Issue 10, 2013 - Wisconsin Annual Conference

R E FLE C T I O N S
AN EDITION O F T H E U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T R E P O RT E R
Two Sections—Section A | 063000 | Volume 160 Number 1 | May 3, 2013
What Does it Mean to Imagine Wisconsin Anew
By Bishop Hee-Soo Jung
For the past several months, I’ve been
deeply involved in the formation of the context for how and why we are in ministry as
United Methodists in Wisconsin. Wherever I
go, I seek to discover what God is doing in
and through our congregations and Circuits
to fulfill the biblical mandate to reach out to
people with God’s love in Jesus’ name. Since
returning home to Wisconsin, I have been
Bishop Hee-Soo
seeking to Imagine Wisconsin Anew!
What does that mean? It means seeking Jung
to see what God is placing before us as possibilities. It means
learning what has changed and continues to change in the
communities that make up Wisconsin. What new populations or
people are living in our communities and how are we going to reach
out to them in God’s love? How are we preparing ourselves to offer
leadership in the United Methodist congregations in Wisconsin to
reach out beyond ourselves and our buildings?
How are we as United Methodists going to prepare the soil of
our lives and our faith communities so we are equipped to produce
the Fruit of the Spirit?
The Cabinet, other Conference leadership, and I have started to
find answers to these questions. For one thing, we have created
District Strategy Teams. They have been recruited by the District
Superintendents to work together with them to learn what has
changed in the communities in their Districts in Wisconsin, and
LEFT: Metro District Superintendent Deborah Thompson and Bishop Jung welcome Metro laity to the Laity Day Apart.
RIGHT: Calvary UMC in West Allis was filled with laity eager to hear about Imagining Wisconsin Anew from Bishop Jung.
help develop plans and a strategy for addressing new people and
places, as well as explore together how to invite people into
relationships with each other and Jesus Christ through existing
congregations. We’ve started the training and equipping of these
teams, and will continue throughout the year to meet and to learn
together.
The work of the Cabinet and District Strategy Teams has also
invited the Conference Board of Congregational Development to
imagine itself anew. This Board has decided to go to the Annual
Conference asking for a change in their name and direction from
Board of Congregational Development to Conference Strategy
Team.
Everywhere I go, I have found that we as United Methodists in
Wisconsin want and need to pay careful attention to our
surroundings and the people of our communities. I have met old
friends and new who tell me they want to bear good fruit as
followers of Jesus Christ. Together, I believe we will find the tools
and opportunities that will allow God to transform our lives and
the congregations of Wisconsin.
I give thanks to God for all of you and all you do!
Live the Fruit of the Spirit at Annual Conference 2013!
We are embarking on a
new quadrennium, with an
updated and exciting
emphasis: “Live The Fruit
Of The Spirit.” At this year’s
Annual Conference, we will focus on “preparing the soil.” We are
excited to be gathering at the Marriott Madison West in Middleton
June 7–10 and equally excited to be joining Bishop Hee-Soo Jung in
celebrating United Methodist connectional ministry within the
Wisconsin Conference. May God bring us together in joy and
thanksgiving as we celebrate ministry: growing disciples,
experiencing God’s abundance, and living the fruit of the spirit!
The regular registration fee is $125, which includes Sunday dinner.
Scholarships are available. Note that June 10 is a Learning Day for
everyone in the Wisconsin Annual Conference and is open to those
who are not attending Annual Conference in its entirety. Email
Karen Lamoree at klamoree@wisconsinumc.org or call her at 888240-7328 with any questions.
Visit the Annual Conference Website: All forms and information related to Annual Conference can be found on the Annual
Conference website at www.tinyurl.com/WACUMC13.
Display Table Reservations Due May 17: Visit the Annual
Conference website at www.tinyurl.com/WACUMC13 to reserve
your tables today! All boards, agencies, committees, organizations, and vendors wanting displays table must sign up for them
at the display website. Tables with electricity are limited and will
The United Methodist Reporter (USPS 954-500) is published
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Texas 75247-3919. Periodicals postage paid at Dallas,
Texas and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send
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be distributed on a first come first serve basis.
InGathering 2013: Visit the Annual Conference website at
www.tinyurl.com/WACUMC13 for a list of items welcome for
donation this year.
Monday June 10 is a FREE Learning Day: On Monday, June 10,
we will conclude the 43rd Session of the Wisconsin Annual Conference with a learning day open to all clergy and laity. Our day
together will focus on our vision of every congregation, charge
and circuit becoming transformational centers of love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness
and self-control. This Learning Day is open to anyone who
wishes to attend, and is included with your Annual Conference
registration, but those who only wish to attend the free
Learning Day, can visit the Annual Conference website at
www.tinyurl.com/WACUMC13 for more information and
to register.
LEFT:
Attendees
worshipped
through song
at Annual
Conference
2012. RIGHT:
Bill McBride
prepares for
the
InGathering
Day at Annual
Conference.
NOTE: Mailing Address for Conference Office Changes July 1st
Effective July 1st, the Wisconsin Conference UMC Office will
be closing its Post Office Box in Sun Prairie. Mail will be received
to its street address: 750 Windsor St., Sun Prairie, WI, 53590.
Please update your contact list to reflect this change and contact
Amanda Rehrauer at arehrauer@wisconsinumc.org with any
questions or concerns.
THE UNITED METHODIST REPORTER
GOOD WORKS
Green Garden UMC
helps Harvest 2020
On Sunday, April 14, Green
Garden UMC, a small congregation in Manhattan, Ill.,
presented a check of $7,938
to the Rev. Diana Facemyer,
Aurora District superintendent, and the Rev. Martin
Lee, director of congregational development, for Harvest 2020, the Northern
Illinois Conference’s churchplanting initiative. The church
will also give nearly $4,000
a year for the next 8 years.
The money came from Wilfred Belsner, who passed
away in 2008, leaving 80
acres of farmland to seven
churches including Green
Garden and Peotone UMC.
St. Luke in Dallas
marks 80th year
On March 19, both houses
of the Texas Legislature recognized St. Luke “Community” United Methodist
Church in Dallas for 80
years of service to the city,
state and nation. Church
members along with senior
pastor, the Rev. Henry Masters, traveled to Austin for
St. Luke Day at the Capitol.
The church was organized in
April 1933 as Saint Paul Mission, to minister to the needs
of the southeast Dallas community. It eventually became
St. Luke Methodist Church;
“Community” was later
added to the name to signify
the church’s civic mission.
St. Luke marked its 80th anniversary with a special worship service on April 28.
UM agency names
advancement director
The Rev. Neil Blair has been
appointed executive director
of Institutional Advancement
for the UMC’s General
Board of Higher Education
and Ministry, with responsibility for developing a
fundraising program for the
agency. Mr. Blair will also
support existing programs
such as Africa University and
the Black College Fund. Most
recently, he served as president of The Foundation for
Evangelism in Lake Junaluska, N.C. Mr. Blair is an
ordained elder in the Dakotas Annual Conference.
—Compiled by Mary Jacobs
May 3, 2013
UMCOR makes grants for Sandy recovery
B Y L I N DA B L O O M
United Methodist News Service
NEW YORK—United Methodists
in New York were counting on the regional shipments of 15,000 flood
buckets that they distributed to Hurricane Sandy survivors last fall.
But they didn’t expect the more
than 11,000 blankets from a faraway
source, said Bishop Martin McLee,
leader of the denomination’s New York
Conference.
“There was this wonderful call,
asking if we would receive blankets
from Russia,” Bishop McLee told directors of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries on
April 11 as he recounted the conference’s relief efforts. The United
Methodist Committee on Relief
(UMCOR) is a part of the mission
board.
Both Bishop McLee and Bishop
John Schol, leader of the Greater New
Jersey Conference, spoke to the mission agency about the challenges and
opportunities that have arisen since
the hurricane turned “superstorm”
made a significant impact on the
Northeast coast.
In New Jersey, where 253,000
households sustained damage and
tens of thousands of homes were left
uninhabitable, Sandy was the most
destructive storm in the state’s history.
In the New York area, 269,640 applications have been made to FEMA for
federal assistance.
To help meet these needs, UMCOR
has allocated much of the $8.35 million it had received in Sandy donations by early March.
On April 12, UMCOR directors approved $3 million grants to both the
New York and Greater New Jersey conferences, to be delivered in six-month
installments. The Peninsula-Delaware
Conference received $500,000 for its
Sandy recovery work in Somerset
County, Md. Another $500,000, not yet
approved, has been earmarked for the
Methodist Church of Cuba, which is
preparing its grant proposal.
In addition, UMCOR allotted
$825,759 to New Jersey and $42,000 to
Peninsula-Delaware for repairs to
church property damage from Sandy.
Those grants represent 10 percent of
the funds raised for Sandy relief.
In a further gesture of solidarity,
the mission agency’s directors took
part in a Sandy workday April 13, assisting at two sites in New Jersey and
in New York.
Greater New Jersey has established
PHOTO COURTESY GREATER NEW JERSEY CONFERENCE
Directors of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) have approved $3 million in grants for
Hurricane Sandy recovery in New York and New Jersey. The work will require help from thousands of
volunteers through the UMC’s volunteer-in-mission networks.
a comprehensive long-term Sandy recovery plan overseen by a nonprofit
organization, with a projected budget
of $21.8 million. In addition to support from UMCOR, the conference has
created its own fundraising appeal.
Repair, rebuild, renew
During the relief phase, the conference distributed food, clothing and
basic supplies, including flood buckets, to more than 10,000 people, along
with daytime or overnight shelter to
some 5,000 affected by Sandy.
The larger task is now beginning,
Bishop Schol pointed out. “The longterm recovery is where we really begin
to put our efforts,” he said.
Greater New Jersey’s recovery ministry focuses on three goals: to repair,
rebuild and renew, in cooperation
with churches, community residents
and nonprofit groups as well as local,
state and federal agencies. state and
federal agencies.
The repair of 300 to 500 Sandydamaged homes, particularly for the
elderly, disabled and low-income
households, is expected to require assistance from more than 20,000
trained volunteers.
“We are the biggest player [for recovery work] in New Jersey,” the
bishop said, noting that Habitat for
Humanity has committed to 150
houses. The conference’s Sandy project would not be possible, he added,
without the support of UMCOR and
the church’s volunteer-in-mission networks.
Rebuilding will extend beyond
homes to community centers and
churches. Other direct assistance to the
most vulnerable will be provided in
the form of materials, donations and
services. “Rebuilding the social fabric
of a community is essential,” the conference’s grant proposal declared.
Renewal will focus on the emotional and spiritual toll that Sandy
took on people’s lives. Greater New Jersey expects to provide case management and counseling for more than
500 families during the next several
years.
‘Holy moment’
In the New York Conference,
United Methodists and related volunteers—nearly 2,000 of them—already
have prepped more than 300 houses
for repairs or rebuilding by pumping
out water, removing debris and mold
and replacing insulation and flooring.
New York’s project goal for the new
grant is to help about 500 families,
with “a specific target” of 175 households. Five recovery sites—in Massapequa, Freeport and Rockville Center
on Long Island, on Staten Island and
in Brooklyn—have been established.
The conference also wants to set up a
site in Connecticut, where more than
13,000 homes were damaged.
New York will use the grant to support its disaster recovery ministries
and staff as it provides case management; restores, repairs and rebuilds
homes with the help of volunteers-inmission and offers ongoing spiritual
care to persons in the affected areas.
“A case manager will engage each
survivor and will sit and be like a
friend,” said the Rev. Joseph Ewoodzie,
New York Conference disaster coordinator.
UMCOR staff and consultants have
worked closely with the New York
Conference on its Sandy response, the
report said, and “see opportunity” for
program expansion if the recovery
work is successful and more funds become available.
The Peninsula-Delaware Conference will use its grant to help 50 to
100 families in the town of Crisfield
and Somerset County, Md., rebuild
their homes and their lives. United
Methodists there, working through
the conference’s volunteer-in-mission
coordinator, they hope to support and
deploy 175 teams with a total of 3,000
volunteers during a two-year period
for the Sandy recovery work in Maryland.
3A
HISTORY OF HYMNS
Wesley hymn invites all to ‘the Gospel Feast’
B Y B E N JA M I N H E N S L E Y
Special Contributor
Food is a big deal in our society,
but even more important are the spiritual “meals” that we share. One often
hears phrases such as, “They are hungry for the gospel,” and as Jesus said,
“It is written: ‘Man cannot live on
bread alone.’” (Matt. 4:4)
We are reminded that truth, as
well as sustenance, is found in the
gospel. Charles Wesley’s hymn,
“Come, Sinners, to the Gospel Feast”
is an invitation to that table and a reiteration of that truth.
The younger brother of Methodism’s founder, John Wesley, Charles
(1707-1788) wrote 6,500 hymns, and
preached as an itinerant minister of
the Church of England. To put this in
perspective, if we assume that he
wrote hymns from the time he started
school up to his death, it averages out
to 97 per year, or one hymn every
three to four days. Wesley wrote many
of the most important Methodist
hymns, 41 of which remain in the latest edition of the UM Hymnal (1989).
His hymns were examples of fine
poetry married to a rich, biblically
based theology. Wesley scholar Ernest
Rattenbury once
observed that “a
skillful man, if
the Bible were
lost, might extract much of it
from Charles
Wesley’s hymns.”
