Two SectionsSection A079000Vol. 157 No. 27November 5, 2010

Energy rushNew church bring vitality | 8A

Lighthouse OverlookLet your light so shine | 6A

Campus ConfidentialUM Colleges shine | 4A & 5A

See Let Us Preach . . . on page 2ASee UMC celebrates . . . on page 2A

My primary goal for this quadrennium remains as follows: tohelp the Michigan Area and the general church realize its statedmission, namely “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the trans-formation of the world.” See Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8 and The2008 Book of Discipline paragraphs 120-124 on “The Missionand Ministry of the Church.”

It’s good reading for the mind, body and soul. In addition,that means using the four focus areas from General Conferenceas centering points—specifically global health, engaging inministry with the poor, developing principled Christian leadersand creating new places for new people. Hence I want theBishop, Cabinet, every pastor and local church to re-double ourefforts toward this end.

To drive home this expectation, I am asking the AppointiveCabinet, lay and/or clergy members of Full Cabinet, both Direc-tors of Connectional Ministries (DCMs), and my Clergy Assis-tant to join me in a special emphasis I am calling “Preaching theMission of the Church.”! Between October 15, 2010 and February 14, 2011, I will

preach four times on the Mission of the Church. Dependingon the occasion, some part of the sermon if not all of it willhave that emphasis.

! During the same time frame, I expect every member of Cabi-net (Full and Appointive), the DCM’s, and my Clergy Assis-tant to preach four times on this subject as well. Do this in aregular service or worship as much as possible.

! How you might ask? Offer four dates to the people you serve.

by Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton

Let Us Preachthe Mission ofthe Church

Bishop’sColumn

PHOTO BY PAUL HITZELBERGER

In the same pulpit the beloved Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke several times, Bishop Jonathan Keaton was thekeynote speaker for a celebration of 200 years of Protestantism in Michigan at Central UMC in Detroit.

By RJ WaltersEditor

In 1804 travelling clergyman NathanBangs arrived in Detroit, only to abruptlyleave “shaking the dust off his feet in tes-tament against (the people),” as he wrotein his journal.

Protestantism had not yet found a

home in Michigan.On Sunday Oct. 3, Central United

Methodist Church in Detroit celebratedwhat happened just six years later, whenthe historic church and the FUMC ofDearborn became the first protestantchurches in the state.

“In 1804 circuit riders (travelling

clergy) came to this “Wild West town,”but they weren’t warmly received so theyleft,” Dr. James N. Bull said.“Two-hun-dred years ago, in 1810, Rev. WilliamMitchell formed the first Methodist Soci-ety of seven people and that is what wecelebrate today.”

Saginaw Bay celebrates new District SuperintendentBy Michael DesotellCorrespondent

Pastors and parishioners of the Saginaw Bay District, alongwith the friends and family of the Rev. Dr. Jeffery Maxwellgathered at Christ United Methodist Church in Bay City tocelebrate the installation of Maxwell as District Superintendent.

The worship service highlighted the creativity and passion ofthe district, featuring the Trash Can Band from St. Luke’s UMCand the young streamer dancers from Faith Way Church.

Bishop Jonathan Keaton was on hand to offer words ofencouragement to both Rev. Maxwell and the Saginaw BayDistrict. Keaton also explained to those in attendance how Godled him to call Rev. Maxwell into this new ministry.

“Every now and then in this work of responsibility I have theprivilege of extending personal calls myself. I do that when Ilook out and hear the words of superintendents and hear the

words of laypersons and hear the words of these districtcommittees on superintendency and what they need when Ihave to select a new superintendent,” he said.

“And in the midst of all of that information that came to meand looking out at the universe of people in the Detroit AnnualConference, the name by word, by deed, by prayer that came tome was Dr. Jeffery Maxwell.”

Keaton called attention to the many ministry areas in whichRev. Maxwell has served during his tenure and how they willenhance his service as a district superintendent. The Bishopalso acknowledged the difficulty of making it through the trialsof ministry alone and extended his thanks to God for thewonderful partner that Rev. Maxwell has in his wife, Jan.

Keaton also offered a few words of comfort andencouragement to Rev. Maxwell for those difficult times that

UMC helps celebrate 200 years of Protestantism in Michigan

See Saginaw Bay DS … on page 2A

Proud, passionate—Protestant

PHOTO BY MICHAEL DESOTELL

Saginaw Bay DS Jeff Maxwell greets people at hiswelcome service in Oct., with Bishop Jonathan Keatonto his right.

NOVEMBER 5, 2010THE UNITED METHODIST REPORTER2A

It was fitting that a service cele-brating peace and justice of theprotestant church in contemporaryand historical fashions was held in asanctuary where Dr. Rev. MartinLuther King Jr. spoke on several oc-casions, including just two weeksbefore his assassination.

Seven different protestant de-nominations were officially repre-sented and dozens of singers fromchoirs around the state joined theirvoices to commemorate 200 years ofshared history in the state.

A celebratory mood was struckearly on with the spirited music andrhythm of African drummers anddancers dressed in bright nativeclothes and on several occasions thechoir, which circled the upper bal-cony, had the entire crowd on its feetclapping and rejoicing.

It was a day of reflection as wellas encouragement for moving for-ward. Central UMC senior pastorRev. Edwin Rowe reminded the au-dience of how the protestant churchhas come so far.

“We have a shared history thathas been lifted up by many giants ofthe faith…each denomination hasbrought great gifts to our collectiveprotestant history over the years,” hesaid.

He talked about lifting others upto “help future generations see overthe crowd” as he remembered thosewho have paved the way for two cen-turies. He also admitted the protes-tant church still has plenty of issuesto address and a foundation that iscomplete only when focused onbeing the hands of God.

“We must also confess, in eachtradition separations have beencaused…may God continue to holdus and help us to be all (He) in-tended,” he said.

Michigan Area Bishop JonathonKeaton was the keynote speaker,

coupling his usual Biblical prudencewith a surprising awareness of popculture. He illustrated Jesus’ messagein Like 15:1-10, where he welcomestax collectors and sinners to thetable much to the scorn of thescribes and Pharisees.

Keaton said God shows mercy,not dismay, toward sinners, andlocal churches need to show love toall.

“To a fault Pharisees focused ontheir understanding of the law and‘doing right’… they thought beingwith sinners might be contagious!”he said. “Don’t we bring togethersaints and sinners every Sunday? Wedo. As Paul said, we all sin and fallshort of the glory of the Lord.”

To emphasize his point, heshared a recent story the OrlandoSentinel printed on two-time NBADefensive Player of the Year OrlandoMagic forward Dwight Howard.

The daughter of a 62-year-oldwoman battling Stage 3 MultipleMyeloma recently contacted theMagic, relaying the message that itwas her mom’s dying wish to meetthe 6-foot-11 superstar.

Howard—who planned on juststopping by for a half-hour visitwith the lady—spent nearly twohours with Kay Kellogg, discussingeverything from love and life todeath and divinity.

Instead of just feeling like he haddone his good deed for the day,Howard said he thought the meetingwas more beneficial for him thanthe cancer patient.

The article said when Kelloggstood up to say goodbye, Howardbent down, hugged her and told hersomething startling.

He told this 4-foot-11 woman,“You are taller than me.”

“That’s the silliest thing I’ve everheard,” she said.

“No,” Dwight insisted, “you aretaller than me because your spirit

UMC helps celebrate 200 years of ProtestantismContinued from front page

Continued from front pageTell them we’re preaching theMission of the Church. Sign themup. Go preach. Prepare a brief re-port on each event, noting howyou enhanced their knowledge orunderstanding of “making disci-ples,” and send me a report ofone breakthrough you witnessedpreaching the Mission of theChurch.

! I will write an article on resultsin the March edition of theMichigan Area Reporter, just intime for Bishop’s Day. As youknow, Bishop’s Day is an annualcontinuing education event de-signed to keep the Mission of theChurch before each local church.We’re still challenged to slow,stop and reverse the membershipworship attendance and churchschool slide in our area and de-nomination. In West Michigan,membership stands at 64,724—down 1,211 from the previousyear. Worship attendance is at37,242—down 2,365. Churchschool attendance is 10,531—down 1,419. Detroit faces a simi-

lar trend. Membership stands at94,679—down 2,172 from theprevious year. Worship atten-dance stands at 45,099—down332. Church school attendance isat 12, 523—down 249.

! Last but not least, I believe Godis testing me, as well as the wholechurch, to see if we will remainfaithful to the promise ofMatthew 6:33, “Seek ye first thekingdom of God and his right-eousness, and all these thingswill be added unto you.” Or, willwe run scared and put the thingswe need to run the institutionfirst, instead of God’s kingdom?Quite frankly, God’s promise is tobe faithful to us but only if we arefaithful to God, first and fore-most.Continue or determine to pray

daily, engage in personal and corpo-rate Bible Study, do justice and lovemercy to undergird our efforts to befaithful. We are called to preach,teach and bear witness for Christand his church.

Join me in preaching the Missionof the Church.

Continued from front pagemay lie ahead, saying, “It’s going tobe alright! Not because I am withyou, but because God is with you!”

Rev. Maxwell brought thecelebration to a crescendo with amessage from 1 Corinthians 12. Heemphasized the diversity of thedistrict and how important thatdiversity is to fulfilling theirmission of making disciples for thetransformation of the world. Thosein attendance laughed in approvalas Maxwell engaged Keaton torepresent the Body of Christ asrepresented in the scripture thatwas read.

The congregation was privilegedto witness, for the first time, Rev.Maxwell actually “bending” the earof the Bishop.

On a serious note, Rev. Maxwellincluded three promises to his newdistrict.

“As I stand before you I am goingto make you three promises.Promise number one: I promise tostrive to grow in grace andknowledge. Oh Boy! Now is not thetime to stop learning. Now is not

the time to stop growing,” he said. “My understanding and

experience of the ways and will ofGod and even of God need todeepen and expand…”

His second promise was geareddirectly at the unique giftspossessed by each pastor.

“You all have your ownpersonality and preference and giftspackage; you have your own uniqueexperiences, and I want to knowyou. I want to know who you areand the uniqueness that God hasinvested in you,” he said.

His final promise was focusedon building personal relationshipswith all churches.

“Just as each person is unique,so too is each church. Each churchhas a culture,” he said. “Each churchhas unique offerings to thekingdom. I want to know eachchurch.”

Maxwell explained that as thedistrict holds him accountable tothese promises he will be able tomore effectively utilize the gifts andgraces and passion that God hasgiven him.

Let Us Preach the Mission of the Church

Saginaw Bay celebrates

lifts you up.”“Dwight Howard was talking

about a spirit that can do anything,”Keaton said. “He reminds me we canreach out to those who we oftenshun.”

Keaton went a step further andcalled people out for shunningcelebrities like Mel Gibson, ChrisBrown, Lindsay Lohan and ParisHiltson, for their missteps and“wrecked” public images.

“What if it’s your kid, or even youwho is out there and needs to be res-cued?” he asked. “So we need to res-cue the perishing because it’s whatJesus told us to do. For 200 longyears Central UMC has been in thebusiness of rescuing the perish-ing—keep up the good work.”

Clergy fromseven different

Protestantdenominations

were part of the200th

anniversary ofProtestantismcelebration at

Central UMC onOct. 3.

PHOTO BY PAULHITZELBERGER

The United Methodist Reporter (USPS 954-500) is published weekly by UMRCommunications, 1221 Profit Drive, Dallas, TX 75247-3919. Periodicals PostagePaid at Dallas, Texas and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send addresschanges to The United Methodist Reporter, PO Box 660275, Dallas, TX 75266-0275.

NOVEMBER 5, 2010 THE UNITED METHODIST REPORTER 3A

“Good Morn-ing Class! Todaywe will be havinga test.”

Heads dropand a collectivemoan movesthroughout theroom. Very fewpersons respondto a time of evalu-ation with cheer,excitement andexuberant enthusiasm. However, ifwe fail to evaluate our process or donot look critically at our character,competence and the net contribu-tion being made, we may be des-tined to repeat negative patterns ofbehavior or ineffective models ofministry.

The church conference season isa time to reflect upon the progress acongregation has made toward itsstated goals. Staff Parish RelationsCommittees reflect with the pastoron her or his key strengths alongwith noting theareas that wouldbenefit from im-provement.

The WestMichigan Confer-ence Council onMinistries (CCOM)has done someevaluation of itselfthe past two years.One result of that process has beenputting a task force in motion to re-view the CCOM structure and de-velop a new model to propose to theAnnual Conference.

