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The Bible teacher for the 2003 conference
session was Dr.
Stephen
Gunter,
Arthur J. Moore Associate Professor of
Evangelism at Emory University's Candler
School of Theology.
Dr.
Gunter began his Tuesday morning address
by making it clear that the church's
understanding of theology and it mission
to the world must be rooted and centered
in Jesus Christ. He quoted Romans 1;16: "I
am not ashamed of the gospel, because it
is the power of God for the salvation of
everyone who believes: first for the Jew,
then for the Gentile."
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Stephen
Gunter
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"The
reason I start there," he said, "is that
in this day and age -- in our society, in
our world, in our churches -- to many
people its a lot easier to talk about God
than it is to talk about Christ, because
there is an exclusivity the moment that we
say, 'Christ.'.... [T]he moment
that we say Christ, there is an inherent
gospel claim to what we're saying, because
Christ is the Messiah."
Dr.
Gunter also urged pastors and lay people
to teach and preach the Scriptures. "There
is nothing more important that we can do
in the lives of our churches than to
anchor our people in the Book," he
said.
The
Tuesday address was the first of three
examining '"fundamental understandings in
our Wesleyan theology." His topic for the
morning: "The Compassion of Prevenient
Grace."
"I
believe that the genius of Wesley's
theology was his doctrine of prevenient
grace, even more than it was his recovery
of the historic Christian teaching about
Christian perfection and sanctification,"
Dr. Gunter said. "[P]revenient
grace -- that which goes before --
reflects God always being ahead of us at
every step and every stage in every way on
our journey."
Unfortunately,
Dr. Gunter noted, churches often fail to
think of ministries of compassionate
outreach as instruments of God's
prevenient grace.
"What I
want to say to us today is, 'Connect them
to our theology.' These are ministries of
prevenience," he said, noting that such
ministries should be avenues for reaching
people with the gospel.
"In our
preoccupation sometimes with our
ministries of compassion, we have failed
to remember that these are embodiments of
grace.... Sometimes the people we bring
these ministries to never hear from us
that we know that what we're bringing is
Good News. And we forget to tell
them."
Prayer
time
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Carolyn
Moore
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Following Dr. Gunter's address, the Rev.
Carolyn Moore led a time of
prayer.
Quoting
Ephesians
3:16-19,
she urged the delegates to focus their
prayers on the person and work of Jesus
the Christ.
"Oh,
Lord Jesus Christ, come and fill us," Ms.
Moore prayed. "You alone are worthy of of
our worship.... Empty this room of its
pride and selfishness and agenda, and fill
us, Lord, with your Spirit."
Historic
election
After a
brief break, results of the first clergy
ballot were announced.
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Walter
Kimbrough
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The
first person elected was the Rev. Jonathan
Holston, superintendent of the
Atlanta-Decatur-Oxford District, who
thereby became the leader of North
Georgia's clergy delegation to the General
Conference.
The Rev.
Walter Kimbrough, pastor of Cascade Church
in Atlanta, rose to note the historic
nature of Mr. Holston's
election.
"[W]hen
clergy... voted to elect Jonathan Holston
in the first slot among the clergy
delegates to General Conference, it
represents the first time in the history
of the North Georgia Annual Conference
that an African-American has elected in
that slot!" Mr. Kimbrough said, as
delegates applauded.
Retirements
Later
Tuesday morning, retiring clergy were
offered the opportunity to say a few
"parting words" to the
conference.
Among
them was Kenny Fuller, who was
instrumental in bringing the
Walk
to Emmaus
to the North Georgia Conference, quoted
the song, A Different Road, by
Kathy Trocolli:
I've
traveled long,
I've traveled hard,
And stumbled many times along the
way.
I've bruised my knees a lot,
And turned my back on God,
And seen His mercy....
Don't
want to live without
The peace that comes to me
When
I am by His side.
I've known the freedom there,
Can't find it anywhere
But in Christ Jesus.
Jim
Wellman of the Griffin District, retiring
after 40 years, ended with poem he
composed:
And
now comes the time we must say
farewell,
But as we depart one thing we would
tell
To all who still labor in God's church
today,
Some words of advice to take on the
way:
Be
true to His calling and surely you'll
see
That the effort was worth it, as the
saints all agree.
The reward is not in the gifts you may
get,
But in knowing that souls the Savior
have met.
The
small-membership church
The
Tuesday afternoon teaching session
featured Clay Smith, executive director of
the Hinton
Rural Life
Center,
a mission agency of the Southeastern
Jurisdiction
that assists small membership churches in
improving their ministry
effectiveness.
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Clay
Smith
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He
told the delegates that many people have
insufficient respect for the potential
impact of small membership churches. "It
bothers me when someone says, 'Well, is he
or she is the pastor of a significant
church?' What does that [imply]
about the other churches?" he asked.
"Every church, no matter what its size or
where it's located, is called to
significant ministry!"
Mr.
Smith also warned against trying to
measure small-church effectiveness against
a big-church model. "The small membership
church is not an incomplete, or failed, or
broken, or deficient large church. It's a
different organism altogether. The
mega-church is not the only model for
effective ministry," he taught.
He said
small membership church leaders need to
emphasize their blessings, not their lack.
"Pay attention to the capacities," he
urged. "When you focus on the
deficiencies, you're always trying to fill
the holes. It's like taking a piece of
Swiss cheese and looking at the holes.
