Dear Friends,
Earlier this week, I spent a couple of days at the United Methodist Life Enrichment Center in Leesburg, Florida. About forty of my colleagues and I were gathered there to begin our work together as the Florida Conference Board of Ordained Ministry for the next four years. We are charged with the responsibility of evaluating candidates who have heard a call into ordained ministry and determining their readiness to serve as clergy in the United Methodist Church.
As I walked by the "Gold Room" (where all the Board interviews happened in the old days), I was reminded it was twenty years ago that I was ordained as a member of the clergy in our Conference. Earlier this year, many of you will remember, Lenora was commissioned as a provisional elder after being recommended by the Board last winter. Aaron is currently preparing his paperwork in hopes of being recommended this coming winter for full connection as an ordained elder, a step Lenora will also be able to pursue after two years of ministry in the local church. And Dora, who was a teenager at St. Paul's UMC in Tallahassee when I was the youth minister there, is hoping to be commissioned this year as well.
Me. Lenora. Aaron. Dora. There is a story each of us could tell about how we discerned God calling us into ministry. There is a wall in the back of the Trinity worship center filled with the faces of people who also have stories about their calls, including Catherine. And God is still calling.
Trinity is blessed with an abundance of children and youth. With that blessing comes a responsibility...to nurture them in ways that allow them to listen for God's calling on their own lives. Will you join me in this prayer this week?
Holy God, thank you for the gift of children and youth among us. Help us to teach them your ways. Use us to enable those you have chosen for ministry to hear your call. And keep us from getting in the way of your plans for their lives. Amen.
Can't wait to see you on Sunday!
Steve
