| Local pastors fill gaps, lead struggling churches BY LINDA WORTHINGTON UMCONNECTION STAFF The United Methodist Church suffers a shortage of seminary-trained clergy in the United States; but local pastors, who traditionally entered the ministry through a conference course of study, are filling many positions. In the Baltimore-Washington Conference today there are 78 local pastors serving 98 churches. These pastors, serving roughly one out of every seven churches in the conference, work in four-point charges, rural and small-town churches, and congregations in the inner-city neighborhoods of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., once held by seminary-trained clergy. According to Robert Kohler, of the United Methodist Division of Ordained Ministry, in 2000 there were 2,100 full-time local pastors across the denomination, a 50 percent increase from 10 years earlier.  The Rev. Mabel E. Smith began her first appointment as a local pastor July 1, serving Mt. Calvary UMC in Charlotte Hall. Smith is excited about the part-time appointment.
God has called me into ministry to bring hope, she said. She explained that her tiny congregation, formerly part of the St. Matthews-Mt. Calvary Charge in La Plata, is mostly retired small-scale farmers in the tobacco-growing area of southern Maryland. She was a lay speaker for 18 years, received her license to preach after taking the training course and is now taking classes at Wesley Seminary. In sharp contrast to newcomer Smith are two of the longest-serving local pastors, the Rev. William Bill Kercheval and the Rev. Fred Iser.  Kercheval has served local churches since 1970 when he went to Buckeystown for five years. After a break for family reasons, he accepted a call in 1984 to the Mount Bethel Charge in Smithsburg where he has remained ever since. His church has never missed paying apportionments in 18 years, he said. Kercheval is committed to lay ministry, especially to the involvement of lay speakers in the church. After all, Im one of them, he said. When Kercheval broke his hip last year and had a stroke, the 20 certified lay speakers in his church carried the preaching ministry through the several months he was on leave.  Iser drove a truck for Sears and was a part-time pastor at Prosperity UMC in Rocky Gap. After his retirement 11 years ago, he served full-time on the four-point Flintstone Charge, which includes Prosperity UMC. Iser introduces himself as Fred from Flintstone, a tag Bishop May gave him when they first met, he said.
Iser has around 300 people to keep track of, 75 percent of whom are seniors. He sees great hope in Prosperity UMC. Vacation Bible School brought up to 90 children this summer. He said his ministry is to make sure they have eternity secured, regardless of age.  Local pastors also serve in inner-city churches. The Rev. Rudolph Bropleh was appointed as the pastor at St. Matthews UMC in Baltimore in 1997. At the time the church had 28 members, he said. It now has 200 and a full program of activities in its urban neighborhood. Bropleh, like Smith, is on a track toward ordination as an elder.  The Rev. Donnie Jane Cardwell, senior pastor on the Shendale Charge in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., is in her third appointment in the 12 years shes been a local church pastor. I always wanted to be a pastor, she said, but she could see no way to obtain a college education. One summer, Cardwell went to Drew Seminary for her license to preach. Since then shes taken the course of study classes over a seven-year period. She plans to continue as a local church pastor until she retires, she said. Im doing the same thing as an ordained pastor, and I get the same pay, she said. | 
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