By Rev. Wilson Shearer The Rev. Wilson Shearer was friends with the recently deceased Bishop Joseph Yeakel for 68 years. Shearer was recently asked by Lebanon Valley College to reflect upon their relationship. He remembers: When I first met Joseph Yeakel in 1947, it was at an activity...
Bishop Joseph Hughes Yeakel, who served as the episcopal leader of the Baltimore-Washington Conference from 1984 to 1996, died July 4 at the age of 93 at the Danbury Woods Senior Living Center in Wooster, Ohio. . The prayers of the Baltimore-Washington Conference are with the family and...
By Robert J. Williams John Wesley, Methodism's founder, was born on June 17, 1703, while England was still using the Julian calendar. England adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752 and thus Wesley’s birth date became June 28. His birthday reflections give us a glimpse into how he...
By Melissa Lauber On Emancipation Sunday, June 20, preachers in pulpits throughout the Baltimore-Washington Conference celebrated the establishment this week of Juneteenth as a federal holiday. They called on United Methodists to re-commit themselves to reflection and action in the cause...
By Ashley B. DreffGeneral Secretary, Commission on Archives and History June is Pride month. I want to take a moment to celebrate a piece of United Methodist history prior to the insertion of language regarding sexuality into the 1972 Book of Discipline. In 1964...
By Melissa Lauber Sometimes politics and faith collide in ways that can shape national agendas. One prayer, one fast, one word spoken from the heart has the potential to transform – at least that’s the hope with the Fast for Freedom now underway in Washington, D.C. Emma Escobar...
By Melissa Lauber The people of the Baltimore-Washington Conference gathered in-person and online June 7 to offer a blessing to the more than 100 ordained clergy and local pastors who are being called and appointed to serve in new ministries starting July 1. At the time of the service, 28...
By Melissa Lauber and Erik Alsgaard The COVID-19 pandemic presented several financial challenges for local churches, and each rose to meet them in diverse ways. The Baltimore-Washington Conference Council on Finance and Administration (CFA) is taking this wide...
Greetings and Blessings in the Name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, As your Conference Lay Leaders, we affirm that active lay persons in vital local congregations are crucial for accomplishing the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We...
“Where is God leading us? What do you think God wants us to be?” Questions like this delight and challenge the Rev. Jack Shitama, executive director of Pecometh Camp & Retreat Ministries in Centreville, Md., in the Peninsula-Delaware Conference. They spur him to dream and cast visions and to...