Our hymn
first appeared in Charles
24 stanzas in
Wesley
Hymns for Those
That Seek and Those That Have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ
(1747). Nine stanzas were later chosen for the Wesleys’ famous Collection
of Hymns for the People Called
Methodists (1780). In the 1980s the
Wesley Consultation of the Hymnal
Revision Committee decided to make
two hymns out of the original one;
the other hymn is found at No. 616 in
the UM Hymnal.
“Come, Sinner, to the Gospel
Feast” makes an important theological statement. Our participation in
church is more than a weekly obligation or chore. Perhaps we can view
church as a family meal where all are
welcome. The first stanza bids us to
“let every soul be Jesus’ guest,” and
adds, “Ye need not one be left behind.”
It is this joyful message of welcome
that as parishioners we should seek
and embrace, and as ministers we
should promote and foster in our
churches.
The gospel feast is also a feast of
salvation: “Come and partake the
gospel feast, / be saved from sin, in
Jesus rest.” When we participate in the
Eucharist, we are reminded of the
sacrifice our Savior made for us. The
Eucharist should be as inclusive as
the gospel demands that the ministries of the church be. Just as we tell
others of the good news, we should be
eager to share both the food we eat
and the truth we cherish.
Another interesting aspect of this
hymn is its urgency, as Wesley sounds
an eschatological note: “This is the
time, no more delay! This is the
Lord’s accepted day.”
However, there is another way to
see this—perhaps even simultaneously—as a call of eagerness: “Come
to the feast, be saved from sin.” Why
should we not be excited and a little
emphatic to share the gospel? There is
a sense of urgency and excitement in
this hymn that can influence how we
live and share the gospel in our lives.
Wesley also likens the gospel feast
to a place where one finds relief:
“Come, all ye souls by sin oppressed, /
ye restless wanderers after rest.” What
catharsis can be found in the joyful
“Come, Sinners, to the Gospel
Feast”
Charles Wesley
UM Hymnal, No. 339 &
No. 616
Come, sinners, to the gospel feast;
let every soul be Jesus’ guest.
Ye need not one be left behind,
for God hath bid all humankind.
sharing of food and conversation with
others! We are social creatures who
love sharing our lives over a meal
with those we care about. We should
be able to pass on the gospel to those
who are hungry for it, as easily as we
pass the sweet potatoes to our neighbor at the table.
Mr. Hensley, a Master of Sacred
Music student at Perkins School
of Theology, Southern Methodist
University, studies hymnology
with Dr. C. Michael Hawn.
Shea remembered as voice of Graham crusades
B Y A D E L L E M. B A N K S
Religion News Service
George Beverly Shea, whose signature baritone voice was a standard
feature of Billy Graham crusades for
more than half a century, died April 16
at age 104.
He died after a brief illness, the
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
announced.
Shea, who was 10 years older than
Mr. Graham, met the famous evangelist seven decades ago when he was
working at Chicago’s WMBI, a Moody
Bible Institute radio station. The evangelist heard him singing on the program Hymns from the Chapel, and
asked Shea to sing on his new radio
program.
“I’ve been listening to Bev Shea
sing for more than 70 years, and I
would still rather hear him sing than
anyone else I know,” the ailing Mr.
Graham said in a statement. “I have
lost one of the best friends I have ever
had, but he and I look forward to seeing each other in Heaven relatively
soon.”
Shea, who lived about a mile from
Mr. Graham in Montreat, N.C., sang
before the evangelist preached as they
traveled the globe, often “I’d Rather
Have Jesus” or “Victory in Jesus.”
“I have sometimes said that I
would feel lost getting up to preach if
Bev were not there to prepare the way
through an appropriate song,” Mr.
U N I T E DM ET HODI ST R E P ORT E R . ORG
PHOTO COURTESY BILLY GRAHAM CENTER/
WHEATON COLLEGE
George Beverly Shea in the
mid-1940s.
Graham said in his autobiography, Just
As I Am.
In 1955, Shea made a couple of
wording adjustments to the classic
hymn “How Great Thou Art”—one of
Mr. Graham’s favorites—that have endured. He changed “consider all the
works thy hands have made” to “consider all the worlds thy hands have
made” and modified “I hear the
mighty thunder” to “I hear the rolling
thunder.”
“I got a bang when I used to hear
Elvis Presley sing my two words,” he
told Religion News Service in a 2004
interview.
Graham spokesman A. Larry Ross
said Shea—who was the oldest living
recipient of a Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award—sang “How
Great Thou Art” during each crusade,
accompanied by a choir.
“He had his albums but he was
primarily known for singing one song
at each Billy Graham service,” said
Graham biographer William Martin. “That endeared him to everybody who went to his services or
who saw them on the broadcasts for
all those years.”
Shea, who won his first Grammy
in 1965 and was a 10-time nominee,
recorded more than 70 albums of
hymns. He was inducted into the Religious Broadcasting Hall of Fame in
1996, and the “Hall of Faith” of the
Conference of Southern Baptist
Evangelists in 2008.
Shea’s love for music shone
through in the RNS interview, with
his deep voice sometimes drifting
into song as he discussed the range of
hymns featured in his book How
Sweet the Sound: Amazing Stories and
Grace-filled Reflections on Beloved
Hymns and Gospel Songs.
He also put down the phone and
played a few notes for a listening reporter on his 800-pipe, three-manual
organ in his home.
In the same book, he recalled the
Graham crusades’ unofficial anthem,
“Just As I Am,” and a harrowing flight
out of Newark, N.J., in 2000 when he
wasn’t sure if he would ever touch the
ground again.
Clutching his wife’s hand, he
started to pray the text of the hymn.
“If this was our time to meet the Savior,” Shea wrote, “that’s the song I
wanted to be singing.”
Born in Winchester, Ontario, Shea
was raised on church music, with his
mother singing it as he awoke on
school days. He took the bass line
around the dinner table when his
family sang the Doxology—beginning with the words “Praise God from
whom all blessings flow”—in harmony. As his father, a Wesleyan
Methodist minister, preached in their
Houghton, N.Y., church, he would flip
through the pages of the church hymnal.
“The rustle of the pages might
have been a little distracting, but I
know he forgave me,” Shea wrote in
his book.
At age 23, he wrote the song “I’d
Rather Have Jesus,” which became another staple of Graham crusades. A
few years later, the song’s message inspired him to decline an offer to sing
with a secular singing group.
Franklin Graham, who succeeded
his father as the president of the Billy
Graham Evangelistic Association, recalled how “unassuming” the musician was.
“Even though Bev was 10 years
older than my father, he never acted
his age,” said Franklin Graham. “He
was absolute fun to be with.”
In 2004, when he was sidelined
by a heart attack, Shea had to miss
Graham’s evangelistic event in
Kansas City, Mo. It was the first time
in 57 years that he had missed a
crusade.
One of his last public appearances with Graham was in 2010,
when the ministry celebrated its 60th
anniversary, Mr. Ross said.
Even in his later years, Shea awed
listeners with his continuing ability to
sing his signature songs. Dr. Martin
heard him sing in Dallas in 2002,
when he would have been 93.
“I commented on how remarkable
it was,” Dr. Martin recalled, “and he
said, ‘I think I sounded better when I
was 90.’”
Kevin Eckstrom, editor in chief of
Religion News Service, contributed
to this report.
U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T R E P O R T E R | M AY 3 , 2 0 1 3
6A
FILM REVIEW
COMMENTARY
Malick’s concept of love
still shrouded in mystery
Jackie Robinson’s faith
missing from 42 movie
B Y E R I C M E TA X A S
BY REBECCA CUSEY
Religion News Service
Special Contributor
To the Wonder
Rated R for some sexuality/nudity
In the New Testament there is a
letter from the Apostle Paul to a
church he founded in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor. It contains a passage that is cause for much debate and
angst in the church, a passage that
compares a husband to Christ and the
wife to the church.
Paul writes, “For this reason a man
shall leave his father and mother and
be united to his wife and the two will
be one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and
the church.” (Ephesians 5:21-32)
This “profound mystery” lies at the
heart of writer-director Terrence Malick’s exposition of love and marriage,
To the Wonder. Or, at least, I think it
does. With Malick films, one feels shy
about making absolute statements.
Mr. Malick, reportedly a Catholic,
poured his faith out in the profound
The Tree of Life, a movie that moved
me so much, it inspired a tattoo on my
arm.
Tale of two marriages
In To the Wonder, he weaves together the story of two marriages that
inform each other, both of them flowing from and to the love of God, the
ultimate bridegroom. Parisian Marina
(Olga Kurylenko) marries American
Neil (Ben Affleck) after a weighty and
confusing courtship, made more complex by an unresolved love between
Neil and Jane (Rachel McAdams). The
second marriage is of Marina’s priest,
Father Quintana (Javier Bardem), to
God.
The two marriages run in roughly
the same course. First, there is an undeniable, life-altering love—a love
that changes everything, recasts the
universe and reshapes the people on
which it falls. Before the love, life was
Marina’s own, Father Quintana’s own.
After the love, they must rework their
lives to be with the beloved, to reflect
the new reality.
Although the love changes everything, the euphoria fades. Marina is
left with a man who seems distant
and unreachable. Father Quintana is
left with a God that seems distant and
unreachable.
And that is when love is tested,
PHOTO COURTESY MAGNOLIA PICTURES
Writer-director Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life) explores romantic
and spiritual love in his new film To the Wonder, starring Olga
Kurylenko and Ben Affleck.
when the reality of love is either believed and held or lost. The two types
of love flow from the same source, “the
Love that loves us,” as Marina puts it.
Mr. Malick tells his stories in
unique ways. He cares much more
about the cries of the heart and the
whispers of the mind than everyday
dialogue. So the prayers and unspoken
longings of the characters are told in
whispered voiceovers while the details
of their lives are hard to know. This
makes the movie almost unbearably
quiet, still, nearly silent, like a cathedral in the middle of the day, holy but
ineffable.
Sometimes this approach works
and his style delivers profound truths,
but other times it just leaves the
viewer feeling quietly lost. It doesn’t
help that many of the voiceovers here
are in French and Spanish.
Lack of resolution
Still, you get the sense that love is a
real thing, more real than we often believe. And that is, paradoxically in our
sex-crazed world, a message the world
needs. But you don’t know what that
means for life, for love, for a soul, by
the end of the movie, because part of
the conflict is left unresolved.
And a little unresolved for a Terrence Malick film is, let’s just say, way
unresolved for a normal film.
The scenes of the priest made me
weep at times, for a man who so loved
his God as to dedicate his life to Him,
but then loses all sense of his lover. It
is beautiful, his tired faithfulness, his
desperation for the God he knows is
there somewhere. Father Quintana
knows God is there because of the love
M AY 3 , 2 0 1 3 | U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T R E P O R T E R
that changed everything and remains
undeniable, even in the past.
And yet, I ended the film wishing
there was more. This juxtaposition of
marriage and relationship with Christ
fascinates me. I want to see, to feel, to
know how Mr. Malick’s theology reflects his ideas of love and marriage. I
suspect he may be one of the few filmmakers who actually has something
profound to say about it.
And yet, I felt he teed up the ball
but didn’t swing. In his other films,
you have to dig for truths but they’re
waiting to be discovered. I felt like
there was less here.
Also less was the cinematographic
wonder. Mr. Malick chooses beautiful
shots of water, nature, rocks, streams
and beaches, and lingers on them. Yet,
in The Tree of Life, many of his frames
had theological implications in themselves. They meant something, the
imagery was alive. They were dreamlike, creative, alternate realities that
expressed his truth. This film doesn’t
have the same level of forethought or
theology in the very images.
Sometimes a stream is just a
stream, I guess.
On one level, I love that Mr. Malick
had the courage to address love as a
profound mystery rather than a greeting card comedy—which is what we
get every month or so at the theater.
But in this case, I wish he’d been a tad
less profound and a tad more approachable.
Ms. Cusey is a freelance writer
in the Washington, D.C., area.
This review first appeared on
Patheos.com. Reprinted by
permission.
A new film about Jackie Robinson,
titled 42—the number he wore during
his historic career—tells the triumphant story of how the civil rights
icon integrated professional baseball
by playing for the
Brooklyn
Dodgers. But
there’s a mysterious hole at the
center of this otherwise worthy
film.
The man who
chose Robinson
Eric Metaxas
for his role, and
masterminded
the whole affair, was Dodgers General
Manager Branch Rickey, played by
Harrison Ford. In their initial meeting,
the cigar-chomping Rickey makes it
clear that whoever will be the first
African American in major league
baseball will be viciously attacked,
verbally and physically. So Rickey famously says he’s looking for a man
“with guts enough not to fight back.”
Where did Rickey get that crazy
idea and why did Robinson go along
with it? The film doesn’t tell us, but
the answers to these questions lie in
the devout Christian faith of both
men.
For starters, Rickey himself was a
“Bible-thumping Methodist” who refused to attend games on Sunday. He
sincerely believed it was God’s will
that he integrate baseball and saw it as
an opportunity to intervene in the
moral history of the nation.
And Rickey chose Robinson because of the young man’s faith and
moral character. There were numerous other Negro Leagues players to
consider, but Rickey knew integrating
the racist world of professional sports
would take more than athletic ability.
