Annual Conference - What Is YOUR Ministry?

I was the Lay Delegate for our church at Annual Conference this past June.
I gave my Annual Conference report in church yesterday.
This is what I said.
At the end, there are lots of photos from
Annual Conference, around the hotel, the riverfront, town,
and from our trip to see the Battleship.
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Sunday, August 30, 2015

When I was a little girl, probably somewhere around age 6 or 7, a family came to our parsonage.  The family arrived in our driveway in a large station wagon that was filled to the brim.  It held a man, his wife, many children, and all of their belongings.  The mother was trying to soothe one of the children as the man was talking to my father.  You see, someone in town had told the man that my father would help him.  I don’t remember the entire story but I do remember hearing my daddy saying he would take care of it and the man looking very relieved.  I always tagged along with my daddy as much as he would let me and this time was no different.  I jumped in our car and watched as the station wagon followed us back to town to a gas station.  My daddy pumped enough gas into the station wagon’s tank to fill it up.  We then made our way to Better Burger where my dad bought the family some lunch.  And our last stop was the grocery store where my dad bought a few groceries for the family to take with them.  After my dad said a prayer with the family, they left with a full tank of gas, full bellies, an even more full than it was before station wagon, and hearts full of renewed hope.

That day, 4 decades ago, was the first time that I clearly remember seeing tangible service to God in action with strangers.

My dad was a preacher so I would see scenes like this unfold many times in my growing up years.  And I was married to a preacher until his sudden death almost 4 years ago so I would see even more scenes like this unfold many times in my adult life too – even to the point that my Rob came home one day without his treasured Duke Starter Coat that his father had just given him for Christmas.  Someone without a coat had been cold so Rob had given him his.  Knowing my late husband was notorious for leaving important things in his pockets (that many times ended up getting washed) – I just grinned and asked him if he had checked the pockets before he gave it away.  His response was that if he did leave anything in the pockets, that God must have known the man needed it too.

The theme for this year’s Annual Conference was to “Serve” and the opening and recurring Scripture text was Matthew 25:34-36:

Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father;

Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,

I was a stranger and you invited me in.  I needed clothes and you clothed me,

I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

Our local church, as a whole, does a good job of “doing” this Scripture.

In the 3 years that I’ve been here, just a few of the examples of this Scripture in action that I have seen are:

Smyrna Church having a booth at Farmer’s Day giving away free water and receiving prayer requests.

Our Vacation Bible School invites and welcomes all of the community in and this past year, we taught the Bible School students about how God’s Mighty Power will provide, comfort, heal, forgive, and love us forever.

Smyrna Church collects and distributes cancer bags to the sick and

provides “prayed over” quilts to comfort those in need.

Smyrna Church collects food for and some of our members volunteer at our local food pantry providing food to those who are hungry.

Smyrna Church has an awesome funeral ministry to the bereaved.

Unfortunately, I know this from personal experience.

And lastly, Smyrna Church pays its apportionments IN FULL to the Annual Conference which can then provide so much more than we can do alone.

Through our Annual Conference apportioned giving,

through our special offerings giving,

and through our “crisis at hand” giving,

we, as a United Methodist people,

do a good job of putting the Matthew 25 Scripture in action.

We have reached many areas of our own country

and have reached into many corners of the world.

From the continuing difference we have made in ministries formed out of the destruction of the January 2010 earthquake that devastated the country of Haiti

to the difference we are making through the “Imagine No Malaria” campaign

to the very needed difference we are making in the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone,

we, as a United Methodist people,

are effective in assisting the most vulnerable.

In fact, according to Bishop John Yambasu, bishop of the Sierra Leone area and who spoke at Conference this year, our United Methodist ministries and monies provided some of the very first “boots on the ground” medical help to fight the Ebola epidemic in his area.  And just this past Monday, I heard that the last Ebola patient in Sierra Leone had been released from the hospital.

YOU helped do that.

So our United Methodist church worldwide, 

as a whole, 

does a good job of “doing” the Matthew 25 Scripture

but some questions that were asked of all of us present at Conference are what I want to ask each of you during my Annual Conference Report this morning.

