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BY ERIK ALSGAARD
UMCONNECTION STAFF

John Wesley, Methodism's founder, once famously said, 'The world is my parish.'

Bishop John R. Schol, episcopal leader of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, takes that seriously as evidenced by his meeting with literally thousands of people across the conference since his arrival Sept. 1.

Most recently, Bishop Schol talked with former vice presidential candidate, John Edwards, on the issues of poverty and homelessness.

'I think it is the calling of every pastor to be engaged in their community,' said Bishop Schol in talking about why he carves time out of his busy schedule to make these visits. 'That means being involved in having our voices heard by those in government. We live here, too, and we have something unique to say.'

The bishop does not go to these meetings just to meet and greet, however. In each of the settings, Bishop Schol has an agenda: the church's discipleship-making agenda.

'We met with Sen. Mike Miller when the issue of slot machine gambling in Maryland was at its peak,' said the bishop, who brought along his entire Cabinet ? the nine district superintendents ? to the meeting with the leader of expanded gambling in the state. 'We met at the State House in Annapolis and told him why this whole thing is a bad idea.'

The United Methodist Church's stance on gambling, which was the basis for the talk with the senator, is that gambling is 'a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic and spiritual life, and destructive of good government.'

Miller, who was polite but firm during the meeting, didn't budge from his opinion.

In meeting with Gov. Ehrlich, Bishop Schol touched on many areas: education, health care, gambling and the environment.

The governor is a United Methodist, who before he was elected attended Arbutus UMC in Arbutus.

The recent meeting with Edwards saw the bishop, along with other ecumenical Christian leaders in Washington, brainstorm on how to alleviate poverty and homelessness in the United States.

Following his unsuccessful run for vice president with Sen. John Kerry in 2004, Edwards said he can hardly walk down the street without someone saying 'hello' and asking what he's doing now. What he's doing is trying to bring national attention to the poor.

'I met a woman on the campaign trail in North Carolina who is literally working herself to death,' Edwards told the group, gathered at the United Methodist Building in Washington, D.C., two floors below the bishop's office. 'She represents, however, everything that America wants to be ? hard working, respectful of others, dedicated to her family. But she's not earning enough to make ends meet.'

Bishop Schol noted that one of the hardest aspects of fighting poverty is the unfair perception that poor people are poor because of themselves. There's a real feeling, he said, that poor people are lazy, drunk or both.

In addition, other systemic issues, such as the minimum wage, the lack of affordable or national health care and lack of education, were talked about at the meeting.

'Part of the Discipleship Adventure is addressing the needs of a given community,' Bishop Schol said about his series of meetings. 'Part of addressing those needs is talking to the people who can affect systemic change. We have churches and pastors doing a great job of feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. We need to do more in addressing the power structures behind the issues that enable these problems to persist.'