Some of the hoopla around guaranteed appointments is around the question – How do you determine what makes for an effective clergy person? That’s easy. Straight from paragraph 340 of the Book of Discipline, an effective clergy person will… love God and love their neighbor. preach, teach, lead worship and engage people in witness. provide […]
Category: church
I was watching the Al Jazeera Listening Post – Video this week and saw the following as their web video of the week: I laughed to myself and thought, “What kind of videos are people making these days?” Then I remembered a clip that I first saw at annual conference: Is one more effective than […]
How’s this for an “About Us” page on church website? First United Methodist Church (First UMC) brings you a fresh adaptation of the most classic faith concept around. The gospel of Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem and bred across the world as a way of reconciling people to God, but it’s grown up a […]
Kansas Area Bishop Scott Jones released the following statement March 22, 2010 regarding the United Methodist Church’s role in the passage of health care reform over the weekend. Please feel free to share these remarks. Bishop Scott Jones’ statement: The United Methodist Church has had a concern for health care for more than 250 years. We […]
The debate in the United Methodist Church about homosexuality and whether it is “incompatible with Christian teaching” or if “a self-avowed practicing homosexual” should be ordained has continued for many years. No matter where you stand on these issues, I wholeheartedly recommend listening to the following story from This American Life. The story is “81 Words: […]
Several months ago, I received a copy of several articles that explore the intersection of religion and the internet. I want to record some of my notes on the articles and at the same time share them with you. “Believe It or Not: Virtual Religion in the 21st Century” [PDF Link] by Susan E. George […]
Several months ago, I received a copy of several articles that explore the intersection of religion and the internet. I want to record some of my notes on the articles and at the same time share them with you. “Considering spiritual dimensions within computer-mediated communication studies” is another article by Heidi Campbell that was published […]
As a United Methodist, I am not in the habit of paying a great deal of attention to documents or proclamations from the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. However, at the end of January, I read Pope’s Message to Priests: We Must Blog. This was an article on Mashable in which I found the link […]
On Monday, the Board of Ordained Ministry of the Kansas West Annual Conference recommended me for ordination and full membership. This is officially a recommendation to the clergy session of the annual conference, however practically it was the final approval in the process for me. This was a journey that began for me before high […]
As much as I have tried to explain in text what the trip to Zimbabwe was like, there is nothing like photos and locations to see what it was like. I created a log of our trip on Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/) which you can download below. You can “fly” to each of the locations that we […]
One of the first sites that we visited in Zimbabwe was a revival at Prospect United Methodist Church. We walked into some of the most passionate worship that I have experienced. In the singing, preaching, dancing and response it was clear that the Holy Spirit was active. While I did not understand the language of […]
One of the most common ministry needs that we saw was the need to complete a roof. Whether for a parsonage or a sanctuary, the congregation was able to put in the labor to make bricks, build the foundation and lay bricks to build the walls for the structure. This was able to be completed […]
Rev. Andrew Conard 