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BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Two new district superintendents recently joined Bishop John Schol's eight-member Cabinet, bringing with them a spirit of wisdom, education, service and leadership, the bishop said.

The Rev. Conrad O. Link, who has served in the Western Region of the Baltimore-Washington Conference for 32 years, was installed as superintendent of the Cumberland-Hagerstown District at a worship service Sept. 11 at John Wesley UMC in Hagerstown.

Link, who grew up in "an agricultural household," shared images of gardening from John 15:1-12, and spoke about how God's first creative act was to grow a garden and make men and women tenders of our world. He shared the secrets of how a good gardener can prune and tend to plants that are out of control, neglected, under-nourished or in the wrong place and vowed to carefully tend to the churches growing in the Cumberland-Hagerstown District.

The Rev. Evan Young was installed as the new superintendent of the Greater Washington District Sept. 18 at Colesville UMC in Silver Spring.

In his homily, Young said, "We as a church fail to move and to act to do what God wants us to do. God said, 'Don't be afraid.'" But too often the church is fearful about moving out into new areas of ministry, Young cautioned. "We've been fishing on that one side of the boat too long. Maybe we need to do something differently."

At the conclusion of his homily, Young issued an altar call. "Maybe God is calling you into ministry … or to do something different in the church council, to move into the unknown," he said. "God is calling us to face our fears and embrace the future."