I am in Lake Junaluska, NC for a few days this week at the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church. You can read about it here.
Any time I am around this many Methodists, I invariably think about Asbury Seminary. Graduating from that school shaped my Methodist identity more than anything else.
There are so many ways that what I learned at that school and what it stands for influences the way we do church at Good Shepherd. Things you might take for granted, like
- lifting the bible before the sermon,
- giving 15% of the church’s offerings to missions,
- using modern music to reach people who otherwise might not go to church, and
- putting our very best efforts into funeral ministries.
all stem from the Asbury experience and Asbury’s influence.
I can only hope that same experience and influence will help this Conference make good decisions. I’ll let you know.