And those questions are:

“What is YOUR ministry, YOUR individual ministry?”

How are you putting into action the Matthew 25 Scripture?

How are you serving?

Is it to volunteer at the local food pantry?

Is it to drive someone to her doctor appointment?

Is it to buy someone’s lunch?

Is it to fill up someone’s gas tank?

Is it to comfort someone while she waits for

test results from a questionable mammogram?

Is it to teach a Sunday School class?

Is it to sing?

Is it to be our church’s volunteer pianist and organist?

Is it to type the bulletin or to be a part of many other ministries here at Smyrna?

Is it to bring the snacks to our youth on Sunday night?

Could it be, like Tony did with my son, Wesley, to teach a fatherless boy

how to shoot a gun and then take him deer hunting?

Could it be to volunteer at the elementary school and tutor the at risk students?

Could it be to stay long after everyone else is gone to finish cleaning up after a funeral?

Could it be, as it is in my case right now, to take care of aging parents?

Or, is your ministry at this point in your life, to pray?  I once heard a paraphrase of Nehemiah 4:16 that said, “Those protecting the workers are as important as the workers themselves.”  That’s the way it is with prayer.  Those who are lifting up undergirding prayers are as important as the ones out “doing” the ministry.

When Tal called me back in December 2014 to ask if I would consider being Smyrna’s lay delegate to Annual Conference, I first told him I didn’t think I could do it.

You see, I have so many memories from all of the Annual Conferences I have attended as a preacher’s wife and the very last time I was at Conference was in 2012 – the Conference when my Rob was remembered in the Memorial Service as one of the clergy who had passed away since the previous year.

I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to face the memories.

But I remembered a phrase that one of our bishops used to say all the time

and my late husband and I said it often.

It’s a phrase that works well in ALL situations but especially in the moving around United Methodist ministry life I lived up until my husband’s death.

And that phrase is:

“Bloom where you are planted.”

It hit me that I,

without question or hesitation,

have moved all over this state of ours,

living in 11 different towns, starting over from scratch each and every single time,

fully trusting my God to take care of my family and me

– all for the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And yet, here I was hesitating at spending 4 days in beautiful Wilmington,

where I would get to hear all about our Conference year’s ministries,

where I would get to see so many of our friends,

where I would get to watch some folks I know be ordained into the ministry,

and where I could fill a need for Smyrna Church,

the church where I am now planted.

So, after realizing that the hesitation that I was feeling just didn’t make much sense,

I called Tal back and told him I would go.

In fact, the kids and I went a day early to go to the Battleship and have some fun hanging around the River Walk and downtown.

Smyrna is the 20^th church that I have been blessed to be a part of

and I was proud to be there as your lay delegate.

In fact, I realized that, in all of the over 20 times that I’ve been at an Annual Conference, this was the first time I ever actually had any power at any of them.

Preacher’s daughters don’t get to vote.

Preacher’s wives don’t get to vote.

Lay delegates do.

And speaking of that voting, I have all of the results from all of the voting with me for those who might want to see it.

(AT THIS POINT, I DID GO INTO DETAIL WHEN I GAVE MY REPORT IN CHURCH BUT FOR THE PURPOSES OF MY BLOG, I WILL LEAVE OUT MOST OF THE BUSINESS DETAILS – ALL OF THAT IS AVAILABLE ON THE CONFERENCE WEBSITE IF ANYONE WANTS TO READ IT).

And then, the very last thing that happened at Conference that is so important to us as a local church was the fixing of appointments in which we, officially, received our new pastor, 

Rev. David Woodhouse.

I think we’ll keep him.

It is impossible for me to include everything while standing up here today but the Saddlebags publication that is published each day of Conference does a great job of doing just that.  I have those with me as well and will be glad to make copies for any who might want it to read later.

In closing, I ask again, as I was asked at Conference,

what is YOUR ministry?

Will it be, like it was for me and Annual Conference, to fill a need to go somewhere that might be a little uncomfortable as you face memories from the past?