The attacks would be ugly, and the
press would fuel the fire. If the player
chosen were goaded into retaliating,
the grand experiment would be set
back a decade or more.
Rickey knew he must find someone whose behavior on and off the
field would be exemplary, and who believed “turning the other cheek” was
not just the practical thing to do but
the right thing. We know that Robinson’s passionate sense of justice had
gotten him into trouble earlier in life.
But the patient mentoring of pastor
Karl Downs convinced him that
Christ’s command to “resist not evil”
wasn’t a cowardly way out but a profoundly heroic stance.
When he met Rickey, Robinson
was prepared for what lay ahead and
agreed. But it was a brutally difficult
undertaking. Robinson got down on
his knees many nights during those
first two years, asking God for the
strength to continue resisting the
temptation to fight back, or to say
something he would regret.
But the filmmakers of 42 were evidently uncomfortable with all this
and, to put it in baseball terms, they
decided to pitch around it.
Of course, Hollywood has been
skittish about faith and religion since
at least the late 1960s. Even when it’s
almost impossible to avoid, filmmakers find a way. The Johnny Cash biopic
Walk the Line omitted the central role
Christian faith played in how Cash
overcame drug addiction. Even in
2007’s Amazing Grace, about British
abolitionist William Wilberforce, the
story of his conversion and the huge
role faith played in his political efforts
is essentially left out.
And now in 42, Hollywood’s done
it again. Omitting the role of faith in
this story does a serious disservice to
history—and to the memories of
Robinson and Rickey. But it’s also financially foolish. The recent megasuccess of The Bible miniseries and
the cool $600 million earned by Mel
Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ in
2004 are just two reasons why. The audience for faith-friendly films is huge
and growing.
Which brings us back to another
reason Rickey did what he did. He believed bringing African Americans
onto the baseball field would bring
them into the stands, too, and ticket
sales would increase. Which is precisely what happened.
So isn’t it time Hollywood integrated faith into stories where it rightfully belongs? Why should such stories
be excluded from the mainstream in a
nation that’s filled with people of
faith? If filmmakers do the right
thing—and break the “God line”—
they’ll find there are countless millions who’d cheer stories like that. And
who’d pay to see them too.
Mr. Metaxas writes about Jackie
Robinson in his new book Seven
Men and the Secret of their
Greatness. This column appeared
first in USA Today.
U N I T E DM ET HODI ST R E P ORT E R . ORG
7A
Georgia couple finds calling in Scout leadership
B Y K A R A W I T H E R OW
Special Contributor
The Boy Scout motto is, “Be Prepared.”
But Cathy and Travis Shepherd of
Whigham, Ga., weren’t quite prepared
for the new path God took them down
nearly 20 years ago.
When their son Bobby, then a first
grader, brought home a slip of paper
inviting him to join a new Cub Scout
pack, Travis accompanied him to an
informational meeting.
Of the adults in attendance, only
two had ever been involved in scouting. Travis was one. He volunteered to
help and ended up becoming the new
group’s leader, or Cubmaster.
Nearly 20 years later, scouting has
become an integral part of the Shepherd family’s life.
“I was a Scout when I was a kid
and had a great time and a lot of good
memories,” Travis said. “So we were
asked if we would be willing to help
start it, and I said yes.”
Back then, the Shepherds had just
one son, Bobby, now 26. In the years
since, they’ve had Kevin, 21, and
Thomas, 16. All three have earned the
Eagle Scout rank.
“Travis was a Scout in Thomasville
when he was a kid,” Cathy said. “It was
a very big part of his life. I was in Girl
Scouts when I was young, and when
we got married and ended up having
all boys it was really a no-brainer for
us.”
Sponsored by Whigham United
Methodist Church, Whigham’s Cub
Scout troop was started by Travis and
a group of dedicated parents. But a
few years later, Travis was disappointed to learn that the older boys
didn’t have a Boy Scout troop to move
up to.
That’s when Cathy, an obstetrics
nurse, stepped in to lead the Cub
Scout pack so Travis could start a new
Boy Scout troop in Grady County.
“I started as the Cubmaster with a
5-months-old on my hip,” said Cathy,
who completed her bachelor’s and
master’s degrees while working full
time, leading the Cub Scout pack and
raising three boys.
Scouting has given the Shepherd
family time together and the opportunity to go places and do things they
might not otherwise have gone and
done. They camp, hike and serve together, and most of Travis and Cathy’s
vacation time is spent travelling with
the Scouts.
“Scouting has allowed me to be really close with my boys,” Travis said.
It’s also strengthened their faith
and deepened their relationship with
Jesus Christ.
Before volunteering to work with
the Scouts, the Shepherds weren’t attending church. As a child and
teenager, Travis was active in a Baptist
church, but had drifted away.
A few months after volunteering to
be Cubmaster, though, Travis told
Cathy that Whigham UMC was host-
ing their annual Scout Sunday the
next weekend.
“I said, ‘What are we going to do?’
And she said, ‘Well, I guess we’ll go to
church there!’”
That Sunday they attended
Whigham UMC for the first time.
They wore their scout uniforms and
sat on the back pew.
“We went to church that Sunday
and the next,” Travis said. “From that
day forward we have gone. My family
and I have been going to church there
ever since.
“Scouting brought me back in to
where I should have been all along. I
was raised in church and knew that
my kids needed to be.”
In addition to teaching boys and
young men about first aid, fire safety,
leadership, responsibility and countless other life skills, scouting goes
hand-in-hand with faith, Cathy said.
“This isn’t an organization that
skirts faith,” she said. “It’s added another dimension to our walk with
Christ, and this is just another facet to
our Christian walk; it’s that rooted in
the values of our faith and the
church.”
Not only has the Shepherd family
deepened their faith and found a
church home through their involvement with Whigham UMC’s scouting
ministry, so have several young men.
One 8-year-old boy calls Whigham
UMC “his church” even though he and
his family don’t attend worship services there.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CATHY SHEPHERD
Travis, Thomas and Cathy Shepherd celebrated earlier this year
after Thomas, 16, earned his Eagle Scout rank.
“One year we had Scout Sunday
coming up, and I was reminding the
boys to wear their Scout shirt to their
church on Sunday,” Cathy said. “We always invite them to our church, and I
asked one boy which church he went
to. He looked at me and said, ‘Miss
Cathy, this is my church!’ He had never
been to church on Sunday—our Cub
Scout program was his only exposure
to church.”
Even though two of their sons are
adults and their youngest will soon
graduate from high school, the Shepherds say they have no plans to step
away from scouting.
“I keep going even without a kid in
Cub Scouts because it’s that impor-
tant,” Cathy said. “It’s that vital to our
church and to our community to have
a place for these boys.”
Travis says he can’t just walk away
from the 70 or so young men who are
a part of their Cub Scout and Boy
Scout troops.
“I just can’t walk away from these
kids,” he said. “When God wants me to
do something else, He’ll make it
known.
“A lot of people go through life
wondering what God wants them to
do. I know that this is exactly what He
wants me to do.”
Ms. Witherow is editor of the
Advocate, the newspaper of the
South Georgia Conference.
Fire destroys church’s building, but not its spirit
B Y B A R B A R A D U N L A P -B E R G
United Methodist News Service
Sally Curtis AsKew was in Seattle,
getting ready for a United Methodist
Judicial Council meeting, when she
learned about the fire that consumed
her beloved church—Oconee Street
United Methodist in Athens, Ga.
The fire, detected around 10 p.m.
April 15, gutted the 111-year-old
structure. The cause has not been determined. The blaze apparently
started in the basement of the wood
structure, Ms. AsKew said.
“I am sitting in a hotel room in
Seattle, still crying so hard I have to
stop to wipe my eyes often,” the Judicial Council clerk said.
Gathering on the church lawn the
evening after the tragedy, the congregation joined for a prayer vigil.
“The building is so visible,” Ms.
AsKew said, “up on Carr’s Hill. When
you come across the river from downtown, you see the lighted cross.”
That cross has beckoned a diverse,
“very welcoming” congregation—uniU N I T E DM ET HODI ST R E P ORT E R . ORG
versity professors with Ph.D.s, uneducated people and everyone in between—to worship and to witness.
Oconee Street, Ms. AsKew said, is
“a perfect example of a church that
‘reimagined itself ’ many years ago
and continues to press forward today.”
About 30 years ago, the membership had shrunk to the point that the
congregation could no longer support
a full-time pastor. So when a new nonprofit, Action Ministries, was getting
off the ground, Oconee Street became
a partner with the group.
Today, the congregation of 125 is
flourishing, and Action Ministries—
an independent, faith-based corporation affiliated with the United
Methodist Church—furnishes food,
legal assistance, educational services
and nursing care.
The Our Daily Bread soup kitchen
is housed in the former parsonage, adjacent to the historic church.
According to the Athens Patch, Our
Daily Bread provides more than
60,000 meals a year and collaborates
with more than 70 volunteer groups,
UMNS PHOTO COURTESY OF OCONEE STREET UMC
The 111-year-old main sanctuary at Oconee Street United Methodist
Church in Athens, Ga., lies in ruins following an April 15 fire.
both church-related and secular. The
program serves breakfast and lunch
seven days a week. Because it receives
no federal funds, Ms. AsKew said, it
“serves not only people below the
poverty level but also the working
poor.”
She said that since the fire, the outpouring of love and offers of help has
been overwhelming.
“Local groups have stepped up to
provide breakfasts all week. Another
small-membership church—Temple
United Methodist, out in the country
east of Athens—stepped right up and
is bringing breakfast today.”
Oconee Street’s pastor of 13 years,
the Rev. Lisa Caine, said the Athens
community and the UMC’s North
Georgia Conference have reached out
to the congregation, donating space
for worship and various ministries.
“Although the church building is
gone, and some planned projects are
on hold for now, the church will rebuild and move forward with the help
of God and many humans,” Ms.
AsKew said.
Young Harris Memorial United
Methodist Church in downtown
Athens already has opened its facility
to its Oconee Street sisters and brothers. The congregation will worship in
the Young Harris gym.
Ms. Caine’s outlook is positive.
“We’ve been so blessed by so many
people in so many ways,” she said.
“This isn’t what we had planned,
but we are going forward with faith
and trust in God.”
U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T R E P O R T E R | M AY 3 , 2 0 1 3
4A
Wisconsin Conference Edition of the United Methodist Reporter
May 3, 2013
Changing the World One Congregation at a Time
When was the last time your congregation moved its ministry outside the confines of your church building? This is what Change the
World is all about. Launched by the United Methodist Church three
years ago, Change the World is a denomination-wide event that focuses
on the ministries of
the church beyond
the sanctuary during
one particular weekend, so that change is
palpable and noticeable. Just imagine if every United Methodist church in your surrounding area were outside the walls of their buildings, helping one another
and enacting social change. People would take notice.
Be sure to start planning your outreach project now for the weekend
of May 17–18, and register it on the Change the World site at
www.umcom.org/changetheworld. United Methodist Communications
has plenty of free resources available on their website to make your
Change the World event a success! The “Change the World. Be. Go. Do.”
sermon series will help your congregation think about what it means to
Change the World choice by choice. The four-week series also comes
with a companion multimedia bundle so you’ll be prepared to invite
people to work and worship alongside you on this transformative weekend. Visit www.umcom.org/changetheworld to download the series,
view maps of participating churches from previous years, and advice on
how to advertise the event to get a great turnout.
Last year, more than 40 Wisconsin churches participated in Change
the World. Through clean-up days, food pantry collections, fundraisers
for mission abroad, and many other creative projects, they made a
significant and positive difference in their communities. For the
second consecutive year, Wisconsin Conference UMC staff will join in
solidarity with United Methodists in Wisconsin and around the world
by participating in its own service project; this year by sorting food
and clothing donations for Community Action Coalition for South
Central Wisconsin.
It’s up to you and your congregation to decide how you will
Change the World with thousands of other United Methodists
this year! Be sure to post your event on our Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/wisconsinumc and email us at
mvirnig@wisconsinumc.org.
ABOVE: Conference staff members gathered to
reflect on how they helped to Change the World
last year. LEFT: Conference staff members help
plant a new tree during their Change the World
project in 2012.
Wisconsin Conference Staff members participated in Change the World last year by landscaping a home for
Habitat for Humanity.
Experience a Unique Encounter with God’s Creation
Campers
learn
valuable life
skills and
have fun,
make new
friends, and
above all,
learn to be
closer to God.
By Nick Coenen
Pine Lake Camp Manager
I have lived my whole life in Wisconsin and during this time I
have learned something almost everyone here realizes eventually.
There is something here that has great value, but you can’t buy or
sell it. You can’t even get more of it if you try. It only lasts for a few
months and we do our best to make the most of every second of it.
Summer. A warm sun, green grass, birds chirping, bugs buzzing,
kids playing. Does it really get any better than this? And yet, as a
parent, I know how hard it is to manage this moment to its full potential. Kids and families are pulled towards a million different activities and commitments. Most of them can make a case for being
worthwhile, with benefits like exercise, building self-confidence or
learning a new skill.
But what if I told you that there was a place that takes all of
those benefits and adds the greatest gift of all, a closer knowledge
of God? What if there was a place where families and kids made
great summer memories, and at the same time, had the opportunity to grow deeper in their faith?