Here is my point.Self-evaluation is better than

none at all, but you must admit, it isa bit biased. We must engage othersto acquire a more accurate assess-ment. One evaluative tool specifi-cally designed for clergy is the LewisPastoral Leadership Inventory(LPLI). The questions asked ofyourself, and 10 others who knowyour work, are designed to assessthe areas I mentioned above: char-acter, competency and contribution.I encourage you to read more aboutthis instrument at their website:www.LPLI.org or contact the LewisCenter for Church Leadership atLPLI@wesleyseminary.edu or 1-877-LPLI-360.

There are other various resourcesthat congregations can use to assesstheir effectiveness in ministry. VitalSigns by Dan Dick and The FivePractices of Fruitful Congregationsby Bishop Robert Schnase have bothprovided useful insights to congre-

gations willing to look critically atthemselves.

We have done some assessmentat the conference level and are mak-ing some changes we feel will helpus better serve local congregations.Next month there will be a detailedarticle here in the Michigan AreaReporter about a demographics in-formation program that is availableto West Michigan Conference con-gregations—at no cost to them.

The conference has contractedwith www.MissionInsight.org toprovide this service to our churches.You will have access to an extensivearray of material about the regionyour congregation serves. We feelthis will help you better assess yourcongregation’s ministry to deter-mine who you might more effec-tively invite.

A second area of change is in theinstallment of “smart rooms” ineach of the districts. By this timenext month the computers, monitorsand software will have been in-

stalled in six loca-tions. The “smartrooms” will allowpersons to connectelectronically andvisually in a man-ner not fully avail-able to us before.For some meet-ings or gatheringsthis will save sig-

nificant amounts of time and travelresources.

A third change taking place as aresult of our assessment is the alter-ing of the meeting days of the ses-sion of the West Michigan AnnualConference at Calvin College.

We will begin on WednesdayJune 1 and end on Saturday June 4in 2011. Saturday will be a day par-ticularly designed with the hope ofhaving 10 persons from each con-gregation experience the worship,community and inspiration of An-nual Conference. Our evaluative re-view has revealed that nearlyone-half to two-thirds of personswere not remaining for the Sundaysession of Conference. We will con-tinue to monitor this change so wecan improve the value of AnnualConference.

Doing evaluations and receivingfeedback really isn’t that bad after allwhen it helps us better serve one an-other and God who calls us to suchservice.

“As soon as the test is finished itwill be time for recess.”

Now go enjoy the rest of the dayGod has given you!

Don’t sweat a little review—it’s actually good for you

Brighton FUMC developing ‘social missionaries’to expand the life of the churchBy RJ WaltersEditor

Instead of being afraid that al-lowing some free-flowing philo-sophical dialogue might take a diveinto the oblivion, Brighton FUMChas created nurturing organicchurch groups conducive to build-ing real relationships with thechurched and un-churched.

Utilizing $90,000 in grantmoney from the Of-fice of New ChurchDevelopment spreadout over the courseof three years,Brighton FUMC As-sociate Pastor JohnBall is helping createspaces for people toexplore their spiritu-ality, while dis-cussing thesupernatural as wellas the mundane.

When he joinedthe church’s staff in2009, Rev. SherryParker was attemptingto bridge the gap be-tween the relationshipof the local church andcommunity and thechurch consideredeverything from new“emerging worshipstyles” to the possibil-ity of having a secondvenue to even purchas-ing a coffee shop.

After researchinglocal demographics andconsidering how thenew organic groupcould be invitational,create and develop dis-ciples, and serve people,Ball said a small-group gatheringcalled Sanctus was born.

”What we then narrowed in onwas this organicmodel that wasmore transient innature, thatmatched andmimicked thepersonality of theculture,” he said.

After Ball andChristian Educa-tion Director Suzy Hutchison at-tended a four-day conference led bychurch start and organic church ex-pert Neil Cole, the initial Sanctusgathering took place in an Irish pubin town. Ball said it was a little bittoo loud to clearly engage in dia-logue though, and he has been opento letting it evolve into what has be-

come three small groups that meetat houses once a week.

Instead of just bringing a Bibleand smile, the requirements havemore to do with foods to snack on,beverages to consume—not exclud-ing a little alcohol—and an openmind.

“It is very Wesleyan and I thinkit is so important to give people aspace, acknowledging people have

Sharing personal experiences,one man admitted he “realized hewas human 40 some years ago”when he made a major blunder dur-ing a public speech and anothertalked about the power of “realizingyou can’t carry all of your baggagewith you everywhere,” which hedrew from a video by Mars Hill pas-tor Rob Bell.

The groups are cur-rently reading the bookThe Orthodox Hereticand Other ImpossibleTales by Peter Rollins, acollection of modernday parables that seemsto be a great conversa-tion starter.

“It’s not as intimi-dating, it’s contempo-rary, it’s written in alanguage people canunderstand and relateto,” Ball said. “They getthese parables whenthey read them andthey understand themand it is so provocativethat there’s no ques-tion about it creatingdialogue.”

Currently thegroups consist ofBrighton FUMC mem-bers and Ball saidSanctus is certainlymolding disciples, butit hopes to becomemore effective atinviting others andserving the world.

“What we’rechoosing to do as amodel is developleaders inside the life

of Brighton First who will then serveas “social missionaries”—a mis-sionary to our culture, who are thendeveloped and empowered to startasking people to join in on the dia-logues that are happening,” he said.

For Ball, it is a welcome retreatfrom the rest of his week and hesaid it’s therapeutic for him “be-cause it’s not just spiritual conver-sations that take place, but wediscuss our relationships…it’s aplace where people are able to sharethe stuff in their life in an intimatesetting, knowing that people careabout them and they’re valued.”

He said being missional mindedand creative with new outlooks forgrowth in and out of the churchbuilding are what local pastorsneed to look for, instead of being sofocused on potential membershipdecline.

BENTON HEISLERWEST MICHIGAN

CONFERENCE DIRECTOR OF

CONNECTIONAL MINISTRIES

‘We must engageothers to acquire a more accurateassessment.’

social systems they are a part ofevery single day—whether it’s“happy hour” on Friday with theguys after work and watchingESPN; we’re saying that’s not neces-sarily wrong, but we want to pro-vide an experience that hasspiritual depth and a place wherepeople can receive healthy systemsof support,” Ball said.

A normal gathering will involvesome political talk, philosophicaldebates, jokes and plenty of com-rades willing to listen.

At one session last, month thetalking points even included theconcept of “losing your faith” to in-advertently find it — addressingthe importance of salvation and for-giveness as opposed to religious rit-uals and doctrines Christians oftenbecome so consumed with.

Brighton FUMC has been utilizing some “organic church”

concepts of Neil Cole, starting small groups called Sanctus

over the last six months.

John Ball

NOVEMBETHE UNITED METHODIST REPORTER4A

By RJ WaltersEditor

If a bridge was ever constructed in South-east Michigan with the purpose of bringing to-gether scholars and theologians, AdrianCollege would seem to be a fitting home forsuch a landmark.

Campus Chaplain Chris Momany is notonly an ordained deacon and elder of theUnited Methodist Church, he is a history buff,social justice advocate, author, teacher andfirm believer that sometimes simpler is betterfor the church.

And if you’ve never heard of Asa Mahan—spend five minutes in a room with Momanyand you’ll quickly realize that one of thefounding fathers of Adrian College in the late1850s is alive and relevant on campus todaythanks to Momany’s affection for his theoreticand principles.

Mahan was a vigorous proponent of eman-cipation—not surprising considering AdrianCollege was part of the Underground Railroadand still today is a major proponent of endinghuman trafficking—and Momany especiallylikes his writing’s about Christian perfectionand holiness.

“It’s a joke around here that I’m alwaysgoing to work his name into something, thestudents say,” Momany said. “He was just aphenomenal guy around the Wesleyan tradi-tion of Christian perfection. He was big onradical perfection, or holiness…”

Posters and fliers litter campus denoting anew “Intrinsic Worth” campaign that studentshave spearheaded and Momany believesMahan’s interpretations of what it means to bea socially active Christian are germane for the21st century.

The worship team seems to agree, oftendonning T-shirts with Mahan’s likeness onthem, affirming their desire to be involved inpeople’s lives through Christian love.

“The real core value is that he is interpretedholiness as love, which is a Wesleyan idea,” Mo-many said. “Mahan did that and then you say,OK, how do you interpret love? And he basi-cally said love is an affirmation of the intrinsicworth of people.”

Marrying his in-depth “church knowledge”with his more academic side, Momany haswritten a book titled “Doing Good: A Grace-filled Approach to Holiness,” set to come outthrough the Abingdon Press sometime be-tween March and May 2011. He said it is a rela-tively short four-session study guide forchurches and leaders to use as they explorewhat the true definition of holiness is andwhat it should look like in the church.

“We have holiness churches, holiness tradi-tions, and often holiness is thought of as sepa-ration or being separate or set aside or of apure realm,” he said. “I don’t deny that, but ifyou look at Jesus as the expression of God’s

love, it’s radically participatory, so what I do isI argue for a holiness that is not removed andseparate, but involved and affirming. And I ac-tually use this language of intrinsic worth.”

Freshman Lee Schriver, who grew up atMillington UMC, said what he appreciates abuthis chaplain is he takes his knowledge and per-spective and uses it to empower and educatethe students.

“Chris is really a great guy,” he said. “He hassaid he’ll do whatever it takes to meet the stu-dent’s needs and I’ve seen nothing to suggestotherwise.”

One major need Momany has helped ad-dress is the pre-seminary program he played abig role in getting off the ground.

He teaches Christian Social Ethics and Phi-losophy of Religion among other offerings andhe said 15-25 students annually weave pre-sem-inary classes into the rest of their curriculum.

Three Adrian College graduates are cur-rently enrolled at Garrett Evangelical Theologi-cal Seminary and another is attending WesleyTheological Seminary in D.C.

Momany said the reason he’s a chaplain issimply because he loves the students and en-joys watching them grow spiritually and aca-demically.

“We have a (pre-seminary) student whowrote a paper on the ‘Jesus Movement’ of the1970s and then she went to the Jesus PeopleUSA (Covenant Church) in uptown Chicagowith the Grand Ledge United MethodistChurch. So she was able to do an upper-levelreligion class that studied this movement,write a research paper…and then go there,” hesaid. “She did the whole soup kitchen thing,

housing advocacy and Jesus Movement wor-ship thing.”

The gusto Momany sees in some of theyoung adults around campus is inspiring tohim—but as a long-time United Methodist hethinks the church could take some notes froma generation focused more on acceptance andlove.

“My concern is that some of the trendystuff about growing the church and transfor-mational management, leadership and stuff

like that…I think it has a tendency to worshippower a lot more than to express love and bor-rowing imagery from the corporate world isnot the way to go,” he said. “Businesses operateon conditional models, ‘if you are this way,than that,’ because they’re about makingmoney—and the church has the greatest mes-sage in the universe and that’s God’s uncondi-tional love is offered to you through the crossand resurrection. Why are we afraid to sharethat message?”

C A M P U S C O N F I D E N T I A L U

LEFT: The chapel at Adrian College is the place where students lead Wednesday services and numerous spiritual life events takeplace. RIGHT: Adrian College students and Chaplain Chris Momany (front, center) come together on a number of social issues,such as Not For Sale, an international anti-slavery and anti-human trafficking organization.

Intellectually proud, doctrinally soundAdrian College weaves together academics and

More than 250 students are involved inregular spiritual activities at Adrian Col-lege—some with traditional UnitedMethodist backgrounds and others far fromthat.

Take junior literature major Meela Zecevicfor example. Her father was “like Muslim andCatholic” when she was growing up, while hermother was “like Muslim and Christian” be-fore they moved to Germany and became Je-hova’s Witnesses.

Now she said she guesses the family con-siders themselves “some form of Christian”living in the United States and Zecevic saidAdrian College has been the perfect place toexplore her spirituality and purpose in life.

Recently she was honored to give a speechrelating to the Biblical story of Daniel and the

lion’s den at a Wednesday chapel service.Chaplain Chris Momany said students

have been leading chapel for about a yearnow and it gives them a chance to relate withfellow students on a whole new level.

“At first I had to re-read it and then for alittle while I was kind of irritated at Daniel,”Zecevic said. “So I didn’t want to bad-mouthDaniel or whatever, so I put it aside for awhile and like a week before I started writingabout it and I decided to talk to everybodyabout how the story relates to us all whentimes are tough and that pretty much if youbelieve in yourself enough you’ll get a lot ofthings done that you need to get done.”

She said “being on the other side” was em-powering and she’d love to do more publicspeaking.

Liberation through explorationat Adrian College

ADRIAN COLLEGE

R 5, 2010 THE UNITED METHODIST REPORTER 5A

By RJ WaltersEditor

Albion College has one of the richestMethodist traditions of any college in Americaand if John Wesley was still around in 2010 hewould surely be proud of the experiential faithtranspiring on campus.

