TENNESSEE CONFERENCE REVIEW JUNE 29, 2007
In This Issue:
1. Newly Elected Delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conference Receive a Prayerful greeting from the Tennessee Conference – “The Road to General and Jurisdictional Conference Begins in Nashville with Prayer”
2. Children lead way in $57,861.83 offering for the Children of Kamina -- nearly 58% of $100,000.00 goal has been received so far.
3. Statistics to Initiate Local Church Discussion on Congregational Revitalization—These statistics are shared as a starting point for local church discussion in adult church school classes and evangelism committees. They werepresented as a part of a report by Rev. Mabry during the 2007 session of The Tennessee Annual Conference. Mabry is the newly appointed Conference Director of Connectional Ministries.
4. Streaming Video carries ordination service around the world -- a teenage daughter participates in her mom’s ordination through new technology.
5. New Rates for Development Fund Go into Effect July 1 – Vin Walkup announces new rates for investors in the Nashville Area Development fund
6. 30-Person General and Jurisdictional Conference Team – Names of our delegates and alternates along with a group picture.
7. Tina Neeley and the Rev. Allen Weller--Two Persons with passion for Evangelism are presented the 2007 Denman Evangelism Awards
8. 2007 Ordination and Commissioning Service, June 10, 2007 – names and pictures of those ordained an commissioned at the 2007 session of the Tennessee Annual Conference.
9. Two honored with the J. Richard Allison Social Holiness Award – Denise Skidmore and the Rev. Jack Gilbert
10. Part Two--A Commentary by the Rev. Jay Voorhees. Antioch UMC pastor makes “The Case for Connectionalism”
The Road to General and Jurisdictional Conference Begins in Nashville with Prayer
As newly elected delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conference set the tone for their future work by gathering at the altar in prayer, ministerial and lay delegates to Annual Conference come forward to place their hands on the delegates and to pray with and for them.
After individual prayers at the altar, the delegates and alternate delegates joined together to ask God’s guidance for their work at General and Jurisdictional Conference.
Children lead way in $57,861.83 offering for the Children of Kamina
Children move toward the offering baskets with gifts for the Children of Kamina.
With money brought to the altar, first by children from congregations around the conference, and then by adults (augmented by funds sent directly to the Office of The Tennessee Conference Treasurer), the amount collected by press time for the Children of Kamina is $57,861.83. This is almost 58% of the Conference Goal of $100,000 for 2007. Susan Groseclose who has headed up the Kamina campaign points out that it is not too late for congregations to participate and raise additional funds. “We certainly want to thank those children,” indicated Groseclose, “and local churches who committed substantial time and energy into raising funds that the children of Kamina, many of them orphaned by war and the AIDS epidemic, may have a loving place to stay, health care, enough food to eat, and the benefit of education.
Statistics to Initiate Local Church Discussion on Congregational Revitalization
General Conference
Elected as Clergy Delegates to General Conference - Lynn Hill, Cathie Leimenstoll, Bettye Lewis, Barbara Garcia, John Collett. Elected as Lay Delegates to General Conference - Don Ladd, Joe Williams, Betty Alexander, Beth Morris, Opal Ransom
SE Jurisdictional Conference
Elected as Lay Delegates to Jurisdictional Conference - Holly Neal, Rachael Hagewood, Pat Sailors, Andrew Miller, Debbie Robinson. Elected as Clergy Delegates to Jurisdictional Conference - Harriet Bryan, Karen Barrineau, Michael Williams, Max Mayo, Ken Murray
Reserve Delegates
Clergy - Lisa Gwock, Tommy Ward, Loyd Mabry, Elijah McGee, Bob Lewis; Lay - Vivian Martin, Jim Austin, Gloria Watts, Heather Bennett, Robert Sullins
Two Persons with passion for Evangelism are presented the 2007 Denman Evangelism Awards
Two persons from the Tennessee conference, one lay and the other clergy, were presented with 2007 Denman Evangelism Awards. These awards are made possible each year by The Foundation for Evangelism, an affiliate of the General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church.
The award is named for Dr. Harry Denman, a Methodist layperson. Dr. Denman possessed a passion for telling the Good News and a personal commitment to help people experience the transforming power of God through Jesus Christ.
Dr. Denman was committed to strengthening our denomination through teaching, preaching, programming and personal leadership. For 27 years he led the Board of Evangelism of our church. Among the many things that he began was the Upper Room Ministries, the best known ministry of the United Methodist Church throughout the world. Dr. Denman also had the vision to establish the Foundation for Evangelism. Today, the Foundation strives to fulfill this vision by providing resources for leadership development within our denomination.
Presented the 2007 Denman Evangelism Award for Laity was Tina Neeley, a member of Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church in Shelbyville, Tennessee
Ordained as Elders in Full Connection l to r: Kaye Harvey, Melissa Derseweh, Ryan Bennett, Pat Freudenthal, Mosae Han, Regina Hall, and Pat Smith.
Ordained as Deacons in Full Connection left to right: Cheryl Wood, Paul Bonner, Nancy Neelley
Commissioned as First Year Probationary Members of the Tennessee Conference left to right: Jeff Jacob, Rickey Wade, Deborah Owens, Louis Davis, Jodi McCullah, Jackson Henry
Two honored with J. Richard Allison Social Holiness Award
The J. Richard Allison Social Holiness Award was created in recognition of Dick’s Allison’s servant ministry and those who receive the award that have moved beyond the Fist step of faith to commit themselves to Christ in a life-long journey of learning, loving, and serving in every arena of life, especially with the poor, naked, and hungry.
J. Richard (Dick) Allison was once described as “a man who would take to his knees in prayer, to tend his tomato plants or help a child”. A United Methodist leader in Tennessee, Dick Allison lived out a life focused on sharing Christ’s love through service to others. Dick Allison was pastor in the Tennessee Annual Conference, a missionary, and a social activist in Nashville. Dick ministered in churches, in social service agencies, and in the prisons as he carried out his mission to the world. He was also a visionary. While pastoring churches in Middle Tennessee, Dick also helped with the formation of several important institutions including the Heads Up Child Development Center, the Rochelle Center (which works with handicapped adults), United Methodist Urban Ministries, Homeplace, Inc. (a home for mentally challenged adult women), and the Edgehill Community Garden. Dick was, as Dr. Robert Kohler has noted, “a man of God with a mission of doing what he did best – building bridges between the needs of the community and the resources of the church”.
