I have been umpiring little league baseball and softball ever since I was old enough to be allowed. I got licensed a couple of years ago for the IHSA to do High School and Jr. High games during the school year. I love the game and consider myself to be a good official. As much as everyone prefers to be on the bases, I always end up behind the plate. I have a likeable strike zone that coaches tend not to complain about because I’m consistent.

I volunteered to do some games for Cornell if they needed me. The season is almost over, but they need someone for a make-up game. I was glad to do it. I decided to wear my uniform shirt, it usually evokes an amount of respect from coaches that I am not some teen trying to make a buck but I know what I’m talking about. I decided there was NO WAY I was going to wear the uniform pants though (grey slacks). I thought khaki shorts would do the trick for a summer league game.

Turns out that the game had played 1.5 innings when the rain came and they decided to pick up where they left off. We got ready to start, everything was set. The lights were on, I could smell the concessions stand and I was back on the ball-diamond. Can anything go wrong? The bottom of the 2nd (my first on the job) took forever…walked the bases loaded and gave up a grandslam. I thought to myself, “can this inning ever end? I forgot how short 6th graders are compared to high school kids.” That last thought caused me to have to squat down really far to be able to see the strike zone.

Then it happened…..I didn’t hear it, I didn’t feel it. But I looked down a pitch later and noticed that the front of my jeans ripped right along the pocket almost all the way up and down. Too late to go change…so I called the rest of the game with my pocket ripped out.. I guess it could have been worse, it could have been the butt (that would have given a shower to the fans behind the plate)…..OR I could have not been wearing any boxers….gross!
I think summer league deserves a different touch….I think jerzee shorts will be perfect!

I’m one of those weirdos who tries to find a song to fit every situation. I’ve been thinking lately about what has been happening at CUMC that last couple of weeks. There are a lot of words that I could use to describe it, but I’ll only need one….Biblical. Something has been stirring for some time now. I’ve been told so many times how the church as been, “just hanging on” for such a long time. Af far as a bell-curve lifecycle for churches goes…they were about ready to bottom out. For some time now, I feel like we’ve started to level the plane out. Our worship attendance has increased, giving has been up and like I said, something has been stirring.

I feel like it all came to a head last Sunday on Pentecost (imagine that). Our theme was “Holy Spirit, Rain Down.” I noted during the sermon that unfortunately, Acts 2 has been used to defend one theological position over another for a very long time: speaking in tongues as a sign of true belief, function and form of baptism, etc. I think that the main thrust of the Pentecost passage in Acts 2 is “they were all together in one place.” Some translations say that they were of “one accord”. That stirring began again. Whenever we come together in one place in one accord, something powerful happens..and it did last Sunday.We had a healing service during the invitation time and played “Healing Rain” over the speakers. To say that it was powerful would be an understatement. The whole church came together in that one accord. There was no concept of someone coming for anointing by themself. The whole church stood along side them as I prayed and anointed them with oil. Our service was over nearly 1/2 an hour later than normal….and nobody cared. The Holy Spirit showed up. I was in total awe all day at what God did in our little church.

This Sunday, was a very emotional one. First, Joe was back in church for the first time since before Christmas. Joe had open-heart surgery, and then had a stroke in the hospital. We weren’t sure what was going to happen with him. He had a long road. Joe, I believe, is a recipient of HEALING RAIN. So it was great to have him back. Then, we bid farewell to our pianist, Barb, who was so much more than just a pianist. Her humor and love for her church were things that helped to hold the church together for so long. We are in need of healing rain to help us move past her absense. And finally, Brandon preached. Brandon is 17. He has sensed a call to ministry and is still discerning what that looks like for him. But he preached for the first time, and he blew everyone away. God’s spirit is defintely with him.

Healing Rain has been my song as of late, because I feel it raining down on our little church. It’s coming nearer to this old town! Healing Rain is bringing comfort, strength, joy, and Revival!

Something is stirring….something is growing…..something is raining down!

Do it again, God. Do it again!

So I’m sitting at Annual Conference in Peoria right now. I alway enjoy the fellowship I have at Annual Conference. I get to meet up with colleagues and friends I may only see this one time a year.

Things at this conference have been abnormal, though, to say the least. We checked into our hotel yesterday afternoon and we were told that we were “randomly upgraded.” We walked into a jr. suite and I thought we were absolutely lucky! We had a wet  bar, a seperate living room and bedroom, much larger than what we paid for. I really rubbed it in to my mother-in-law who is here as a visitor with a lay member from her parish, I joked that their whole room was probably only as large as our bathtub. My wife insisted that we go up to their room to take her mother some diet soda…..my foot was quickly inserted into my mouth as we stepped off the elevator onto the “presidential suites floor”….somehow they were randomly upgraded to a HUGE sweet. Full kitchen, living room, panoramic view, giant flat-screen, dining room, bath robes, jacuzzi, walk-in shower….it was more like a swanky condo than a hotel room. It does seem absnormal to me that both of us (from the same family) got randomly upgraded.