Wesley strongly believed that Christianswould be better fortified in their faith throughpersonal experiences that re-affirmed it andAlbion College Chaplain Dan McQuown con-tends Wesley was on to something.

In 2003 McQuown was part of initial dis-cussions trying to bring religious groups oncampus together and by 2005 an interfaith lifeteam was born, thanks in part to a meetingheld between the student president of Albion’sCampus Crusade for Christ chapter and leadersof the Secular Humanist group at the college.

Every year since, the interfaith group hasincluded leaders from 7-12 different religiousbackgrounds who come together to discussdifferent aspects of spiritual life on campus.

While McQuown is a Christian, his back-ground is certainly diverse in its own right. Hegrew up Presbyterian, he married a UnitedMethodist and started the ordination process,and he and his wife are now members of theUnited Church of Christ.

On campus a “normal” day isn’t so normaland that’s precisely what McQuown lovesabout his job.

“(One day) we have a student speaking onhuman trafficking, sponsored by the chaplain’soffice and our interfaith group,” he said. “Thenwe’re launching our Pakistani flood relief,

Harmony perpetuates itself on inclusive Albion College campusU N I T E D M E T H O D I S T S T Y L E

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAN MCQUOWN

Wednesday night chapel services allow students of different religious backgrounds toworship under one roof at Albion College.

starting with a reading of the Muslim call toprayer and then we have campus Shabbat herein our student center—and all three are opento all people.”

He said he does infinitely more Christianevangelism and spiritual counsel by engagingdiversity and doesn’t see much benefit to label-ing people or rejecting them because “diversitycan be a terrifying encounter a lot of peoplehide from.”

“If I put up a sign outside this window thatsaid, ‘Christians Only,” I would lose 70 percentof the student body. Then if I put up a sign thatsaid, ‘United Methodists Only,” or “ProtestantsOnly,” I’d lose 20 or 25 percent more. Then if Isaid liberals or conservatives only I’d lose evenmore,” he said.

McQuown said Jesus spent most of his timeout-reaching to strangers in need, regardless oftheir faith and his “strangers” are new studentsin his case.

Through young adult-led chapel services,Bible studies, interfaith dialogue, prayergroups and lots of peer-to-peer activities it ap-pears McQuown is achieving his goals.

“With chapel, even though we’re affiliatedwith the United Methodist Church, it’s an in-terdenominational chapel service. In a coupleof weeks somebody is preaching about theirexperiences in Japan and she’s actually goingto be teaching us a song in Japanese,” seniorDavid Keyworth said. “And we’ve sung in anAfrican language before and through otherpeople’s experiences being able to hear how ithas affected their lives helps you think aboutwhat ways God is trying to reach you through

your experiences.”Keyworth will be attending Asbury Theo-

logical Seminary next fall to become an or-dained United Methodist.

Junior Josiah Fallot said having a con-cerned, caring chaplain like McQuown—whosaid his job is to empower people and createleaders—is awesome as he navigates his jour-ney of faith.

“He’s a very selfless guy. I don’t rememberthe first time I met him, but I was not preparedto speak with him face-to-face just because Iwas taken aback by his very personal nature;he tends to stand square shoulder-to-shoulderto you and look right at you and it’s kind of in-timidating at first, but you come to realize hejust wants to develop relationships and he’s agood guy.”

Josiah FallotYear: JuniorMajor: English educationHome church: Morenci UMC

At age 12 Fallot attended Albion College as part of hisprocess of being confirmed in the United Methodist Churchand eight years later he is more than half way through his ed-ucation there.

He is a co-president of the Student Volunteer Bureau,where he’s helped set up community service trips to places like Cass Corridor in Detroitand he’s active in Karate Club and the college’s Peace Action Club.

But what has helped define his experience more than anything he says, is the per-sonal introspection he’s experienced through shared experiences with people of somany different faith backgrounds.

“I really enjoy a group called Bridge, which is essentially a meeting of any studentswilling to talk about their progress and spiritual growth. We meet once a week overlunch and usually one person will give kind of the evolution of their spiritual beliefs andtheir historical backgrounds to help us understand their perspectives on life,” he said. “Alot of my friends were already in this group and others were not. The leader of the groupis from Nepal and he has a very interesting spiritual background in that there were Bud-dhist temples as well as Hindu temples next to each other and it kind of just debunkedsome of the beliefs I had prior to speaking with someone like him.”

Fallot said his home church, Morenci UMC, still holds a special place in his heart be-cause the congregation is like family to him and he learned a lot about interconnected-ness growing up.

David KeyworthYear: SeniorMajor: HistoryHome church: Midland UMC

Keyworth was the son of a United Methodist pastor grow-ing up, but he didn’t have a clue one day his children might becalled “PKs” until Albion College helped him discern his call.

He said he was ready to get involved with on campus min-istries right away, but it wasn’t until a friend invited him to aWednesday night chapel service that everything started clicking.

Keyworth joined the chapel band as a singer, and he now plays keyboard for thegroup. He said students are empowered by leading the entire chapel service, includinggiving the message, and he has been shaped by his interactions with other faithfulChristians the last three-plus years.

He said people always told him to consider ordained ministry, but he just shrugged itoff — until one Wednesday evening he heard God calling.

“The people here and Chaplain Dan (McQuown) helped me move forward and onenight in chapel we were having a quiet time, with music softly playing and people pray-ing — and at that time I heard God tell me I needed to go to seminary,” he said. “Thepowerful experiences we have in chapel, the powerful experiences being able to interactwith other Christians on campus helps shape who you are, helps shape the person you’regoing to be.”

He will head to Asbury Theological Seminary next fall, but before that he hopes tohave a greater impact at Albion. He graduates in December and McQuown hired him asan advisor to all of the Christian groups on campus for the spring semester.

“A major goal of mine next semester is bringing all the chairs of the different Christiangroups on campus together so we all know what each other are doing,” Keyworth said.ST

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ALBION COLLEGE

NOVEMBER 5, 2010 THE UNITED METHODIST REPORTER6A

What is it?The Baldwin Center is a human services

agency in Pontiac, whose mission is to feed,clothe, educate, and empower disadvantagedadults and children through more than 25 pro-grams.

Merged with Grace and Peace CommunityChurch of Pontiac, the Baldwin Avenue UMCbecome known as The Baldwin Center in 2006,

It is now a major asset of the Alliance forUrban Ministry, and the Detroit Conference’sMinistry Jubilee has a goal of $80,000 in an-nual donations allocated for the center.

The Center is a soup kitchen and food andclothing distribution center, it offers English asa Second Language classes and G.E.D, coursesand it is a haven for children’s camps, educa-tional programs and after-school activities.

How did it start?Baldwin Avenue UMC

was founded in 1917 andin 1981 Rev. Dr. PatriciaMeyers suggested thechurch open its doors tochildren and families on adaily basis.

The Family Kitchenopened a year later, in 1983an emergency shelter pro-gram was initiated and inthe 1990s a plethora ofyouth-related centers andprograms were installed.

Since 2002 the centerhas housed a full-time licensed counselor andcommunity organizations have stepped upsupport.

Executive Director Lisa Machesky said sheand her staff are always opening for finding outwhat else the Lord might have in the works.

“One of the things we talk about aroundhere…we know everything’s here, all the con-nections are here, we just have to find them,”she said.“When we come up with somethingand say, ‘Oh, I need this,’ somehow the next dayit comes around, or maybe it’s not the next day,but it’s around here somewhere, we just have tofigure out where.”

What type of progress has been made?The first time the soup kitchen opened, 15

people stopped by for a meal—in Septemberalone a total of 5,244 meals were prepared.

That month the Clothes Closet had over1,000 clients, 26 mothers receive diapers and147 low-income senior citizens had commod-ity food packages delivered to their home.

“We definitely have seen a huge increase inthe need for services as far as our ClothingCloset and the need for rental assistance be-cause of evictions and utility shut-off noticesand the number coming into our soup kitchen

has gone up quite a bit,” Machesky said. “Andwe’ve also invested in our youth programs be-cause we know that’s our future.”

Though Machesky said the staff is relativelysmall, just 14 paid employees (10 full-time),the center has made huge strides, especially inhelping children.

At one time the center had a daycare, butthey decided to close that and focus on moreeducational, spiritual programming for youth.

Now they are a state licensed childcare fa-cility that offers an eight-week summer camp,afterschool reading comprehension tutoring,and meals and basic needs.

“We develop relationships with people, wecontinue on a journey with them; we don’t justgive them one-time things,” she said. “We really

OverlookThe Lighthouse Let your light so shine…

The Baldwin CenterWhat is it?

The Grand Rapids United Methodist Com-munity House is a major provider of familyservices, educational programs and basicneeds for the residents of inner city GrandRapids.

The Community House has an accreditedChild Development Center for infants throughpre-kindergarten children, they offer a widerange of parenting services and programs andthe Shalom Senior Center offers senior citizenshelp with transportation, meals, advocacy,healthcare and more.

A lot of the programming the non-profitprovides focuses around literacy within entirefamily units, to provide an essential skillneeded in social settings and the workforce.

In 2009, the house served almost 3,000 par-ticipants, according to Director of Develop-ment Bev Crandall-Rice.

She said “more than 60 per-cent of the people in theinner city are living inpoverty” and 90 per-cent of their clients fitthat description.

How did it start?In September 1902, a

group of women from theMethodist Churches of the Grand Rapids Dis-trict organized a club to do settlement workand initially the program included classes forkindergarten and early elementary girls.

Eventually classes were offered for boys aswell, covering a breadth of different topics.

In the 1950s, summer camps became thenorm and by the early 1980s the CommunityHouse was focused heavily on advocacy ofchild development issues and concerns, to thepoint they received a United Way Humanitar-ian Award.

In 1989 the project was given a jolt with a$2.6 million capital campaign that helped itbecome what it is today.

Crandall-Rice said UMW founded it on theprinciples of helping a diverse set of people instaying true to the specific needs of the com-munity, something that hasn’t changed in 108years.

“We’ve had tremendous success with thosewho have been a part of our services. We seechildren from our Child Development Centerready to succeed, ready for pre-school or readyfor kindergarten. We see the literacy skills thatcome out of our program because all of ourprograms are literacy based and that’s just a

foundation for success and so valuable and im-portant.”

What type of progress has been made?Progress has occurred time and again with

the Community House—through economicdepression, through changes in leadership, andby adapting to the needs of those they serve.

In 2010 the challenge of progress is no lessdaunting.

Crandall-Rice said the Community Househas an annual operating budget of roughly$2.2 million, but recent state budget cuts havehad a major impact on them.

“It’s challenging, especially when we did getabout a $300,000 cut from the state of Michi-gan when we had secured contracts and grantsfor up to three years,” she said. “After the first

year, because of state budget cuts, some pro-grams were let go. So for us thatamounted to about $300,000.”

Reductions included some specialtysummer programming, as well as pri-

mary parenting classes thatwere aimed at fathersand recent parolees.

Nonetheless, theCommunity House continues to provide

top-notch before and after-school programs,ESL classes are in place to assist the large His-panic population and the organization contin-ues to provide daily support and guidance topeople of all ages.

What can churches/people do to help?When looking to fill the gaps following

$300,000 a year cuts from the state, donors areessential.

People can donate directly, on the house’swebsite, www.umchousegr.org, or they canprovide assistance through the Six Lanes of theAdvance.

The organization is also looking for long-term corporate or business sponsorshipsand/or available grants to help with future sus-tainability.

Crandall-Rice said volunteers truly fuel theCommunity House’s fire though.

“Volunteers just allow for us to do some ca-pacity building within our services and pro-grams,” she said.

Volunteers are required to have criminalbackground checks processed and tuberculo-sis tests done annually if they work directlywith people.

Crandall-Rice can be reached at bcran-dall@umchousegr.org.

The Grand Rapids UM Community House

Let the Reporter shine the light: Each month the Reporter wants to highlight ministriesthat are working hard to live out the mission of the United Methodist Church.

The publication would like to focus dedicated space to the missions and missionariesof The Advance and Ministry Jubilee projects.

If you are part of or know of a specific ministry that is making a difference and fits thebill, please contact the Reporter via e-mail at editor@miareaumc.org.

The Baldwin Center in Pontiac has everything from summercamps to after-school programs for youth of all ages, in anattempt to give the next generation a brighter future.

develop relationships and we know the peopleand we know their struggles.”

What can churches/people do to help?Machesky said they receive very little federal

money, counting mainly on individual donors,local churches, and special sponsorships.

The FUMC of Birmingham, for instance,sponsored four college-age staff members forsummer programming this year and a churchfrom North Carolina did a work camp andhelped out around Pontiac too.