Denise Skidmore, Hilldale United Methodist Church in Clarksville, was awarded the 2007 Allison Social Holiness Award for Laity.
Denise felt a continuing hunger for Christ that culminated in a rich Emmaus Walk experience and with that hunger came a question, “Christ is counting on me, but for what?” She soon discovered physical hunger in her community—very noticeable in children who were receiving their best meal, and perhaps only meal of the day, at school. From the discovery of hungry children, often receiving little or no food over the weekend, Denise Skidmore founded a special ministry—F.U.E.L, an acronym for “Full Uv Emmaus Love.”
Denise Skidmore receives the Allison Social Holiness Award from Bishop Dick Wills.
It begin in Clarksville, Tennessee, from Hilldale United Methodist Church , with volunteers collecting food which is subsequently bagged and placed directly in the back pack of a child in the program. This food is taken home for weekend use. This ministry began with one church and one elementary school, and 11 children.
Since then the program has spread to all 19 elementary schools in Montgomery County, Tennessee, and has moved to four other counties in Tennessee, one county in Kentucky and one in Virginia. Over 1400 children are involved. Though there is strong United Methodist involvement, the F.U.E.L. program has now become completely interdenominational with 41 churches involved.
From the beginning none of the churches have used money from congregational budgets. This program operates on second mile giving in all of the churches involved. Some churches feed 3 children and some feed 85 children.
The feedback has been strong. Children involved in F.U.E.L. are more alert, they have better grades, and they display pride in helping their family “by bringing home the bacon.”
The Rev. Jack Gilbert, pastor of Harris Chapel United Methodist Church in the Murfreesboro District, was awarded the 2007 Allison Social Holiness Award for clergy.
Jack Gilbert has been described with the words, “a prophetic and ecumenical spirit.” His beliefs have moved him to working diligently within the church and outside the church to overcome racial, economic, and cultural barriers—barriers that separate us one from the other.
His strength is in building relationships, and he has said, “You can’t be a Christian by yourself.” One of those relationships is with other churches and organizations in Franklin County that are reaching out to their Hispanic neighbors through participating with the Franklin County Cooperative Hispanic Ministry.
Since the year 2000 he has been the President of Good Samaritan Outreach in Franklin County—a ministry that involves churches and civil service agencies in ministering with the poor and marginalized.
The Rev. Jack Gilbert stands with his wife, the Rev. Nan Zoller, and Bishop Dick Wills
He has cultivated a relationship with St. John’s AME as they have swapped pulpits, shared fellowship meals, held joint worship services, and collaborated on Vacation Bible School.
Bryan Brooks says of Jack Gilbert, “Through writing, teaching, preaching, and daily living, Jack Gilbert works to create a world that is just and nurturing, regardless of the categories that are sometimes used to divide humanity.”
Part Two--A Commentary by the Rev. Jay Voorhees
The Case for Connectionalism
The Rev. Jay Voorhees, Antioch United Methodist Church
This narrative has been appropriated by many forms of the American church. The emphasis on congregationalism suggests that each congregation is individual unto itself. While there is certainly rhetoric about our participation in the church universal, congregationalism at its core maintains a loose sense of accountability, one which offers little means for other congregations to influence life in, or hold another congregation accountable to, a particular understanding of God, an interpretive framework for understanding scripture, or an expression of communal life in the Body of Christ. This is not only a feature of those churches that claim congregational polities, for there are congregations within our own connectional system that understand themselves to be more congregationally focused than part of a broader system of life and faith. Thus, when the connectional hierarchy attempts to hold the pastor or the congregation up to a particular standard of faith and practice, these congregations (both liberal and conservative alike) rise up in arms, claiming that their rights are being violated, and questioning the right of the connectional system to maintain authority. Far too often, these disputes end up being mediated in the secular courts, something that both Jesus and the early church repudiated.
As I read the Gospels and think about Paul’s image of the Body of Christ, I continue to understand that the Gospel of Jesus Christ stands in opposition to the individualism expressed in our culture. While Jesus called individuals to faithfulness, more often than not he encouraged relational practices rather than individual disciplines. Jesus was not particularly concerned with individual rights, lifting up instead support and love for the other and sacrificial giving. The early church maintained an ethic of community that seems on the surface to eschew individual property in favor of a communalism in which all share equally. Paul’s image of the body raises up the notion of interdependence, the belief that all are connected to one another (even in the midst of our differences) and that we all maintain a responsibility to one another for the good of the body. The Biblical ethic more often than not fails to lift up individualism as a virtue, and promotes corporate expressions of faith as primary.
So, in a world in which individualism is given a high value, in a world in which individualism is described as the ultimate virtue, in a world in which individualism is idolized, shouldn’t the church make a prophetic stand in its life together as a counter-cultural act?
Connectionalism, even in the flawed form we experience now, makes a theological statement that corporate accountability is more important than individual rights. It suggests that relationship is important, not simply on a superficial level, but deep at our core, and that accountability is the way by which relationship is maintained in a healthy way. Connectionalism respects and honors the notion of covenantal responsibility, not pawning off promises as mere words, but understanding that those words have power and must be taken seriously. To be connectional is to understand that my well being is dependent on your well being, and her well being, and the well being of that church over in California that I disagree with at times. To be connectional is to understand the words of Martin Luther King Jr., who said that “…We are caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality; tied in a single garment of destiny.” To be a part of a connectional church is to recognize that we are giving up our individual rights so that the body may be become one.
