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June 2019

June 2019

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Features

After the Cyclone, Faith Abides

June 15, 2019

After the Cyclone, Faith Abides

Story by Kathy L. Gilbert, Photos by Mike DuBose With winds up to 125 miles per hour, the cyclone ripped tin roofs off houses and hurtled them like deadly missiles that killed and maimed. Otherwise placid rivers jumped their banks and submerged towns and villages, drowning hundreds and ...

Denomination Lay Leaders Meet

June 15, 2019

Denomination Lay Leaders Meet

By Brian Hammons, SCJ Jurisdiction Lay Leader Conference lay leaders from United Methodist annual conferences all over the U.S. (and one from Africa) met in April for their annual meeting. This group truly represents the broad spectrum of lay leadership across the denomination. The theme ...

Pastors on the Move: Many Pastors on their Way to New Appointments in 2019

June 15, 2019

Pastors on the Move: Many Pastors on their Way to New Appointments in 2019

For pastors on the move, the 2019 appointive season has been a year of opportunity for Missouri Conference clergy. There are 64 full-time clergy that will be reporting to new churches this year.  Appointments changes this year included some of the largest churches in the Missouri ...

Seminary 2019

June 15, 2019

Seminary 2019

Saint Paul School of Theology is alive and well and very different from the seminary many Missouri Conference clergy remember. With campuses at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, and at Oklahoma State University, the classes are small, high-tech and interconnected. Students ...

The Island Near the Island

June 15, 2019

The Island Near the Island

Standing on the western shore of Haiti and looking out to sea, the large land mass looks relatively close. It is the island of La Gonave, farther away than it appears because it’s high country rises 2,500 above sea level.    La Gonave is where two young doctors started their marriage. ...

UMC Next

June 15, 2019

UMC Next

On March 27 and April 4, 2019, leaders interested in a fully inclusive church from across The United Methodist Church gathered in Dallas, Texas and in Atlanta, Georgia. Facilitated by Gil Rendle and Bishop Janice Huie, the aim of the meetings was to bring together thoughtful leaders ...

News and Updates

Finding Resiliency

June 15, 2019

Finding Resiliency

Sarah Ciavarri, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America pastor, preached her first sermon after seminary 10 days after the terrorism attack on the United States on September 11. Her sermon was on resiliency. Resiliency has remained a central theme for her ministry and was the topic she ...

Take Care In What You Pack

June 15, 2019

Take Care In What You Pack

Every spring the Missouri Conference offers Right Start to help pastors who are changing churches make a successful exchange of the baton in the “change-over zone.” The seminar provides nuts and bolts information relating to practical matters including pension, health insurance and ...

The Enneagram at Soul Connections

June 15, 2019

The Enneagram at Soul Connections

This year the Missouri Conference’s Soul Connections retreat embraced a tool that many people have used for growth for decades: the Enneagram. The Enneagram is a personality system that combines both psychology and spirituality in the search for self-awareness and self-acceptance. It ...

What's Next?

June 15, 2019

What's Next?

Missourians know Dr. Lovett Weems as a previous president of Saint Paul School of Theology, an author of many books relating to United Methodism and the current director of the Lewis Center of Church Leadership. Throughout it all, he’s been a diligent student of church history, both as it ...

Laity Voices

Laity Leadership: Grounded In Solid Faith That Includes Making Space For Discernment

June 15, 2019

By Amy Thompson In our society today we see many images of leaders. Amid all these images, it can be hard to determine who might be a good leader and worth following. In thinking about leaders and what makes them good, my attention often turns toward the work of Ken Blanchard with servant...

Letters from the Editor

Having a Prayer

June 15, 2019

If I’m going to be gathering with a group of people with divergent opinions, I’m going to be all for everyone praying to be led by the Holy Spirit. This is tricky on my part. It’s almost like I’m cheating.  You see, I know I’m right. So, when I pray for divine guidance, I know the Holy ...

From Bishop Farr

I'm Doing a New Thing: Can You Perceive It?

June 15, 2019

Two thoughts have encouraged my spirits as we go through some very uncertain times in our church and in our world. The first is a prayer shared in cabinet this winter titled, “Slow Work of God” by Pierre Teilhard De Chardin. It reminds us to trust in the slow work of God and that only God ...

Now Read This

Where Do We Go From Here?

June 15, 2019

By Fred Koenig You could write a book about what people had to say about the special session of General Conference held in St. Louis in February. Kevin Slimp has done just that.  Actually, he didn’t really write it. Instead he got people who are currently in the thick of the fallout to ...

Missouri United Methodist Foundation

Better Data, Better Services: C2FM Surveys Pastors

June 15, 2019

Take the survey will be the drumbeat over the next few weeks, including at the Annual Conference, from the Clergy and Church Financial Ministry (C2FM). Chris Bouchard, C2FM Director, hopes to get at least 80 percent of active pastors to complete a brief online questionnaire.    “We are ...

Music Matters

Choosing Songs for the Right Reason

June 15, 2019

By Ryan McClouth Are you choosing music that’s right for your congregation? This is a question we should all be considering as church leaders. Are we choosing music for the right reasons? Sometimes we tend to make selections based on what other churches are doing, trends in worship music ...

Wesley in the World Today

The Holy Spirit to All

June 15, 2019

By Hal Knight   Pentecost Sunday — which the Wesleys would also know as “Whitsunday” — is celebrated as the time of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the church. Both are important, as long as it is remembered that it is the Holy Spirit who brings the church into existence....

Parting Shot

Parting Shot

June 15, 2019

Eric Mattson

Parting Shot

By Eric Mattson Presence is vital to both our relationship with God and with people. Presence requires an inner knowledge of what’s going on within us as well as an awareness and alertness to who and what is around us. My images received and attention invested during creation become a ...

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