Machesky said the center has a dedicatedstaff member for coordinating volunteer workand there’s an abundance of avenues they seekhelp from.

“It really varies,” she said. “The other daywe had a group of 30 putting our hoophouse in(for year-round gardening) and we had an-other 13 AmeriCorps students and probablyabout 20 helping out with a barbecue we did.”

There is also a continuous need for cloth-ing, school supplies and basic essentials, whichcan be seen on the center’s website atwww.baldwincenter.org.

The website has a link for online donationsand the center’s Ministry Jubilee number is MJ1150.

NOVEMBER 5, 2010 THE UNITED METHODIST REPORTER 7A

When I was a young child, I would oftenask “Why?”

Even before my parents could answer thisquestion, I was ready to ask my second question.

Do you know the second question? If youhave raised children or spent much time withthem, then I am certain that you do know it.

The second question was: “Why?” What-ever my parents’ answer, my follow-up ques-tion was always, “Why?”

My own children have blessed me with thissame level of curiosity.

“Daddy, I have a question for you. Why arethere clouds in the sky?”

“Clouds are in the sky because today is a partly cloudy day,” Irespond.

“Why?” says the young child.“Today is partly cloudy because of the changing weather.

This changing weather is called a ‘weather front.’”“Why?” says the child routinely.“When the winds blow, water molecules form together and

make clouds. There are different types of cloud formations. . .”“Why?”This sequence continues until eventually the adult ends ex-

asperated with frustration exclaiming, “Because that’s the way itis!” or pronouncing with theological delight, “Because God madethe Heavens and the Earth!”

Jim Collins, author of Built to Last, has taken this basic child-hood question of curiosity and leveraged it as a powerfulmethod for achieving the essence of an organization’s purpose.The method can be practiced at its elemental level.

Start with the descriptive statement of what your churchdoes. Perhaps your descriptive statement would be the missionstatement of The United Methodist Church. We “make disciplesof Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

Why is that important?Ask leaders the why question five times.As one repeats the question and digs deeper into the reason-

ing for doing what the church does, one approaches the funda-mental purpose of a particular local church. The ‘five whys’ canenable the church to frame its tasks and activities in a moremeaningful way.

I was privileged to spend time recently with a few of the cur-rent great thinkers and strong leaders of The United MethodistChurch—Bishop Robert Schnase, Bishop Scott Jones, Gil Ren-dle, and Dr. Lovett Weems Jr.

While others would certainly need to be added to this groupto be representative of our denomination, they have all con-tributed significantly to the movement of today’s UnitedMethodist Church.

Their books are widely acclaimed. They represent multiplegenerations of the Church. They hold different roles within theChurch.

Yet, as I listened and talked with each of them, each onebegan at the same place. They started with the mission of theChurch.

In order to have a meaningful conversation about theChurch, we needed to be clear about its purpose, core values,and mission.

They encouraged persons, like me, who consult regularlywith local church leaders, like you, to ask you again and again,“Why do you exist? What is the purpose of your local church?Who would miss your local church if it closed? Who is excitedthat your church is open? How does your local church connect tothe mission of The United Methodist Church?”

Your answers to these questions and to the five whys havemore to do with the stewardship of our prayers, presence, gifts,witness, and service than we may first think.

It may seem cliché—but it is true—money follows mission.May God be with you as you reengage your childhood

DAVID S. BELLVICE PRESIDENT OF

STEWARDSHIP OF THEUNITED METHODIST

FOUNDATIONOF MICHIGAN

Do your measurements make or miss the mark set for the future?

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They must have labeled it improperly. Or,perhaps they did not have appropriate or ac-curate measurement instruments available asthey organized and designed the product. Ei-ther way, the suit I was purchasing was obvi-ously for someone of larger girth and staturethan mine!

It was not the same tag as those itemshanging in my closet. After all, I am still wear-ing them, or at least some of them.

I get by. They are not too uncomfortable. Itdoes not matter if someone else does not likethem. Then again, perhaps I need to do somehonest assessment.

Perhaps you first thought I was talking about evaluation andassessment in your local church. That comes eventually.

I can recall the story of a major bridge being built from twosides of a wide canal, one that I had travelled over for a period ofyears. That which was sufficient for the past was quickly becom-ing a dangerous option for reaching the other side. A great dealof work went into designing a bridge for the future.

As construction progressed, thankfully someone was payingclose attention to whether or not things were being developed inthe right direction. They were willing to assess the progress,measuring changes so that they could stay on target as well asmake adjustments along the way.

As spans developed from both sides of the canal, they dis-covered if they continued in the current pattern of behavior theywould miss the mark. They would only be a few inches off, butthat amount would mean irrelevancy for the primary purpose.

They would waste vital resources and not accomplish thenecessary connection to the future. The mission would havebeen thwarted and vision lost. It took courage and humility toadmit that some adjustment was necessary.

The Question of Childhood Curiosity

The bridge had a compelling picture of their vision for thefuture. They had a clear mission for the project; they had astrategic plan with full details. They also had the willingness toallow for a culture of correcting the course rather than coveringup mistakes or miscalculations. Because of that, they did nothave to scrap the whole vision. They acknowledged that someadjustments, i.e. “change”, would be necessary as they continuedtheir movement forward.

Most of our clergy, staff and congregations are nearly throughthe annual process known as “Pastor/Charge Assessment” andthe charge conferences. Interestingly we have forms andprocesses, and in many cases, attitudes, that do such evaluationsor “measuring” processes from two different sides of the canal.

One form is a congregational profile and the other is a pastoralassessment. The two are integrally connected if we ever wish tobuild a bridge to the future. Both sides of that assessment have thepotential of connecting in the middle, or missing the mark.

Evaluation should never be a process of devaluation or de-struction. Nor should it be a superficial pretence that suggestseverything is on target for a connected future. If our shared vi-sion is clear, and our commitment to a common mission is com-pelling, then we can all be willing to allow for course correctionas we build the foundation for movement into the future.

Alright, now I have to own the measuring of the suit.Shortly before I purchased a new suit recently, it was revealed

on the television news that clothing manufacturers want us tofeel better about purchasing new garments, so they have beenplaying a game of mis-measurement. After all, we do not want toknow the reality we are in do we. They routinely measure waist-lines or garment sizes lower than they actually are so that cus-tomers will continue to purchase items rather than coming toterms with expanding size and declining health patterns.

Sounds like the church to me! Pay attention to your assess-ment for your own good.

JERRY DEVINEDETROIT CONFERENCE

DIRECTOR OF CONNECTIONAL

MINISTRIES

packed, there’s nowhere for students to go and we’re hearing alot of need around that area.”

Smashin’ with passionBistayi has said in the past that one of his biggest hurdles

was cleared in the church-building process when he hired DarinVanderMolen as his worship leader.

He called the veteran musician a “rock star because he is agenuine spiritual person” and it seems as if people are pickingup on his good vibes.

Bistayi said the church has a diverse age group currently, buta lot of the newcomers are young families and 20-30somethingsand VanderMolen’s energy has been a big hit.

“People say that Darin is the most encouraging and enthusi-astic person they’ve ever met and that just oozes into the com-munity,” Bistayi said. “That helps others to live encouraged andenthusiastic lives if that makes sense.”

Meticulous MethodistsJust because the words “United Methodist” are absent from

the church’s name, don’t assume Bistayi is navigating away fromauthentic Welseyan ideas and principals. His father was a UnitedMethodist pastor for 35 years and he believes wholeheartedlythat “loving God means loving all people.”

“I think (traditionalists) would recognize we’re a Methodistchurch in the sense of our commitment to reaching out beforeourselves. We’re big on that at Valley and I think that would be thefirst recognition factor,” he said. “We are committed to making adifference in the communities around us and that is somethingthat is distinctly United Methodist. In this area here in GrandRapids so many people are shocked, surprised and pleased to seethere’s a church in this area that’s taking it so personally.”

Valley church infusing Grand Rapidsarea with energy at official openingContinued from back page

NOVEMBER 5, 2010THE UNITED METHODIST REPORTER8A

The Valley Church worship team had people on their feet at the church’s grandopening on Oct. 10.

Valley church infusing Grand Rapids area with energy at official openingBy RJ WaltersEditor

Matt Bistayi is the first to admit “you’re neverthere yet” in his “God dream”—he creation andevolution of Valley Church in Allendale—butthe pieces are coming together and he and hiscongregation are finding beauty in journey.

October 10 marked the official grand open-

ing of the church located in the same buildingas Byron Bank, just minutes from the GrandValley State University campus, and more than230 people were on hand for the celebrationservice, nearly double the attendance Valleywas seeing in April.

Bistayi said the process of moving from ini-tial ground-level visioning when he moved in

July 2009 to learning how to meet the needs ofpeople all over the Grand Rapids area has been“humbling and exciting” and he loves to sharewhat God is doing in His people through thechurch.

While some of the ministry strategies of thechurch include 10-12 person “house churches”that meet each week to join together in goodfood and conversation, as well as plenty ofweekend outreach activities, there have been anumber of opportunities Bistayi has pouncedon as he’s tried to rally people together.

Action in advanceWith the built-in advantage of having a

grand opening set for 10/10/10, the ValleyChurch leadership team did something called“The Countdown to 10/10/10.”

“We opened up the church every night from7 o’clock to 8 o’clock for the 10 days leading upto 10/10/10,” Bistayi said. “We had prayer sta-tions set up, specifically helping people prayfor and get pumped up for the launch.”

He also encouraged churchgoers through athree-week sermon series called “Ignite,”which focused on changing the world through

service and inviting others to be part of thisfaith adventure.

When the library is full…When the home base for an institution that

serves over 24,000 students (according to theuniversity’s latest figures) is just down theroad, accommodations for young adults areobvious.

Bistayi said the church is seeing a lot of newcollege students who are making valley theirhome and in his mind it’s because they are try-ing to be relevant, practical and real.

“We’re real and transparent and I thinkthat’s the biggest draw,” he said. “We’re alsostarting a couple of house churches here, justfor college-age students so we’re excited aboutthat.”

The staff is also considering opening doorsone night a week to give students a quiet havento come study and congregate.

“Something, from like 7 (p.m.)-midnight soValley can be a place for students to come andjust study and use the wi-fi and get some cof-fee and munchies,” he said. “On campus it’s

Audacious love is the theme at rapidly evolving Free StoreConcord UMC making partnerships to fill void in Jackson CountyBy RJ WaltersEditor

If it’s clean, in working order and will blesssomebody then it’s probably going to be avail-able. And if it’s available, it’s free.

It’s really that simple.Empowered by stories of successful “free

stores” nationwide, including the Church ForAll People Free Store in Columbus, Ohio whichwas highlighted at West Michigan Annual Con-ference, Rev. Melany Chalker knew it was timeto play her hand and so far it looks like she isholding a royal flush.

The pastor at Concord UMC had beendreaming about such a boutique at other ap-pointments in her 11-year ministry career, butnothing had every fully materialized. But whena layperson in her congregation came backequally as charged up about the free store ideafollowing annual conference, it was only a mat-ter of time.

A month after pitching the idea to herchurch’s leadership council, Chalker found sev-eral buildings in homey downtown Concord torent and they just happened to be owned byanother pastor. She really wanted the buildingformerly occupied by a trendy coffee shop, butshe was a day late; the owner said someonerented it the night before she called.

“I thought, ‘No way,’ it was already finished,we don’t have money to rehab somebody else’sbuilding and it’s on the corner, it’s got win-dows,” she said “He said, ‘You know, that nothandicap accessible,’” and I said, ‘Hmm, youknow, a free store would have to be handicapaccessible’. He said there’s only one in townthat is and I own it.”

Located between a bar and grocery storeand with the owner offering it to the church for

just $295 a month—around 60 percent of itsrental value—Chalker asked the leadershipcouncil for permission to rent immediatelyand finalize the details later.

What a good choice that turned out to be.Fresh coats of paint are currently being put

on the walls, volunteers are being lined up andmoney and sponsorships are already flowing in.

The store, which will officially be called theOpen Door Free Store has already securedthree “charter partners,” which will providevolunteers, financial backing and leadershipfor decision-making. The local CatholicChurch, as well as nearby Presbyterian andFree Methodist churches have joined forcesand in one week alone Chalker took in over$3,100 in monetary support, including onedonor who wrote a check for $1,200.

The store is also looking for formal “friendsof the store”, who will donate $10 a week forthe entire year, an amount Chalker comparesto what “people often contribute to help chil-dren in third-world countries.”

With money slowly coming down thepipeline and the store being updated withChalker’s special touch—which comes with her16 years of experience as a professional artistbefore jumping into ministry—the services thefree store wants to offer continues to expand.