As a pastor, I am often asked about my willingness to be a part of a system that can move me and my family at a whim. “How can you be willing to go with little warning or concern for your individual and family needs?” Part of my willingness to participate is the trust that the community and the community elected hierarchy are concerned for both my individual and family needs, knowing that I will cease to be effective in ministry if those needs aren’t met at some level. However, part of my willingness comes from the knowledge that I don’t have a full picture of the needs of the body, and that the covenant I made at my ordination to go where it is discerned that the body needs me is not easily broken. I have a responsibility to this community that has taken me in, welcomed me, worked to heal my hurts, and has helped me in raising my kids. Yes, the needs of that community sometimes infringe on my individual rights, just as the needs of my wife and kids sometimes infringe on my individual desires. But my covenant to them says that the good of the whole is more important than my own personal rights.
Part of the problem with connectionalism today is that we have focused too much on the failures and not the possibilities. More importantly, we have failed to recognize the power of connectionalism as a theological act. We have (as United Methodists so often do) failed to think theologically and instead focused on administration. Yet, our call from God says that we are to do both, and our connectional system makes a claim about God that needs to be made in our world. That claim is rooted in the core of Jesus’ teaching – the knowledge that our primary task is to love God and love neighbor, sacrificially. To be connectional is to place ourselves in a system that suggests the wisdom of the body is always superior to the wisdom of individuals.
Am I suggesting that all churches and church traditions should become connectional? Not any more than I am suggesting that we all move to Pennsylvania to drive in horse drawn wagons like the Amish do. We all have our callings regarding who God is calling us to be in the world. But we must recognize that we are indeed being called to make a statement about the Kingdom of God in whatever form our life takes. The Amish did so eloquently in the wake of the recent shootings of their children in their community in Pennsylvania. Will we likewise understand our identity so deeply that we will make a statement regarding who we are as well.
1. Newly Elected Delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conference Receive a Prayerful greeting from the Tennessee Conference – “The Road to General and Jurisdictional Conference Begins in Nashville with Prayer”
2. Children lead way in $57,861.83 offering for the Children of Kamina -- nearly 58% of $100,000.00 goal has been received so far.
3. Statistics to Initiate Local Church Discussion on Congregational Revitalization—These statistics are shared as a starting point for local church discussion in adult church school classes and evangelism committees. They werepresented as a part of a report by Rev. Mabry during the 2007 session of The Tennessee Annual Conference. Mabry is the newly appointed Conference Director of Connectional Ministries.
4. Streaming Video carries ordination service around the world -- a teenage daughter participates in her mom’s ordination through new technology.
5. New Rates for Development Fund Go into Effect July 1 – Vin Walkup announces new rates for investors in the Nashville Area Development fund
6. 30-Person General and Jurisdictional Conference Team – Names of our delegates and alternates along with a group picture.
7. Tina Neeley and the Rev. Allen Weller--Two Persons with passion for Evangelism are presented the 2007 Denman Evangelism Awards
8. 2007 Ordination and Commissioning Service, June 10, 2007 – names and pictures of those ordained an commissioned at the 2007 session of the Tennessee Annual Conference.
9. Two honored with the J. Richard Allison Social Holiness Award – Denise Skidmore and the Rev. Jack Gilbert
10. Part Two--A Commentary by the Rev. Jay Voorhees. Antioch UMC pastor makes “The Case for Connectionalism”
The Road to General and Jurisdictional Conference Begins in Nashville with Prayer
As newly elected delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conference set the tone for their future work by gathering at the altar in prayer, ministerial and lay delegates to Annual Conference come forward to place their hands on the delegates and to pray with and for them.After individual prayers at the altar, the delegates and alternate delegates joined together to ask God’s guidance for their work at General and Jurisdictional Conference. Children lead way in $57,861.83 offering for the Children of Kamina
Children move toward the offering baskets with gifts for the Children of Kamina.With money brought to the altar, first by children from congregations around the conference, and then by adults (augmented by funds sent directly to the Office of The Tennessee Conference Treasurer), the amount collected by press time for the Children of Kamina is $57,861.83. This is almost 58% of the Conference Goal of $100,000 for 2007. Susan Groseclose who has headed up the Kamina campaign points out that it is not too late for congregations to participate and raise additional funds. “We certainly want to thank those children,” indicated Groseclose, “and local churches who committed substantial time and energy into raising funds that the children of Kamina, many of them orphaned by war and the AIDS epidemic, may have a loving place to stay, health care, enough food to eat, and the benefit of education.
Statistics to Initiate Local Church Discussion on Congregational Revitalization
by Loyd E. Mabry
Editor’s note: We present these statistics as a starting point for local church discussion in adult church school classes and evangelism committees. They were shared as a part of a report by Rev. Mabry during the 2007 session of The Tennessee Annual Conference. Mabry is the newly appointed Conference Director of Connectional Ministries.
· Within the boundaries of our conference 53% of the people are unchurched.
· With a growth rate of 1.2% the number of people living in the bounds of our conference totals 2,288, 117.
· According to the 2006 year end reports, we United Methodists total 118,304. That is only 5.2% of the population.
· The good news is the Tennessee Conference is growing. We have had a net gain in membership for the last eleven years, but our growth is at a rate less than the growth of the state.
· Using the figures from the 2006 Journal to the present, we grew by 946 people or .8% growth. The state of Tennessee is growing at 1.2%.
· The average age of people in Tennessee is 37.
· Nationwide the average age United Methodist is 61.
· According to the 2006 year end reports, we have an average of 48,231 persons worshiping in our church each Sunday. That is an increase of only 184 over last year.
· It is troubling to know that only 47% of our churches had people join on Profession of Faith.
Editor’s note: We present these statistics as a starting point for local church discussion in adult church school classes and evangelism committees. They were shared as a part of a report by Rev. Mabry during the 2007 session of The Tennessee Annual Conference. Mabry is the newly appointed Conference Director of Connectional Ministries.
· Within the boundaries of our conference 53% of the people are unchurched.
· With a growth rate of 1.2% the number of people living in the bounds of our conference totals 2,288, 117.
· According to the 2006 year end reports, we United Methodists total 118,304. That is only 5.2% of the population.
· The good news is the Tennessee Conference is growing. We have had a net gain in membership for the last eleven years, but our growth is at a rate less than the growth of the state.
· Using the figures from the 2006 Journal to the present, we grew by 946 people or .8% growth. The state of Tennessee is growing at 1.2%.
