A recent article from the United Methodist News Service proposes to increase the collaboration among the denominations boards, agencies and commissions. I think that this is an excellent goal and will be important in the future effectiveness of the United Methodist Church. The article entitled, Proposals call for new collaboration among church agencies, also proposes […]
Category: leadership
I am often questioned about how the church might be effective in reaching the 20-35 age demographic (of which I am currently a part) to make disciples of Jesus Christ. This is a question that I often consider. I found the following consideration by Lovett H. Weems, Jr. to be a very helpful and thoughtful […]
New life and death are a natural part of the life cycle and overall health of a denomination and annual conference. This may be seen in the planting of new congregations, but it will also be necessary to move through the death of some congregations who are no longer effective in making disciples of Jesus […]
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Affinity Group
One of the most important concepts that I have gleaned from this morning is that each of us has a particular group to which we have an affinity. A quote from Jim Griffith: God is at work to draw people to God … through you. What people are drawn to you? What people are you […]
The keynote speaker for the morning is Jim Griffith. It is the first session of Church Planter Orientation. He is a part of the Griffith Coaching Network. He has worked with over 30 United Methodist Conferences in new congregation planting.
This week I am attending the 2007 New Church Leadership Institute at Mt. Sequoyah in Fayetteville, Arkansas. My wife, Nicole, and I attended an interest meeting a few months ago for pastors in the Kansas Area who were interested in considering new church plants. We attended a meeting with about 8 other pastors and left […]
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Preparation
I have been preparing for an examination with the Board of Ordained Ministry in connection with my request for Probationary Membership and Commissioning. Today, I have been focused on responding to questions from paragraph 329.4 from The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church 2004. When ready to submit to the conference level board, […]
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Hospital Visits
Tuesday is my assigned day for hospital visits. Each of the pastors of Congregational Care has a particular day to which we are assigned to visit people in the hospital, pray before surgery, etc. Today I had five visits in four different and traveled forty miles. This has been the busiest day for me thus […]
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Cultural Awareness
An article titled “Pastors less informed about popular culture than are the people in their churches” was recently brought to my attention in this post by Kent at Church Relevance. From the article at Ellison Research: Sellers [Ron Sellers, President of Ellison Research] also noted that one criticism people often have about churches is that […]
In a previous post, Embers of the Fire, I posed several questions in regards to revitalization of churches. My responses are…Do these reflections apply to your community of faith?I believe that these reflections apply to my current community of faith. At this time, the local church of which I am a part is considering ways […]
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Ortho – what?
During Staff Chapel on November 30, Adam Hamilton spoke on Part IV of Thomas Merton’s Life and Holiness.On page 73 of Life and Holiness, Thomas Merton writes: It is quite possible to “believe in Christ,” in the sense of mentally accepting the truth that he lived on earth, died, and rose from the dead, and […]
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Internet Search and Reputation
I read a post by Cory Miller at Church Communications Pro that piqued my interest. Cory’s post, Houston, rather [Insert Your City Name Here], We Have a Problem, starts with this sentence: Humor me and try an experiment … go to Google and type in “church” and see what site gets top billing in the […]
Rev. Andrew Conard 