Inside the front door, a community tablewill be located, with cards, puzzles, and coffeefor people to sit down and enjoy, whether ornot they are coming in to shop. There will alsobe a supervised play area for kids, so parentscan shop undisturbed, and there will be aprayer basket for people to submit requests.

Beyond the clothes, toys and home furnish-ings, the store hopes to offer a health stationfor the under- or un-insured.

Three parish nurses from Allegiance Healthin Jackson have already showed substantial in-terest in volunteering their time to do basiccheck-ups, blood tests, referrals, etc.

“If somebody comes in and they haven’t seena doctor in forever and their diabetes is out ofwhack, the parish nurse might say, ‘You know, St.Luke’s clinic up in Jackson might be able tohelp,’” Chalker said, noting the store is hoping tosecure some medical supplies from Allegiance.

Concord UMC already has an active rela-tionship with the North Parma UMC FoodPantry and Chalker is hopeful the store can be-come sort of a local distribution center for thecommunity.

No matter what the free store offers though,one of Chalker’s goals is to make customersfeel valued and loved like never before.

“It’s all about audacious generosity. I’ve hadpeople say, ‘You’re going to give (people) anumber on items, right? They can’t just haveanything.’” She said. “It’s audacious generosity,yes they can.”

She said when she closes her eyes she seesthe store as aesthetically pleasing, “more like aKohl’s or Pier 1 then it does a second-handstore” and she will gladly store items in thechurch basement or ask people to hold off do-nations, instead of just stacking everything inpiles.

Concord UMC pastor Rev. Melany Chalker has a precise vision of what she sees theOpen Door Free Store looking like prior to it opening in the near future.

Continued on page 7A

Chilean agreementMethodists strengthendisaster response | 8B

Section B

November 5, 2010

umportal org

Church reformCall to Action teamreleases report | 3B

! See ‘Conference’ page 3B

Recapturing aweSeeing an eagle in the wildrestores wonder, joy | 6B

B Y M A L L O RY M C C A L LStaff Writer

! See ‘Members’ page 4B

Just showing up at the altar oneSunday morning isn’t enough to joinCity on a Hill, a United Methodist con-gregation in Woodstock, Ga.

Prospective members must partic-ipate in an all-day Saturday class tolearn about the Christian faith andUnited Methodist beliefs, then sign acovenant committing to regularprayer, worship attendance, smallgroup participation, service, witness-ing and tithing.

It’s not easy. And nobody’s apolo-gizing about that.

“We’re a high-commitmentchurch,” says lead pastor, the Rev.Chris Bryant. With a booming laugh,he adds, “And we’re looking for waysto raise the bar even higher.”

City on a Hill started as a churchplant five years ago, and today aver-ages around 335 in weekly attendance.Many would argue that’s no coinci-dence—that “high commitment”churches tend to grow, and more im-portantly, stay vital.

“High demand organizationsmake themselves attractive,” agrees

Dan Hotchkiss, senior consultant forThe Alban Institute, a Herndon, Va.-based nonprofit leadership develop-ment organization for congregations.

High growthIndeed, some of United Method-

ism’s largest and most successfulchurches would describe themselvesas “high commitment.”

At Ginghamsburg Church, a UnitedMethodist megachurch in Tipp City,Ohio, prospective members are re-quired to undergo a 12-week class, “AFollower’s Life,” which clearly outlinesmembership expectations. At the endof the class, class leaders interviewsoon-to-be members individually,querying each about his or her per-sonal spiritual practices (such asprayer and Bible study), involvementwith a small group and plans for serv-ing others and contributing finan-cially to the church.

“We’re nosy,” says Carolyn Slaugh-ter, Ginghamsburg’s director of mem-bership. “We feel you need to knowwhat and who you’re committed to,rather than just popping up and say-ing, ‘Yeah, I’m in.’”

B Y M A RY JAC O B SStaff Writer

PHOTO BY DAN EVANS

Leslie Brown enjoys fulfilling her commitment to regular outreach, one of the expectations of allmembers of City on A Hill, a United Methodist congregation in Woodstock, Ga. Here, she’s helping atthe church’s annual Single Mom Gas Giveaway.

UMR PHOTO BY MALLORY MCCALL

Molly McEntire, a Florida State University student and member ofthe General Board of Discipleship’s division on ministries withyoung people, greets participants at the Lighten the Burden IIIconference in Dallas.

Churches urged to helpbreak silence on AIDS

DALLAS—When it comes to talk-ing about HIV/AIDS, most churchesaren’t. And that silence speaks loudly,according to speakers at the third in-ternational Lighten the Burden Con-ference.

Nearly 200 participants, includingUnited Methodists and other denomi-nations across the U.S. and Africa,gathered Oct. 14-16 in Dallas to worktoward an AIDS-free world.

“Things are happening, but not

enough is happening,” said MusaDube, a professor of humanities at theUniversity of Botswana and a speakerat the conference. “The people presentare the ‘active’ ones, yet still little ishappening.”

The conference focused on sup-porting persons infected and affectedby HIV/AIDS; combating HIV stigma-tization and discrimination in churchand society; training laity and clergyto be engaged in HIV education, pre-vention, care and treatment; increas-ing awareness of the global HIV/AIDSpandemic; equipping laity and clergy

to provide leadership in churches andthe global community; and nurturinga global health initiative through theUnited Methodist Global AIDS Fund.Since 2005, the fund has raised morethan $3 million to support 175 AIDS-related projects in 37 countriesthroughout Asia, Latin America, theCaribbean and sub-Saharan Africa.

There are more than 33 millionpeople living with HIV/AIDS world-wide, and 2.5 million new people areinfected each year. Women living insub-Saharan Africa represent about

High commitment—a key to growth Churches find new members,step up to great expectations

N O V E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 | U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T R E P O R T E R

FAITH focus2B

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Agency urges supportfor Chinese ChristiansThe United Methodist Gen-eral Board of Church andSociety (GBCS) released astatement Oct. 14 urging allchurch members to pray forChristians in China and toraise awareness of religiouspersecution around theworld. In October, churchleaders were forbidden totravel to an evangelicalgathering in South Africaafter Chinese officialsclaimed their attendancewould threaten national se-curity. The GBCS also calledfor United Methodists to con-tact the State Departmentand urge pressure on Chinato lift restrictions on faithpractice.

Fed warns county touphold Islamic rightsThe U.S. Department of Jus-tice filed a court brief Oct.18 in Rutherford County,Tenn., warning county offi-cials that denying religiousland-use rights to preventconstruction of a mosqueand Muslim community cen-ter would violate civil rightslaws. A group of landownersin Murfreesboro had sued tostop the construction, ques-tioning Islam’s validity as areligion entitled to FirstAmendment protection.

Donations increasefor religious charitiesSeveral of the nation’slargest religious charities sawan increase in private dona-tions in 2009 despite theeconomic recession, accord-ing to rankings published inthe October Chronicle of Philanthropy. Support forFeed the Children, whichranked fifth in the Philan-thropy 400, totaled $1.19billion—a 1.2 percent in-crease over 2008. CatholicCharities USA was rankedthird with a 66 percent in-crease to $1.28 billion, butthe group has questioned theaccuracy of the figure.

Crystal Cathedralfiles for Chapter 11The Crystal Cathedral inGarden Grove, Calif., filedOct. 18 for Chapter 11bankruptcy protection fromcreditors. The decision cameafter some creditors filedlawsuits against the church,known for its Hour of PowerTV broadcast.

—Compiled by Bill Fentum

FAITH WATCH

UMNS PHOTO BY KATHY L. GILBERT

Tia Tucker, left, and Robin Pearce are among the many youngpeople active at First Grace UMC, New Orleans. A new reporturges that congregational vitality be a denominational priority.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The UnitedMethodist Church needs to institutewidespread reforms—from consoli-dating general church agencies toholding bishops and clergy account-able for church growth—to revitalizethe denomination, a churchwide advi-sory group says.

The Call to Action Steering Team’sfinal report, says the status quo of ashrinking and aging U.S. church is“toxic” and unsustainable. The reportwill be presented and discussed Nov.3-4 at the Council of Bishops’ meetingin Panama City.

“We must reduce the perceiveddistance between the general Church(including the general agencies), theannual conferences, and local congre-gations,” the report said. “We mustrefashion and strengthen our ap-proaches in leadership development,deployment, and supervision. . . . Inshort, we must change our mindset sothat our primary focus and commit-ment are on fostering and sustainingcongregational vitality.”

Call to Action urges church reformdenomination to measure attendance,growth and engagement. “We shouldpassionately care about results,” thegroup said.

• Reform the Council of Bishops,with the active bishops assuming re-sponsibility for promoting congrega-tional vitality and for establishing anew culture of accountabilitythroughout the church.

• Consolidate general church agen-cies and align their work and re-sources with the priorities of thechurch and the decade-long commit-ment to build vital congregations.Also, the agencies should be reconsti-tuted with smaller, competency-basedboards.

Illinois Area Bishop Gregory V.Palmer, steering team co-chair, said hehopes his fellow bishops will receivethe report as “the faithful, thoughtfuland diligent work of other UnitedMethodists who are yearning withhope for the church.”

Based on surveySome of the recommendations

also may require the approval of Gen-eral Conference, the church’s top leg-

was an “Operational Assessment ofthe Connectional Church” that foundthe church was undergoing a “creep-ing crisis of relevance” and rated gen-eral agencies below average infulfilling the church’s mission.

Another study, “The Vital Congre-gations Research Project,” analyzeddata from 32,228 United Methodistchurches in North America and classi-fied 4,961 congregations, or 15 per-cent, as “high-vital” local churches.The study found that four key driversof congregational vitality in theUnited States are effective pastoralleadership, multiple small groups, di-verse worship styles and a high per-centage of spiritually engaged laity inleadership roles.

What is not acceptable, Call to Ac-tion members emphasized throughouttheir report, is the status quo.

“Leaders, beginning with the bish-ops and including lay and clergyacross the Connection, must lead andimmediately, repeatedly, and energeti-cally make it plain that our currentculture and practices are resulting inoverall decline that is toxic and con-stricts our missional effectiveness,”the report said.

“Business as usual is unsustain-able. Instead, dramatically differentnew behaviors, not incrementalchanges, are required.”

Local churches don’t have to waitfor action from the Council of Bishopsor General Conference to get started.

10-year emphasisNeil Alexander, co-chair of the

steering team and president of theUnited Methodist Publishing House,said the proposed 10-year emphasisto congregational vitality is in keep-ing with the already-established goalsof the denomination. His hope is thatthe 10-year emphasis will lead the

church in its strategic planning at alllevels of administration to make vi-tality “job one.”

A big part of that emphasis isholding church leaders accountablefor church vitality. The report recom-mends the denomination create“prompt and humane ways” forunder-performing clergy to exit or bedeclined entry into the professionalministry in the first place. The reportalso recommends sanctions forunder-performing bishops.

“The need for accountability bythe church’s leadership—especiallythe bishops—for results in the life ofthe church is absolutely crucial for thechallenges as we go forward,” Mr.Alexander said.

The Call to Action team is still un-sure which recommendations will re-quire the passage of legislation atGeneral Conference to implement, Mr.Alexander said.

The team recommends that theCouncil of Bishops establish an “In-terim Operations Team” to determinewhat legislation is required. The teamwould also work with the Council ofBishops, Connectional Table and thegeneral agencies to plan the denomi-national funding and budget that willbe considered at the 2012 GeneralConference.

Ultimately, the message and min-istry of the United Methodist Church isone worth saving, Mr. Alexander said.

“The gospel and our Wesleyanview of the way God’s grace goes be-fore us and beckons us to God is ofsuch critical importance that it mustnot be ignored,” he said. “The integra-tion of personal and social holiness isa way of being in the world that canredeem a broken and hurting world.That is no less true today than whenthe circuit riders set out to spreadscriptural holiness across the land.”

‘The need for accountability by thechurch’s leadership . . . for results in thelife of the church is absolutely crucial.’

—Neil Alexander

Among the group’s recommenda-tions:

• Starting in January 2011, makecongregational vitality the church’s“true first priority” for at least adecade.

• Dramatically reform clergy lead-ership development, deployment,evaluation and accountability. Thiswould include dismissing ineffectiveclergy and sanctioning under-per-forming bishops.

• Collect statistical information inconsistent and uniform ways for the

islative body.In the wake of decades-long mem-

bership declines, the Council of Bish-ops and Connectional Table createdthe 16-member Call to Action SteeringTeam, which includes clergy and laity,to reorder the life of the church forgreater effectiveness in the church’smission to “make disciples of JesusChrist for the transformation of theworld.”