Well, as you probably guessed, there is such a place. Every summer at Pine Lake Camp and Lake Lucerne Camp & Retreat Center,
we provide outdoor experiences for youth, adults and families that
allow a unique encounter with God’s creation. When your child returns home from church camp, they may not be a dramatically improved basketball player or be able to play the clarinet better, but
they will likely have a closer relationship with God. As a parent, I
know there is nothing I want more for my kids than that everlasting knowledge and assurance.
For more information about registering for camp, you can visit
www.wiumcamps.org or call the Conference Camping Office at
877-947-2267. We look forward to sharing these special places with
you and your family this summer!
May 3, 2013
Wisconsin Conference Edition of the United Methodist Reporter
Wisconsin United Methodists Support
Immigration Reform
Sergio Martinez, a 24 year old Mexican immigrant, first came to the United States on a visitor
visa to Detroit with his parents when he was very
young. There, his father was able to support his
family until 2005. That’s when everything
changed.
When Congress passed the Real ID Act requiring states to issue official identification to
those who live and work in the country, his father
lost his job and declared bankruptcy, and his
mother was deported to Mexico, where she is
prohibited from returning to the U.S. Martinez
has not seen her since.
Unfortunately, his story is far from uncommon. That’s why Donna Veatch, with nearly 20
other members of the Wisconsin United
Methodist Immigration Task Force (ITF), hope to
educate as many people as possible about the
broken immigration system in our country.
This winter, the ITF hosted a prayer vigil to
raise awareness of stories like Martinez’s. Martinez, who attended the vigil with others from
the nationwide “Keeping Families Together” bus
tour, says he hopes to inspire other undocumented immigrants to take a stand.
“I see people suffer every day, and I see communities and families torn apart,” he said. “There
must be a more humane way to handle this. Taking the breadwinner from home only places the
burden on the kids. It’s very difficult to see.”
Bishop Jung also expressed his support at the
vigil. Citing Leviticus 19:33–34 and personal experience as former Bishop to the Chicago area, he
spoke about witnessing one immigrant family
lose their father on Christmas morning.
“It was heartbreaking,” he said. “We as a
Church need to stand together and show that
we are a place of welcoming. Wisconsin is a
pioneer for Peace with Justice and friends of
migrant workers; we need to stand up and
make a difference.”
Since the Board of Global Ministries formed
Conference
Calendar
May 5th
Golden Cross Sunday Offering
May 6th–12th
Christian Family Week
May 11th
Free Family Fun Day
Lake Lucerne Camp & Retreat Center, Neshkoro
May 12th
Mother’s Day
May 18th–19th
Change the World Weekend
May 26th
Peace with Justice Sunday Offering
ABOVE: Monona Pastor Rafael
Cubilette introduces
Guatemalan immigrant Sandra
Rybachek at an immigration
prayer vigil at First UMC in
Madison. LEFT: Immigration Task
Force Chair Donna Veatch,
Monona Pastor Rafael Cubilette
and Janesville Pastor Maribel
Mariz Celiz sing songs in both
English and Spanish at an
immigration prayer vigil at First
UMC in Madison.
the ITF nearly three years ago, the political climate in the country has changed. Congress is
closer than ever to passing a reform bill, Veatch
said, and the Associated Press and USA Today recently removed the phrase “illegal immigrant”
from their stylebooks, stating that “illegal”
should only describe an action—not a person.
Assuming a bill gets passed sometime in the
near future, Veatch says the next step for the ITF
is working with faith communities on how to
take care of the neighbors in their community.
“As the country changes, the Church must
change… The reality after reform passes will be:
how do we help people? It’s a process and congregations need support in reaching out,” she said.
In the meantime, Veatch, Martinez and the
ITF are doing all they can to change perceptions
of immigration, in hopes of an easier transition
for both immigrants and communities alike.
“No one comes here to be a menace to society,” Martinez said. “Everything about me is
American except a piece of paper.”
Making Youth a Priority in Church throughout Wisconsin
By Dan R. Dick
If you ever hear someone utter the well-intentioned statement, “Youth are the future of our
Church,” I invite you to challenge it immediately.
Youth are not the future of our Church, but a vital
part of today’s ministry—
not just as a “target audience” to provide ministry
for, but an essential part of
the priesthood of all believers. Young people are
some of our most invested
and engaged disciples—
learning together to be effective spiritual leaders.
This process of growing ef- Dan Dick,
Director of
fective young leaders for
mission and ministry is a Connectional
top priority of the Wiscon- Ministries
sin Annual Conference.
A survey of youth and adults throughout the
Annual Conference provides important feedback
to strengthen youth ministry in the years to come.
We heard loud and clear a number of opinions
about what our churches need for strong, relevant
and transformative youth ministry. Here is a
5A
small sample of the feedback we have received:
Help us do effective ministry in our local
churches and communities; don’t try to do
Conference-level programs for us
Connect youth and adult leaders working
with youth together in social and supportive
networks—help us talk to each other about
exciting ministry
Hold district and regional events with a
greater frequency so we can attend without
having to travel all the way across the state on
just one weekend that doesn’t fit our
schedules
Help us be in ministry as young leaders; don’t
just do “fun” events
Include us in the important work of the whole
Annual Conference; don’t just ask a few young
people from a few churches to design “youth
events”
For the next few years, we will be working together as the Wisconsin Annual Conference to
renew, restore and rebuild a strong Conference
ministry that supports and trains young leaders
as they minister to each other, to the Conference
and to the world. We will be forming a Conference Youth Council (formerly the Conference
Council on Youth Ministries) to coordinate a
strategy for leadership development. One adult
representative from each region and two youth
(13–17) for each district will work with Karen
Rankin, our Youth Resource Team Facilitator, and
Nancy Deaner, our Conference Staff Liaison to
Youth Ministry, to focus on four areas: developing young spiritual leaders, supporting and resourcing youth and adult workers with youth in
local congregations, developing shared mission
projects and opportunities for youth, and supporting regional and district youth teams in
hosting events for youth.
This will be a rich time for change and transformation throughout the Conference. We will be
engaging more young people to be in ministry
and to offer more opportunities in more places
for young people to come to know God through
the Christian faith. If you have recommendations
of young people, ages 13–17, that you feel would
offer strong leadership, please let me
(ddick@wisconsinumc.org) or Nancy Deaner
(ndeaner@wisconsinumc.org) know. Our commitment is to do everything in our power to help
our churches make young disciples of Jesus
Christ for the transformation of the world!
June 7th–10th
Wisconsin Annual Conference
Madison Marriott West
June 10th
Wisconsin Annual Conference Learning Day
(free)
Madison Marriott West
June 16th
Father’s Day
June 28th–30th
Summer Convo 2013
Lake Lucerne Camp, Neshkoro
July 22nd–25th
Wisconsin Conference UMW “Mission U”
Conference
Westwood Conference Center, Wausau
August 6th–8th
NCJ Urban Network Ministry Event
TBD, Milwaukee
October 6th
World Communion Sunday Offering
For a more comprehensive list of events and
training opportunities, visit our website
www.wisconsinumc.org
REFLECTIONS
Hee-Soo Jung
Michele Virnig
Amanda Rehrauer
E-mail
Bishop
Editor
Associate Editor
mediacontact@
wisconsinumc.org
Phone
888-240-7328
Reflections is an official publication of the
Wisconsin Conference of The United Methodist
Church. For a complimentary subscription,
send your request along with the recipient
name and address to Reflections Editor,
Wisconsin Conference UMC, 750 Windsor St.,
Sun Prairie, WI 53590 or email
mediacontact@wisconsinumc.org.
Bob
Edgar
Mixed
verdict
UM clergyman led Claremont,
NCC and Common Cause | 2B
Judicial Council rules on
East Africa Conf. complaint | 2B
Collective
grief
Tragedies merit honesty about
feelings and reliance on faith | 7B
THE
May 3, 2013
Section B
UNITED METHODIST REPORTER
The independent source for news, features and commentary about the United Methodist Church
Bush Center
dedication
big for SMU
BY SAM HODGES
Managing Editor
PHOTO COURTESY SMU
The April 25 dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Dallas’ Southern Methodist University made for a historic gathering of
U.S. presidents and First Ladies.
DALLAS—Southern Methodist
University played happy backdrop to
the dedication of the George W. Bush
Presidential Center on April 25, an occasion that brought together all four
living former U.S. presidents, their
First Ladies, and President Barack
Obama and his wife Michelle.
A crowd estimated at 10,000, including Bush administration alumni,
family members of former presidents
and numerous foreign
dignitaries, gathered outside in mild
weather by the $250 million facility, a
new anchor for the east side of the
SMU campus in Dallas.
“Whatever challenges come before
us, I will always believe our nation’s
best days lie ahead,” a choked-up former President George W. Bush said
in finishing his eight-minute-long
See ‘Bush’ page 4B
Bishop’s book draws on faith, leadership theory, martial arts
Greater Northwest Area Bishop
Grant Hagiya earned a third-degree
black belt in karate, as well as a master of divinity and a doctorate in organizational leadership. His new
book Spiritual Kaizen: How to Become a Better Church Leader (Abingdon Press) draws on this varied
background.
Bishop Hagiya answered questions by email from managing editor
Sam Hodges. Here’s an edited version of the exchange.
Can you sum up, in a sentence
each, how your faith, leadership
training and martial arts
experience are guiding you as you
serve the UMC in a difficult time?
My core belief is that God is in
charge of all of life, and, like Job, my
response is reduced to humbleness
in awe.
In leadership training, as Jim
Collins reminds us with his “Stockdale Paradox” [concept], we must always confront the brutal facts, but
never lose hope.
My martial arts training has been
instrumental when a crisis situation
arises in slowing down all that swirls
around me, and enabling me to focus
on the most efficient course.
Explain “spiritual kaizen,” and why
you think it’s a key idea for clergy
and committed laity.
The Japanese word “kaizen”
comes from the root words “kai”
meaning “change,” and “zen” translated as “good” or “better.” In business
management it is often translated as
“continuous improvement.” I would
add the description of “slow, steady,
continuous improvement.” When you
add the adjective of “spiritual,” it reinforces John Wesley’s personal discipleship movement from prevenient
grace to justification and on to sanctification.
As United Methodists, we must
recover this lifelong spiritual journey,
and enter into a continuous growth
in love of God and neighbor. Steady
improvement in our leadership skills
and abilities is also a lifelong process,
as I believe leadership is not an innate quality, but rather learned.
How much trouble is the UMC—
all mainline Christianity—in? And
of the causes of the trouble, what
stands out as most important, in
your view?
We are in huge trouble and we
have been in trouble for decades, but
out of hubris we have believed like
some secular organizations that we
were “too big to fail.” Now reality is
coming home to roost in the form of
our secular Western society moving
to a “post-religious institutional society,” where one in five Americans
have absolutely no religious preference whatsoever. There is a complex
set of causes and challenges, but to
mention just one: The systems, structures and processes of our United
Methodist Church worked well for the
American culture 40 years ago, but
are out of touch with our contemporary American culture. In order to be
relevant, we must adapt and change.
PHOTO COURTESY ABINGDON PRESS
You write that the UM seminaries
and UM churches and conferences
aren’t serving one another well.
See ‘Hagiya’ page 8B
Bishop Grant Hagiya, author
of Spiritual Kaizen: How to
Become a Better Church
Leader.
2B FAITH focus
FAITH WATCH
Vatican workers
don’t get bonus
Pope Francis has decided
against giving Vatican employees the raise that is typical upon the death of one
pope and election of his
successor, the Associated
Press reported. The new
pope is known to be frugal,
and the Vatican posted a
large deficit in 2011. “It
didn’t seem possible or
appropriate to burden the
Vatican’s budget with a
considerable, unforeseen
extra expense,” said the
Rev. Federico Lombardi,
Vatican spokesman.
Man charged with
Christmas bombing
A man has been charged by
Nigerian authorities with organizing the Christmas Day
bombing of a Catholic
church at the edge of the
country’s capital city, Abuja.
Reuters reported that Nigerian security forces captured
Kabiru Sokoto, and he has
pleaded not guilty to
charges of terrorism. The attacked killed 37 people. The
Islamist militant group Boko
Haram claimed responsibility.
Edgar recalled as progressive Christian leader
B Y A D E L L E M. B A N K S
Religion News Service
The Rev. Bob Edgar, a Democratic
congressman and United Methodist
minister who went on to lead the National Council of Churches through a
painful series of restructuring cuts,
died suddenly on April 23 at age 69.
The man religious leaders remembered as a “bridge builder,” suffered a
heart attack and had been exercising
on a treadmill in his home in Burke,
Va., said Mary Boyle, spokeswoman
for Common Cause. Edgar became
president of the Washington-based
nonpartisan advocacy group in 2007
after serving two terms as the general
secretary of the NCC.
“He was a man of great capacity
who understood the importance of
cross-cultural and religious dynamics,” said the Rev. Carroll Baltimore,
president of the Progressive National
Baptist Convention, who recalled traveling in a Common Cause interfaith
delegation Edgar led to Vietnam in
2010 to learn about continuing effects
of Agent Orange.
Dr. Baltimore said Edgar brought
together Christians, Buddhists, Confucians and political leaders.