The other abnormality is more wonderul than anything. I sat in the clergy session last night and I was truly amazed at the different atmosphere there was from past years. We were laid-back, and there was this thing called laughing.

The atmosphere of our morning worship was abnormal, too. Bishop Palmer actually preached the WORD. I’m not talking about an address, or a speech in favor of an agenda…but he preached! I felt fed and refreshed.

It just seems there is a different feeling than years past, a different spirit. Looking around, I don’t even see the material symbols of the things that divide us….we may not all agree on everything, but maybe with this new spirit we’re starting to see eachother in a different light, maybe we’re starting to lay aside our personal agendas for the sake of our missional agenda of the Gospel. Maybe we’re in for a wonderfully abnormal annual conference.

PL

Being a young pastor myself (I’m actually the youngest Pastor appointed in the IGRC as of this writing), I am alarmed by the extremely low number of young clergy in the United Methodist Church. Let’s look at the actual numbers first, and then I’ll get frank with you about some solutions. My information and cause for alarm comes from a research study conducted by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary (read the entire study HERE). They got their numbers from the General Board of Pensions showing only “active” clergy, meaning that those who are retired, on sabbatical, maternity, or disability leave, etc. were excluded. Since the data is based on active clergy who are eligible for CRSP and Deacons, moreso than any other clergy, work in settings where they get their pension from sources other than the General Board, Deacons will be excluded from my article.

According to the study, there are 24,461 active pastors in The United Methodist Church. Of this number, only 1,277 (5.22%) are under 35 . Of the 17,480 Elders and Probationers in the UMC only 910 (5.21%) are under 35. 12 of the U.S. Conferences have 5 or less young Elders. The South-Eastern Jurisdiction leads the way when it comes to Elders and Probationers under 35 (6.60%). The Western-North Carolina Conference has the most numerically with 60 (8.12%).Local Pastors (full-time and part-time) number 6,981 in the denomination, with 367 (5.26%) being young clergy.

The United Methodist Church is superceded by 6 other denominations when it comes to young clergy: Church of the Nazarene (10.68%), Church of God (8.41%), Missouri Synod Lutheran (8.34), Assemblies of God (7.16%), ELCA Lutheran (5.92%), and Christian Church (DOC) 5.53%

How does the IGRC stack-up? According to the study, the IGRC has 558 active pastors; 21 (3.76%) being under the age of 35. The IGRC has 14 (3.62%) young Elders and Probationers amongst the total 387 . Out of the 171 Local Pastors in the IGRC, only 7 (4.09%) are under 35.

So what needs to be done in the UMC and especially in the IGRC. Perhaps we can glean something from the North Alabama Conference which is in the top 5 when it comes to young clergy.

Let me be frank with you:

1. We have to make recruting young clergy a top priority! Bishop Willimon (resident Bishop of the North Alabama Conference) wrote in his blog, “faced with an aging clergy membership as well as a shortage of qualified candidates, we are moving into a posture of recruitment. We are devising means of equipping every congregation to notice, name and encourage top candidates for the ministry.” Our conference should engage in an agressive program to recruit and raise up young pastors.
2. We have to re-evaluate the current candidacy process! I know how I struggled even to get to the point of becoming a Local Pastor, and I’ve heard countless times from other young clergy how they often wanted to just quit. I understand that our system is “tried and true” but we need to evaluate its effciency. We can keep the same general concept to the process, but it must be more user-friendly. Again, quoting Bishop Willimons blog,”we are reorganizing our Board of Ordained Ministry and the process of ordination in order to focus on recruitment of new, young pastors. We are determined to streamline the ordination process and to be more attentive to the fruit of the process-effective pastoral leaders for the Twenty-First Century.”
3. We have to become the UNITED Methodist Church! Diversity is good on many things, but our division over theology and politics is unttractive to young people. We have to decide what we believe as a Church and stick with it. I can think of at least three young men who felt called to ministry but left the United Methodist Church and went elsewhere because of the theological crisis in our connection.
4. Evangelsm, Evangelism, Evangelism! I was wondering to myself at one of the Forged in the Fire events, “in the 40% of our churches who had at least one profession of faith, how many were young adults?” Aside from looking for young clergy exclusively, we need to be actively engaged in ministry with the young adults in our communities. If we focused on evangelism, and churches came behind young adults to disciple them in the faith then it would be much easier to raise up young adults for ministry.

Finally, at the foundation of it all, we need to be praying that God will raise up young pastors for our churches. When all of our strategies, programs, and initiatives fail…prayer never fails!

PL

I’ve finally decided to join the masses of bloggers out there. Obviously the title of the blog is a pun using my last name. I do tend to be very “frank” though. So Allow me to be frank with you and sound off on some of the things that I am passionately in favor of or passionately bugged about!