Have you ever been in a meeting where everyone knew something was wrong, but nobody wanted to say it? The project was failing. The budget wasn’t realistic. The elephant in the room grew bigger with each passing minute. Yet everyone smiled, nodded, and moved to the next agenda item. We’ve all been there—that uncomfortable moment […]
Have you ever ventured into your basement or storage area and confronted the graveyard of good intentions? Many of us have those boxes labeled “someday”—the craft supplies, the exercise equipment, the project kits we bought with such enthusiasm. Our family’s basement holds evidence of unfinished dreams, each one started with genuine excitement, each one set […]
Many of us have experienced that moment when someone calls our name three times before we finally hear them. Maybe you were absorbed in your phone, lost in thought about work, or—let’s be honest—pretending to be asleep while your spouse asked about taking out the trash. Think about those times in a crowded restaurant when […]
Next month, we’ll experience the annual ritual of “falling back.” Daylight Saving Time ends, and many of us will wake up feeling like we’ve been gifted an extra hour. Some of you may already be planning how to spend this bonus time—extra sleep, catching up on projects, maybe just enjoying a longer Sunday morning coffee. […]
There’s something deeply hopeful about this morning’s soaking rain after our long dry spell. We’ve just experienced the 9th driest March on record over the past 131 years, with rainfall over 1.6 inches below normal. In fact, this has been the 15th driest year to date, with precipitation more than two inches below what we […]
Today is my 32nd day as the preacher assigned to Berryton United Methodist Church. It has been a wonderful journey of learning, sharing, and welcome. I am so grateful for the warm welcome that we have received from the congregation and community. One of the ways that I have been learning about the congregation is […]
I took this photo over I-70 from my hotel room in Salina, Kansas. Several days later, I was adding keywords and titles and couldn’t immediately remember whether it was a sunrise or a sunset. I had to open the thumbnail to see the full image and pause to remember which direction I was facing. This […]
I have had the opportunity to engage with the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) in the Leadership and Faith: Transforming Communities program over the past year. I wanted to share some of the learnings that I have gathered from my interactions with the KLC. If you can be competent in four things – you will make […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Rev. Andrew Conard 