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During
the Thursday morning worship and prayer
time, prayer leader Marvin
Moss,
pastor of St. James UMC-Alpharetta, urged
delegates and leaders to "come outside of
your comfort zone" and participate in a
time of vocal praise and adoration.
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Marvin
Moss
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He
called on them to join him in
"[blessing] God with the fruit of
our lips."
He noted
that we tend to "rush in and we pray
[for what we need].... How about
[taking time to say], 'God, I
adore You, I worship You, I magnify your
Holy Name, You are worthy to be praised?'"
he asked.
"It's
not comfortable [at first], but it
unlocks what God has for us," he
said.
Mr. Moss
then began to model this kind of prayer:
"I love you, God…. There is none like
You in all the earth. You are worthy to be
praised. You are my provider. You are my
healer. You are by banner. You are my
peace," he prayed. "Holy, holy, holy!"
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Bible
Study
Audio
The
Rev. Allen
Hunt
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After
the prayer time, Dr. Allen
Hunt
of Mt. Pisgah UMC in Alpharetta began his
second study on "what Jesus has to say
about what it means to be a servant leader
in His Kingdom and among His
people."
Using
Mark
9:33-37
as his text, Dr. Hunt contrasted kingdom
leadership with leadership in the
world.
Society,
he said, measures greatness by quantity,
talent, rank, political importance, and
physical appearance.
In the
Kingdom of God, however, leadership is
measured by compassion. "The servant
leader serves everyone, especially the
smallest and the weakest among us," he
declared.
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Allen
Hunt
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He noted
that this quality of compassion has been a
hallmark of Methodism since its beginning.
"Compassion is central to who we are," he
said. "It's in our DNA."
United
Methodists, he noted, are people of "Word,
faith, and
action," he said.
Saying
that the Lord "had placed it upon his
heart" to ask the Conference delegates and
leaders to give a concrete demonstration
of compassion, Dr. Hunt asked for a
special offering for the Murphy-Harpst
Children's
Centers
in Cedartown, facilities that serve
severely disturbed children in state
custody.
Despite
not being part of the planned offerings
for Conference week, the impromptu appeal
for Murphy-Harpst raised more than
$40,000.
Thursday
morning business
The
opening prayer for the Thursday morning
business was by Mike Dunbar, the Wesley
Foundation leader at both Berry and
Shorter Colleges.
"May the
flame [of Methodism] burn brighter
and hotter than ever, and may it draw all
to it's warmth," he prayed. "I pray that
Your will be done in our lives and in our
churches -- nothing more, nothing less,
and nothing else."
Church
Development report
"Lost
people matter to us, and it is a priority
for us to take Jesus Christ to them," said
the Rev. Steve Wood, chairman of the
Conference's Board of Church Development,
introducing the report on new and
revitalized churches.
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Steve
Wood
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"I would
like to thank [the Conference] for
making this our best year ever of
developing new churches, missions, and
faith communities," he said.
"Your
local-church investment of prayer and
service, of encouragement and financial
support, has made a world of difference in
the lives of literally thousands of people
who now know the great love and grace of
Jesus Christ," he declared.
Mr. Wood
reminded the Conference of the
"Vision
2020"
plan, passed by delegates in 2000, calling
for the planting of 200 new churches,
faith communities before the year 2020. "I
am elated to report today that that may be
too conservative of figure," Mr. Wood
said. "Let's thank the Lord!"
Although
the Vision 2020 plan had envisioned a
model of the Church Development Office
starting new churches from scratch, many
of the newest faith communities in the
Conference are actually being "planted" by
existing churches.
The
"Mother Church of the Year" award was
presented to Hillside Church in Woodstock
for launching Liberty
Hill UMC
in Canton, which held its first service in
September 2003.
The Rev.
Richard Hunter, senior pastor at Hillside,
said it was the laity of his church who
came up with the idea of planting a new
church. "This is the most exciting thing
we've ever done," Mr. Hunter
said.
Josh
Loudermilk, founding pastor of Liberty
Hill UMC, gave glory to God.
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The
Loudermilk
Family
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"This
award today is really not about Liberty
Hill or Hillside," he said, "but it's all
about the grace and the goodness and the
power of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is
calling all people unto
Himself."
Delegates
were treated to a video featuring the
Hillside/Liberty Hill story, as well as
the stories of other church development
work. That video available to view online
here
(Windows Media).
The Rev.
Parks Davis, who has served in recent
years the superintendent for the
Gainesville District, was named as the new
director of the Office of Church
Development, succeeding Clay Jacobs, who
was named the superintendent of the
Griffin District.
Small
membership churches
Many
delegates wore red on Thursday,
symbolizing the importance to the
Conference of small membership
congregations.