· The average age of people in Tennessee is 37.
· Nationwide the average age United Methodist is 61.
· According to the 2006 year end reports, we have an average of 48,231 persons worshiping in our church each Sunday. That is an increase of only 184 over last year.
· It is troubling to know that only 47% of our churches had people join on Profession of Faith.
.That means that 324 or 53% of our churches did not have a single person join on Profession of faith . . . and if you are wondering the national average for churches with no professions of faith is 42.4% of our churches.
As a beginning point for revitalization, I ask you to join me in doing the following:
· Encourage fellow believers
· Talk about what God is doing in your life and the lives of others
· Engage others in conversation (particularly the unchurched) and invite them into relationship with Jesus Christ.
· Serve those in need
Streaming Video carries ordination service around the world
The excitement was there, and the sacredness of the moment, as two women and one man came forward during the Tennessee Annual Conference. The three were to be ordained as Deacons in Full Connection. Friends of Cheryl Wood, Paul Bonner, and Nancy Neelley were in the congregation and stood as Bishop Dick Wills laid his hands upon each candidate. Neelley was extremely happy to reach this point in her life, but also a little anxious. She wondered if her daughter Marissa would be able to participate in this moment from half-way around the world.
Bishop Wills intoned the prayer “Almighty God, pour upon Nancy Neelley the Holy Spirit for the office and work of a deacon.”
Nancy Neelley receives her Deacon’s Stole, an action seen thousands of miles away by daughter Marissa
As a beginning point for revitalization, I ask you to join me in doing the following:
· Encourage fellow believers
· Talk about what God is doing in your life and the lives of others
· Engage others in conversation (particularly the unchurched) and invite them into relationship with Jesus Christ.
· Serve those in need
Streaming Video carries ordination service around the world
The excitement was there, and the sacredness of the moment, as two women and one man came forward during the Tennessee Annual Conference. The three were to be ordained as Deacons in Full Connection. Friends of Cheryl Wood, Paul Bonner, and Nancy Neelley were in the congregation and stood as Bishop Dick Wills laid his hands upon each candidate. Neelley was extremely happy to reach this point in her life, but also a little anxious. She wondered if her daughter Marissa would be able to participate in this moment from half-way around the world.
Bishop Wills intoned the prayer “Almighty God, pour upon Nancy Neelley the Holy Spirit for the office and work of a deacon.”
Nancy Neelley receives her Deacon’s Stole, an action seen thousands of miles away by daughter Marissa Then as Nancy placed her hands on a Bible, the Bishop said the words that Nancy had been waiting years to hear—ever since she felt the call to the servant ministry of a Deacon--“Nancy, take authority as a deacon in the Church to proclaim the Word of God, and to lead God’s people to serve in the world in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Sometimes preparation for the ordination moment was difficult and time consuming, but Neelley had felt the strong support of her teen-age daughter Marissa Emrich throughout the process.
Sadly Marissa could not be present for the ordination service itself even though she strongly desired to be part of this special moment in her mom’s life. As fate would have it, an international study trip sponsored by Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet school coincided with mom’s ordination. This trip was a culmination of four years of German language studies for Marissa before she entered her senior year in high school.
Though the story seemed to end sadly—in fact, it had a very happy ending because of modern computer technology. Marissa, in a room in Wiesbaden,Germany, was able to watch, on a computer, the entire ordination ceremony live through a technological advancement called “streaming video.” Streaming video is a sequence of "moving images" that are sent in compressed form over the Internet and displayed by the viewer as they arrive. The media is sent in a continuous stream and is played as it arrives almost simultaneously with the event.
Marissa and mom Nancy Neelley
So as the ordination ceremony took place in Nashville, Marissa was with several close friends in Germany, pleased to be a part of her mother’s support group. As soon as the service concluded Marissa fired off an email to mom: “I SAW IT! AND I SAW YOU AND IT WAS AMAZING!!! I was super excited, because there weren’t any big problems with reception at all. I got to see all of it!
“I’m so proud of you, Mom! Missy, Brooke, Thomas and I all watched it. They were really sweet to come watch it and stay up so late, but they enjoyed it (as did I). Who all was there to support you? I know Robby, Emily, Jennifer, Dorothy, and Louise . . . who else made it? You hugged everybody after you had knelt—I could honestly say ‘that’s my momma, knowin’ everybody and huggin’ everybody.’ HaHa.
“You amaze me, momma. and I’m proud, proud, proud, proud, proud, proud (times infinity).”
This was the first time streaming video was used to send part of a Tennessee Annual Conference session across the country and across the world. Neelley, who has served four years as Minister of Discipleship at Hillcrest United Methodist Church, is now fulfilling her servant ministry at United Methodist Communications—working on the Global Health Initiative, a long-term interagency effort to raise awareness and understanding of global health issues. She is extremely grateful to UMCOM colleague Sean McAtee for equipping the Conference site at Brentwood United Methodist Church to handle streaming video, and making arrangements to be certain Marissa could receive the computer generated signal. She is also thankful to Tennessee Conference computer guru Bill Freeman for his part in the experiment.
For his part Freeman is still shaking his head. “The camera was hooked up to my wireless Mac which transmitted the signal to the Brentwood UMC router. The router then used an internet connection provided by UMCOM for streaming video. McAtee, Freeman, and certainly Nancy Neelley, are looking forward to future applications of streaming video by the Tennessee Conference.”
New Rates for Development Fund Go into Effect July First
by Dr. Vin Walkup
The United Methodist Development Fund of Tennessee/ Kentucky is a ministry of both the Memphis and the Tennessee Conferences and of the Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation. Each quarter the board of the Foundation reviews the status of accounts and sets the interest to be paid on participant accounts and the rate of interest to be charged on new loans to United Methodist churches and ministries in the two conferences.
Our United Methodist Development Fund continues to be a vital ministry of United Methodists helping United Methodists. A year and a half ago, some significant cuts in the rates being paid on participant accounts and charged on loans were made. Since that time, we have moved from no new loans for 15 months to several new loans, and now we have 36 active loans with an additional two loans approved. We have participant accounts totaling $8,926,000 and with 20% held as reserve, we have only a half million dollars available to loan, and inquiries of over $7 million.
