News
April 29, 2019
From Fellowship to True Hospitality
A Message From Cody Collier: If people visit your church once or twice but don’t return, you may have a “guest readiness” issue, according to Dr. Kim Pope-Seiberling, professor at Lindsey Wilson College and elder in ...
April 29, 2019
Leadership Excellence
Southwest District Superintendent Mark Statler is not leaving the Missouri Conference Cabinet, but he will soon be serving churches in Missouri in a new way. This June he will be appointed to Conference staff as the new ...
April 29, 2019
Making Arrangements
This month I would like to share some thoughts about arranging music. As many church musicians know, the challenge of leading music effectively can sometimes be the instrumentation of the worship team or ensemble. ...
April 29, 2019
Mozambique Hit Hard by Cyclone Idai
When disaster strikes in an underdeveloped country, reporting on the tragedy is often sketchy at first, as major media outlets aren’t on the scene. Days after the storm multiple news outlets were reporting that Cyclone ...
April 29, 2019
Parting Shot
My current daily devotional is Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day by Peter Scazzero. Today began with the scripture reading of 1 John 2:15-17. The entry includes a quote from Thomas Merton about the Desert ...
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April 29, 2019
Progress in Puerto Rico
Around this time a year ago, a team of four college students and a pastor from Missouri began repairing damage from Hurricane Maria in Vieques, Puerto Rico. At that time the goal was to fix the roof of the guesthouse so ...
April 29, 2019
Stepping Out in Faith
It takes faith to push forward and try something new. For the people being honored at the Missouri Conference Award banquet on April 10, having the faith to take that initiative yielded great fruit toward their purpose ...
April 29, 2019
Victory Over Sin & Death
When we pray the Great Thanksgiving during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we often say these words together: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” This is the ground of our hope as Christians...
April 29, 2019
Yes You Can! Gift Planning in Uncertain Times
From time to time in Methodist publications, one encounters a typo: the letters in “United” are transposed into “Untied.” While this has always generated a knowing chuckle, it now seems like a plausible name for our ...
April 09, 2019
NextGen Ministries Launches New Place for New People
COLUMBIA, Mo. – April 9, 2019 – NextGen Ministries announced its intention to plant a new place for new people in Springfield with a focus on the college-age population. Bishop Bob Farr has appointed Rev. Tracey Wolff to...
April 03, 2019
A Commitment to Questions
As a delegate to the special session of General Conference, when I agreed to write this article, I thought I would write about my experience in St. Louis. But then, near the end of the Conference, someone made a motion ...
April 03, 2019
A Not-So Special Session
In 2011 and 2012, then Missouri Bishop Robert Schnase spent a lot of time and energy working on Plan UMC, designed to restructure the church at the General Church level (i.e., how we do General Conference and the General...
April 03, 2019
First-Time Delegate is Seventh Generation Delegate
As a first-time delegate to General Conference, Rev. Andy Bryan felt the presence of the saints that come before him when session commenced on February 23. The role runs deep in his veins – he is a fifth generation ...
April 03, 2019
GC2019 Maps Uncertain Way Forward
Beneath the Arch that symbolizes the U.S. Gateway to the West, more than 820 General Conference delegates worked to open a gateway in the denomination’s longtime homosexuality debate. But after four days of prayers, ...
April 03, 2019
Jon Thompson: The Next Ozarks District Superintendent
Rev. Jon Thompson will be appointed as the Ozarks District Superintendent this June. He will replace Rev. Lynn Dyke, who is retiring. Thompson was born in Geneva, Illinois. At age six he moved to a family farm near ...
April 03, 2019
Journey Through Lent
As we journey through Lent to the cross, it is beneficial to be accompanied by the verse of Charles Wesley. I want to look at hymn 374 in The United Methodist Hymnal, which is printed as a poem. It is a pleading by God ...
April 03, 2019
Missouri Delegation Reflects on General Conference
In 2016 when the Council of Bishops were asked to provide guidance on how the United Methodist Church could move forward regarding issues related to human sexuality, Missouri Conference lay delegate Margie Briggs thought...
April 03, 2019
Missourians at the Mic
There were 864 delegates at the Special Called Session of General Conference, and the nature of someone speaking on the floor was closely regulated. When a proposal was being discussed the debate was limited to three ...
April 03, 2019
Monitors: Finding the Balance
This month I’d like to discuss stage monitoring systems. There are many products available to you and your congregation, so which is best? Stage monitors are any type of device used to send the sound from your PA system...
April 03, 2019
Mozambique Initiative: Snapshot 2019
In August of 1999, a partnership bridging 8,000 miles, was born. The Mozambique Initiative began as relationships formed, at first by individual Missouri and Mozambique Methodists, and later through connections between ...
April 03, 2019
Parting Shot
Eagles don’t allow storms to overpower them. They don’t cower in hiding at the approach of a storm and don’t flee from the tempest when it arrives in full furry. They use the energy and pressure of the storm’s winds to ...
April 03, 2019
Power Moves: Moving Power In The Right Direction
Power Moves: Moving Power in the Right Direction is an energetic approach to a Christ-centered life in ministry. It is a powerful guide for church leaders that investigates the sources and manifestation of spiritual ...
April 03, 2019
Praying Our Way Forward Arrives at Special Session
The United Methodist Church believes prayer changes things. Soon after the Special Called Session of General Conference was scheduled in 2016, a Praying Our Way Forward initiative began. Phase 1 involved 84 members of ...
April 03, 2019
Puerto Rico Giving
Progress continues in our work in Puerto Rico. The church roof has been replaced, the clinic is repaired and ready for the next plans of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico, and our teams are working on homes in the ...
April 03, 2019
Reflections From General Conference 2019
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. I hope you and your church are being blessed by your journey through Lent and the resurrection joy of Easter. As we come out from underneath the cloud of General...