"Small
churches often feel intimidated," said the
Rev. John Hagen, pastor of Cokes Chapel
UMC in Sharpsburg and chair of the
Conference Committee on the Small
Membership Churches.
But
smaller churches, he noted, often have a
hands-on mission focus that makes them
very effective in Kingdom work. "Dynamite
comes in small packages," he
said.
Nearly
three-fourths of UM churches have fewer
than 100 worshipers on a given Sunday.
(See related article here.)
Wesley
Woods update
The 50th
anniversary of Wesley
Woods,
a ministry to older persons, was
celebrated on Thursday morning. Wesley
Woods operates multiple retirement and
health care facilities across North
Georgia.
Lillian
Budd Darden, president of the Wesley Wood
Foundation, reported that the
just-completed three-year "Aging With
Grace" campaign had exceeded its $12.7
million fundraising goal.
Wesley
Woods is supported in part through the
annual Mother's Day offering, collected
through the cooperation of churches across
the Conference.
Camp
Hope
The Rev.
Diane
Parrish,
associate pastor at Mt. Bethel UMC in
Marietta, described the ministry of
Camp
Hope,
a one-week
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Camp
Hope Banner
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summertime outreach to fourth- and
fifth-grade children of men and women
serving time in a federal, state, or local
prison.
Two young people who attended Camp Hope in
2003 spoke briefly. One said that through
Camp Hope, he learned that he can
experience joy even in difficult
circumstances. The other said Camp Hope
had taught him that there truly are people
who can be trusted.
"Thanks
so much for letting me do this
[ministry]" Diane Parrish told the
Conference. "It is an absolute
honor."
Camp
Hope is held in Conyers,
Georgia.
Missionary
report
Also on
Thursday morning, the Conference had the
opportunity to hear from the Rev. Mike
Mozley, who serves -- along his wife and
three children -- in Ghana, West Africa
through the Georgia-based Mission
Society for United
Methodists.
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Mike
Mozley with friends in
Ghana
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He noted a renewed zeal in the Conference
to reach people with the Good News of
Jesus Christ.
"God is
doing something in this North Georgia
Conference," he declared.
"God is
igniting, I believe, a new missionary
fervor, a new pentecostal fervor in all of
us, to begin to reach the lost and the
hurting, whether its in our local
community or the furthest reaches of the
Earth!"
Delegates
also heard from the Rev. David Campbell,
pastor of Cornerstone UMC in Newnan,
recently back from serving as a U.S. Army
chaplain in Iraq.
"People
want to know what do the Iraqis really
think [about Americans]," he
said.
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Campbell
in Iraq in
2003
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"Well, I didn't meet all of them, but I
met quite a few. And I can tell what those
folks have today that they didn't have a
year-and-a-half ago is hope -- hope for a
better life," he said to
applause.
He also
said that something that was "re-affirmed"
to him during his service in Iraq. "When
you preach Jesus Christ, preach
passionately."
He noted
that he had the opportunity to preach a
Christian sermon in one of Saddam
Hussein's former presidential
compounds.
"I was
so excited... and I said, 'God, does it
get any better than to preach Christ in
this place?' And the Lord spoke to me and
said, 'David, does it get any better than
to preach Christ, period?'"
As
delegates applauded, he said, "I don't
care where you are. Preach Christ like
He's never been preached there
before!"
Taking
a stand
The Rev.
Randy
Mickler,
pastor of Mt. Bethel UMC in Marietta,
received the 2004 J. Taylor Phillips Award
for Moral Leadership.
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Randy
Mickler
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Mr.
Mickler had been the focus of many news
reports in the Spring of 2001 because of
situation in which he reportedly refused
to allow a Jewish rabbi to speak at a
baccalaureate service held at Mt.
Bethel.
"That's
not what it was about," Mr. Mickler told
the Conference, clarifying the
story.
"The
people that asked to use our church wanted
us to remove all the crosses and to cover
the crosses that we could not remove, in
the name of 'tolerance,'" he
related.
Mr.
Mickler refused and the baccalaureate
service was relocated.
"There
are many things that Christians must not
tolerate," he said, as delegates
applauded. Mr. Mickler is the author of a
recent book titled, America...
Keep the Faith!
New
missionary
Bishop
Davis then introduced the Rev. Millie Kim,
soon to be appointed, through the
General
Board of Global
Ministries,
as the first United Methodist clergy
missionary to Mongolia.
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Millie
Kim
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"I am just
scared and terrified," she told the
Conference. "But I go in the strong name
of Jesus Christ!"
Bishop
Davis led the Conference in praying for
her. "Lord, we thank you for the burden,
the joy, the passion that you've placed
into Millie's heart for the people of
Mongolia.
"As she
goes, with all her excitement and anxiety,
we ask that You would give her
encouragement, love, and a deep peace
about it all," he prayed.
