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"Do we dare to have the mind of Christ, I pray so," Bishop Minerva Carcaño challenged the members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference at the opening worship yesterday.

Carcaño, leader of the Desert Southwest Area, preached at the opening worship, designed by the young adult clergy of the conference. The Communion service featured symbolism that illuminated the conference theme of "Poured Out: Serve Like Christ."

Bishop John R. Schol, episcopal leader of the conference, welcomed clergy and laity from the shores of Bermuda to the mountains of Western Maryland to the worship.

As Mark Miller led the music in song and praise, Ruach, liturgical dancers from Casa Del Pueblo, performed in red flowing dresses.

Bishop Schol welcomed Bishop Carcaño, explaining that her journey has been one made with a deep faith. "And she does it with grace, understanding, desire and determination," he said.

"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," said Carcaño. "There is something about the name."

At the age of five, Carcaño said, she discovered Jesus in the middle of her Sunday school floor. Her father was a handyman and he was laying out a new linoleum floor, he was half done with his work and had to get more supplies from his truck.

While Carcaño was alone in the room she felt God's presence surround her. "I felt like I was home," she said. "I knew that the church was my home."

Carcaño spoke of the sweet fragrance of Jesus bringing joy to the Apostle Paul when he was in a dirty prison cell. "The fragrance was all around him just like the rain," she said.

Just like Paul advised, Carcaño encouraged everyone in the room to take on the heart of Jesus.

Carcaño explained that being like Christ means reaching out to the marginalized, like the undocumented immigrants who are pouring into the United States, especially in Arizona where they are crossing the desert and the Rio Grande River, many of them dying of thirst or drowning before touching the U.S. soil.

"The immigrants are coming here to survive," Carcaño said. "We are called to help and exclude no one."

As worshippers listened intently, Carcaño spoke of how Jesus came as a human in order to show people compassion and humility. "He calls us to live like he lived so that the world will be transformed," she said.

On the eve of Aldersgate, the bishop also shared the story of John Wesley preaching to the poor during the Industrial Revolution. Wesley spoke to the faces that were covered with black stains and told them that God cared for them. "Wesley saw soot blackened faces come clean," as the miners shed tears at their encounter with the living Jesus, she said.

"But, today our church is struggling and the United Methodist denomination is declining," said Carcano.

She urged everyone to return to roots that Jesus used to transform the world by pouring out hope, love, humility, passion and compassion to those who are in need.

"Can you begin to imagine what God can do for you if you allow him to work through you?" she asked.

She told the worshippers, "You live in the capitol of the world, you are the people of resources, you have a mountain of opportunity to reach out to others," she said. "Pour yourself out in the service of the world so that you can be filled with joy.

"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," Carcaño concluded, "There is something about the name."