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BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

As she knelt at the Service of Ordination beneath the stars painted on the dome of the Lovely Lane UMC, the Rev. Bonnie Scott remembered when she was 15, and attended a similar ordination service of a friend at National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. She had shared a sense of call that stirred within her at that event with her pastor, the Rev. Rod Miller. Bishop Felton May found her on the steps of the cathedral, laid hands on her and prayed with her that May night.

"God is faithful," said Scott as she robed, preparing for the processional that would lead to Bishop John Schol praying over her and commissioning her as an Elder in The United Methodist Church.

Scott, one of the 13 people commissioned as Elders and three commissioned as Deacons, stood among the seven others ordained as Elders and two as Deacons in the Baltimore-Washington Conference May 27.

As the service began, Bishop Forrest Stith explained that "ordination is a gift from God and a response of the individual to God's grace and stirrings of the Holy Spirit."

The Rev. James Sherrod read the words of 1 Timothy 4:6-16, as his newborn son Henry looked on amid the crowd of almost 1,000 people.

Bishop Schol told those gathered, "In you, God has seen something. God believes in what you have to offer. Don't let anybody else pull you down because you haven't lived their life. God has given you your life to live and your ministry to do."

He encouraged all those being commissioned and ordained to pursue the pastor's craft, which Ralph Waldo Emerson defined as "converting life into truth."

"Immerse yourselves in real life, and dare to connect with real people with words that are real. Live real life," the bishop said.

For three of the provisional Elders, real life has meant growing up in the church as children of pastors. The Rev. Daniel Andrews is the grandson of the Rev. David Andrews, son of the Rev. Rick Andrews and sister of the Rev. Sarah Schlieckert. He has been appointed to Cowenton UMC in White Marsh.

Brothers David and Jason Shank were also commissioned as Elders. Their journeys to the ministry have been very different, but both credit their mother, Cindy, and their father, the Rev. David A. Shank, with creating a home where they had the freedom to discover God and explore the church in ways that suited their temperaments.

While their father, who serves at Linden-Linthicum UMC, acknowledges that these are challenging times for anyone to enter the ministry, he is confident that his sons will trust God, be open to the Spirit and true to themselves.

The younger Shanks acknowledge the challenges facing the church, but like many of their peers, are excited about reaching out in innovative ways beyond the walls of the traditional church.

The Rev. David Shank will pastor a new initiative, the Arundel Mills New Young Adult Faith Community, which will focus on people ages 18-35, by providing innovative opportunities for mission and building relationships. The Rev. Jason Shank's appointment is as associate minister with the Frederick Leadership Alignment, where he will focus on the New Market and Christ-Ballenger Creek UMCs, two of three churches in a new ministry effort.

When you put those robes on, some of you think you need to be somebody different, Bishop Schol told the ordinands. But the Scripture tells us we have to be real, live a real life. "If the Word and the gift in you means anything, if it's going to connect with anything, it had better be real. God is going to use you."