“He was able to link all of those
pieces together and just remind us
that we’re all made from the same
cloth,” he said.
Elected to Congress from southeastern Pennsylvania in 1974, Edgar
was one of the reform-minded wave of
Democratic “Watergate babies” who
swept Capitol Hill in the wake of the
Watergate scandal. After losing a Senate race in 1986, he was president of
Claremont School of Theology for 10
years before he started leading the
NCC in 2000.
At the NCC, his tenure began with
intense news media attention during
the Elian Gonzalez case as he helped
ferry the boy’s grandmothers to and
from Cuba.
He soon turned to dealing with the
NCC’s growing multimillion-dollar
deficit.
“This is the hardest job I’ve ever
had,” Edgar told Religion News Service
Still in pulpit
at age 105
Wayman African Methodist
Episcopal Church in Minneapolis often has in its pulpit a true voice of
experience—105-year-old
Noah Smith. The Rev. Smith
didn’t begin preaching until
age 49, after working in
various occupations, including shining shoes and playing music. “I said,
‘Minister?’ I’m 49 years old.
God wanted me to be a
minister. Why didn’t he tell
me before now? He said,
‘He did tell you, you was
too dumb to listen,’” said
Mr. Smith.
—Compiled by Sam Hodges
CORRECTION
In the April 12 “Faith
Watch,” we misspelled
the last name of an
influential Washington,
D.C., pastor who died
March 20, at age 95.
He was Gordon Cosby,
credited with inspiring
churches to become
more mission-focused.
UMNS FILE PHOTO BY RYAN BEILER/SOJOURNERS
The Rev. Bob Edgar spoke at the National Cathedral in
Washington, D.C., on Jan. 1, 2003, at a prayer service for a
peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis. The UM clergyman then was top
staff executive of the National Council of Churches.
Board of Directors
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Please recycle.
We do!
early in his NCC tenure. “About every
other day it’s the most fun I’ve ever
had, but it’s the hardest job.”
Early on, Edgar sensed that the
venerable ecumenical agency was losing its public voice, and was one of the
early supporters of Christian
Churches Together in the USA, which
brought the NCC’s mainline Protestant, Orthodox and black churches together with evangelicals and Catholics
for the first time.
The conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy often criticized
the NCC and issued a 2006 report that
claimed Edgar tried to help save the
still-troubled NCC with donations
from liberal philanthropists.
IRD President Mark Tooley said he
was saddened to learn of Edgar’s
death.
“Although IRD was frequently critical of the NCC’s policies under his
rule, he was always cordial in our personal interactions,” Mr. Tooley said.
“Edgar did temporarily revive the
NCC, but, as the NCC has recently further shrunk and still struggles, it appears that revival could not be
sustained after Edgar’s departure.”
Former NCC co-workers and colleagues, who remembered Edgar’s
fondness for running, noted his sense
of humor and penchant for bad puns,
his support of the “What Would Jesus
Drive?” campaign and his boundless
energy.
“I thought that should be every
aging person’s goal—to be as physically fit as Bob Edgar,” said Philip
Jenks, retired communications officer
for the NCC, who was four years
younger than his supervisor. “Sometimes God’s sense of humor catches
up with us.”
The Rev. Leslie Copeland-Tune,
former assistant director of justice
and advocacy at the NCC, added: “He
just really was a true believer and a
believer in making sure that people
who were the least of these did not
suffer because of our selfishness.”
Edgar, who wrote the 2007 book
Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral
Values of the Faithful Majority from
the Religious Right, was known for activities ranging from protesting the
Iraq war to a coordinated arrest inside
the U.S. Capitol in 2011 for praying to
stop Republican budget cuts.
“That was the strength of the
man,” said the Rev. Barbara WilliamsSkinner, president of the Skinner
Leadership Institute. “He was a bridge
builder in the truest, most powerful
sense of the word. He took the gospel
seriously, the gospel of peace and the
gospel of love.”
Edgar became top executive of
Common Cause, a national advocacy
group with more than 400,000 mem-
Rev. Bob Edgar
bers and 35 state organizations, in
2007. While there he “oversaw the relaunching of at least seven state chapters, traveled tirelessly to meet with
and recruit Common Cause supporters, and raised the organization’s national profile and its critical mission
to strengthen our democracy,” Common Cause said in a news release announcing Edgar’s passing.
“We are deeply saddened and
shaken today by the passing of Bob
Edgar,” said Common Cause board
chair Robert Reich. “Bob will be remembered for his decency, kindness,
compassion and humor. His deep
commitment to social justice and
strengthening our democracy is his
greatest gift to Common Cause and
the nation. Our hearts are with Bob’s
family, his wife Merle, and sons Andrew, David and Rob, and their families.”
Jim Winkler, top executive of the
United Methodist General Board of
Church and Society, was a close friend
and colleague.
“Bob Edgar was a close personal
friend of mine. I cannot believe we
have lost him,” Mr. Winkler said. “He
was a great servant of Christ, possessor of a magnanimous and positive
personality and a faithful United
Methodist. Those of us who knew him
have been sharing our sadness and
our fond memories of him all day.”
The Rev. Larry Hollon, top executive of United Methodist Communications, was another saddened by the
news of Edgar’s passing.
“Bob was a valued friend, social
progressive and committed Christian
leader,” he said. “He brought a wonderful sense of humor to any gathering
in which he was present. He was a
tireless defender of the poor and
an advocate for justice.”
United Methodist News Service
contributed.
U N I T E DM E T HODI ST R E P ORT E R . ORG
FAITH focus 3B
UM CONNECTIONS Council rules on WPA/East Africa dispute
Northwestern prez
to speak at Garrett
Morton Schapiro, president
of Northwestern University,
will give the commencement
address at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
Garrett, a UMC-affiliated
school, is located on the
Evanston, Ill., campus of
Northwestern. Graduation
events begin with Senior
Chapel on May 16 at 7:30
p.m., at the Chapel of the
Unnamed Faithful at GarrettEvangelical. Commencement
will be on May 17 at 10
a.m., at First United
Methodist Church in
Evanston.
Virginia Conf. pushes
Older Adult Sunday
At General Conference
2008, delegates adopted
legislation encouraging
congregations to observe
Older Adult Recognition Day
any Sunday in May. The
Virginia Conference has
chosen May 5 for its
churches to have the day,
and issued this statement to
them: “As you celebrate this
special Sunday, let it be an
opportunity for the
congregation to focus on the
needs of older adults. Use it
as a time to address the
accessibility of the church
buildings, to look more
closely at programs and
ministries, and to listen . . .
to listen to the voices of the
older adults as they share
their dreams and visions
for the church.”
Lugar to address
Indiana Conference
The Indiana Conference and
Community Prayer Breakfast
will be held on June 8, from
8-9 a.m., at the Indiana
Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis. The
keynote
speaker will be
former U.S.
Sen. Richard
Lugar. He will
speak on how
United
Methodists can
be in prayer
for the world. Richard
Sen. Lugar, a Lugar
fifth-generation United Methodist from
Indiana, was the longest
serving member of Congress
in Indiana history before losing his seat last year.
—Compiled by Sam Hodges
U N I T E DM E T HODI ST R E P ORT E R . ORG
B Y N E I L L C A L DW E L L
Special Contributor
SEATTLE—A 10-year financial
dispute between the United Methodist
Western Pennsylvania Conference and
the East Africa Conference that
wound up before the denomination’s
top court has ended with a split decision that likely will not please everyone.
The Judicial Council agreed with
only one of Western Pennsylvania’s
three questions—an item concerning
$3,000 owed to a pastor in South
Sudan, a fraction of the more than
$100,000 involved in the overall dispute.
In Decision 1238, the council said
that a question about the outcome of
a complaint filed against East Africa
Bishop Daniel Wandabula still was hypothetical “because there is no evidence in the record that the complaint
process has concluded.”
Bishop Wandabula told the council
in October that the complaint has
been dismissed and promised to provide documentation to prove his contention. But the council said no
documentation has been received nor
was provided during a second oral
hearing April 17. “The Judicial Council, therefore, understands that the
complaint process is continuing,” the
ruling says.
In the larger question—whether
designated funds donated to the East
Africa Conference have been used as
intended—the decision offered a
message of donor beware.
“The projects were not managed
through the connectional system in
the General Board of Global Ministries or authorized as an ‘Advance’ of
the denomination,” the decision
states. “Members of the Western
Pennsylvania Annual Conference
raised the funds, transmitted the
funds to the East Africa Annual Conference, visited locations in Uganda,
and negotiated the terms with church
leaders in East Africa. . . . [It is not
clear] from the record whether any
specific officers within the Western
Pennsylvania Annual Conference had
the authority to adjust expenditure
plans in cases where the property had
become too expensive or too cumbersome, where construction proved to
be too inferior, or where the water
well was to be bored.
“The record indicates that the
Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference now seeks supervisory action by
the General Board of Global Ministries to help remedy errors that the
annual conference finds in the management of this mission,” the Judicial
Council added.
The ruling did direct that the
$3,000 in funds intended as compen-
sation for Pastor Isaac Sebit should be
paid to him by Jan. 1, 2014, or returned to the Western Pennsylvania
Conference.
An oral hearing on the matter was
held April 17, primarily so that Nancy
Denardo of the Pittsburgh East District of the Western Pennsylvania
Conference could speak to the Judicial
Council. Ms. Denardo, who supervised the mission project and filed the
original complaint against Bishop
Wandabula, was ill during the October meeting and could not attend.
‘Plans never realized’
Ms. Denardo spoke of her shock in
going to Uganda expecting to see a
new church and seeing only a foundation constructed. “Our plans have
never been realized,” she said. “No receipts were ever made available and
no explanation given by Bishop
Wandabula. . . . Because of the consistent corruption in Uganda and South
Sudan, I felt compelled to write a
complaint against the bishop.”
In his own comments, Bishop
Wandabula said that it was “important to note that my office did not
misuse any ‘designated’ funds offered
for particular ministries, nor have I
mismanaged any funds given for mission and ministry. Believe it or not, we
have many Christians both within
and without the East Africa Annual
Conference praying for accountability
with a ‘human face’ balanced with
transparency.
“Terrible mistakes are being made
in dealing with East Africa,” he added.
“Please note that both the Western
Pennsylvania Annual Conference and
GBGM were told about their mistakes
even as the mistakes were being
made. It is so enraging that they refused to listen! . . . GBGM is misguided, and I have been framed for
whatever reason.”
The Rev. Robert Zilhaver, a clergy
member of the Western Pennsylvania
Conference, also spoke at the oral
hearing. “This dispute has crippled
our work in Uganda and our work
fighting malaria,” Mr. Zilhaver said.
Case of former bishop
In another case, the council upheld
a 2012 decision of law by Bishop
Thomas Bickerton that rejected arguments by the Rev. Hae-Jong Kim that
sought to reverse his 2005 resignation
as a bishop.
Mr. Kim resigned Sept. 1, 2005, in
the midst of a complaint against him.
In January 2007, he wrote to the
Council of Bishops asking that his resignation be rescinded. The Council of
Bishops, citing no provisions in the
Book of Discipline to deal with such a
situation, decided they had no jurisdiction to consider his request. Mr.
PHOTO BY NEILL CALDWELL
Nancy Denardo of the Western Pennsylvania Conference addressed
the UMC’s Judicial Council on April 17, elaborating her complaint
against East Africa Bishop Daniel Wandabula over alleged misuse
of mission funds.
Kim then appealed to the Northeastern Jurisdiction Committee on the
Episcopacy for help, but the committee did not act on his request.
During the 2012 Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference, a clergy delegate offered a five-point appeal for a
decision of law based on whether Mr.
Kim had received fair process. Bishop
Bickerton was presiding when the request was made. The Judicial Council
affirmed Bishop Bickerton’s responses
to all five points.
The council said that its ruling was
only in regard to the fair process question and would not be drawn into
other areas “where the Judicial Council has no disciplinary authority.” That
included Mr. Kim’s appeal to the
United Methodist General Commission on Religion and Race for an investigation into his treatment, a
request that was made 10 weeks after
his resignation.
After his resignation, Mr. Kim was
returned to status as a retired elder in
good standing in his home Greater
New Jersey Conference.
“The Judicial Council acknowledges that this matter has caused
much pain and suffering among those
involved, the community and the entire church,” Decision 1239 read.
An oral hearing on this matter also
was held April 17.
Mr. Kim, making a brief comment
before the Judicial Council, remembered that he was first ordained 50
years ago this year and asked “that the
church I love, and gave my life for,
treat me fairly.”
More decisions
In other rulings the Judicial Council:
• Remanded a question of law
made during the Western Jurisdictional Conference back to the presiding bishop for a decision after the
bishop had rejected the question as
moot because it had a typographical
error. The Judicial Council has ruled
several times in previous decisions
that such an error in a question does
“not necessarily negate the legitimacy
of the questions.”
• Deferred a decision on a question
from the Congo Central Conference
until it receives the minutes of the relevant session of the election process.
• Refused jurisdiction in an episcopal election dispute between annual
conferences in Nigeria because the
group submitting the request was
without the proper disciplinary standing to do so.
• Said it lacked jurisdiction in a
question of an inclusiveness resolution in the Desert Southwest Conference because the request for a bishop’s
decision of law was not properly presented during the business session of
annual conference.
