Wednesday, 09 June 2010

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  My Top "Takeaways" from Missouri UMC Annual Conference

  Well, friends, I was honored to represent Campbell UMC as a lay delegate to the Missouri Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church this past weekend.  It was quite the event!  It's nice to get a feel for what's been going on with and what's ahead for churches throughout the state this year. I was able to connect with old friends and a few former pastors, I was able to spend some time with a handful of new friends, and the conference certainly helped me develop a sense for the attitudes our state church leadership has when it comes to issues of spiritual depth.

   

  I will probably be digesting things further and sharing some insights with the congregation at Campbell in the coming weeks, but right off the top, I'd love to share a few of the things I walked away with, fresh on my heart and mind.

   

  1) Sometimes I take a rather dim view of the church as an institution, because I feel like when all these people who love Jesus get stuck in this huge "corporate" structure (the hairball, maybe?), all they begin to think and talk about is numbers, order, and logistics.  Therefore, I had prepared myself for this conference being all about the numbers, the order, and the logistics.  But you know what?  A lot of the people I heard talking there really just wanted to talk about Jesus and Jesus business.  It was really... surprising!

   

  2) I think I must take Campbell for granted sometimes.  I know we've had our struggles, but I think we really have a church that loves and welcomes across the generational lines.  The service I serve in regularly sports "new" music and less liturgy, yet it also sports a spectrum of age attendance from eight to eighty!  Some of the conversation among young adults at the conference painted quite a different picture to me.  Is it really that bad everywhere else - the young feeling entirely and absolutely alienated from the old - as if there were simply two congregations within one church building?  I'd love to hear other people's insights on this issue.

   

  3) I just love the spirit of black preachers.  I don't know what it is.  So many black preachers that I've heard have a depth of character and precise execution of intelligence I feel as if I will never develop.  Call me racist if you wish, but I don't know that I will ever grow tired of being exhorted by black preachers.  Sorry, Andy; if it's any consolation, you're a close second, especially when you get fired up...

   

  4) If God has been trying to tell me anything these past several months, it's that I really don't talk about Jesus much.  And considering what I believe and why I believe it, that's a problem.  When I'm cornered and forced into self reflection, I really have to step back and question the richness of my love for Jesus, because, you talk about what you love, right?  I'm never gonna be about made-for-TV "witnessing," in the sense of walking up to random people and Jesusifying them.  I'm simply wondering about Jesus' place in my daily conversations - the kind I have with people about what I did this weekend or what I want to do next weekend.  This whole conference was about growing deeper - about sending our individual roots way down so that we may bear rich, world-transforming fruit.  If I believe even the name of Jesus has a transforming way about it, why would I not want to bear that fruit?  Sometimes, I believe, I fear that I don't reflect Jesus' mission adequately in my own life - that I wouldn't want people associating my own marred name with his holy name.  But maybe I've got that backwards.  In the bible, Jesus seemed quite content being directly associated with quite notorious sinners, even the white-collar ones.  Perhaps it's not anything close to humility to believe I can or should "protect" Jesus' name.  In fact, I'm starting to think that's pride in disguise.

   

  5) I felt overwhelmingly at home among all the sacrificial church leaders at Annual Conference.  I'm so very ready for full-time ministry.  It's beyond feeling stuck.  I know I've got to pay the bills, but after this past weekend, I am more convinced than ever that there is a way to do both.  Yet not my will, but your's, everlasting God.  All I'm sayin' is that the next year cannot pass any sooner.

   

  More to come friends.  Your feedback and input is always welcomed and appreciated.  Peace.

   

  --kory // www.korywilcox.com

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