Here is my struggle: I feel God’s calling in my life. I feel a great sense of responsibility to it. Being responsible to my calling is being responsible and faithful to God. It’s that serious for me. I know others, not exclusive to clergy, have a similar view. But, under an episcopal system such as United Methodism, my calling is subject to the system of itineracy, whereby … Continue reading Itineracy and God’s Calling in Your Life
I support the decision by the Judicial Council to uphold Rev. Frank Schaefer’s reinstatement to Ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. But let’s be clear: it was a technical win. The changing of hearts for full inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the church remains the chief goal and the tougher work. [Insert cold water here.] As a disciple of Jesus Christ as well as one Michael G. … Continue reading It’s a Good Day for Frank Schaefer but only a Partially Good Day for Methodism
Without seeming to notice the small fires still burning around the property, [my grandfather] went up to my father, took his hand, and said “Kopf hoch, mein Junge, blick nach vorn!” “Keep your head up, my boy, look forward!” Then he turned, walked directly back to the waiting car, and left. A few days later he died quietly. –from Theory U: Leading from the Future as … Continue reading Church Development and Theory U: How Past Self and Future Self Meet
Sunnyside UMC hosts the Common Cup Family Shelter. Common Cup refers to the fact that several area churches collaborated in the shelter’s founding. Area volunteers went back to their home church (1st UMC Portland) and began the Goose Hollow Family Shelter. Guests at Common Cup and Goose Hollow can receive day programming at Thirteen Salmon Family Center, located at the First Unitarian Church of Portland. Folks at Thirteen Salmon … Continue reading Ministry Context or What I learned About Portland Last Week — Collaboration Rocks!
My Wake-Up Call Suicide. This is the deep, dark, truthful mirror the LGBT community is holding up to the church. LGBT young adults who are rejected by their families are 8.4 times more likely to attempt suicide than their LGBT counterparts who are accepted (see CDC). The church is the family of God. This is the crux of the issue. It’s time for the church … Continue reading The United Methodist Church, Shame and LGBT Suicide
Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Humanity still has a long way to go to learn Jesus’ lesson. As the church is an entity of humans, so too does the church have a lot to learn about mercy. What if mercy were at the heart of the Christian church’s witness (instead of say holiness, family values or even salvation)? Perhaps … Continue reading The Merciful Church
The Mountain Vista Moment of 2013…A Son is Born In the run-up to the due date, I was, admittedly, hoping for another daughter. A. has been such a delight and I was nervous about having a boy. Since we waited to find out the gender of our second-born, I was calm but uncertain. Wow, was I wrong. What a delightful and charming little guy we … Continue reading A Mountainous 2013
Coach’s Bad Habit I played soccer growing up. It was a big part of who I was, the first thing that I was really good at. I was tall and fast and that made for some success on the field. One year, our team was really pretty good. We were competitive in every game and even knocked off the top team during the regular season. … Continue reading Getting in the Game
I am at the Northeast Jurisdictional Conference (#nej12) serving on the Hospitality Team. Tuesday’s schedule was dedicated to the interviewing of Episcopal candidates. There were 8 interview teams and 19 candidates (candidates profiles can be found here [.pdf] in Tuesday’s Daily Christian Advocate). Each candidate interviewed before each interview team. In the evening, I got to sit in on one of the interview teams as … Continue reading Episcopal Questions
Vital Learning is Critical to Vital Church Leadership…or so they say. At Greenview, we have been undergoing a revitalization process. I followed a pastor that had been here ten years, so the congregation was ripe for something new. We began in January by reading Vital Signs by Dan Dick. It is a superb book that really got us thinking about who we are as a church. … Continue reading Book Review: “Holy Conversations”-Introduction
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