The team based its recommenda-tions on two studies it commissionedfrom independent researchers. One

B Y H E AT H E R H A H NUnited Methodist News Service

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! CONFERENCE Continued from page 1B

UMA names newpresident, CEOThe Rev. Stephen L. Vinsonhas been named presidentand CEO of the UnitedMethodist Association(UMA), a nationwide associ-ation of more than 380health and human serviceorganizations and profes-sionals headquartered nearDayton, Ohio. Active in theUMA since 1992, Mr. Vinsonhas held senior managementpositions in UnitedMethodist-related children’shomes and retirement com-munities. He was previouslythe vice president for devel-opment at Methodist SeniorServices in Tupelo, Miss., anetwork of 12 campusesproviding a range of care forolder adults. For informationabout UMA, visit umassocia-tion.org.

Perkins prof presentsbaseball, culture paperMark W. Stamm, associateprofessor of Christian wor-ship at Perkins School ofTheology, SMU, presentedan academic paper “PrayBall? Reflections on the Seri-ous Liturgical Challenge ofGiving Thanks for Baseball”at the 22nd CooperstownSymposium on Baseball andAmerican Culture in June.Dr. Stamm, an elder in theNorth Texas Conference anda member of the Society forAmerican Baseball Research,discussed a theology of playand playing in relation tobaseball, and included athanksgiving prayer that hecomposed for the occasion,“A Baseball Berakah.” Thepaper has been submittedfor publication in the bien-nial volume of the Sympo-sium.

Lake Junaluska to host‘Caring for Creation’Caring for Creation 2011 atLake Junaluska Conferenceand Retreat Center in LakeJunaluska, N.C., will beMarch 31-April 3. The con-ference will feature nearly 40speakers, including JohnHill, director of economicand environmental justicefrom the General Board ofChurch & Society, and willaddress topics such as howto involve young people increation care and how to ad-vocate for environmentalsustainability. To register, visitwww.lakejunaluska.com/caring-for-creation.

UM CONNECTIONS

UMR PHOTOS BY MALLORY MCCALL

Lighten the Burden III participants gauge how well their churchesinclude HIV/AIDS in sermons, prayers, songs, small groups,fundraisers and mission work.

UMNS PHOTO COURTESY OF DON MESSER

The Rev. Donald Messer (second from left), shown with his wife,Bonnie, and retired United Methodist Bishop “Fritz” Mutti and hiswife, Etta Mae, were among the recipients of the inaugural UnitedMethodist Global AIDS Leadership Awards.

Sponsored by the UMC GlobalAIDS Fund Committee, theLighten the Burden Conferenceaimed to lift up the struggleagainst HIV/AIDS.

half of those affected globally. In 2007more than 2 million people died fromHIV/AIDS. Nearly 30 years after thefirst cases of HIV garnered the world’sattention, people are still contractingthe disease, mainly due to the lack ofpreventive education, experts say. Andstill, people remain hesitant to pub-licly discuss the issue.

Less than 50 percent of young peo-ple between the ages of 15 and 24 haveaccurate knowledge about HIV/AIDSprevention and transmission, accord-ing to the UNAIDS 2008 Report on theGlobal AIDS Pandemic.

And although more UnitedMethodist clergy and lay members areadvocating for HIV/AIDS education,ministries and funding, the diseasestill carries a heavy stigma for somechurch members, said the Rev. DonaldMesser, committee chairperson andexecutive director of the Center for theChurch and Global AIDS.

In a workshop called “Why WeCare: Our Faith and AIDS,” Dr. Dubeprovided a questionnaire, asking par-ticipants whether the topic ofHIV/AIDS is addressed in theirchurches through sermons, smallgroups, songs, prayers and outreachministries. Overall, the tallies showedthat HIV/AIDS was rarely included inthe teaching, programming and min-istry of churches.

When discussing the results of theself-analysis, one participant quotedthe Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secre-tary of the World Council of Churches,and asked, “Why should the Church beinvolved in HIV/AIDS? The questionshould be reversed. Why shouldn’t theChurch be involved in this issue?”

“The question we need to ask iswhere do we start,” said BishopWilliam Muriuki Mwongo of theMethodist Church of Kenya. Dr. Dube’sresponse was, “We start where we are.”

“It won’t be easy, it never is. Some

days we’ll feel as if even the church isagainst us,” said United MethodistBishop Minerva Carcaño of the DesertSouthwest Conference.

“But Jesus’ heart takes everyone in.All are welcomed into the covenantcommunity of God’s reign—the sick,the blind, the lepers, the immigrant,those in prison and those who haveHIV/AIDS,” she said. “No matter howthe world sees them, Jesus always seesthem as beloved and so should we.”

Fighting stigmaBrryan Jackson was 11 months old

when his father, a phlebotomist, in-jected him with a syringe of HIV-tainted blood with the intention ofkilling an unwanted child. Brryan wasgiven 5 months to live with the dis-ease, but he beat the odds. Now at 19,Mr. Jackson is speaking out on behalfof young people who are infected withAIDS, sharing his faith and changingthe way people perceive those livingwith the disease.

“The stigma grows every day,” hesaid. “When we ignore it, it only getsworse.”

“For the longest time, HIV con-trolled my life,” he said. People contin-ually pinned him as just anotherstatistic. He came from a low-income,single-mom household, was a victimof a hate crime and had HIV/AIDS.Always hearing the odds stackedagainst you can be depressing, Mr.Jackson said. “But then I asked myself,why not me? God chose me to servethis purpose.”

“Having HIV is a lot like being aChristian,” he said. “We live in a dirty,perverted society. Are we going to bepart of the problem or are we going tobe part of the solution?”

Mr. Jackson has started a nonprofitorganization called Hope is Vital, andcontinues to speak at schools and con-ferences across the nation while at-tending college. He has been alongtime volunteer at Camp Kindle, aweeklong camp based in Valencia,Calif., for children and young peopleaffected by HIV and AIDS.

Mr. Jackson was among the youngpeople who gathered at the conferenceto brainstorm ways to urge friends,families, schools, congregations andcommunities to eliminate the stigmaof HIV/AIDS and talk about transmis-sion, prevention and the reality of liv-ing with the disease.

There was also a seminary collo-quium, which included 22 representa-tives from nine seminaries whodiscussed the need for a training cur-riculum in HIV/AIDS ministries. Re-tired United Methodist Bishop Albert“Fritz” Mutti and his wife, Etta Mae,led the session. The Muttis lost twosons to HIV/AIDS and are advocatesfor AIDS education.

Garlinda Burton, top executive ofthe United Methodist General Com-

mission on the Status and Role ofWomen, encouraged young people tostep up in their congregations and askfor HIV/AIDS educational programsand service projects. “Sometimes usold folk won’t move until we areasked—or sometimes pushed,” shesaid.

“Silence sends a message, espe-cially in the pews.”

Sharing the passionRonald Silas, a lay member from

Park Avenue St. John’s UnitedMethodist Church in East Orange,N.J., said the conference was his firstinternational AIDS awareness event.

“There are scholars, theologians,bishops, doctors and preachers here,”Mr. Silas said. “But I’m just a laychurch member.”

But with the support of his pastor,he voluntarily and single-handedly or-ganizes health fairs and HIV/AIDS ed-ucational seminars for hiscongregation and community.

“I only have a 12th-grade educa-

tion,” Mr. Silas said. “I’m retired fromthe United States Army, yet I’m herebecause I have the same passion for[HIV/AIDS] education and preventionas everyone else here. It’s amazing.”

During the conference, several re-cipients were honored with the inau-gural United Methodist Global AIDSLeadership Awards for their globalleadership and involvement in thefight against AIDS. Among those hon-ored were the Muttis, Dr. Messer, Dr.Dube, the United Methodist LouisianaConference and former PresidentGeorge W. and Laura Bush.

A new HIV/AIDS fundraisingcampaign, “20/20: Visioning an AIDS-Free World,” was unveiled at the con-ference. The campaign encouragesevery United Methodist to give $20 ayear until the year 2020 to supportglobal HIV/AIDS projects and to re-duce the stigma of HIV/AIDS. Forinformation, visit www.umglobalaidsfund.org.

mmccall@umr.org

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Joining the church, she added, represents alevel of deeper commitment, rather than simply aformalizing step. So it’s no mistake that whileweekly average attendance is 4,500 at Ging-shamsburg, there are only 1,300 people on themembership rolls. (By contrast, membershipnumbers typically exceed average attendance atmost United Methodist churches.)

“People will rise to the level of expectation,”she said. “If you expect much, they will givemuch.”

Ginghamsburg’s approach explains howmany “seeker-friendly” megachurches can stillset high expectations, according to an August2010 study by Marc von der Ruhr of St. NorbertCollege and Joseph P. Daniels of Marquette Uni-versity. Initially, the study reports, megachurchesexpect little in regard to financial or time com-mitment of new attendees, but “once attendeesperceive a good fit with the church, themegachurch increases its expectation of commit-ment.”

Clear expectationsThe Rev. David Walters, lead pastor of The

Vine, a United Methodist congregation in Brasel-ton, Ga., says his church “set the bar high” whenstarting as a church plant three years ago. Today,the church is thriving and weekly attendance av-erages around 460.

“I think part of it is our generational demo-graphic,” said Mr. Walters, 33. “People in my gen-eration have a desire to be more involved and toparticipate at a higher level of commitment. Andhuman experience teaches us that, if there’s any-thing of value, it’s going to require something ofus.”

The link between high-commitment and vi-tality, says Mr. Hotchkiss, is not necessarily amatter of formal requirements; clarity is moreimportant. Prospective members respond to aclear mission and a challenge, and clear expecta-tions convey the congregation’s sense of signifi-cance and seriousness about its work.

“If the church thinks it’s a matter of indiffer-ence as to whether you attend church or not, forexample, people are apt to follow your lead,” hesaid.

Mr. Hotchkiss is quick to add that “high de-mand” churches are often mistakenly associatedwith conservative theology and “low demand”with more liberal theology.

“There’s an increasing number of liberalchurches that are getting very clear about whattheir own church covenant is,” he said. “For ex-

ample, they may not say that a literal tithe is abiblical command for everyone, but they make itan opportunity for some and recognize andhonor it as such.”

Typical commitmentsAt Snellville (Ga.) United Methodist Church,

new members sign a covenant in which theyagree to a host of activities: pray daily for thechurch, attend worship and participate in a smallgroup regularly, tithe, serve others, welcome new-comers and “be positive and upbeat about mychurch and voice my concerns and suggestions tothe staff and leaders.” Those who want to serve as

church leaders must sign an even more demand-ing covenant, agreeing to attend meetings andtraining and to maintain confidentiality.

“People want a church with a strong missionand clear expectations,” said the Rev. RichardHunter, Snellville’s senior pastor. “If you becomeinactive, we help you off the rolls. We feel thatmembership is a privilege and a statement offaith.”

Pruning outdated and overstated member-ship rolls is a good place to start for churchesthat want to strengthen the level of commitmentin their congregations, says Jim Griffith, founderof Griffith Coaching Network in Denver, Colo.

“When a church is in denial or not in goodshape, they are typically clinging to their oldmembership rolls,” he said. “Cleaning up mem-bership rolls is the first place we start.”

But Mr. Griffith, who has coached UnitedMethodist churches in 51 annual conferences,doesn’t equate basic expectations of worship at-tendance, service and tithing with “high commit-ment.” Instead, he points to Methodism founderJohn Wesley’s more direct model of accountabil-ity. When Wesley visited class meetings, he wouldask questions about members’ spiritual practices.

“It’s not like we’re making up new ruleshere,” he says. “This is right out of John Wesley’s

! MEMBERS Continued from page 1B

COURTESY PHOTOS

There’s nothing “churchy” about theatmosphere at Grace Church in FortMyers, Fla., but those who wish to joinknow there’s a high expectation tocommit to follow Jesus in their daily lives.

PHOTOS BY DAN EVANS

Members of City on A Hill church, a UnitedMethodist congregation in Woodstock, Ga.,are expected to volunteer regularly foroutreach. This year at the church’s Single MomGas Giveaway, members checked the oil andtire pressure, washed windows, added washerfluid, and offered beverages and a kind word.Some $7,800 in gasoline and oil was givenaway as part of the Mother’s Day event.

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COURTESY PHOTOS

A friendly greeting (above) and a coffee bar (below) make visitors feel welcome atThe Vine. Volunteer greeters aren’t hard to find, because members commit to serveregularly.

playbook.”Asking for a regular commitment to give fi-

nancially should be a basic expectation forchurch members, Mr. Griffith said.

“It’s very unsettling when you’re working witha church that’s trying to reach new people, andyou have board members who aren’t committedto the church themselves, who aren’t giving adime to the church,” he said.

Mr. Griffith also cautions against measuringcommitment on the basis of worship attendance.

