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Category Archives: Texas Annual Conference
Lead the Mission
In describing the work of appointment making in his book Bishop, Will Willimon frames the big picture this way: “The task of the bishop and the DSs in the appointive process is to send clergy who can lead the mission … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Texas Annual Conference, Will Willimon
1 Comment
“Liberal” & “Conservative”
Our special speaker at Annual Conference this year was Adam Hamilton, pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Overland Park, Kansas. In more than three hours of teaching he shared leadership strategies and tactics that have helped him grow his … Continue reading
Posted in Texas Annual Conference, Theology, United Methodism
2 Comments
Mission Field Appointments
The Texas Annual Conference is now implementing a policy of making “mission field appointments (document is a pdf).” Here’s a key part of the document: In a series of conversations around the question “who is our client,” the cabinet (center … Continue reading
Posted in Ministry, Missions, Texas Annual Conference, United Methodism
4 Comments
NOT the meaning of life
Of my many experiences at the meeting of the Texas Annual Conference last week, perhaps that most striking was Bishop Huie’s mention that the West Ohio Annual Conference was losing 42 positions for Elders this year. She didn’t share anything … Continue reading
Kirbyjon Caldwell at the Gathering
This year’s Gathering (Texas Conference Pastors Retreat) began with a message from Kirbyjon Caldwell of Windsor Village UMC. Kirbyjon is always worth listening to. He began with a statistic about our current situation: The United Methodist Church is losing 73,000 … Continue reading
Posted in Texas Annual Conference, United Methodism
5 Comments
Cult of Accountability
In his essay on the epistemological problems underlying the current economic crisis, Jerry Z. Miller refers to the “cult of accountability:” The cult of “accountability” was linked to key innovations that turned out to have unanticipated undersides. One was the … Continue reading
Discipleship Goals #3
The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations movement, as exemplified in our Texas Annual Conference, speaks of the practice of “Faith Forming Relationships.” I served on the conference committee tasked with this area after the reorganization. As far as I could … Continue reading
New Appointment Methodology
We (pastors and lay leaders from across the North District) met with Bishop Huie and a couple of cabinet members this morning in Ore City to hear about the new philosophy of appointing pastors to churches. They had intended to … Continue reading
Singing with all your heart
I could only understand a few of their words. Sure, part of my lack of understanding was that most of their songs were in French. But my poor hearing did the rest. Though I could understand few of their words, … Continue reading
Posted in Texas Annual Conference, Worship, Youth Ministry
3 Comments
Learning from Five Dysfunctions of a Team
I first heard Patrick Lencioni at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit a few years ago. He spoke then on the content of his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Well, I’ve finally read the book. The heart of the … Continue reading
Bandits No More 