The #li2012 Word Cloud Project for October 3

I am part of a team from First United Methodist Church in El Dorado, KS attending Leadership Institute 2012. I collected Twitter updates tagged with #li2012. Then I used Wordle to create word clouds with the text of updates during the conference. I edited out Twitter usernames, RT and #li2012 to get a better view of the conversation. I hope that you enjoy the results!

• You can find the raw data of Twitter updates tagged with #li2012 at http://j.mp/VvLjlU. Feel free to use these updates and World to create your own word clouds.

You can download the full size images using the links below:

• The #li2012 Word Cloud Project up to and including October 2 - http://j.mp/UdSFN2
• The #li2012 Word Cloud Project for October 3 - http://j.mp/PSJgUW
• The #li2012 Word Cloud Project for October 4 - To be created…
• The #li2012 Word Cloud Project for October 5 - To be created…
• The #li2012 Word Cloud Project for October 3 to October 5 - To be created…

Enjoy!

The #li2012 Word Cloud Project up to and including October 2

• On the balcony – getting a big picture perspective removed from day to day responsibilities and
• On the dance floor – accomplishing day to day tasks to make progress as an organization.

Spending time in either location can be productive, however you cannot spend your time in one place or another.

As I have entered into a new leadership setting – as pastor of First United Methodist Church in El Dorado, KS – I have found that it has been particular important to make sure that I spend some time on the balcony. The day to day responsibilities of transitioning into a new role can overwhelm the time needed to take a breath and reflect on the big picture of life and ministry. As I prepare to begin my fourth month in this appointment, I have been making progress on spending time in both places.

• Vital – A vital congregation that is one that is creating places for new people to love God and love neighbor. The ministry and impact of the congregation is expanding.
• Viable – A viable congregation is one that continues to exist at the same ministry level and opportunities as years past.
• Inviable – An inviable congregation is one whose financial and mission reality is not sustainable.

The goal for congregations could be to move from one level to another – inviable to viable and viable to vital. Vital congregations can look for ways to expand their ministry and help move other congregations toward vitality.

• If you can be competent in four things – you will make more progress on your leadership challenges. They are:
  • Diagnose situation
  • Manage self
  • Energize others
  • Intervene skillfully
• It is helpful to diagnose the situation more often and longer than one may think necessary.
• It would always be nice to have more information before taking action. This is not possible. You have to take action.
• Be ready to entertain more than one interpretation about any situation
• Be ready to ask – What story are people telling about me?

While I am still continue to make the transition to our new home, it is time for me to start blogging again. I know, it has been months. However, I plan to begin with  a few posts a week and see how it goes. While I have a lot of ideas about what to write about on this blog, I want to write what would be most interesting, helpful or intriguing to you. So, what will it be?

What would you like for me to write about on this blog? What would be interesting to you? What would you want to share with others? I am looking forward to beginning this blogging adventure with you again.

2012 Kansas West Annual Conference Twitter Word Cloud

As a follow up to the The #gc2012 Twitter Word Cloud Project, I completed a similar project for the Kansas West Annual Conference. I collected Twitter updates from May 22 to 27 that were tagged with #kwc12, #ksw12 and #kswumc. Then I used Wordle to create a word cloud with the text of all the updates for the conference. I edited out Twitter usernames, #kwc12, #ksw12 and #kswumc to get a better view of the conversation. I hope that you enjoy the results!

• You can find the raw data of Twitter updates tagged with #kwc12, #ksw12 and #kswumc at http://j.mp/LlgkSN. Feel free to use these updates and World to create your own word clouds.
• You can download a full size image of the word cloud at http://j.mp/L2ZwlA

Enjoy!

1. Share your thoughts, feelings and opinions about ministry in the local church by using this link http://j.mp/MVELdL
   1. Helpful – What have you found to be most helpful for ministry in the local church?
   2. Unhelpful – What have you found to be least helpful for ministry in the local church?
   3. Transition – What wisdom and advice would you offer to someone beginning her or his ministry at a local church?
   4. Resources – What resources (books, websites, conferences, experiences) have you found to be helpful in ministry?
2. Invite three other people to respond by sharing this link –  http://j.mp/MVELdL

I will compile these results and publish them in a blog post in the weeks ahead. If you leave your contact information on the form, I will contact you when the post is completed so you can see the results. I look forward to hearing from you!