“Attendance is no longer the primary way toexpress commitment,” he said. Instead, he asksmembers, “Are you involved in a ministry? Areyou in a small group? Are you contributing finan-cially to the church?”

Susan Beaumont, a senior consultant withThe Alban Institute, says that the key is whethermembers are participating more deeply, ratherthan just more often.

“It doesn’t accomplish much if people attendmore church suppers or take more yoga classes atthe church,” she said. “Congregations that focusjust on participation as an end in itself tend tofail.”

Seeking transformationA better way to think about high-commit-

ment, Mr. Hotchkiss says, is in terms of “the kindof life transformation the congregation tries toproduce.” He cites management guru PeterDrucker, who once said that the “product” ofnon-profit organizations is “changed human be-ings.” Get clear on that, Mr. Hotchkiss says, andthe rest will follow.

As an example, he worked with a UnitedChurch of Christ congregation that put a strong

emphasis on outreach. “I told them, ‘You’re a fac-tory, turning affluent suburbanites into citizensof greater Indianapolis,’” he recalled. “That be-came like a slogan for them.”

While that congregation didn’t have formalrequirements, Mr. Hotchkiss said “you’d be un-comfortable there if you were able to serve anddidn’t. It wasn’t a matter of institutional strict-ness, it was a clear vision of what the Christianlife is all about.”

Grace Church in Fort Myers, Fla., with 2,700in average weekly attendance and 1,700 mem-bers, doesn’t have the strict requirements ofplaces like Ginghamsburg. But lead pastor, theRev. Jorge Acevedo, says he’d consider his church“relatively high commitment” because of its em-phasis on following Jesus.

“I think that people are attracted to the waythey see that Jesus took the servant’s towel, put itover his arm and served the world,” said Mr.Acevedo. “We don’t do it as well as we should orcould, but we do try to order our lives after thelife of Jesus, and I think that’s attractive to peo-ple.”

In churches where he’s worked, Mr. Hotchkisshas asked leaders, “How has belonging to thischurch changed your life?” In low-vitalitychurches, he said, respondents are often puzzledby the question. But in growing, vital churches,leaders typically have “intense stories”—aboutquitting jobs to do something more congruentwith their Christian commitment, or a movingexperience in working with the poor.

“When I ask, ‘What would you have done ifsomeone had warned you about how belongingto this church would’ve changed your life?’ theanswer inevitably is, ‘I would’ve run the other

way.’ They’re thinking of all the sacrifices thatcame from learning to care about things theyhadn’t cared about before. It’s not about keepingthe customer satisfied or meeting their needs.”

“Following Christ has inherently high expec-tations,” said Mr. Walters. “If you want to live,you’ve got to die.”

“People want to be part of something that will

actually make a difference,” agreed Mr. Bryant.“We have a saying in our church: It doesn’t mat-ter if I know CPR. If I never practice, I’m not sav-ing anybody’s life.

“So we say, if you want your faith to make adifference, join us. We don’t ‘play’ at church.”

mjacobs@umr.org

RIGHT: Visitors receive a friendlygreeting at The Vine, a United Methodist

congregation in Braselton, Ga., butthose who wish to join must commit to

regular attendance, outreach, smallgroup participation and financial

contributions. BELOW: Worship is casualand contemporary at The Vine, but

expectations are high for those whocommit to join the church, according to

lead pastor, the Rev. David Walters.

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B Y B I S H O P RO B E RT S C H NA S ESpecial Contributor

B Y DAV I D G A RV I NSpecial Contributor

As I was walking along the KatyTrail near my home, I looked up to no-tice a bald eagle perched near the topof a tree that overhangs the path. Ma-jestic, regal, awesome. . . . Words can’tcapture the impression of seeing aneagle in the wild less than 60 feetaway.

Bicyclists and runners and walkerswere moving along the path, but noneof them had noticed the bird. But theexperience was so rare and wonderfulthat I couldn’t help but want to share it.

So I signaled to a couple of bicy-clists racing by. They slowed to a rest-ing position, eyeing me with a mixtureof suspicion and irritation. I pointedup at the eagle, and they immediatelycaught the magic of the moment.“Cool! Awesome!”

And then each spontaneouslybegan to tell me their own eagle sto-ries. “When I was a kid and I was ca-noeing in Minnesota with my dad,and we saw a nest. . . . ” “I remember incollege when we went on a biologyfield trip. . . . ”

After a few minutes of sharing sto-ries, they thanked me and moved on,but I stayed to watch. A few minuteslater, a runner came by. I dared to in-terrupt the music playing through herearphones, and she, like the others,showed extreme caution when I triedto get her attention. I pointed to theeagle, and she melted into the mo-ment. She began to talk about hermother’s love of eagles and how theyhad driven into the mountains to seeone when she was a teenager. Shecalled a friend on her cell phone to tellher that she was looking at a live, wildbald eagle right there in front of her!

During the next 20 minutes, I in-terrupted eight more people. The pat-tern repeated itself: suspicion andirritation, unexpected awe and joy,immediate and spontaneous sharingof a powerful memory and expres-sions of gratitudefor sharing the mo-ment.

This is not anew experience forme in the world ofbirding. There areseveral places onthe trails I regularlyrun and walk whereI have identified theroosts of barredowls. They usuallysit hidden deeply in thick brush and Idon’t give up their secret hiding placesto passersby. But some evenings, oneof the owls will be sitting in plainview, and I’ll stop runners, walkersand even bicyclists to look. They arealways amazed and delighted, and

then they tell me about the owl thatlived near their grandmother’s house,or that flew across the road near theirhome the week before or that theysometimes hear in the night.

There is a contagious and connect-ing quality to wonder. An unexpectedencounter with awe interrupts themundane and routine, breaks throughsuspicions and irritations, adds joyand depth, and draws us toward eachother.

I admit it. I am guilty of worshipsnobbery. I am a selective worshipper.A worship elitist. A liturgical snob.

Give me a well-put-together serv-ice, a theologically sound and intellec-tually challenging sermon, and a choirsecond only to the heavenly chorus. Iam a worshipper who dines on whatfancies me the most, often leaving theremainder of the worship palate un-touched.

Each week I ex-amine the Duke Di-vinity Schoolworship schedule tosee who is preach-ing, what choir issinging and whatworship tradition isbeing celebrated ateach service.

My favorite pro-fessor is preaching on Tuesday, I no-tice. I will be sure to be there.

Oh, the contemporary praise andworship team is leading the Wednes-day service. I’ll plan to watch Glee onTuesday night, and skip worship onWednesday to catch up on reading.

Predictable servicesIt’s an Anglican service on Thurs-

day. I don’t have the time to spare. ButI’ve always wanted to hear thepreacher. Perhaps I can eavesdropwhen the preacher steps into the pul-pit.

BishopRobertSchnase

I fear that I am not alone. When Igo into different churches the demo-graphics and homogeneity of variousworship services are predictable.Young people congregate with otheryoung folks at “contemporary” praise-and-worship services. Those who havealways worshipped in a traditionalmanner gather to worship “tradition-ally.” Different styles of worship andworshippers rarely mix.

In the name of being “selective” or“efficient” we prioritize one worshipstyle over another. We believe onepreacher (the one we like) is morelikely to speak God’s Word than theless well-known preacher we’re notwilling to give a chance. We cling toold hymns and dismiss the new cho-ruses because surely goodness comeswith age.

Why do we do this?

Pleasing ourselvesOf course, we have our preferences

for worship, but why do we prioritize?Idolize might be more accurate. Itseems we lift up one style of worshipabove the One who is to be wor-shipped. We enter into churches, sanc-tuaries, chapels or other holy placesseeking something that pleases us. Weuse worship as a means to satisfy ourown desires.

When this happens, worship be-comes a commodity no different thanthe millions of other products we con-sume throughout our lives. We shopfor a worship service that is comfort-able and accommodating to our pref-

erences like we hunt down a pair ofblue jeans that fits just right. We pro-fess allegiance to a worship style thesame way we commit ourselves to acertain auto manufacturer. We say, “Iam a contemporary worshipper” asconfidently and trivially as we say,“I’m a Ford or Chevy person.”

When our allegiance to a particu-lar worship style overshadows our al-legiance to the One worshipped we’vemissed the point. Worship becomesour idol; we bow down to the presen-tation of the mortal over the immor-tal. Our emotional and psychologicalneeds—not our need to praise andglorify God—take center stage.

Jesus’ counsel to Mary and Marthamay help: “Only one thing is needed(Luke 10:38-42). That one thing, saysthe Psalmist, is “To dwell in the houseof the Lord . . . to gaze upon the beautyof the Lord” (Psalm 27:4). We don’tneed worship to be many selfish andpleasing things; only one thing isneeded.

Worship is not bowing down toour own preferences and losing our-selves in our own worshipful delights.Rather, true worship is getting lost inwonder, love and praise of the Godwho calls and invites us to enter God’sholy and mysterious presence always,everywhere and in any manner.

The Rev. Garvin serves as pastor ofShiloh UMC in Liberty, N.C., and anM.Div student at Duke DivinitySchool. Adapted from his blog,Kentucky Fried Methodist, athttp://davidgarvin.net.

DavidGarvin

Recapturing awe When worship style is our idol

PHOTO BY BISHOP ROBERT SCHNASE

Seeing a bald eagle in the wildadds joy and wonder to ourlives, says Bishop Schnase.

I think this partially explains theappeal of the early church, and alsohelps us understand the provocativeand enchanting quality of congrega-tions that offer worship or servingministries that are alive, authentic,profound and connect people to God.We feel drawn in by the mystery ofgrace and the majesty of God, and wecan’t help but tell our own stories andshare what we have experienced withothers.

The second chapter of Acts de-scribes the early church like this:

“Everyone around was in awe—allthose wonders and signs donethrough the apostles! And all the be-lievers lived in a wonderful harmony,holding everything in common. . . .People in general liked what they saw.Every day their number grew as Godadded those who were saved.” (Acts2:43-47 from The Message)

Awe, wonder, mystery, exuberance,joy, surprise, delight—these we see inChrist’s life and experience in the loveof God. May others see them in us andwith us, through our witness inChrist’s name.

Missouri Bishop Schnase blogsat fivepractices.org.

‘There is acontagious andconnecting qualityto wonder.’

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FAITH ACTION

“I plead with you to read this book and act on it.”—from the foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

David Beckmann is president of Bread for the World and a leading advocate for ending world hunger. He was recently named the 2010 World Food Prize Laureate.

TheThoughtfulChristian.com $9.72

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“This is the primer on immigration I’ve been waiting for.”

Ben Daniel is Pastor of Foothill Presbyterian Church in San José, California, and a regular contributor to UPI online and

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We’ll take anybody. We don’t evenrequire membership classes anymore.Nobody has the time, and most of thepeople who join our church are com-ing from other churches anyway.

We ask at the end of every serviceif there is anyonewho wishes to join,they come forward,and we ask if theybelieve in God andin Jesus Christ astheir Lord and Sav-ior. If they say “yes,”they’re in. Ournumbers are wayup because of it.

The above paraphrase from a re-cent conversation I had with one pas-tor reflects the “low-cost/high-bene-fit” mentality of American consumerculture, but is it appropriate in thechurch? I say “no,” but there are anawful lot who say “yes.”

It isn’t about rules and regulationsand keeping people out. It is aboutmaking it as simple as possible forpeople to enter the family of God.

I don’t disagree that we should bean open gate—but a gate still impliesa boundary: something that distin-guishes those who say “yes” fromthose who have no interest. There is ahuge difference between makingsomething simple, and making itmeaningless.

I believe that many of our attemptsto make Christianity simple have donelittle more than devalue the Christianlife, resulting in an insipid, passiveand unproductive faith.

Life of substanceThe Christian life has substance. It

makes demands. It requires actionand practice. It must be learned andhoned and perfected. It is a partner-ship agreement with God, the HolySpirit and faith community. It isn’t ahobby. There are very clear require-ments and expectations.

A person seeking to embark on thelifelong journey of Christian forma-tion needs to know what this means,and then the choice is whether or notthe person really wants to pay thecosts to reap the benefits.

It costs very little to believe inJesus Christ as the Son of God—youdon’t even need a church for that. Butto grow in the faith, become a Chris-tian disciple, pursue transformationin the Spirit to lead and teach andserve—these require true church.

The person seeking doesn’t get tomake the “rules.” This would be likehiring someone and telling them theirjob is to do whatever the heck theywant to.

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FAITH forum 7B

B Y DA N D I C K

Special Contributor

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Special Contributor

We make a muddled attempt at of-fering expectations in the UnitedMethodist Church, but we have littleaccountability so it all falls flat. We asknewbies if they will “uphold thechurch by their prayers, presence,gifts, service and witness,” but offervirtually no guidance as to what weare really asking. We make assump-tions that new members know how topray, that they have a disciplinedprayer life and that they will now in-clude the church in said prayer life.