• Denied a request to reconsider
Decision 1230, the decision on reinstating Bishop Earl Bledsoe, along
with Memorandums 1213 (Western
Jurisdiction Committee on Appeals)
and 1217 (North Alabama and the
Coalition for Reproductive Choice).
The Judicial Council is next scheduled to meet Oct. 23-26 in Boston.
Mr. Caldwell is the editor of the
Virginia United Methodist Advocate
and is a correspondent for United
Methodist News Service.
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U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T R E P O R T E R | M AY 3 , 2 0 1 3
4B FAITH focus
PHOTOS COURTESY GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CENTER
ABOVE: The 15-acre park setting of the Bush Center features native Texas plants and landscape. RIGHT: President and
Mrs. Bush in front of the Bush Center.
BUSH Continued from page 1B
remarks.
The Bush Center includes a museum and library, housing official
records and artifacts of the 43rd president. It also is home to the George W.
Bush Institute, a public policy center.
The dedication was, to no small
degree, a United Methodist event,
given that Mr. Bush and his wife Laura
are active United Methodists; that
they chose to put the facility at a
United Methodist school (Mrs. Bush’s
alma mater); and that their pastor, the
Rev. Mark Craig of Highland Park
UMC (right by the campus) gave the
invocation.
“We have gathered today, O God, to
give thanks for the life and legacy of
President and Mrs. George Bush,” Mr.
Craig prayed. “We are thankful for
their distinguished leadership to our
nation.”
Earlier this week, Mr. Craig said in
an interview: “The Bushes are very
strong church members. Every Sunday
I look over to my left, and they’re sitting there. . . . They love their church
and they love the Methodist Church.”
SMU President Gerald Turner said
the Bush Center will raise the school’s
profile and strengthen it academically,
through collaborations involving students and professors.
“The most obvious thing is it’ll
bring 400,000 to 500,000 people a year
here, and many of them wouldn’t have
been on campus otherwise,” he said.
“But the [academic] programs are
what we’re most interested in.”
In his remarks at the dedication,
Mr. Bush said: “President Gerald
Turner runs a fantastic university.” He
added that SMU has “a student body
that is awesome,” prompting a roar
from students gathered for the event.
Former presidents Bill Clinton and
Jimmy Carter both lauded Mr. Bush
for his work on global health, particularly providing drugs to Africans battling HIV/AIDS. Mr. Carter said Mr.
Bush, more than anyone, deserved
credit for ending civil war in Sudan.
President Obama too praised Mr.
Bush for his work in Africa, as well as
for backing immigration reform.
“Mr. President, for your service, for
your courage, for your sense of humor
and most of all for your love of country, thank you very much,” President
Obama said at the dedication.
Mr. Bush’s father, former President
George H.W. Bush, merely thanked the
crowd, but moved many by rising
from his wheelchair briefly.
SMU also had to win approval from
the UMC’s South Central Jurisdiction.
Some within the SMU community
and the denomination lamented the
school’s aggressive bid, particularly
since the arrangement required a public policy center that they predicted
would reflexively defend Mr. Bush’s
legacy and promote his philosophy of
government.
Critics remain, including the Rev.
Bill McElvaney, a retired United
Methodist pastor and professor emeritus of SMU’s Perkins School of Theology. He joined in an interfaith service
of lamentation on April 22 in Dallas,
one of a number of protest events
timed to the Bush Center dedication.
“My view has not shifted about the
war in Iraq,” Dr. McElvaney said in a
recent interview. “This was an illegal
war. It was unnecessary. It was taken
on false premises. Our president lived
above the law on that.”
But Dr. McElvaney volunteered
that the Bush Institute, already in operation, has had some worthy initiatives, including building leadership
skills among women in the Middle
East—a Laura Bush priority.
“Those are things we can be grateful for, as far as we know,” said Dr.
McElvaney, an SMU alum. “We’ll see
how this plays out.”
United Methodist Bishop Scott
Jones, an SMU board member, said it’s
Strong resource
George W. Bush’s presidency was,
as he acknowledged at the dedication, controversial, including his decision to go to war in Iraq after the 9/11
attacks, and his handling of Hurricane
Katrina and the economy, which went
into a deep recession late in his second term.
Though the Bushes made clear
they would return to Dallas after his
presidency, SMU had to compete to
become home to the Bush Center.
M AY 3 , 2 0 1 3 | U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T R E P O R T E R
understandable that there would be
opposition to the Bush Center within
the UMC, given the size and “big tent”
character of the denomination.
But he praised the Center, including the Institute, as a strong new resource for SMU.
“The predictions of great harm and
polarized political activity raised by
critics in 2007 and 2008 have not come
true,” Bishop Jones said. “The Institute
has conducted itself with academic integrity and been a strong contributor
to the university’s mission.”
The Rev. Stephen Rankin, a UM
elder and chaplain of SMU, also called
the Bush Center an asset for the
school and said the Institute can be a
place for rigorous, fair-minded policy
debate.
“I’m not suggesting some mushy
middle-of-the-road default,” he said.
“We United Methodists go there almost unthinkingly. I long for honest,
pointed discussions with charitable
judgments about each other’s motives,
rather than the political tit-for-tat that
happens too often.”
Twisted beam
UMR PHOTO BY SAM HODGES
The Rev. William McElvaney, a UM pastor and professor emeritus of
SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, spoke at a service of
lamentation, one of a number of protest events tied to the Bush
Center dedication.
The Center opens to the public
May 1, and visitors will encounter a
226,000 square foot structure whose
exterior complements SMU’s Georgian architecture, while including
modern touches. The interior walls integrate Texas pecan paneling with
Texas limestone.
The solar panel-equipped building
U N I T E DM E T HODI ST R E P ORT E R . ORG
FAITH focus 5B
PHOTO BY ERIC DRAPER
Laura Bush has led the Bush Institute to a focus on building leadership skills among women. The
Institute sponsored a group of Middle East women on a U.S. tour, including this stop at Facebook
Headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
earned LEED Platinum certification
from the U.S. Green Building Council,
and the 15-acre urban park that surrounds it, which Mrs. Bush consulted
on closely, features native, droughttolerant plants landscaped to maximize water conservation.
Freedom Hall provides the “wow”
of the Center, with its elevated ceiling
and a 360-degree video screen of
amazingly high definition.
The Museum begins with exhibits
depicting Mr. Bush’s early policy initiatives, such as tax cuts, the No Child
Left Behind education program and
faith-based initiatives.
But around the corner, the unexpected events dominate, namely the
9/11 attacks, the Iraq War, Hurricane
Katrina and the recession.
“You can see the way our lives
changed, and the way the lives of
everyone in our country changed,”
said Mrs. Bush at a media preview on
April 24.
The Museum includes a twisted
beam from the World Trade Center
towers, flanked by panels offering the
names of those killed in the 9/11 attacks. Visitors can use interactive
technology to hear the recorded advice Mr. Bush was given about
whether to go to war in Iraq, and can
register their own calls on what
should have been done.
“You get to decide how you would
handle the crisis, and you’re invited to
disagree with him,” said Mark Langdale, president of the Bush Center.
There are many lighter touches, including gowns worn by Mrs. Bush,
displays of gifts given to the Bushes by
foreign countries and bronze statues
of the Bush’s pet dogs. The Museum
offers a replica of the Oval Office, decorated as it was in Mr. Bush’s time.
U N I T E DM E T HODI ST R E P ORT E R . ORG
There’s even a Rose Garden, albeit
it with Texas plants, and a view of the
Dallas skyline.
The Bush Library, formally handed
over to the National Archives and
Records Administration on April 24,
offers scholars 70 million pages of
paper records, 200 million emails and
four million digital photographs.
The building also houses the Bush
Institute, whose policy areas include
economic growth, global health, education reform and human rights. Mrs.
Bush noted the Institute’s work on improving treatment for cervical cancer
in Africa.
She also praised the Center’s collaboration with SMU.
“It’s fun to be here,” she said during the media preview. “I went to college here. I’m back on my old
campus.”
At the dedication, the former presidents and First Ladies—Michelle
Obama, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton,
Barbara Bush and Rosalynn Carter—
sat together on the raised platform.
Dignitaries in the front rows included
former Vice President Dick Cheney.
The strict security measures accompanying the dedication prompted
Highland Park UMC to shut down for
much of this week.
But Mr. Craig said the church will
see visitors and other benefits from
the Bush Center. He plans to spend
time there in his retirement, which
he’s beginning this spring.
“I wouldn’t mind being a docent,”
he said.
PHOTO BY PETER AARON/OTTO FOR ROBERT A.M. STERN ARCHITECTS
ABOVE: Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center
features a 360-degree high-definition video wall. BELOW: Twisted
beams from the World Trade Center are a centerpiece of the 9/11
exhibit in the Bush Center Museum.
shodges@umr.org
FACTS AND FIGURES
The George W. Bush Presidential Center is on 23 acres near
the entrance of SMU.
The 226,000 square foot building houses George W. Bush
Presidential Library and Museum, George W. Bush Institute,
a museum store and Café 43.
Grounds cover 15 acres, featuring native trees, shrubs and
grasses, and a Texas Rose Garden.
“Green” building features include solar hot water and
photovoltaic systems.
Library/Museum is administered by the National Archives
and Records Administration, and holds 70 million pages of
paper, 43,000 artifacts, 200 million emails and 4 million
digital photos.
Library/Museum includes exhibits, an Oval Office replica and
a piece of steel from World Trade Center. Freedom Hall
encases a 20 foot tall, 360-degree high-definition video wall.
Building designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects.
Landscape designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.
Total cost: $250 million.
Opening: May 1.
Admission: $16 for adults. Discounts for seniors, students,
children. Free for SMU students, faculty, staff.
UMR PHOTO BY MARY JACOBS
U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T R E P O R T E R | M AY 3 , 2 0 1 3
6B FAITH forum
How will United Methodists respond to Gosnell horror?
B Y M AT T O’R E I L LY
Special Contributor
United Methodists have an impressive record for faithfully responding to
tragedy. In the aftermath of the Newtown massacre,
Methodist congregations responded with
an outpouring of
love and intercession. We have
preached, prayed and
worked to transform Matt
the systems that not O’Reilly
only allow but sometimes even enable such terrible acts.
The trial of Kermit Gosnell presents us with a new national horror
involving the violent deaths of children. Charged with the murder of one
woman and seven newborns, his
crimes likely far exceed the formal accusations against him. The horror of
the allegations has been compounded
by the initial hesitancy of mainstream
media to cover the story. As details
continue to emerge, the question for
United Methodists is this: How will we
respond to the Gosnell horror?
We must begin by recognizing that
this tragic situation follows from the
widespread efforts to normalize abortion in the United States. Not all will
agree with that conclusion, but a variety of factors suggest its accuracy. Since
abortion was declared a constitutional
right in the landmark case of Roe v.
Wade, the pro-choice movement has
worked hard to undermine the full personhood of the preborn. We have been
told again and again that the child in
the womb is a fetus, not a baby. We are
told that abortion is not the ending of a
life; it is the termination of a pregnancy. This cold and detached terminology is intended to downplay any
emotional reaction to abortion.
The problem is that if a preborn
child in the eighth or ninth month of
gestation does not have the moral status of a person, why should we think a
change of geography from inside the
womb to outside the womb suddenly
establishes personhood? There is no
substantive difference between the
preborn and the newly born. If we are
desensitized to the death of the former, it will lead us to be decreasingly
sensitive to the latter. The road from
Roe to Gosnell is a downhill slope.
This connection can clearly be
seen in a variety of recent arguments
made by abortion advocates. In 2012,
bioethicists Alberto Giubilini and
Francesca Minerva argued in the
peer-reviewed Journal of Medical
Ethics for what they called “post-birth
abortion.” They claimed that newborns, like fetuses, do not have the
moral status of a person and, therefore, the killing of a newborn should
be permissible even when the new-
Editor’s Note: The Rev. Matt
O’Reilley submitted this
commentary. Since it references the
Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Choice, we asked that
group for a response. The Rev.
Steve Copley wrote the essay below
on behalf of RCRC.
born has no disability or defect. Upon
the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade,
Mary Elizabeth Williams wrote a piece
for Salon.com titled, “So what if abortion ends life?” in which she argued
that the child inside the womb is as
much a life as the one outside. She did
not go as far as Dr. Giubilini and Dr.
Minerva by arguing for infanticide,
but when you agree that the preborn
and the newly born are alive in the
same sense, it is a short and logical
step from pre-birth abortion to infanticide. More recently, a representative
of Planned Parenthood argued to
Florida lawmakers that the decision to
offer life-saving care to a child born
alive after a botched abortion should
be left to the mother and her physicians rather than guaranteed by law.
When the principles that gave us
abortion-on-demand are being applied to infanticide in such a broad
range of arenas, from academic journals to popular websites and congressional hearings, it is difficult to
sustain the view that there is no con-
nection between Roe and Gosnell.
United Methodists need to recognize
that we are where we are because the
Roe decision started us on a path of
devaluing the sacred worth of human
life. That path has led us to the trial of
Kermit Gosnell.
In light of the connection between
abortion and infanticide, United
Methodists should respond to the
Gosnell horror in two ways.