Don't look at the holes, look at the
cheese!"
One the
the keys to effective small-church
ministry, he said, is doing the right
things long enough to make a difference.
"Things take time. Persistence prevails.
It usually takes at least three years to
constitute a significant change in the
life and culture of a congregation," he
noted.
Coach
Mark Richt
Late
Tuesday afternoon, delegates received a
visit from University of Georgia (UGA)
head football coach Mark
Richt.
He was
introduced by Hank
Huckaby,
a member of the North Georgia Conference
who is also the senior vice president for
finance and administration at UGA: "We all
are elated about our success on the
football field, but the thing I get most
excited about is Mark Richt, the man. He's
a man of strong Christian faith and. . .
he's a person that sets the kind of
example that I know I want and so many
people. . . want for our flagship
university."
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Mark
Richt
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Coach Richt, who attends Prince Avenue
Baptist Church in Athens, told the
delegates: "It's a good feeling to be
around a group this large that loves the
Lord, and that's exciting for
me."
Bishop
Davis commended Coach Richt for bearing
witness to Christ. "We're thankful for
your witness in this community and we're
thankful for the influence you have on
young men," the bishop said to the
applause and cheers of the
delegates.
The
afternoon session then
adjourned.
Later, Coach Richt served as the
keynote
speaker
at a barbecue dinner sponsored by United
Methodist Men.
He told
the group that he and his wife felt God's
hand in their move to Athens. "When the
job came up, we knew in our spirit that
this was the place to come. I'm just so
thankful we are here," he said.
Evangelism
service
At the
Tuesday night "Celebration of Evangelism"
service, Bishop Davis quoted William
Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. Gen.
Booth had once characterized John Wesely's
evangelistic paradigm this way "Go for
souls -- and go for the worst!"
That
same heart needs characterize our
evangelism today, the bishop
said.
Bishop
Davis then recognized the North Georgia's
Conference's three General Evangelists --
Tom
Atkins,
Rick
Bonfim,
and Jim
Hollis.
All three raise their own financial
support for ministry.
"They
give themselves completely and fully to
the work of evangelism throughout the
church," the bishop said. "And I wanted to
take a moment tonight to recognize them
and to encourage you utilize them in the
life of your ministries in the local
church."
Bishop
Davis led in prayer for the three
evangelists:
Loving
God, we give thanks to you for Rick and
Tom and Jim, for the special calling to
evangelism You have placed in their
hearts.
Strengthen
them and encourage them. Use them in
ways they have not even imagined yet!
Employ them in Your service, Lord --
and may we give them the kind of
support and nurture that they need,
because they are brothers in the
faith.
And,
Lord, we ask you guide them and protect
them as they travel and as they do the
work of General Evangelists. In Jesus'
name. Amen.
The Rev.
Joe Peabody then presented of the annual
Denman Awards for evangelism. "The Denman
award exists," he said, "to remind us that
evangelism is job one. We must do the job
of nurturing, we must do the job of
Christian education. We must preach to our
people and pastor them. But if we never
tell the world outside what we have been
receiving from Jesus Christ, our heavenly
Father will not be pleased with us," Mr.
Peabody said.
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Brink,
Walton, and
Moss
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The 2003 recipient of the laity award was
J.B. Brink, a member of Midway UMC in
Alpharetta. More than 125 youth have come
to Christ through participation in Mr.
Brink's nine-month long confirmation
class.
Clergy
recipients were the Rev. Marvin Moss,
pastor of St. James in Alpharetta, and the
Rev. Terry Walton, pastor of Cannon UMC in
Snellville.
Since
1999, membership at St. James has almost
tripled, from 362 to 987. At Cannon,
membership has grown over the past seven
years from 1,082 to 2,748.
Bishop
Marion
Edwards
of the North Carolina Annual Conference
served as the preacher for the evangelism
service. Bishop Davis introduced him as "a
person with a deep passion for evangelism,
a deep passion for the lost."
Bishop
Edwards lamented that "[w]hile the
world has been perishing, we have often
being going our way -- purposeless and
passionless -- day after day." The time
has come "when United Methodist laity and
clergy can no longer just sit there in our
business as usual mentality," he said.
"Laity and clergy alike can so easily
settle in for a very comfortable
'maintenance' ministry."
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Bishop
Edwards
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The
bishop warned that maintenance ministry
will put the church at the margins of
society.
"[If
we] keep the gospel in the comfortable
confines of the way we have been doing
ministry for the past 50 years. . . . we
will not hear the ominous sounds of
swirling change outside the doors of our
local churches. We will not see the
[new] gathering places on Sunday
morning -- be it Lowe's, or be it our
shopping centers, or be it at Wal-Mart, or
be it at the races, or be it all the ball
game."
He said
that if North Georgia Methodists are to
continue in the tradition of John Wesley,
they must start thinking outside the box
and take steps to engage the
culture.
"If Mr.
Wesley was looking for a place to do field
preaching in the North Georgia Annual
Conference, it would not be on the
doorsteps of our churches. It would be out
there on Sunday morning when a host of
people in a secular society are gathering
secular places," he said.
"God is
saying to us, 'Face your fear and take
some risk!' " he preached. "The devil's
most effective tool for defeating us is
our fear of taking a risk and failing. I
think Babe Ruth had it right when he said,
'Never let the fear of striking out keep
you from taking a swing!'"
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