Will you, like my daddy did for me so very long ago with the family in the station wagon, be the daddy who sets the example for your little girl in responding to those in need?

Will you be the daddy, like my late husband was for our children, who sets the example of serving by giving away his special Duke coat for someone who was cold?

How will you serve?

How will you “do” Matthew 25: 34-36?

Listen to it again.

Then the King will say to those on His right,

Come, you who are blessed by my Father;

Take your inheritance,

the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,

I was a stranger and you invited me in.

I needed clothes and you clothed me,

I was sick and you looked after me,

I was in prison and you came to visit me.

Sometimes you have to cross rivers, climb mountains,

and go through valleys to reach the needy.

Sometimes the needy drives right into your very own driveway,

in a station wagon.

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I brought one of Rob's Bibles with me.

It just seemed right to have a "part" of him with me.

Hard to believe that 4 Conferences have already passed since I was a part of this.

A friend sitting behind us texted me this photo of this very sweet moment with my Luke.

I LOVED IT! 

Some of the work of Conference.

Great sight at Conference was when the voting machine said RECEIVED! 

The Methodist Camps Ministries brought fun for us to "serve" in a different way! 

There's nothing like watching an entire convention center of clergy and laity playing badminton!

Back to worshipping.

It was fun to remember the times when I was one of these family members for my Rob.

Rob and I wanted our wedding to be filled with worship.

So we started it that way from the beginning.

My bridesmaids walked down the aisle to a recorded version of

"O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing."

Every time I hear it, I flash back to the anticipation I felt on my wedding day.

When I heard this song on that day, I knew it was almost my turn to 

walk down the aisle to my groom.

It's a good memory.

Before he died, he and I would always flash a smile at each other when it was sung.

It's still a good memory.

But now, it almost always brings a tear or two.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY AT CONFERENCE

Bill, Rob's last District Superintendent.

He preached at Rob's funeral.

My cousin, David, and a neighboring pastor at Rob's last appointment, Jerry.

Don't you think Luke looks a little like our cousin, David?

 David's wife, Charline.

Beverly, lay delegate from one of our former churches.
She gave both of my sons their first haircuts.

Carolyn, a member from one of our former churches
and the UMW president for her district.

Fred. He was the pastor at one of our former churches before we were there. 

Smyrna Church's new pastor, David, and his wife, Andi.
We are enjoying getting to know them and we look forward to his ministry at Smyrna.

 Page, lay delegate from one of our former churches.

Jimmy, Rob's good friend. He preached at Rob's funeral.

Bobby (clergy). I've known him since I was a teenager and he helped out at a 
Christian hangout place near where I lived called "The Rock."  

Mamie (clergy). One of my new friends - for whom I am thankful.

Preacher Fred's wife, Beaver.
She still treats me like a preacher's wife.
Smile. 
And Tracey (laity).
I was her preacher's wife when Rob died.
Her husband died suddenly about 2 years after Rob did. 
Hate that we have that in common.

Fred and Beaver's son, Ben, newly commissioned!

Tal and Julie.
They just moved away from Smyrna Church.
Tal preached at Rob's funeral.
Because my dad was my preacher and then my Rob was my preacher, 
Tal was my very first pastor ever!
And Julie was my very first preacher's wife!
And, because I always moved away with the preacher before,
Tal's moving was the very first pastoral change I have ever been through.
I miss him.
I miss her.
But I am excited for their next step in their ministry.

AROUND THE HOTEL, THE RIVERFRONT, AND TOWN

I've trained them well in taking photos!

We ordered Chinese food one night.
Ironing board = hotel serving table

Great dinner at a riverfront restaurant.

Beautiful views as we ate our dinner!

OUR TRIP TO SEE THE BATTLESHIP

Beautiful view of town from the Battleship!

While we were at the grocery store buying junk food for the kids to have at the hotel while I was at Conference, the kids started dancing to something playing on the radio.  Cannot remember what song they were dancing to but I love the fact that my kids will dance in the middle of a grocery store.  
I wanted to remember it so on the blog it goes!