The good news is that this is a great time to invest in the Development Fund. On July 1, a new rate of 4.8% paid on participant accounts will go into effect. Your investments will help other churches and extension ministries to grow, when they borrow from the Fund at a rate of only 7%. If you would like more information about this fund for investing or regarding loans, contact Tiffany Raines at (615) 259-2066. This is a great way for United Methodists to help other United Methodists.
30-Person Tennessee Conference General and Jurisdictional Conference Team of Delegates
Marissa and mom Nancy NeelleySo as the ordination ceremony took place in Nashville, Marissa was with several close friends in Germany, pleased to be a part of her mother’s support group. As soon as the service concluded Marissa fired off an email to mom: “I SAW IT! AND I SAW YOU AND IT WAS AMAZING!!! I was super excited, because there weren’t any big problems with reception at all. I got to see all of it!
“I’m so proud of you, Mom! Missy, Brooke, Thomas and I all watched it. They were really sweet to come watch it and stay up so late, but they enjoyed it (as did I). Who all was there to support you? I know Robby, Emily, Jennifer, Dorothy, and Louise . . . who else made it? You hugged everybody after you had knelt—I could honestly say ‘that’s my momma, knowin’ everybody and huggin’ everybody.’ HaHa.
“You amaze me, momma. and I’m proud, proud, proud, proud, proud, proud (times infinity).”
This was the first time streaming video was used to send part of a Tennessee Annual Conference session across the country and across the world. Neelley, who has served four years as Minister of Discipleship at Hillcrest United Methodist Church, is now fulfilling her servant ministry at United Methodist Communications—working on the Global Health Initiative, a long-term interagency effort to raise awareness and understanding of global health issues. She is extremely grateful to UMCOM colleague Sean McAtee for equipping the Conference site at Brentwood United Methodist Church to handle streaming video, and making arrangements to be certain Marissa could receive the computer generated signal. She is also thankful to Tennessee Conference computer guru Bill Freeman for his part in the experiment.
For his part Freeman is still shaking his head. “The camera was hooked up to my wireless Mac which transmitted the signal to the Brentwood UMC router. The router then used an internet connection provided by UMCOM for streaming video. McAtee, Freeman, and certainly Nancy Neelley, are looking forward to future applications of streaming video by the Tennessee Conference.”
New Rates for Development Fund Go into Effect July First
by Dr. Vin Walkup
The United Methodist Development Fund of Tennessee/ Kentucky is a ministry of both the Memphis and the Tennessee Conferences and of the Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation. Each quarter the board of the Foundation reviews the status of accounts and sets the interest to be paid on participant accounts and the rate of interest to be charged on new loans to United Methodist churches and ministries in the two conferences.
Our United Methodist Development Fund continues to be a vital ministry of United Methodists helping United Methodists. A year and a half ago, some significant cuts in the rates being paid on participant accounts and charged on loans were made. Since that time, we have moved from no new loans for 15 months to several new loans, and now we have 36 active loans with an additional two loans approved. We have participant accounts totaling $8,926,000 and with 20% held as reserve, we have only a half million dollars available to loan, and inquiries of over $7 million.
The good news is that this is a great time to invest in the Development Fund. On July 1, a new rate of 4.8% paid on participant accounts will go into effect. Your investments will help other churches and extension ministries to grow, when they borrow from the Fund at a rate of only 7%. If you would like more information about this fund for investing or regarding loans, contact Tiffany Raines at (615) 259-2066. This is a great way for United Methodists to help other United Methodists.
30-Person Tennessee Conference General and Jurisdictional Conference Team of Delegates
General ConferenceElected as Clergy Delegates to General Conference - Lynn Hill, Cathie Leimenstoll, Bettye Lewis, Barbara Garcia, John Collett. Elected as Lay Delegates to General Conference - Don Ladd, Joe Williams, Betty Alexander, Beth Morris, Opal Ransom
SE Jurisdictional Conference
Elected as Lay Delegates to Jurisdictional Conference - Holly Neal, Rachael Hagewood, Pat Sailors, Andrew Miller, Debbie Robinson. Elected as Clergy Delegates to Jurisdictional Conference - Harriet Bryan, Karen Barrineau, Michael Williams, Max Mayo, Ken Murray
Reserve Delegates
Clergy - Lisa Gwock, Tommy Ward, Loyd Mabry, Elijah McGee, Bob Lewis; Lay - Vivian Martin, Jim Austin, Gloria Watts, Heather Bennett, Robert Sullins
Two Persons with passion for Evangelism are presented the 2007 Denman Evangelism Awards
Two persons from the Tennessee conference, one lay and the other clergy, were presented with 2007 Denman Evangelism Awards. These awards are made possible each year by The Foundation for Evangelism, an affiliate of the General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church.
The award is named for Dr. Harry Denman, a Methodist layperson. Dr. Denman possessed a passion for telling the Good News and a personal commitment to help people experience the transforming power of God through Jesus Christ.
Dr. Denman was committed to strengthening our denomination through teaching, preaching, programming and personal leadership. For 27 years he led the Board of Evangelism of our church. Among the many things that he began was the Upper Room Ministries, the best known ministry of the United Methodist Church throughout the world. Dr. Denman also had the vision to establish the Foundation for Evangelism. Today, the Foundation strives to fulfill this vision by providing resources for leadership development within our denomination.
Presented the 2007 Denman Evangelism Award for Laity was Tina Neeley, a member of Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church in Shelbyville, Tennessee
Tina serves her local congregation as Chairperson of the Evangelism committee and has gathered a committee around herself that has been both active and successful. The Evangelism Committee has initiated plans for evangelism that produce fruit and make church fun for all involved. The have prepared welcome packets, t-shirts, CDs of the worship service, but personal contact is a priority as they stress the theme, “each one, reach one.” As a result of Tina’s leadership, Mt. Lebanon UMC has experienced a ten percent growth in membership.