When asked, “What does it meanto ‘uphold the church by your pres-ence?’” nine out of 10 UnitedMethodists answer, “Attend worshipservices.” Most United Methodistslimit gifts to a financial contribution,service to “helping out at the church”and witness as “going to church.”

The percentage of “new members”

ness to Christ in the world.As we have welcomed Baptists,

Presbyterians, Lutherans, RomanCatholics, Episcopalians, Disciples ofChrist and a host of other denomina-tions, we have become more stewthan salad—a blending of flavorsthat over time lose their distinctive-ness and become something“other”—and I would say less thanthe sum of our parts.

A significant number of peopleenter the United Methodist Churchdragging their plunder from Egypt—carrying all their history of the waytheir old church worked into theirnew church.

A lay leader in a United MethodistChurch told me recently: “In my lastchurch the priests did everything. Iget so angry at our pastor every timehe talks about ‘the ministry of the

Dan Dick

Have we devalued membership?

‘Being a Christian disciple comes with some demands. It is up to eachindividual to decide whether theywant to meet those demands, but this is their choice.’

who become “inactive members”within the first six months of joining aUnited Methodist Church crept abovethe 50-percent line in 2006 and haskept going up. New members aren’teven being held to the minimum stan-dards. Zero accountability.

A person can “join” a church, neverpray, never attend, never give, neverserve, never share their faith and re-main a member in good standing.What message does this send to theworld about the value of membershipvows in the United Methodist Church?

I agree that membership isn’t thepoint. Membership has always been ameans to an end rather than an end initself. A membership process at itsvery best is an integration of a new-comer into the very DNA of the localcongregation and the church univer-sal. It widens the circle we label “us.”

All this changed when the drivingvalue of Methodism shifted from serv-ice to size. Once numbers ascended thethrone, all bets were off. Getting bodiesin the pews trumped getting newmembers into the body of Christ.

Diluted purposeThe influx of other faith commun-

ions also has an impact. The Evangel-ical Association, The MethodistChurch and the Evangelical UnitedBrethren were primarily mission so-cieties that prized personal holinessand evangelism above all else. We ex-isted for one purpose—to be a wit-

laity.’ If he would spend less time try-ing to get us to do his work for him,he would get a lot more done!”

Accountability to vows before Godand a Christian community are notintended to weed out anyone, but tofacilitate the emergence of those whodesire a life in Christ. Accountabilityis not by definition punitive. Actionsmust have consequences.

When people perform well andfollow through on their word, thisshould be recognized and celebrated.When people perform poorly and failto keep their vows, there should beconsequences. And when people hearwhat is required and say “no thankyou,” then we should honor that, butwe should not keep lowering our ex-pectations until they are willing tosay “yes.”

Being a Christian disciple comeswith some demands. It is up to eachindividual to decide whether theywant to meet those demands, but thisis their choice.

The body of Christ needs to beclear that membership in the bodymeans something, and that all are wel-come—as long as they are willing totake seriously the promises they maketo God and the community of faith.

The Rev. Dick is director ofconnectional ministries for theWisconsin Conference. Reprintedfrom his blog, UnitedMethodeviations,doroteos2.wordpress.com.

Nursery lessons: Findinga better way to recruityour church volunteers

Recently we have been focused onrevitalizing the nursery at our church.We put in rigorous safety measures.We organized a committee to supportthe nursery’s vision. We assigned agreeter position to the front door ofthe nursery and tried like crazy to re-cruit people to help rock babies.

Every step was successful exceptfor one—recruiting volunteers.

We tried everything. We asked. Webegged. We set out sign-up lists. Wemade bulletin announcements. Weused our new projection screens andthe monthly newsletter.

Nothing worked.Then I took a leadership class and

learned about valuing the history ofthe church and using it as a bridge to-ward change. I also learned about be-ginning with a presumption of graceinstead of judgment.

I took this to heart, and the nextSunday I asked thepastor if I could doan announcementfor the congrega-tion.

That day I woreoveralls and a plaidshirt since I was todo a lesson with thechildren on theparable of the sower. What better wayto talk about this parable than to dressthe part of the farmer!

When I stood in front of the con-gregation, my clothing caught themoff guard. I told them that thinkingabout the seeds in the lesson had methinking about seeds in general.

I then said how proud I was to beserving in a congregation that 50 yearsago planted seeds of faith in our chil-dren and had always placed children

first in the life of the congregation.I reported to them that despite the

recession, our church was still keepingup with the expanding needs of agrowing children’s ministry.

Then I rehearsed all the newthings we had accomplished relatedto the nursery, knowing that theysurely would want to know becauseof their long-standing love for andcommitment to children. And I re-minded them that all this happenedbecause of the seeds many of themhad planted so long ago.

I asked them a question. “Foryoung families, what is the first entrypoint into the church?” They all said,“The nursery.” Well, aren’t we proud tohave such a tradition of caring for ourbabies!

They were then invited to stop byand see what wonderful things werehappening in the nursery. They couldeven hold a baby or two.

That afternoon the nursery wasbuzzing with people! They crowded into get a glimpse of their new nurserythat continued their longstanding loveof children.

Instead of judging them for notvolunteering, I assumed instead thatthey really cared about the history andthe nursery. Funny thing. They did.

Recruiting volunteers still requireswork, but the context has changed.Now there is awareness and pridewhere before was obligation. And thatmakes all the difference both for thosewho recruit and those who say “yes” tothis opportunity for ministry.

Ms. Mitchel is director of Christianeducation at GaithersburgPresbyterian Church inGaithersburg, Md. Reprinted bypermission from Leading Ideas, theonline newsletter of the LewisCenter for Church Leadership ofWesley Theological Seminary atchurchleadership.com.

Recruiting church nursery volunteers should begin with anassumption of grace, not obligation, says Kim Mitchel.

Kim Mitchel

FAITH focus8B

N O V E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 | U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T R E P O R T E R

B Y L I N DA B L O O MUnited Methodist News Service

Chilean Methodists, UMCOR sign agreement

STAMFORD, Conn.—When amassive earthquake struck Chile onFeb. 27, Juan Salazar and his fellowMethodists were ready to respond.

Four months earlier, a group fromthe Methodist Church of Chile had re-ceived disaster preparedness trainingfrom the United Methodist Committeeon Relief (UMCOR).

That fledgling partnership wasstrengthened Oct. 11 with the signingof a memorandum of understandingbetween Chilean Methodists andUMCOR officials during the annualmeeting of the United Methodist Gen-eral Board of Global Ministries(GBGM), the relief organization’s par-ent agency.

For the Rev. Cynthia Fierro Harvey,UMCOR’s top executive, the agree-ment signifies “a wonderful exampleof a model of mission” for two denom-inations with a history of cooperation.

In October 2009, two agency staffmembers—Melissa Crutchfield andthe Rev. Tom Hazelwood—conducteddisaster preparedness workshops inChile. At the same time, a new entityfor the church, the Methodist Human-itarian Aid Team (EMAH), was cre-ated. So when the strongest earth-quake in 25 years caused destruction

across Chile, “their skills and trainingwere put into quick, practical action,”Ms. Crutchfield said.

Chilean Methodist Bishop MarioMartínez—who signed the memoran-dum of understanding along withUnited Methodist Bishop Janice Huie,UMCOR’s president—expressedthanks for the new opportunities forcooperation.

Missionary spiritBishop Martínez invoked the mis-

sionary spirit of William Taylor, aMethodist who first went to Chile in1877. “His task was not only to evan-gelize and form congregations, butalso to contribute to Chilean culturethrough education,” he said.

Today, the Methodist Church ofChile has more than 8,000 members,with 66 pastors serving more than 100congregations. The church owns 23educational institutions with morethan 10,000 students, runs a series ofclinics that see more than 500 patientsdaily and provides social services.

The GBGM also works with theChilean church on other mission andevangelism projects, said the Rev.Edgar Avitia, staff executive. A round-table meeting with various partners,including British, European and otherLatin American Methodist representa-tives, is planned in November in Coro-

nel, Chile.In February, the 8.8 magnitude

earthquake and accompanyingtsunami, centered in south-centralChile, killed more than 500 people, de-stroyed infrastructure and affectedhundreds of thousands of families.

In addition, 16 Methodist churchesin the regions of Maule, Bio Bio andMetropolitan sustained damages, anda few already have been demolished

by municipal order. Four parsonagesand 11 other church-related buildingswere also damaged.

After the earthquake, theMethodists first had to determinetheir role in the emergency response.“We discovered that some things youcan do and some things you just can’tdo,” Mr. Salazar, who leads the church’ssocial ministry and humanitarian re-sponse team, explained to UMCOR di-

rectors. “We were not going to bebuilding bridges.”

Instead, their efforts placed an im-mediate focus on earthquake sur-vivors. “We needed to hug people, toconsole them and to pray with them,”he said. “We hugged thousands ofpeople.”

Paths to reliefThen, they followed two paths to

provide emergency relief services—one through a larger group, the Inter-Church Emergency Committee Chile2010, and the other through aMethodist team for humanitarian aid.

The interchurch committee, inconsultation with survivors, dealt withthe immediate crisis—providingfood, water, hygiene kits and blan-kets—and then tackled the emotionalaftershocks through psychosocial as-sistance and conflict management.Current efforts include the repair ofhomes, promotion of small income-generating projects and a focus oncommunity health.

PHOTO BY CASSANDRA ZAMPINI, GBGM

Bishops Mario Martínez (right) of the Methodist Church of Chile andJanice Huie, president of UMCOR, sign a cooperative agreementon disaster response.

CONFERENCE DIRECTOR OFCOMMUNICATIONSRestructured position available March 1, 2011. Appli-cation deadline: November 20, 2010. Priorities: work-ing knowledge of UMC and its many connections;vision and ability to stay abreast of and implementchanges in 21st century technology and communica-tions. Responsible for emerging, creative, cutting-edgecommunications. Team coordinator for communica-tions and information technology. Compensation com-mensurate with qualifications and experience.Resumes to: jtrollinger@wnccumc.org

GENERAL SECRETARYThe General Board of Higher Education and Ministry(GBHEM) seeks a passionate, creative, adaptableleader to serve as the CEO of the worldwide agencyof educational, institutional, and ministerial leadershipof The United Methodist Church. The agency has abudget of $39M and employs approximately 65 full-time employees at their offices in Nashville, Ten-nessee. Minimum requirements include a mastersdegree in a field related to the agency’s work and ac-tive involvement in The United Methodist Church. Theexpected hiring range is of $135,000 to $145,000.Download the profile at: http://thenovakconsultinggroup.com/services/executive-search/apply-for-open-positions.Submit applications, including cover letter, resume,salary history and references, to Catherine Tuck Parrishat The Novak Consulting Group at: apply@thenovakconsultinggroup.com. Open until filled. Resumes willbe reviewed on 11/12/10. EOE

DIRECTOR OF STUDENT MINISTRIESThe General Board of Higher Education and Ministryseeks qualified individual to provide leadership in thedevelopment and resourcing of student ministries andvocational discernment/recruitment of young peoplefor ministry in The United Methodist Church. Bache-lor’s degree; M.Div; ordination in UMC; experience aslocal pastor and in Wesley Foundation or campus min-istry; membership in Board of Ordained Ministry. EOEVisit www.umc.org Jobs section for full position de-tails and requirements. hr@gbhem.org.

MISSION OPPORTUNITYAre you interested in Re-thinking Jamaica missions foryourself or your church? Look us up at:www.papasministries.org or call: 734-495-0035.

DISPLAY & BANNER ADVERTISING The United Methodist Reporter and the UMPortal offeradvertisers the ability to target unique messagesregarding products, services and employment tochurch leaders and clergy, as well as individuals inthe pews. Reach thousands of Christian households,agencies and organizations by advertising in UMR’sproducts. Variety of display ad sizes and rates to fitany budget and objective. Contact: Cherrie Grahamat 214-630-6495, x 142 or cgraham@umr.org.

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Readership is approximately 225,000 readerseach week RRates are per word or group of figuresor initials (20 word minimum) NNewspaper Only–$3.00 per word, two consecutive weeks.Newspaper/Internet Bundle–$4.00 per wordincludes two consecutive weeksin print and onemonth on Internet (www.umportal.org). IInternet Only–$1.25 per word run for one month onwww.umportal.org. E-mail your classified ad to:cgraham@umr.org or enter it online on theClassifieds page at: www.umportal.org.

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How to help:Donations for the work inChile can be made to ChileEmergency, UMCORAdvance #3021178.