First, we should break ties with the
Religious Coalition for Reproductive
Choice (RCRC). As many readers already know, our General Board of
Church & Society and United
Methodist Women are member organizations of RCRC. Readers may not
know that in a published volume of
worship aids entitled Prayerfully ProChoice, RCRC has written that abortion
is a “God-given right,” a “sacred choice,”
and that human life is not to be attributed to the preborn. This language goes
strongly against our Social Principles
which declare that, “Our belief in the
sanctity of unborn human life makes
us reluctant to approve abortion” (2012
Book of Discipline, ¶161.J). Claiming
abortion as a divinely endowed holy
right is hardly consonant with reluctance to approve it. RCRC has worked
tirelessly to devalue and destroy preborn human life, which, as I have argued, has played a significant part in
bringing about the current situation in
which Kermit Gosnell stands accused
of infanticide. United Methodists must
respond by holding our denominational agencies accountable for their
role in advancing abortion. We must
insist they break with RCRC.
Second, we should call upon General Conference to make a stronger
statement in our Social Principles in
favor of preborn and newly born
human life. Our United Methodist
Church must speak against the increasing application of pro-abortion
arguments to the practice of infanticide, and we need our Social Principles to guide us. We already state our
reluctance to approve abortion. We
need a statement that declares our unambiguous and unqualified support
for human life at every stage.
United Methodists are supposed to
be the people who speak up for those
who have no voice, who take up the
case of the marginalized, the abused
and the victimized. If we want to be
faithful to that heritage today and in
the days to come, we must be the voice
both of the preborn and the newly
born, and so must our denominational agencies and Social Principles.
We should be able to count on them to
defend the defenseless and care for
the destitute. This is our opportunity
to stand for righteousness and against
injustice. We must not miss it.
The Rev. O’Reilly is pastor of First
UMC of Union Springs, Ala.
Connect at www.mattoreilly.net.
Case is a horror, but no reason to leave RCRC
BY STEVE COPLEY
Special Contributor
The Kermit Gosnell case is as horrible as you think it is. And it illustrates precisely why
it should not be used
to argue for further
restriction of access.
Women living in
poverty in Philadelphia felt that Gosnell
was their only option
when they needed
Steve
an abortion, in part
because of the cur- Copley
rent restrictions on
Medicaid funding and the dearth of
accessible and affordable abortion
providers. Using Gosnell as an excuse
to further restrict abortion care just
creates more unprincipled, back alley
charlatans like him who are willing to
take advantage of women in desperate
circumstances. Gosnell’s case does not
show a slippery slope to infanticide;
rather, it is a window into a not-toodistant past where women were permanently injured or—too
often—died from illegal abortions.
As a pastor in the South Central
Jurisdiction, I’m glad our denomination is involved in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice because
the mission and work of RCRC so
clearly fits United Methodists’ position
on women’s health, and specifically
abortion care, as outlined in the Book
of Discipline.
Like many of you, I believe that
abortion should be legal, safe and
rare. One way to accomplish the “rare”
part of that belief is comprehensive
sexual education. The Book of Discipline says “(T)he Church should support the family in providing
age-appropriate education regarding
sexuality to children, youth and
adults.” (¶161.F) RCRC has done faithful work around sex-ed that is both
age and denominationally appropriate
so that young women and men aren’t
faced with having to make a decision
about abortion in the first place. I
know of no other organization inside
or outside the denomination that
helps us meet that mandate.
The Book of Discipline makes several references to concepts such as
self-determination, informed Chris-
M AY 3 , 2 0 1 3 | U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T R E P O R T E R
tian conscience, and thoughtful and
prayerful consideration regarding
abortion. Those actions are difficult to
effect without access to a full range of
reproductive health care services. As a
coalition, RCRC believes that access to
reproductive health care services
should be readily available to all people so that we can all experience God’s
good gift of sexuality with joy and responsibility, health and wholeness.
One passage from the Book of Discipline that is particularly meaningful
to me as someone who pastors those
living in poverty is also in the section
on abortion: “We call all Christians to
a searching and prayerful inquiry into
the sorts of conditions that may cause
them to consider abortion. The
Church shall offer ministries to reduce
unintended pregnancies. We commit
our Church to continue to provide
nurturing ministries to those who terminate a pregnancy, to those in the
midst of a crisis pregnancy, and to
those who give birth.” (¶161.J) For
decades, RCRC has been conducting
trainings for clergy in helping women
deal with these difficult decisions, as
well as in times of reproductive loss.
Being “reluctant to approve abortion,” as our Book of Discipline says, is
an indication of the careful thought
that a woman undertakes when considering the ending of a pregnancy.
But we agree that “. . . we are equally
bound to respect the sacredness of the
life and well-being of the mother and
the unborn child. We recognize tragic
conflicts of life with life that may justify abortion, and in such cases we
support the legal option of abortion
under proper medical procedures.”
(¶161.J) Indeed, this particular passage models the behavior of recognizing the gravity of the situation, and
then thoughtfully and prayerfully proceeding in partnership with loved
ones, clergy and medical professionals. It’s important to note here that
Gosnell’s actions were not proper and
accepted medical procedures, and he
in fact is not certified as an OB/GYN.
As United Methodists, we are not
called to the easy answers, but rather
called to bring our prayers, presence,
gifts, service and witness to our
Church specifically, and by extension,
to God’s vast and complex world. The
reasons a woman would choose an
abortion are rarely simple or easy, and
are made in an environment colored
by many factors, including poverty,
race, education and class, as well as
access to reproductive health care.
RCRC’s recent expansion into a frame
of reproductive justice includes not
only the moral agency of people to
make their own decisions about their
reproductive lives, but also now a
commitment to change the environment in which people make those very
decisions. Given the UMC’s long history of social justice and working to
help people at the margins, this is a
good fit for us—and a good fit to
bring our unique voice as a member
of the coalition that makes up RCRC.
We’re also called to witness to
Christ’s love. We live the gospel best
when we do so with action—action
that creates an environment where
people are able to exercise their conscience with as few barriers as possible.
The Rev. Copley is an ordained
elder in the Arkansas Conference,
and serves as executive director of
the Arkansas Interfaith
Conference. scopley438@aol.com.
U N I T E DM E T HODI ST R E P ORT E R . ORG
FAITH forum 7B
Faith is balm for ‘collective grief’ after tragedy
B Y J U L I E YA R B RO U G H
Special Contributor
“We know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”
(Romans 5:3-4, CEB)
When an entire
community is
stunned and
shocked by largescale loss, most recently the explosion
of a fertilizer plant
in West, Texas, a
kind of collective
Julie
grief envelops every- Yarbrough
one touched by the
tragedy. Usually this
grief is exponentially more intense in
small communities where there are
far fewer than six degrees of separation between neighbors, friends and
family. People know each other personally and intimately, many related
by birth and a shared geographic heritage.
It was inspiring to see a news report from West on Sunday, April 21,
about members of a large church
there worshipping outside together in
the bright sunshine of a spring day.
There were tears. There was sadness.
There was determination. There was
hope: “And hope does not disappoint
us because God has poured out his
love into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit.” (Romans 5:5 NRSV)
Life’s extremes collided in the lives
and hearts of those gathered in a field
to share their collective and individual grief. And there was joy—joy to
be alive and connected, safe amid the
public and private outpouring of love
and care that is God’s inspired response of the human heart.
The nature of collective grief is
that sometimes it lifts rather quickly,
such as when a suspect is apprehended. All of Boston, indeed the entire country, was relieved and jubilant
when the manhunt for those responsible for a senseless act of violent terrorism ended after four days of
searching. Yet in Newtown there will
PHOTO COURTESY CENTRAL TEXAS CONFERENCE
The Rev. Jimmy Sansom led a
service at West UMC in West,
Texas, on the Sunday after the
April 17 explosion devastated
much of the town.
always be a collective grief that
lingers in the hearts of those who
sustained unimaginable loss and suffer deep heartache. It could not be
otherwise. There will always be
grief—always—for the children and
adults slain that December day. Grief
for their tender age, their innocence,
their self-sacrifice. Those who survived live daily with circular projections of the mind about a future that
will never be—the “what if ” and “if
only” at the core of the great, unanswered, “Why?”
The rites and rituals of collective
grief can bring us, eventually, to a
sense of comfort and reassurance. Yet
the work of grief that ultimately leads
to healing demands that we first acknowledge our pain and loss, and engage with ourselves at a deep spiritual
place where we encounter what it is
we’re feeling and what it is we believe.
In 1 Peter 5:10 we’re promised that
our grief will not last forever: “And
after you have suffered for a little
while, the God of all grace, who has
called you to his eternal glory in
Christ, will himself restore, support,
strengthen, and establish you.”
(NRSV) God promises to restore us,
to support us, to strengthen us, and to
establish us—and the best part is
that God promises to do it himself.
God does not delegate God’s intentional care for you or for me. God is a
hands-on God who uses many of our
earthly resources and opportunities
to comfort and encourage us through
the abiding presence of the Holy
Spirit, especially at times of great sorrow, loss, and human tragedy.
On the last occasion my beloved
husband was in the pulpit, he offered
this pastoral prayer: “We have come
this far by faith, and we will continue
to walk with our hand in yours wherever you lead us.” I cherish this spiritual affirmation, the promise of our
faith that in life, in death, in life beyond death, and in our grief, God is
with us.
We are not alone.
Ms. Yarbrough is a member
of Highland Park UMC in Dallas,
where her late husband, the Rev.
Leighton K. Farrell, was longtime
pastor. She’s the author of a
series of grief resources, Beyond
the Broken Heart, published
by Abingdon Press
(www.beyondthebrokenheart.com).
Why the UM bishops should keep their meetings open
B Y B I S H O P J O E E. P E N N E L J R .
Special Contributor
As one of the retired bishops I join
those who are concerned about the active bishops meeting
as a closed “forum”
in San Diego from
May 5-8. The word
“forum” is a public
word. Its derivation
comes from the open
space or market
place in an ancient
Bishop Joe
Roman city. It is also
E. Pennel
used by organizations that hold pub- Jr.
lic meetings for
reflections and discussions around
themes of common interest.
It should be noted that the active
bishops are scheduled to meet as a
forum in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
“Forum” does not mean closed meeting. It means just the opposite. I want
to suggest several reasons why the
United Methodist Church would be
more vital if this did not happen.
First, it is advantageous for believers to experience the theological and
geographical diversity of the bishops.
In many ways the meetings are like
the entire church reduced to one
room. If we look carefully we experience the Christ who transcends our
differences to make us one.
Second, the global nature of the
church is experienced in these meetU N I T E DM E T HODI ST R E P ORT E R . ORG
ings. It does no harm for us to be open
to this experience.
Third, it is restoring to witness
how active bishops reflect theologically on issues such as sexuality, ordination, evangelism and the mission of
the church in the world. Having complete transparency on these and other
opportunities will strengthen the witness of the United Methodist Church.
Fourth, others can learn how to
share and work with best practices by
watching how the bishops go about
this important task. Why not have
these best practices published by our
religious press so that all could benefit? The presence of retired bishops
could also contribute to best practices
since experience is one of our great
teachers. Practices that strengthened
our witness in the past might also be
employed today.
Fifth, we are living in a time when
there is a growing interest in spiritual
retreats. More and more Christians are
interested in prayer, meditation,
searching the Scriptures and keeping
the spiritual disciplines. Others could
be helped and informed by how the
bishops engage the inner life. Bishop
Rosemarie Wenner of Germany, president of the council, described such
meetings as “mainly spiritual retreats.”
If this is true, why should anyone be
excluded from such opportunities to
grow in grace? Modeling spirituality
for the church is a genuine need. Mr.
Wesley taught us that social concern
grows out of vital piety.
Sixth, it could be beneficial if the
whole church could witness how the
bishops labor to “make disciples of
Jesus Christ for the transformation of
the world.” I know from my experience that the bishops are committed
to this mission. Why close the meeting
so that others cannot experience the
residential but we are active. Retired
bishops serve as professors, chaplains,
writers, consultants, interim pastors,
handlers of complaints and spiritual
directors. Our experiences could contribute to the conversation in ways
that might be helpful to all concerned.
In a word, some of us would gladly
serve as a resource to both the active
‘We want persons to be fully engaged
in the community of faith. The
communal nature of Methodism is
compromised by not having open
minds, open hearts and open doors.’
fervor around this mandate? Making
disciples is one of the ways that we
practice the ministry of reconciliation.
Seventh, I doubt that the bishops
would suggest closed meetings for
local congregations. I say this because
the Christian religion is by its very nature a communal religion. We want
persons to be fully engaged in the
community of faith. The communal
nature of Methodism is compromised
by not having open minds, open
hearts and open doors.
Eighth, it is worth noting that the
retired bishops are also excluded from
the meetings of the forum. We are not
and retired bishops.
Ninth, the forum does not carry
out the intention of Paragraph 4 of
our constitution. It states: “In the
United Methodist Church, no conference or other organizational unit of
the Church shall be structured so as to
exclude any member or any constituent body of the Church because of
race, color, national origin, status or
economic condition.” In my opinion,
the word “structured” is the key word
as it relates to closed meetings.
Tenth, the high purpose of the
Church is to reconcile people to God
and to each other after the example of
Christ. All that we do should be done
in the spirit of reconciliation. I believe
that we can better practice reconciliation by being open in all of our practices. I have been in Council of
Bishops meetings when there have
been serious theological differences
between bishops, aired at the microphone with great passion. After the
adjournment I have seen the very
same bishops hug each other as an expression of love for God and neighbor.