Tina Neeley, Mt. Lebanon UMC, is given the laity Denman Evangelism Award by Bishop Dick Wills
Diane Neeley, a fellow member of the Mt. Lebanon UMC Evangelism Committee, feels that Tina is the silent worker that we all have in our churches. She quietly does the things she sees we need with no expectation of thanks or praise. She is a prayer warrior and a constant seeker of God’s will and plan for her life. Tina is faith. We all have our issues and problems but Tina has an unwavering faith that the Lord will guide her and her loved ones through any storm. We have laughed together and cried together but in the end she knows her source of strength comes from the Lord and she is willing to move over and let Him work through her. . . she is steadily leading people to Christ because, not only does she talk the talk, but she can walk the walk!”
Inez Lane from the Pastor Parish Relations Committee echoes Diane Neeley’s words: “A smile, a hug, a resounding good morning are things you can expect from Tina. She is a loyal Christian with a burden for the lost and backsliding persons, and she has a commitment for all. Her vision is to reach as many people as possible to make sure all are saved. By walking in faith, showing love, joy and peace, Tina has helped us achieve a yearning for Jesus to be in everyone’s life.
Presented the 2007 Denman Evangelism Award for Clergy was the Rev. William Allen Weller III* who was pastor of the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Hendersonville at the time of his nomination.
In each of his appointments, Allen has led the church in making new disciples of Jesus Christ through strong Biblical preaching and loving pastoral care. To be in Allen’s presence is to experience that there is one who not only knows about Jesus, but one who personally knows Jesus. The love and compassion of Jesus Christ has been and continues to be the foundation of Allen’s ministry. The numerical and spiritual growth of the congregations he has served bear witness to his effectiveness as a preacher, teacher, evangelist and pastor of the congregation.
Fifteen years ago, Rev. Allen Weller became the pastor of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church. The church was in a transition from the Rivergate area to its current location on New Shackle Island Road in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The membership at that time was 92. In the 2006 Journal, the membership is recorded as 596. So in a decade, over 500 folks were added to this vibrant congregation.
Along with this numerical increase, there were vast expansions in the facilities and discipleship programs. Allen’s enthusiastic personality and his great compassion for people helped to create an environment for authentic Christian growth. Throughout the Hendersonville community, he is a recognized civic and ministerial leader. In a variety of clubs and organizations, he guided programs for the improvement of the area’s quality of life.
Youth Director Jennifer Mazzola and Pastor Allen Weller greet the Extreme Home Makeover construction team. Weller’s strong involvement in his community was one of the reasons given for awarding him the clergy Denman Evangelism Award
Given Weller’s interest in serving the community, it is not surprising that his congregation received national notice in 2006 when tornadoes hit and destroyed large areas in Hendersonville and Gallatin, Tennessee. Members of the congregation, many of them youth, went to a totally destroyed home—a home in which young mother Amy Hawkins was seriously injured—salvaged whatever was salvageable, and moved all items to Good Shepherd United Methodist Church for safe keeping. They also participated in having the Jerrod and Amy Hawkins family nominated for the rebuilding of their home by the nationally televised program Extreme Makeover.
Though the Hawkins family had no connection with Good Shepherd UMC, the effort of the congregation to reach out and help the family did not escape notice of producers of the television show. During the Hawkins family chapter of Extreme Makeover, the gathering of the support community and sending out of volunteer work teams to clear debris and build a new home was all shot at Good Shepherd UMC.
For many years of this dynamic journey, Buni, Allen’s wife endured many physical hardships. In spite of his pastoral responsibilities in a rapidly expanding congregation, he provided dedicated love for her. They are a very committed clergy couple and recently celebrated 42 years of marriage.
“At this year’s annual conference,” says Cumberland District Superintendent Dr. Ron Lowery, “Allen was presented the Dr. Harry Denman award for his diligent labors for the Lord. In Dr. Denman’s legacy, Allen unceasingly offers Christ through a variety of means. He remains ever devoted to Bible study, developing disciples, and joyous in his daily walk with Christ. I applaud his service to Good Shepherd United Methodist Church and I know he will greatly enhance the ministry at Dickson First United Methodist Church, his new appointment.”
Fellow Tennessee Conference minister Skip Armistead is impressed by Weller’s commitment to improving God’s kingdom. “He learned,” says Armistead, “from Norman Vincent Peale’s School of Practical Living that he needed a motto to live by. The motto he has been living by for over a decade is ‘The best is yet to come.’ He knows that God is his friend and that God is the God of the future, thus the future is Allen’s friend.
*Portions of this statement about Allen Weller were written by a former Cumberland District Superintendent, Lynn Hill, and present Cumberland District Superintendent Dr. Ron Lowery.
Ordination and Commissioning Service, June 10, 2007
Tina Neeley, Mt. Lebanon UMC, is given the laity Denman Evangelism Award by Bishop Dick WillsDiane Neeley, a fellow member of the Mt. Lebanon UMC Evangelism Committee, feels that Tina is the silent worker that we all have in our churches. She quietly does the things she sees we need with no expectation of thanks or praise. She is a prayer warrior and a constant seeker of God’s will and plan for her life. Tina is faith. We all have our issues and problems but Tina has an unwavering faith that the Lord will guide her and her loved ones through any storm. We have laughed together and cried together but in the end she knows her source of strength comes from the Lord and she is willing to move over and let Him work through her. . . she is steadily leading people to Christ because, not only does she talk the talk, but she can walk the walk!”
Inez Lane from the Pastor Parish Relations Committee echoes Diane Neeley’s words: “A smile, a hug, a resounding good morning are things you can expect from Tina. She is a loyal Christian with a burden for the lost and backsliding persons, and she has a commitment for all. Her vision is to reach as many people as possible to make sure all are saved. By walking in faith, showing love, joy and peace, Tina has helped us achieve a yearning for Jesus to be in everyone’s life.
Presented the 2007 Denman Evangelism Award for Clergy was the Rev. William Allen Weller III* who was pastor of the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Hendersonville at the time of his nomination.
In each of his appointments, Allen has led the church in making new disciples of Jesus Christ through strong Biblical preaching and loving pastoral care. To be in Allen’s presence is to experience that there is one who not only knows about Jesus, but one who personally knows Jesus. The love and compassion of Jesus Christ has been and continues to be the foundation of Allen’s ministry. The numerical and spiritual growth of the congregations he has served bear witness to his effectiveness as a preacher, teacher, evangelist and pastor of the congregation.
