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Disaster Response and Recovery
Higher Education & Campus Ministry
Pan-Methodist Campaign for Children in Poverty
4/5/2021
Dear Friends, During this Easter season, I bring you words of hope. After all, more than any period on the Christian calendar, Eastertide is characterized by hope. Perhaps you have been in a meeting where participants name a word that they associate with an event, person or experience. Whether it is done on newsprint, with post-it notes or by Mentimeter, the word hope receives lots of votes in association with Easter. So Eastertide is a great season! Because all of us need an ample supply of ...
4/4/2021
Dear Friends, On this Easter Sunday, I bring you words of hope. After all, more than any other day on the calendar, Easter Sunday is characterized by hope. Perhaps you have been in a meeting where participants name a word that they associate with an event, person or experience. Whether it is done on newsprint, with post-it notes or by Mentimeter, the word hope receives lots of votes in association with Easter. So today is a great day! Because all of us need an ample supply of hope in our lives! ...
3/17/2021
Dear Friends, Hebrews 12:1b is a favorite Scripture passage for many sports-lovers. Though written for a different situation and place, the words are an encouragement when applied to our North Alabama Conference’s response to COVID-19. “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us . . .” What a year we have experienced! When a year ago this week (March 16, 2020) the North Alabama Conference Leadership Team and I made the request that congregations suspend in-person worship ...
3/1/2021
Dear Friends, Many of you have read the February 25 news release announcing the second postponement of the 2020 General Conference, now scheduled to take place on August 25- September 6, 2022. The Commission on General Conference made this difficult decision after months of careful discernment. Two primary factors influenced this decision. 1) It was discerned that due to the current stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, an in-person global gathering the size of a United Methodist General Conference ...
2/23/2021
Dear Friends, I first began attending Annual Conference as a child with my Dad, mother and siblings. While Dad participated in meetings, we had a great time together visiting with friends, shopping at the Cokesbury display and enjoying each other. We would accompany Dad to worship in the evenings. I have a different focus at Annual Conference these days than I did when attending as a child. One dynamic is the same, though. I still love Annual Conference! The Annual Conference planning team and ...
2/15/2021
Dear Friends, Lee’s and my young adult daughter, Leanndra, recently celebrated another birthday. On one hand, it feels like she arrived in this world a lifetime ago. On the other hand, it seems like only yesterday when I first held our newborn baby girl. Time has that kind of illusive, mysterious quality. So it is with the rhythm of the Christian year. We were celebrating the birth of Jesus a mere eight weeks ago. Yet, already Lent has arrived, the season focusing on Jesus’ public ministry, ...
2/8/2021
Dear Friends, The Appointive Cabinet and I have hosted annual District Days since I became your episcopal leader in 2012. This past year was no exception, thanks to Zoom technology! Thank you to each participant who took part in the District Days. Also, kudos to the District Superintendents for organizing and facilitating the Days. It was great to connect with a variety of people and groups across the Annual Conference through the District Days. In addition, the insights District Superintendents...
1/28/2021
Dear Friends, During the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been reminded that healthy daily and weekly rhythms are essential for well-being and productivity. As United Methodists we understand rhythm, not only in our personal lives, but also in our process for appointing clergy to churches. Appointment-making is critical to our vision and mission. The North Alabama Conference’s appointment-making rhythm includes consultation, prayer, cabinet deliberations and transitions. Consultation: District ...
1/14/2021
Dear Friends, On Monday, January 18, 2021, we will celebrate the life and legacy of one of the heroes of our nation’s civil rights movement, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The most prominent civil rights leader in the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. King’s Alabama connections include marrying Coretta Scott from Perry County, Alabama . . . pastoring the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church from 1954-1960 . . . and penning the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” while incarcerated for leading a demonstration without a ...
1/8/2021
Dear Friends, United Methodists are known as people of prayer. Our founder John Wesley placed a heavy emphasis on prayer. (See A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, Q 38, 5.) Our membership vows include a commitment to prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. The United Methodist Book of Worship offers numerous examples of prayers for special occasions as well as a section on ways of praying. (See www.umcdiscipleship.org/book-of-worship/ways-of-praying.) In that spirit, I invite you to ...
