players they always got. Knight, on the other hand, made a lot of players. His players performed academically. He didn’t play favorites. Overall, Knight may not be the bad guy we portrayed him to be.

Back to the High School Sweet Sixteen. While in Rupp Arena one afternoon, I noticed all of the sudden that the press were frantically typing on their computers and people’s cell phones were going off all over the place. I initially thought that perhaps a tornado was headed toward downtown Lexington, or that our country was under attack. I was close: Tubby Smith was leaving the University of Kentucky (UK) to coach at Minnesota.

What about Tubby Smith? I’ve lived in Kentucky on and off for 7-10 years. I’ve never heard anything poor about his character. The Tubby-bashers say that he can’t recruit. Possibly. But while at UK, he won over 20 games every season (won over 30 games in two seasons). Won a national championship. Went to the Sweet Sixteen five (5) times. Swept every national coach of the year award in 2003 (only he and Bobby Knight have done that), after going undefeated in the SEC. Oh, they won the conference three years, too. And in the midst all of that, he was also a gentleman and a scholar.

Does that count? Not at the University of Kentucky. Tubby is gone. What are the qualifications?

• You need to be perfect. Damned perfect. Perfect as an Alabama football coach.
• Don’t be a nice guy or moral influence. You’ve gotta be cutthroat.

Mark Story of the Lexington Herald-Leader was more blunt: UK’s coach needs to be an all-consumed Type A personality. A guy with an unyielding commitment to the bottom line and little else. A tyrant. Sometimes a jerk. In fact, here is the job search he put in the paper:

Wanted: Head men's basketball coach, University of Kentucky. Must employ up-tempo style of play. Must recruit with a relentless fervor. Must consistently beat Louisville, Indiana, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee and everyone else. Consistent Final Four appearances mandatory. One final requirement: It helps to be a jerk. – from “The Meek Should Not Inherit the UK Job”, 3/25/07, the Lexington Herald-Leader (the whole article is here.)

Since Adolph Rupp is dead, and John Wooden is 96, who can UK get that is perfect? A lot of folks are submitting Billy Donavan's name from the University of Florida. Some have said Tom Izzo. A few have said Travis Ford. Well, what about these guys?

Jesus Christ? I think the man from Nazareth has kept up with basketball, and would be a darned good coach. But Jesus was always slow to offend, and a slow offense won’t work with Kentucky fans. Nope, Jesus is out.

The Apostle Paul? He is immediately disqualified; in his letter to the Romans (chapter 7), he remarked that the holiest of our actions, even the holiest of the actions of the holiest saints, are still full of imperfections and defects. We may be saved by grace through faith, but that’s not perfect enough for UK fans.

Peter? Too fickle, and don’t forget that he jumped ship. Would remind folks of Rick Pitino too much.

John the Baptist? HEY! There’s an idea. Brash, loud, demanding, unrelenting. I think he’s the one.

The head-on-a-platter experience will serve him well.

Pax,
Sky+

Too Busy

[from the church newsletter 3/26/09]

It is a Lenten discipline that I do not do so well. I get too busy. Too busy for Sabbath. Too busy to pray. Too busy to read the Scriptures outside of everyday work and maybe a hurried morning or evening prayer. Too busy to eat a meal. Too busy to watch a basketball game on television.

As I was traveling back from Lexington earlier this week, I listened to a lot of music in the car. One song (a Dave Matthews song) struck me in particular: “Ants Marching.” The song has a very unique rhythm and cadence, and you can envision the ants marching along. The lyrics, however, are not just entertaining – they are a bit damning:

Driving in on this highway
All these cars and upon the sidewalk
People in every direction
No words exchanged
No time to exchange

And all the little ants are marching
Red and black antennas waving
We all do it the same
We all do it the same way

Are we so busy as to not notice each other – or worse, pretend not to notice each other – as we pass by each other day after day? Are we just ants marching along?

Those that we pass by, they will know we are Christians if we have Christ in our heart and on our face. Let us not meet strangers each day – but find generous friends.