"Help
her to know that she can't go any place
where you're not already
there."
Remembering
the saints
Dr. Ed
Tomlinson, executive assistant to Bishop
Davis, preached the annual Service of
Celebration and Remembrance, honoring the
clergy and clergy spouses who passed from
this life to the next during the past 12
months.
The
title of his sermon was, "See It in the
Light," based on the story, told in John
11, of the Jesus raising of Lazarus from
the dead.
Near the
end of the sermon, Dr. Tomlinson quoted
the late Peter Marshall, former chaplain
of the U.S. Senate. "Those we love are
with the Lord, and the Lord has promised
to be with us. If they are with Him, and
He is with us, they cannot be far
away."
Closing
the sermon in prayer, Dr. Tomlinson asked
God to "open our eyes... that we may 'see
in the light' the wonder of what you have
done for us in our Savior."
As "the
roll of the honored dead" was read aloud,
a bagpiper played "Abide with Me" and
"Amazing Grace."
Words
of thanks
Additional
ministry reports were offered on Thursday
afternoon, including the report of the
Conference Office
of Connectional
Ministries.
At the end of the report, retiring
director Mac Brantley thanked the
Conference "for the opportunity
[of] serving as the director of
Connectional Ministries for the last six
years."
Mr.
Brantley, who is battling cancer, said "it
has been a joy [to be a part of]
training and equipping people for
ministry, to win people to Jesus
Christ."
Bishop
Davis presented Mr. Brantley with a book
of "letters of gratitude" from people
across the Conference.
A
visit from the governor
Late
Thursday afternoon, Georgia Gov. Sonny
Perdue addressed the conference briefly,
in advance of appearing, along with his
wife, Mary, at a dinner sponsored by the
North Georgia United Methodist
Men.
Mr.
Perdue, a Southern Baptist, talked about
how important it is for the church to be
involved in prison ministry.
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Gov.
Perdue
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"As you know, we've gone through times in
our society when the mantra was, 'Lock 'em
up and throw away the key. Let's just
forget about them.' But as we know, in
God's eyes no one is
expendable....
"We
need, in Christian love, to reach out to
[to prisoners and their families].
We know that true repentance and remorse
can occur and does occur, even in
inmates," the governor said.
"We know
that the children... of inmates, separated
from a father or mother by prison bars,
have special needs that we can and, in
fact, are commanded to minister to," he
said.
Before
the left the stage, Bishop Davis offered a
prayer for Gov. and Mrs. Perdue, giving
God thanks for "their deep faith and for
their love for this state."
The
bishop prayed that God would give them
"your wisdom and your insight -- and, most
of all, the comfort of your Spirit as they
continue on their personal
journeys."
Later at
an event sponsored by the United Methodist
Men, the governor elaborated on the need
for prison ministry. Mrs. Perdue spoke
about the need for people to be involved
in foster care.
(NOTE:
Although neither address was recorded,
Mrs. Perdue delivered a similar address on
foster care several months earlier to a
fundraising dinner sponsored by the Athens
office of Covenant Care Services. An mp3
audio file of that address is
here.)
Advocate
imperiled
Alice
Smith, editor of the the Wesleyan
Christian
Advocate,
the official newspaper of the North and
South Georgia Conferences, reported that
"the Advocate's future is in real
jeopardy."
She
described a "continuing decline in
subscriptions" that may soon make the
paper financially
unsustainable.
From a
high of 41,000 in 1975, subscriptions to
the Advocate declined to only
14,000 by 2004.
Laity
service
On
Thursday evening, a spirited laity service
was held in the Classic Center
Theatre.
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The
Peachland
Quartet
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Well-known North Georgia singer/song
leader Ralph
Freeman
kicked things off with a pre-service
concert.
During
the service itself, music was provided by
the Peachland
Quartet
from Atlanta and a men's choral group from
Headland Heights UMC in East
Point.
Speakers
for the evening included two college
students, Amy Giordano of UGA (a member of
Wesley UMC in Evans), and David Bachman of
Vanderbilt University (a member of Mt.
Pisgah UMC in Alpharetta).
Miss
Giordano spoke passionately about how
serving on a mission team to Honduras and
participating in the ministry of the
UGA
Wesley
Foundation
have helped her mature in the faith.
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Giordano
and Bachman
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Her most recent life-changing experience
was a mission trip to Murphy-Harpst
Children's Centers in Cedartown,
facilities that provide care for the
severely disturbed children in state
custody.
"We only
need to be willing," she said. "Our God is
working miracles all around us... and
asking us to join him in the
adventure."
David
Bachman focused his remarks the "high
calling" of church leadership.
He urged
the delegates to be "intentional" in
helping others reaching their potential in
Christ by setting "a bold pace" for them
to follow.
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