Q3: Reread Wesley's Sermons and share the teaching contained therein with the congregation where I serve. #dreamUMC—
Andrew Conard (@andrewconard) May 15, 2012

My Twitter friend and fellow UMCer Matt Lipan (@mattlipan and check out his blog here.) responded.

@andrewconard i'm definitely down for reading through Wesley's sermons. perhaps a group of us might do that together? #dreamumc—
Matt Lipan (@mattlipan) May 15, 2012

There was a good deal of interest from this conversation. Matt and I followed up with an email conversation to put together a framework.

What is the plan?

• We will host a Twitter chat each Monday night at 8:30pm cst/9:30pm est starting on June 4th.
• We will use the hashtag #jwchat for our Twitter conversations.
• We will read and discuss Wesley’s first 8 sermons over an 8 week period, reading & discussing one sermon a week. You can find these sermons online here and here.
• Here is our reading schedule:
  • Salvation by Faith (6/4)
  • The Almost Christian (6/11)
  • Awake, Thou That Sleepest (6/18)
  • Scriptural Christianity (6/25)
  • Justification by Faith (7/2)
  • The Righteousness of Faith (7/9)
  • The Way to the Kingdom (7/16)
  • The First Fruits of the Spirit (7/23)

English: , located on west side of just north of the Nebraska-Kansas border in southern . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today was my first time to speak on the floor of annual conference. While it was not exactly what came out, this is what I prepared:

My name is Andrew Conard. I am a clergy member of the annual conference.

I am currently serving at Church of the Resurrection in the Kansas City area and will begin serving at First United Methodist Church in El Dorado beginning July 1.

I speak in favor of forming the Great Plains Annual Conference.

Since its statehood more than 150 years ago, Kansas has been a place of action, a place where people could rally around a cause. Whether it was the abolition of slavery, settling the untamed prairie or recovering from disaster, Kansans mobilized around the cause and demonstrated great leadership abilities.

This is the time to demonstrate leadership in the United Methodist Church on the Great Plains. The annual conference exists to equip the local church for ministry. Becoming one annual conference in Kansas and Nebraska creates the best opportunity for the conference to fulfill its purpose on the Great Plains so that all of our local churches can make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Since I was first appointed to serve in Kansas in 2006, I have prayed every week for three things: the mission and vision of the local church where I serve, renewal within the United Methodist Church and spiritual revival across the state. I believe that forming the Great Plains Annual Conference is the next faithful step in our life together of living God’s dream for us as United Methodists in Nebraska and Kansas.

Members of my family are active in the United Methodist churches in Norwich, Plains, Sterling, Burdett and First-Hutchinson. My father is a United Methodist pastor and his father was a United Methodist pastor. The Kansas West Annual Conference is my home.

The month before we began to serve under appointment in Kansas, my wife and I were driving to Colorado on our honeymoon and we made a point to visit two of the churches where my granddad was appointed – the United Methodist Churches in Tribune and Towner on the Kansas / Colorado border. It was a blessing to step into those sacred spaces. I am proud of the United Methodist lay and clergy people who have come before me and been a part of faithful and fruitful ministry all across this Annual Conference for decades. This annual conference is part of who I am.

The Great Plains Annual Conference will be a change. There is no way around it. I believe that this change is the next faithful step in our life together as United Methodists on the Great Plains. I pray that we will continue together in faithful and fruitful ministry.

One hundred years from now, I want the people of the United Methodist Church in Nebraska and Kansas to look back and remember 2012 as a milestone in our lives together when courageous United Methodist took action that fanned the flames of spiritual revival across the Great Plains.

I urge you to vote in favor of forming the Great Plains Annual Conference.