Pax,
Sky+

Guaranteed Pastoral Appointments - A Luxury We Can Afford Anymore?

In United Methodism, all full-connection elders, provisional elders, and associate clergy members are guaranteed an appointment. While I don't have a 2008 Book of Discipline yet, the 2004 version states it this way: : “Every effective elder in full connection who is in good standing shall be continued under appointment by the bishop...” (¶334.1). The history of the guaranteed appointment goes back to 1956, when there were fears that women clergy would not be treated fairly and that pastors might not be able to freely preach the Gospel for fear of being fired. The Discipline then read, “Every traveling preacher, unless retired, supernumerary, on sabbatical leave, or under arrest of character, must receive an appointment.” (¶149, 1956).

I've always worried a little about what this could mean ever since I became the chair of our conference's commission on equitable compensation. By church law, the cabinet, conference, and commission all bear the responsibility of insuring that all full-connection and provisional elders are compensated at the minimum salary level as set by each annual conference. So, what happens if there are more people than appointments? Who pays the compensation (which each elder has a claim upon) if there is no place to appoint them?

Before you say, "No way this can happen," the Western North Carolina conference is facing this very issue. A portion of Bishop Goodpaster's letter to the WNC Conference reads as follows (emphasis mine):

We entered our work together aware of the anxiety and turmoil that fill our society and many of our churches during this time. We knew there would be challenges. Eighteen of our churches decided to eliminate an Associate Pastor position; others, because of the economy, had notified us that the compensation package of the pastor would be lower in July, many at substantial cuts. We have a dozen of elders who will be returning from either Extension Ministry appointments or various Leaves. With the downturn in the value of the pension funds, fewer of our clergy opted to retire this year. And, in response to the continuing call of God, we have a number of Western North Carolina students graduating from seminary and returning to serve Christ in their home conference.

We are not yet ready to notify any person or church about a projected appointment for the coming year. The reality: after working for more than four days, we arrived at an unprecedented moment. Having tentatively “filled” every open and available charge with a clergyperson, there were still more than two dozen clergy (most either full connected ordained elders or provisional elders) without a placement. That, of course, is unacceptable, and contrary to the principle of the itinerancy system that is part of our Wesleyan heritage.

We have now returned to our homes and offices to continue our work, committed to prayer and fasting, and to consultations with clergy and churches as we seek a way forward together. We will gather again during the week after Easter to continue and complete our work. We anticipate being able to share appointment information with you following that April meeting. We ask for your patience, prayers, and understanding. We are living in extraordinary times with never-before-experienced circumstances. We are absolutely confident that God will continue to bless our conference, and will provide a way. - Bishop Larry Goodpaster, 3/20/09 (the whole letter can be read here).

When you have (a) a decrease in the number of pastoral appointments, (b) seminarians who are finishing school ready to serve, and (c) some pastors who have previously served in extension ministries that now are coming back into the pastorate (and guaranteed an appointment), pitted against (1) the situation of churches who have to scale back salaries and drop staff positions, (2) folks who have to work longer and retire at a later age, and (3) a denomination that is losing members... well, the math just doesn't work. Something has got to change.
Options?

• Do away with the guaranteed appointment. Bishops and cabinets are often frustrated by having to appoint ineffective clergy year after year. And now, conference budgets can no longer afford to supplement pastor salaries for the sake of making appointments.
• Lower the conference minimum salary. While that's certainly not a popular notion, you could solve some of the problem of trying to appoint pastors who have a claim on minimum salary by lowering it.
• Limit the number of candidates approved by boards of ministry to the number of elders retiring. That's certainly not a popular notion, though, nor good for raising the next generation of clergy.

I don't have a good solution, and I will be praying for Bishop Goodpaster and his cabinet. But I know the problem will be one not just for Western North Carolina, but for many conferences in the Connection.

That is, unless we start to grow the Church again. That would be the best option.

Your ideas?

Pax,
Sky+

Sweet 16 Established

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