Categories
blog

Back to Blogging

I have started my third month serving as the pastor at First United Methodist Church in El Dorado, Kansas. It has been fantastically busy, fun, exciting and full of opportunities and challenges to have a baby, move to a new home and start serving as the lead pastor at a new congregation in the past […]

Categories
church communications ministry

Transition Preparation Document for First UMC El Dorado

One month from today, I will begin serving as pastor at First United Methodist Church in El Dorado. Last week, I had the opportunity to spend time with some of the key leaders and staff from the church. I shared a document with everyone that I met outlined some of my personal priorities as well […]

Categories
communications kansas united methodist church

The #kwc12 Twitter Word Cloud Project

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 […]

Categories
leadership ministry

Wisdom and Advice about Ministry in the Local Church 2012

I have been appointed to serve First United Methodist Church in El Dorado, Kansas beginning July 1, 2012. Will you please help me in this transition? Share your thoughts, feelings and opinions about ministry in the local church by using this link http://j.mp/MVELdL Helpful – What have you found to be most helpful for ministry […]

Categories
ministry renewing the church united methodist church

Reading John Wesley’s Sermons in Community on Twitter

In response to one of the questions from the #dreamUMC conversation on Twitter, I shared this update. 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. […]

Categories
annual conference leadership renewing the church united methodist church

I Speak in Favor of One Conference in Nebraska and Kansas #kwc12 #gpgp

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 […]

Categories
annual conference communications ministry renewing the church

2012 Twitter Hashtags and Live Streaming for #UMC Conferences

At the end of the #dreamUMC chat last night, I volunteered to collect hashtags for United Methodist conferences this year. I hope you will find it helpful to stay connected across the denomination. Will you please help me complete this list? Please send me an @reply on Twitter @andrewconard or leave a comment on this […]

Categories
church united methodist church

Age Statistics Comparison of #gc2012 Delegates

I checked with infoserv to dig up some information on the ages of delegates to General Conference 2012 as compared to the entire denomination. Thank you to the wonderful team at Ask InfoServ for their data gathering! There is no official United Methodist source for age statistics for the denomination.  GCFA has not collected age statistics […]

Categories
leadership united methodist church

Why I Support #PlanUMC at #gc2012

There has been much discussion about the reorganization of The United Methodist Church at General Conference 2012 with plans from various constituencies. I believe that Plan UMC is the best starting point for a way forward for the denomination. You can find out more about this restructuring plan at http://www.planumc.org Plan UMC: is the only restructure […]

Categories
leadership renewing the church united methodist church

Energizing Others at #gc2012 (@TheKLC: 6 of 10)

This past fall and winter, I had the opportunity to take part in the Leadership and Faith: Transforming Communities program through the Kansas Leadership Center with the Missions team at Resurrection West. I want to share my reflections and learnings from that time in light of the General Conference 2012 of The United Methodist Church. When […]

Categories
leadership renewing the church united methodist church

If You Think Things are Crummy at #gc2012… (@TheKLC: 6 of 10)

This past fall and winter, I had the opportunity to take part in the Leadership and Faith: Transforming Communities program through the Kansas Leadership Center with the Missions team at Resurrection West. I want to share my reflections and learnings from that time in light of the General Conference 2012 of The United Methodist Church. There […]

Categories
leadership renewing the church united methodist church

Has #GC2012 Taken You to the Edge of Your Comfort Zone? (@TheKLC: 5 of 10)

This past fall and winter, I had the opportunity to take part in the Leadership and Faith: Transforming Communities program through the Kansas Leadership Center with the Missions team at Resurrection West. I want to share my reflections and learnings from that time in light of the General Conference 2012 of The United Methodist Church. If […]