New resource focuses on call
BY STACY NAIL
SPECIAL TO THE UMCONNECTION
Last fall, Bishop John Schol preached a sermon series on call that ignited a movement of the Holy Spirit and led to the creation of a new Immersion Series, designed to help congregations explore this theme in a variety of creative and meaningful ways.
The “Fully Alive” series debuted at annual conference June 2. A booklet and companion DVD provide videos and transcripts of the bishop’s sermons, small group discussion guides, and an array of other resources to lead churches through a four-week process of enabling people to unfold God’s call in their lives.
It contains all the necessary tools “to enrich and build up any congregation and help laity recognize their call,” said Bishop Schol. “This is an important resource that will guide people deeper in their discipleship.”
At the Fully Alive booth at annual conference, youth Kelly Robier and Matthew Surber reflected on their calls.
As a 15-year-old, Robier has served on six missions throughout the United States; starting with a Hurricane Katrina mission,which touched her heart and shaped her ideas of faith.
She expanded her call by leading the conference youth as the vice president of missions and outreach for the Conference Council on Youth Ministries.
“No two calls are the same, a call is specific to you,” she said.
Matthew Surber, the Reisterstown director of Youth and Child Ministries and a young adult advocate, said he began to feel the stirrings of a new call at annual conference.
“After Adam Hamilton’s
presentation about leaders creating chaos and change, I realized that I want to blaze a new trail,” to plant new churches, he said.
Shelly Owen and the Rev. Wayne Frum realized their calls after several conversations with God.
In Owen’s case, it was a matter of the right fit. After attending seminary, she had yet to feel the peace of
embracing her call.
Her friend took the initiative to get her information on the denomination’s Deaconess program, a ministry for women to be commissioned by the denomination to give a lifetime of love, justice and ministry.
Owen knew she found her home in God when she answered the call to be a deaconess and began to live out the life God created for her.
For Frum, an associate pastor at Shiloh UMC in Hagerstown, it took a debilitating illness for him to
acknowledge the calling he first heard when he was 14 years old.
He accepted God’s call to join the ministry at age 39 when his diabetes threatened to take away his leg.
Frum felt the first inklings of a call as a youth at summer camp, where he professed his faith and desire to serve God through ministry. Unbeknownst to him, the leader of the camp had sent his profession to his father for safe-keeping.
When he began the process for ordination, his father showed him the letter of profession to remind him how long God had been calling.
More information on the “Fully Alive” series and how your church can use it to transform lives and ministries is available on the conference Web site.
Order yours online for $19.95 at:
www.bwcumc.org/fullyalive
SPECIAL TO THE UMCONNECTION
Last fall, Bishop John Schol preached a sermon series on call that ignited a movement of the Holy Spirit and led to the creation of a new Immersion Series, designed to help congregations explore this theme in a variety of creative and meaningful ways.The “Fully Alive” series debuted at annual conference June 2. A booklet and companion DVD provide videos and transcripts of the bishop’s sermons, small group discussion guides, and an array of other resources to lead churches through a four-week process of enabling people to unfold God’s call in their lives.
It contains all the necessary tools “to enrich and build up any congregation and help laity recognize their call,” said Bishop Schol. “This is an important resource that will guide people deeper in their discipleship.”
At the Fully Alive booth at annual conference, youth Kelly Robier and Matthew Surber reflected on their calls.
As a 15-year-old, Robier has served on six missions throughout the United States; starting with a Hurricane Katrina mission,which touched her heart and shaped her ideas of faith.
She expanded her call by leading the conference youth as the vice president of missions and outreach for the Conference Council on Youth Ministries.
“No two calls are the same, a call is specific to you,” she said.
Matthew Surber, the Reisterstown director of Youth and Child Ministries and a young adult advocate, said he began to feel the stirrings of a new call at annual conference.
“After Adam Hamilton’s
presentation about leaders creating chaos and change, I realized that I want to blaze a new trail,” to plant new churches, he said.
Shelly Owen and the Rev. Wayne Frum realized their calls after several conversations with God. In Owen’s case, it was a matter of the right fit. After attending seminary, she had yet to feel the peace of
embracing her call.
Her friend took the initiative to get her information on the denomination’s Deaconess program, a ministry for women to be commissioned by the denomination to give a lifetime of love, justice and ministry.
Owen knew she found her home in God when she answered the call to be a deaconess and began to live out the life God created for her.
For Frum, an associate pastor at Shiloh UMC in Hagerstown, it took a debilitating illness for him to
acknowledge the calling he first heard when he was 14 years old.
He accepted God’s call to join the ministry at age 39 when his diabetes threatened to take away his leg.
Frum felt the first inklings of a call as a youth at summer camp, where he professed his faith and desire to serve God through ministry. Unbeknownst to him, the leader of the camp had sent his profession to his father for safe-keeping.
When he began the process for ordination, his father showed him the letter of profession to remind him how long God had been calling.
More information on the “Fully Alive” series and how your church can use it to transform lives and ministries is available on the conference Web site.
Order yours online for $19.95 at:
www.bwcumc.org/fullyalive
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