April 03, 2019
Robin Bell: The Next Gateway Central District Superintendent
Rev. Robin Roderick Bell will be appointed to be the next Gateway Central District Superintendent in June. She will replace Rev. Londia Granger Wright, who is retiring. Bell was born near Chicago but soon her family ...
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April 03, 2019
Spiritual Direction Prayer
Rev. Len Delony had cancer at age 13. In a few months’ time he lost half of his body weight, dropping from 150 pounds to 75. In this emaciated state he couldn’t go to school, or practically anywhere else besides doctor ...
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April 03, 2019
The Man With Many Hats
It’s the kind of the morning only a few are willing to venture into when the brisk February air is blowing you back into your warm bed. The aroma of coffee surrounds you like a blanket when you finally arrive as people ...
April 03, 2019
There to Help
Rev. Jeff Baker was at General Conference in St. Louis to help out. “I was just there to run errands for Kim (Jenne) or Heather (Birge), and help out wherever they needed me,” said Baker, Missouri Conference Director of ...
April 03, 2019
Timely Topics from C2FM: Should A Pastor Buy or Rent?
There is no one answer to this question that fits every situation. There are many factors to consider, and decisions should be made in consultation with local church leaders, and by seeking the advice of trusted ...
April 03, 2019
Traditional In Its Own Right
At 10:58 a.m. the organist at Centenary United Methodist Church took her seat at the foot of the historic Babler memorial organ, its height stretching to towards the sanctuary’s ceiling. A few minutes after 11 a.m., Rev....
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April 03, 2019
Volunteering to Make it Work
In the midst of constant change throughout General Conference, one thing was consistent no matter what was happening on the floor of the Dome: A red shirt emblazoned with volunteer on the back. These red shirts ...
April 02, 2019
Alice Fowler To Be Next Southwest District Superintendent
If the name “Rev. Alice Fowler” sounds familiar, it may be because she was the preacher for the Sunday morning worship service at Annual Conference Session in 2015. It will soon be a name you hear more often, as she will...
April 02, 2019
Mark Statler To Be New Director of Leadership Excellence
Southwest District Superintendent Mark Statler is not leaving the Missouri Conference Cabinet, but he will soon be serving churches in Missouri in a new way. This June he will be appointed to Conference staff as the new ...
March 19, 2019
Cyclone Idai: Ways to Respond
On March 14, Cyclone Idai made landfall at the city of Beira, Mozambique. The cyclone slammed into the southeast African country as a high-end Category 2 storm with 175 kph (110 mph winds) at midnight Thursday, causing ...
March 15, 2019
Bishop's GC2019 District Conversations
Choose one of nine opportunities that works best for your schedule. These sessions will not be recorded. Date District Location Time Thursday, March 14 Mid-State MOAC (Columbia) 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 15 ...
March 11, 2019
Bishops challenge constitutionality of disaffiliation petition
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church (COB) has asked the Judicial Council for a declaratory decision as to the constitutionality and the meaning, application, and effect of Petition ...
March 06, 2019
3 Reasons You Should Explore the Enneagram
The word Enneagram has likely graced your social media feed, and you may have brushed it off as the latest personality type trend. While this style of understanding personality has gained popularity, appearing in many ...
March 06, 2019
5 Things to Learn
Jake McGlothin, former director of Serve Ministries at Floris United Methodist Church in Fairfax County, Virginia, and currently a pastor at Restoration Church in Loudoun, led a webinar elaborating on his book A ...
March 06, 2019
Are We Yet Alive?
I write this not knowing what, if anything, the called General Conference has decided concerning the future of the United Methodist Church. But whatever has occurred, I think it is important to remind ourselves that our ...
March 06, 2019
For Raytown: Campus of Woods Chapel has New Beginning
On March 3 Raytown Chapel is going to launch as a new United Methodist Church. It’s a campus of Woods Chapel UMC in Lee’s Summit and is making a fresh start as a new church focused on community engagement. First ...
March 06, 2019
God Calls All of Us
God calls all of us. Throughout scripture, we are told about God's call on our lives to be in ministry. We hear these words in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, “There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; and there are...
March 06, 2019
I Don't Know Cotton
I wrote this column two weeks before the special session of General Conference started. If you’re reading the printed version of the magazine, the special session has probably been over for a few days. So, I’m going to ...
March 06, 2019
Parting Shot
This light bulb grabbed my attention on a contemplative walk as I mulled over how to provide pastoral leadership following an incident which sent shock waves throughout the community. My thoughts were swept into ...
March 06, 2019
Pure
A combination of journalistic style, cultural commentary, and memoir, PURE: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free by Linda Kay Klein is a look at the Evangelical ...
March 06, 2019
Thoughts on General Conference 2019
At the end of the month, The United Methodist Church will gather in St. Louis for the Special Session of the General Conference to discern a “way forward” beyond our division related to human sexuality, interpretation of...
March 06, 2019
Up Tempo
Do you think about tempo when making song selections? Though this may not be an obvious initial consideration for church musicians, I propose that it should be. We’re all suckers for a good melody. Think about it. You’...
March 06, 2019
Working Towards the Goal
Last fall the Missouri Conference kicked-off an action plan for tackling three big goals in the areas of New Places for New People, Missional Leaders and Pathway Out of Poverty. On January 29 Conference leaders ...
March 04, 2019
A Pastoral Letter to the United Methodist Church from the President of the Council of Bishops
+Where possible you are asked to read this brief letter in your morning worship service. Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They ...
February 23, 2019
Praying Our Way Forward Arrives at Special Session
The United Methodist Church believes prayer changes things. Soon after the Special Session of General Conference was scheduled in 2016, a Praying Our Way Forward initiative began. Phase 1 involved 84 members of the ...