Fifteen years ago, Rev. Allen Weller became the pastor of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church. The church was in a transition from the Rivergate area to its current location on New Shackle Island Road in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The membership at that time was 92. In the 2006 Journal, the membership is recorded as 596. So in a decade, over 500 folks were added to this vibrant congregation.
Along with this numerical increase, there were vast expansions in the facilities and discipleship programs. Allen’s enthusiastic personality and his great compassion for people helped to create an environment for authentic Christian growth. Throughout the Hendersonville community, he is a recognized civic and ministerial leader. In a variety of clubs and organizations, he guided programs for the improvement of the area’s quality of life.
Youth Director Jennifer Mazzola and Pastor Allen Weller greet the Extreme Home Makeover construction team. Weller’s strong involvement in his community was one of the reasons given for awarding him the clergy Denman Evangelism AwardGiven Weller’s interest in serving the community, it is not surprising that his congregation received national notice in 2006 when tornadoes hit and destroyed large areas in Hendersonville and Gallatin, Tennessee. Members of the congregation, many of them youth, went to a totally destroyed home—a home in which young mother Amy Hawkins was seriously injured—salvaged whatever was salvageable, and moved all items to Good Shepherd United Methodist Church for safe keeping. They also participated in having the Jerrod and Amy Hawkins family nominated for the rebuilding of their home by the nationally televised program Extreme Makeover.
Though the Hawkins family had no connection with Good Shepherd UMC, the effort of the congregation to reach out and help the family did not escape notice of producers of the television show. During the Hawkins family chapter of Extreme Makeover, the gathering of the support community and sending out of volunteer work teams to clear debris and build a new home was all shot at Good Shepherd UMC.
For many years of this dynamic journey, Buni, Allen’s wife endured many physical hardships. In spite of his pastoral responsibilities in a rapidly expanding congregation, he provided dedicated love for her. They are a very committed clergy couple and recently celebrated 42 years of marriage.
“At this year’s annual conference,” says Cumberland District Superintendent Dr. Ron Lowery, “Allen was presented the Dr. Harry Denman award for his diligent labors for the Lord. In Dr. Denman’s legacy, Allen unceasingly offers Christ through a variety of means. He remains ever devoted to Bible study, developing disciples, and joyous in his daily walk with Christ. I applaud his service to Good Shepherd United Methodist Church and I know he will greatly enhance the ministry at Dickson First United Methodist Church, his new appointment.”
Fellow Tennessee Conference minister Skip Armistead is impressed by Weller’s commitment to improving God’s kingdom. “He learned,” says Armistead, “from Norman Vincent Peale’s School of Practical Living that he needed a motto to live by. The motto he has been living by for over a decade is ‘The best is yet to come.’ He knows that God is his friend and that God is the God of the future, thus the future is Allen’s friend.
*Portions of this statement about Allen Weller were written by a former Cumberland District Superintendent, Lynn Hill, and present Cumberland District Superintendent Dr. Ron Lowery.
Ordination and Commissioning Service, June 10, 2007
Ordained as Elders in Full Connection l to r: Kaye Harvey, Melissa Derseweh, Ryan Bennett, Pat Freudenthal, Mosae Han, Regina Hall, and Pat Smith.Ordained as Deacons in Full Connection left to right: Cheryl Wood, Paul Bonner, Nancy NeelleyCommissioned as First Year Probationary Members of the Tennessee Conference left to right: Jeff Jacob, Rickey Wade, Deborah Owens, Louis Davis, Jodi McCullah, Jackson HenryTwo honored with J. Richard Allison Social Holiness Award
The J. Richard Allison Social Holiness Award was created in recognition of Dick’s Allison’s servant ministry and those who receive the award that have moved beyond the Fist step of faith to commit themselves to Christ in a life-long journey of learning, loving, and serving in every arena of life, especially with the poor, naked, and hungry.
J. Richard (Dick) Allison was once described as “a man who would take to his knees in prayer, to tend his tomato plants or help a child”. A United Methodist leader in Tennessee, Dick Allison lived out a life focused on sharing Christ’s love through service to others. Dick Allison was pastor in the Tennessee Annual Conference, a missionary, and a social activist in Nashville. Dick ministered in churches, in social service agencies, and in the prisons as he carried out his mission to the world. He was also a visionary. While pastoring churches in Middle Tennessee, Dick also helped with the formation of several important institutions including the Heads Up Child Development Center, the Rochelle Center (which works with handicapped adults), United Methodist Urban Ministries, Homeplace, Inc. (a home for mentally challenged adult women), and the Edgehill Community Garden. Dick was, as Dr. Robert Kohler has noted, “a man of God with a mission of doing what he did best – building bridges between the needs of the community and the resources of the church”.
Denise Skidmore, Hilldale United Methodist Church in Clarksville, was awarded the 2007 Allison Social Holiness Award for Laity.
Denise felt a continuing hunger for Christ that culminated in a rich Emmaus Walk experience and with that hunger came a question, “Christ is counting on me, but for what?” She soon discovered physical hunger in her community—very noticeable in children who were receiving their best meal, and perhaps only meal of the day, at school. From the discovery of hungry children, often receiving little or no food over the weekend, Denise Skidmore founded a special ministry—F.U.E.L, an acronym for “Full Uv Emmaus Love.”
Denise Skidmore receives the Allison Social Holiness Award from Bishop Dick Wills.It begin in Clarksville, Tennessee, from Hilldale United Methodist Church , with volunteers collecting food which is subsequently bagged and placed directly in the back pack of a child in the program. This food is taken home for weekend use. This ministry began with one church and one elementary school, and 11 children.
Since then the program has spread to all 19 elementary schools in Montgomery County, Tennessee, and has moved to four other counties in Tennessee, one county in Kentucky and one in Virginia. Over 1400 children are involved. Though there is strong United Methodist involvement, the F.U.E.L. program has now become completely interdenominational with 41 churches involved.