Deep commitment
I want to conclude this piece by
saying two things. First, the Council is
made up of persons of deep commitment to the mission of the United
Methodist Church. These persons, as a
group, want to lead the Church to be
an instrument through which Christ
can work.
Secondly, there are times when the
meetings do need to be closed because of delicate needs and issues that
affect the soul of the church. There
should be a place and a time to adjourn into closed session but having
closed meetings contradicts the spirit
of Wesley when he said, “Do all the
good you can, by all of the means you
can, in all of the ways you can, in all of
the places you can, at all of the times
you can, to all of the people you can,
as long as ever you can.”
Retired UM Bishop Pennel is a
professor of the practice of
leadership at Vanderbilt Divinity
School.
U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T R E P O R T E R | M AY 3 , 2 0 1 3
8B FAITH focus
HAGIYA Continued from page 1B
Briefly, what needs to happen on
both ends?
The church and academy are separate institutions with different histories, audiences and systems. One does
not serve the other, but rather there
should be a synergy arising out of a
shared partnership in mission and
purpose. I have a lot of ideas on how
the two institutions can work together, but the one that I would suggest immediately is to find a way for
the church and academy to talk with
each other in a constructive and mutually transforming way. Often, the
communication is single, channeled
with one institution demanding
something from the other. A carefully
constructed two-way conversation
where both institutions are attempting to understand
where the other is
coming from and
seeking to serve one
another would go a
long way. Having
been on both sides of
this fence, there are
great strengths in
each institution, but
instead of working for
the best in both, oftentimes we draw out
the worst in each.
You did your
doctoral study on
highly effective UM pastors. How
did you define “highly effective”?
As an academic research dissertation, I had to have a carefully defined
and quantitative definition of “highly
effective clergy.” My dissertation definition was those clergy who were able
to increase their average worship attendance over a sustained five-year
period or longer throughout their
ministerial careers. Conversely, “lower
effective clergy” were not able to in-
crease their average worship attendance over the same five-year criterion.
You write about a “culture of
entitlement” within UM ministry,
including bishops, that sometimes
trumps service to God. How does
that relate to “security of
appointment”—and is security of
appointment hurting the UMC?
From a management perspective, I
do believe that security of appointment is harming the United Methodist
Church. I understand its historical
roots in the primary protection of
women clergy, and I applaud that.
However, the church has come a long
way in this one area, and although
there is still a great deal of sexism in
our church, security
of appointment is no
longer needed in the
same historical context from its origin.
Personally, I believe
that security of appointment fosters a
sense of clergy entitlement, and I would
include bishops. If
security of appointment would someday go away, I believe
bishops should also
be subject to term
limits, and that
would push all of us away from mediocrity and into a lifelong sense of
growth and improvement.
“Empowerment of laity” is
something you stress over and over.
Why?
Because of its biblical and theological grounding, and the fact that in
our baptism, we have been endowed
with all the powers of Jesus to heal
and transform a broken world. Our
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current church culture has fostered a
clericalism that is miles away from
our biblical heritage, and it is truly
harming our denomination. We are in
a consumerism church model, where
the laity come as passive recipients of
a gospel truth that is dispensed by the
pastor who is supposed to be a theological expert. The biblical mandate is
that we all are ministers of that gospel
in our baptism!
The Pacific Northwest is known as
the least churched part of the
country. How tough is it to get
people engaged in Christian faith
there?
As one in the original “None Zone,”
I am always reminding our people of
the great advantage we have in the Pacific Northwest: We have way more
people to evangelize and transform!
Instead of lamenting the secularization of our part of the country, we
should be challenged by it, and work
that much harder to be the church of
Jesus Christ! It is definitely tougher to
get secularized people interested in
the gospel message, but nobody, especially Jesus, promised us it would be
easy. We are working as hard as we can
to turn things around, and I pay special attention to our yearly metrics, especially average worship attendance,
professions of faith and baptisms, and
mission events and projects.
On page 130 of your book, you lay
out the “metrics” you’ve posed to
the churches in your area, including
a 10 percent net increase in worship
attendance. Yet you also stress the
“missional” as opposed to
“attractional” model of church.
What do you say to the pastor who
says to you, “In order to boost
attendance, I need to focus on
programs that bring in individuals
and families, more than on mission
work?”
As I have mentioned earlier, we are
now in a “post-organized religious
culture” here in the West and Europe,
and people will not necessarily seek
out our churches from a felt need.
Thus, the “attractional” model that
worked for previous generations will
not work in our contemporary society.
We need to move to a “missional”
model that engages people where they
are. However, as I also previously
mentioned, all of our systems, structures and processes are still fixed in
the old attractional model. Therefore,
I believe we find ourselves in the transitional zone between attractional and
missional.
Gil Rendle calls this the “wilderness.” We are sojourners, looking for
home. I tell anyone who will listen that
God will ultimately lead us by pillar
and fire to our final home, and the key
is for us to journey in faith. Our home
UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE FILE PHOTO BY MIKE DUBOSE
Bishop Grant Hagiya (front) helps deliver a report on the UMC’s
Four Areas of Focus during the 2012 General Conference in
Tampa, Fla. He is flanked (from left) by Bishops Joel Martinez,
Thomas Bickerton and Mike Lowry.
is not in a church building or church
property, but our home is the mission
itself. To bring more people into the
church building, without sending
them out in mission to the world, is
bankrupt and biblically wrong. Mission is our very reason for existence as
the people of God.
How has your work changed and
grown, now that you’re leading
three conferences? And how much
traveling are you doing?
In my opinion, the reduction of
one bishop in each jurisdiction at the
2004 General Conference was more
motivated by political rather than financial reasons. As such, the church
did not realize the unintended consequences, and we are now living
through the problems that this decision has produced. In my case, I must
now oversee a huge geographical territory that includes Alaska, Idaho,
Oregon and Washington. My personal
testimony is that if I could focus and
concentrate on any one of those areas
and annual conferences alone, I could
effect change and growth to a greater
degree.
You write in Spiritual Kaizen, as an
aside, that you can teach most
people how to break a board. Do
you still practice the martial arts,
and what’s the most boards you’ve
ever broken at one time?
I do still practice. Board and brick
breaking is not an integral part of the
art, and the only time we did it was for
show . . . to promote our dojo (studio)
or art. It was also expensive, as in one
power break we would break 5-6
boards at one time. At my age, I don’t
have the time or money to waste on
such activities!
shodges@umr.org
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8A
Wisconsin Conference Edition of the United Methodist Reporter
May 3, 2013
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ABOVE: Professor Auxilia Chideme-Munodawafa smiles during the 20th
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Conferences Exceed 100 Percent Giving to Africa University
homa Indian Missionary, Peninsula-Delaware, Red Bird MissionBy Heather Peck Stahl*
ary, Southwest Texas, Tennessee, Upper New York, West MichiNASHVILLE, Tenn.—“Africa University is an example of how
gan, West Ohio, West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania.
the connectional system can make a difference in the world,” said
Wisconsin Conference has maintained a longtime relationJohn Cardillo, treasurer and director of administrative services
ship with Africa University. “Our churches,” said Bishop Hee-Soo
of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference. “By supporting the
Jung, “celebrate the level of
university, we are enabling the
higher education advancement
growth of well-educated leaders “Africa University,” said Lisa King, Wisconsin
that Africa University has acand helping to provide the tools
Annual Conference treasurer, “is a wonderful complished.”
for a better socioeconomic fuAccording to Lisa King, conture for communities in Africa.”
example of what The United Methodist
ference treasurer, five local
Support of Africa University,
churches and a couple donated
now celebrating two decades of Church can do together connectionally.”
funds above the 2012 apporpreparing leaders for Africa and
tioned amounts to Africa University. The largest donations came
the world, is gaining momentum. In fact, 27 annual conferences
from Bethany United Methodist Church, Madison; First, Whitepaid 100 percent of their 2012 asking for Africa University Fund,
water; and Community, Elm Grove.
with four exceeding their goal. Wisconsin Conference paid a
“Africa University is a wonderful example of what The United
whopping 169.31 percent, followed by Greater New Jersey, 104.69
percent; Iowa, 100.57 percent; and Louisiana, 100.03 percent.
Methodist Church can do together connectionally,” said King.
Other conferences paying 100 percent were Alaska United
“The entire denomination has established a university that
Methodist, Baltimore-Washington, Desert Southwest, East Ohio,
provides critical education for Africans, who will then go back to
their various nations and provide leadership through the church
Florida, Holston, Illinois Great Rivers, Kansas West, Minnesota,
and continent. (The school) has amazingly continued in this
New England, New York, North Carolina, Northern Illinois, Okla-
mission throughout the devastating and crippling economic circumstances in Zimbabwe over the past decade and now appears
to be stronger than ever.”
In the Greater New Jersey Conference, the Rev. Robert
Costello, superintendent of Gateway South District, said Africa
University has been the “favorite” missionary project of the
Greater New Jersey Conference since the school opened.
Greater New Jersey Bishop John Schol encouraged support of
Africa University. “The development of leadership to serve
within Africa,” he said, “is a priority for us as we seek to be faithful in our mission as a global partner.”
The bishop has made seven trips to Africa University. “I have
seen and experienced firsthand how the school is making a difference in the lives of students, the church and the region where
it’s located,” he says. “Graduates … are leaders in business, the
church, agriculture, education and economic development and
an example of what United Methodists can do when we work and
give generously together.”
*Heather Peck Stahl is a freelance journalist living in Nashville,
Tenn.; Reprinted with permission from United Methodist
Communications
Spotlight on Spiritual Formation Resource Team
By Barbara Dick
Facilitator, Spiritual Formation Resource Team
Spiritual Formation is the lifelong process
of intentionally opening one’s life to God.
God desires relationship with us. As a
response to God’s desire, spiritual
formation deepens that relationship.
We need God to fill our deep longing to live
a life of love. Practices of spiritual
formation invite the Holy Spirit to grow
our capacity to love.
Barbara Dick
We live in human communities. Spiritual
formation roots us together in Christ, equipping us to give and
receive God’s grace.
Find this statement—a distillation of our collective wisdom regarding the nature of spiritual formation—and links to events and
helpful spiritual formation resources on our web page at
http://www.wisconsinumc.org
Since our team formed in 2011, we have gathered to laugh,
share, pray, sing, enjoy table fellowship, and learn together. We have
shared our faith stories, our understandings of spiritual formation,
our hopes and plans for the Wisconsin Annual Conference, and our
shared desire to bring awareness to the deep hunger for God that
we see all around us in Wisconsin.
Join us at any or all of these upcoming opportunities to deepen
your faith:
The Prayer Room at Annual Conference 2013 will be in the
“Board Room” at the Marriott in Middleton. We think of a board
room as the space in which high-powered decisions are made.
Well, we are preparing a welcome for the amazing power of the
Holy Spirit in a space of contemplation and Sabbath rest. Come
in any time during Conference to reflect, to rest, to pray. Team
members will be there, praying for all attendees and ready to
pray with you. You will find a prayer guide and a quiet, peaceful
atmosphere.
Consider attending our afternoon offering for the Annual
Conference Learning Day, June 10. Experience and learn about
spiritual practices for small groups that bear “fruit that will last”
(John 15:16) through local congregations. We will explore a variety
of approaches to prayer and Bible study and provide simple
instructions for sharing these practices in your local setting.
And look for information, coming soon, about the REAL Retreat
at Pine Lake (July 14–17). The Rest, Eat, And Laugh Retreat
invites participants to reflect on their spiritual journeys, share
stories, and renew their souls. It is open to all clergy and laity in
the Conference, and timed to provide particular value to those
who have just experienced transitions in pastoral leadership. For
additional information, contact Barbara Dick at 608-658-4447 or
spiritualformation@wisconsinumc.org.
Looking ahead, we plan to offer a 5-Day Academy of Spiritual
Formation in the summer of 2014. Begin praying now about
participating in this powerful, transformational experience of
spiritual exploration and learning (dates and other details to
come).
As a team, we hold one another, our leaders, and the Conference
in prayer, confident in the ongoing presence and power of the Holy
Spirit to transform our lives and build up the body of Christ. Many
thanks to the hard work of our Spiritual Formation Resource Team,
including Lucinda Alwa, Amy Anderson, Karen Bankes, Vicki
Brantmeyer, Steve Brown, Barbara Cook, Kate Croskery-Jones,
Laura Ida, Sara Langlois, Thomas Lindahl, Thad Rutter, Kevin J.
Tubbs, Wendell Williams, and Connie Ziegler.
Keep Informed and
Stay Connected!
In addition to Reflections, our print publication,
we also publish a weekly Enews email newsletter,
which contains timely information about important
UMC events, tips and resources, and more. Visit
www.youtube.com/wisconsinumc to view videos from the
Wisconsin Conference and The United Methodist Church.
Be sure to read and post comments on our Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/wisconsinumc. Additionally, visit our
website at www.wisconsinumc.org for information, tools, and
links to all of our communications vehicles. You can sign up
to receive Enews or Reflections, or share your story or event,
by emailing mvirnig@wisconsinumc.org.