Saturday, June 26, 2010

Ending and Beginning

The Uniting Conference on June 19th has come and gone - and what a day it was! The Plan of Union was presented, debated, revised and adopted. There's now a new conference in Upper New York. Thanks be to God!

It's been an incredible journey serving as New ACT's Convener these past 18 months. I've been stretched and blessed in ways I never imagined. In this last "Convener's Corner" blog post, I want to say a brief word of thanks to three special communities who helped make this journey possible for me:

  • New ACT - I'm so grateful to have worked with this amazing group of people. Bold, compassionate, funny, committed and able to see the possibilities even amid enormous challenges. I've learned an enormous amount about leadership, creativity, spiritual discernment, forgiveness and hope from these colleagues and friends.
  • Lansing United Methodist Church - I have been blessed to serve this congregation as pastor for the last seven years. During almost that entire time I've been involved in the creation of our new conference. Despite the heavy commitment of time and energy this work required of me - especially during these past two years - the people of Lansing released me to do what was required. They model what a connectional church is all about. And their vibrant ministry in Lansing (and beyond) kept before me the primacy of the local church. Its where God finds hands, feet and voices to build the Kingdom.
  • My family - my wife Dori and my daughters, Tasha and Alisha. We spent many Friday nights and Saturdays apart as I was off to meetings. And when we were together, my family often had to put up with a distracted husband/father! But they loved me all the same. Dori, in particular, provided the kind of support only a soul-mate can give: thoughtful questions, practical wisdom, steady encouragement, and a good dose of humor whenever it got too serious. Thank you, sweetheart, for everything.
And thanks to you for stopping by this blog to learn how the work was moving along. In a few weeks I plan to start a new blog on www.unyumc.org (Upper New York Conference's new web site) writing as the Director of Connectional Ministries. We've got many exciting days ahead of us as we continue to walk together as a new conference. I look forward to sharing this next leg of the journey with you.

Grace and Peace to you!