| Delegates hope General Conference focuses on big picture By Melissa LauberUMConnection Staff Nine clergy and nine lay people will represent the Baltimore-Washington Conference at the 2004 General Conference when it meets in Pittsburgh next spring to establish the policies and priorities of The United Methodist Church for the next four years. In this and upcoming issues, the UMConnection will provide short profiles of these delegates. The Rev. David Argo  After 31 years in parish ministry and 10 years as a Disciple Bible Study teacher, the Rev. David Argo is still amazed and delighted when he is able to witness how God broadens peoples horizons and transforms their lives.
This summer, Argos own horizons were expanded when he was appointed as superintendent of the Washington-Columbia District, a position he is savoring as he discovers the gifts and commitment of the 63 pastors with whom he visited. A white-water rafter, Argo sees his travels on the river as a metaphor for ministry. When confronted with powerful water, its not overcoming it but how I utilize it thats important, he said, claiming most rafters quickly develop a sense of common humility. In rafting, there is also a phenomenon called being on the wave in places where the waters cross over a rock and come back, creating a perpetual wave. Rafters enjoy getting on the wave, doing tricks and seeing what they can do. Lately, Argo has felt like hes on the wave. There is much that is possible, he said. Hes also excited about leading the Baltimore-Washington Conference delegation to General Conference. This is his second time as a delegate. The mission of the church, Argo believes, is to proclaim God as Lord and Savior, he said. Our challenge is to say that more. The Rev. Peggy Johnson  An indigenous member of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, the Rev. Peggy Johnson was born and bred in area United Methodist churches. The pastor of Christ UMC for the Deaf in Baltimore, this will be her third time as a delegate to General Conference.
Johnson celebrates all the yeses Ive gotten from the church, and is hoping for the unexpected at next years General Conference. At previous sessions, she explained, she was scandalized, scalded and disappointed, at how finances and preconceived notions led to the rubberstamping of legislation and shut out opportunities for creative ministry. She is looking forward to the opportunity to further the churchs inclusiveness, which she views as the denominations biggest pain and greatest joy. So many denominations that think they are closer to Jesus dont feel they have to work on it, she said. But we have a blood and guts commitment to inclusivity. I want to be there for the struggle. A former music teacher, Johnson believes her relationship with God resembles a dance. Ive spent my life and ministry, she said, bouncing off the endless, boundless love of God. Sandra Ferguson  In the halls of Marylands statehouse, at story time at the local Head Start center, during an AIDS retreat in India and at many other places where United Methodists speak as a voice for change, people recognize Sandy Ferguson.
A Baltimore-Washington Conference associate council on ministries director, Ferguson is a member of Reisterstown UMC. Her work calls for her to empower people to work in social-action ministries. Her job, she says, is an intricate part of everything she is and she views it as a gift. For Ferguson, the greatest beauty, strength and challenge of The United Methodist Church is its connectionalism. She still feels a glimmer of recognition and pride when she unexpectedly passes a cross and flame on a United Methodist church during her travels and she points them out to her grandchildren. This will be her fourth time to serve as a delegate to General Conference, which she has come to view as a large family reunion. It is her prayer that the conference will remain centered and focused on the big picture. Recently, Ferguson found herself reflecting on a photograph of a Liberian child carrying a gun and a pink teddy-bear backpack. That child is a killer, she said. Theres no doubt hes killed. But who will love that child? The world is crying out, God is crying out, and we must respond, she said. We should not spend our time focusing on minutia. | 
Login/Register to leave comment