From the beginning none of the churches have used money from congregational budgets. This program operates on second mile giving in all of the churches involved. Some churches feed 3 children and some feed 85 children.
The feedback has been strong. Children involved in F.U.E.L. are more alert, they have better grades, and they display pride in helping their family “by bringing home the bacon.”
The Rev. Jack Gilbert, pastor of Harris Chapel United Methodist Church in the Murfreesboro District, was awarded the 2007 Allison Social Holiness Award for clergy.
Jack Gilbert has been described with the words, “a prophetic and ecumenical spirit.” His beliefs have moved him to working diligently within the church and outside the church to overcome racial, economic, and cultural barriers—barriers that separate us one from the other.
His strength is in building relationships, and he has said, “You can’t be a Christian by yourself.” One of those relationships is with other churches and organizations in Franklin County that are reaching out to their Hispanic neighbors through participating with the Franklin County Cooperative Hispanic Ministry.
Since the year 2000 he has been the President of Good Samaritan Outreach in Franklin County—a ministry that involves churches and civil service agencies in ministering with the poor and marginalized.
The Rev. Jack Gilbert stands with his wife, the Rev. Nan Zoller, and Bishop Dick Wills
He has cultivated a relationship with St. John’s AME as they have swapped pulpits, shared fellowship meals, held joint worship services, and collaborated on Vacation Bible School.
Bryan Brooks says of Jack Gilbert, “Through writing, teaching, preaching, and daily living, Jack Gilbert works to create a world that is just and nurturing, regardless of the categories that are sometimes used to divide humanity.”
Part Two--A Commentary by the Rev. Jay Voorhees
The Case for Connectionalism
The Rev. Jay Voorhees, Antioch United Methodist ChurchThis narrative has been appropriated by many forms of the American church. The emphasis on congregationalism suggests that each congregation is individual unto itself. While there is certainly rhetoric about our participation in the church universal, congregationalism at its core maintains a loose sense of accountability, one which offers little means for other congregations to influence life in, or hold another congregation accountable to, a particular understanding of God, an interpretive framework for understanding scripture, or an expression of communal life in the Body of Christ. This is not only a feature of those churches that claim congregational polities, for there are congregations within our own connectional system that understand themselves to be more congregationally focused than part of a broader system of life and faith. Thus, when the connectional hierarchy attempts to hold the pastor or the congregation up to a particular standard of faith and practice, these congregations (both liberal and conservative alike) rise up in arms, claiming that their rights are being violated, and questioning the right of the connectional system to maintain authority. Far too often, these disputes end up being mediated in the secular courts, something that both Jesus and the early church repudiated.
As I read the Gospels and think about Paul’s image of the Body of Christ, I continue to understand that the Gospel of Jesus Christ stands in opposition to the individualism expressed in our culture. While Jesus called individuals to faithfulness, more often than not he encouraged relational practices rather than individual disciplines. Jesus was not particularly concerned with individual rights, lifting up instead support and love for the other and sacrificial giving. The early church maintained an ethic of community that seems on the surface to eschew individual property in favor of a communalism in which all share equally. Paul’s image of the body raises up the notion of interdependence, the belief that all are connected to one another (even in the midst of our differences) and that we all maintain a responsibility to one another for the good of the body. The Biblical ethic more often than not fails to lift up individualism as a virtue, and promotes corporate expressions of faith as primary.
So, in a world in which individualism is given a high value, in a world in which individualism is described as the ultimate virtue, in a world in which individualism is idolized, shouldn’t the church make a prophetic stand in its life together as a counter-cultural act?
Connectionalism, even in the flawed form we experience now, makes a theological statement that corporate accountability is more important than individual rights. It suggests that relationship is important, not simply on a superficial level, but deep at our core, and that accountability is the way by which relationship is maintained in a healthy way. Connectionalism respects and honors the notion of covenantal responsibility, not pawning off promises as mere words, but understanding that those words have power and must be taken seriously. To be connectional is to understand that my well being is dependent on your well being, and her well being, and the well being of that church over in California that I disagree with at times. To be connectional is to understand the words of Martin Luther King Jr., who said that “…We are caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality; tied in a single garment of destiny.” To be a part of a connectional church is to recognize that we are giving up our individual rights so that the body may be become one.
As a pastor, I am often asked about my willingness to be a part of a system that can move me and my family at a whim. “How can you be willing to go with little warning or concern for your individual and family needs?” Part of my willingness to participate is the trust that the community and the community elected hierarchy are concerned for both my individual and family needs, knowing that I will cease to be effective in ministry if those needs aren’t met at some level. However, part of my willingness comes from the knowledge that I don’t have a full picture of the needs of the body, and that the covenant I made at my ordination to go where it is discerned that the body needs me is not easily broken. I have a responsibility to this community that has taken me in, welcomed me, worked to heal my hurts, and has helped me in raising my kids. Yes, the needs of that community sometimes infringe on my individual rights, just as the needs of my wife and kids sometimes infringe on my individual desires. But my covenant to them says that the good of the whole is more important than my own personal rights.
Part of the problem with connectionalism today is that we have focused too much on the failures and not the possibilities. More importantly, we have failed to recognize the power of connectionalism as a theological act. We have (as United Methodists so often do) failed to think theologically and instead focused on administration. Yet, our call from God says that we are to do both, and our connectional system makes a claim about God that needs to be made in our world. That claim is rooted in the core of Jesus’ teaching – the knowledge that our primary task is to love God and love neighbor, sacrificially. To be connectional is to place ourselves in a system that suggests the wisdom of the body is always superior to the wisdom of individuals.
Am I suggesting that all churches and church traditions should become connectional? Not any more than I am suggesting that we all move to Pennsylvania to drive in horse drawn wagons like the Amish do. We all have our callings regarding who God is calling us to be in the world. But we must recognize that we are indeed being called to make a statement about the Kingdom of God in whatever form our life takes. The Amish did so eloquently in the wake of the recent shootings of their children in their community in Pennsylvania. Will we likewise understand our identity so deeply that we will make a statement regarding who we are as well.
posted by TN Conference UMC @ 7:31 AM
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