While serving at the Life Enrichment Center in McKenzie, Alabama I was given the opportunity to learn and develop the skills of: community networking and organizing, grant writing, driving a 15 passenger bus, gardening and animal therapy, and fundraising.

Our team concluded the work of many missionaries and local crafts persons who had labored before us – a church and school. At the commissioning worship hundreds of residents of the mountainous region poured into the sanctuary and out into the church yard. The altar was laden with bread. We were ready to extend the abundance of God’s grace with huge hunks of the grace of Jesus. But the local pastor practiced a ‘closed table;’ only those deemed worthy would be permitted. In that moment, with tears streaming down my cheeks, I gave thanks for the ’open table’ of the UMC and promised God that I would never turn anyone away from the Table of Grace.

What a privilege to preach the Word from the pulpit of the James A. Garfield UMC in Camphor Mission Station, Liberia. I told the story of a little girl who grew up across the world in Chagrin Falls, Ohio attending Garfield Memorial UMC, their sister church. That suburban, largely Caucasian, congregation had shown her the love of Jesus. She heard a call to serve God’s purposes in the world. Her name was Valerie White Stultz, I am her daughter. The connectional system alive!

Serving as a delegate and Spiritual Director for the East Ohio Delegation, has been sometimes heartbreaking. There is no other purpose to which I would devote my broken heart – the purposes of God for the world in and through the United Methodist Church.

As a young adult, I heard the call to be an empowerer through the story of Mordecai with Esther. Having the privilege of serving as a board member with UMHEF helps me live into that call for “just such a time as this.”

The 10-year-old looked me straight in the eye and said, “Do you really believe all this Jesus stuff?” Under the critical eye of children and youth as a counselor at one of our East Ohio UM camps my personal connection with Jesus grew as well as my desire to tell others about that life-giving connection. I knew that my actions would speak louder than words when it came to the Gospel that summer of 1994.

A full bucket overflows. A seemingly obvious statement. However, clergy often give of themselves and their resources to emptiness. I was privileged to serve on the board of the East Ohio Pastoral Care and Counseling Commission which was dedicated to clergy and clergy family health and wellbeing.

As the Annual Conference gathers for business, we are reminded what is at the heart of our covenant community, “We’re comin’ back to the heart of worship and its all about You…it’s all about You, Jesus.” As a member and then the chair of the Annual Conference Worship Committee I had the privilege of working with some of our most spiritually passionate and creative worship designers for the sake of moving the body from paise to action in the name of Jesus.

I was invited to serve as the chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry by Bishop Hopkins. During the year following I led the Board in an exploration of the covenant community, the nature of ministry and the culture of call. After that year, we appealed to the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry to be referred to as the ‘Board of Ministry’ as a reflection of the truth that this board stewards the call of ministry to all – laity and credentialed servants. A shift in nomenclature is not just a matter of semantics in this case. Under this title the Board of Ministry in East Ohio began to nurture deep appreciation for the call to ministry received by all God’s children through baptism – Lay Servants, Certified Lay Ministers, Deaconesses, Licensed Local Pastors, Ordained Deacons and Elders. The covenant community of clergy in East Ohio continues to become more grace-filled for the shift and God is glorified.

As the ‘chief missional strategist’ for the Tuscarawas District I am constantly on the move for Jesus. I call my little blue Subaru ‘My Horse,’ because we ride the circuit together. In this role I rejoice to hear the victories of God in local congregations and communities. I am grateful to be a conduit for resources and interpreter of mission for the Annual Conference and General Church to the local church. To be a steward of the Connexional system is truly an honor!

The local church is the heart of ministry. By the power of God and the joyful partnership of the lay persons with whom I served, my heart grew in love and grace at The Spencer United Methodist Church (8 years) and Faith United: A United Methodist Church (11 years).

While serving with the people of The Spencer United Methodist Church we:
• Deepened and broadened in discipleship
• Retired debt
• Built an education and fellowship wing
• Increased outreach to the community
• Expanded youth ministry
• Introduced annual mission trips

While serving with the people of Faith United: A United Methodist Church we:
• Retired Debt
• Recreated worship space
• Broadened and deepened discipleship
• Were granted “Sensory Inclusion” status by Culture City
• Created and nurtured vital connections with other denominations, religions and community organizations for the sake of the greater good for all God’s people

HOW we do what we do is the most obvious testimony to what we believe. This is a guiding principle in the UM Doctrine and Polity classes I teach with both Master of Divinity and Course of Study students. At the beginning of each class I ask my students, “Who is excited for this class!?” Only 3 students of more than 100 have indicated that they were indeed, excited. However, by the end of the class many of my students indicate that they not only learned a great deal of information which will strengthen their practice of ministry but feel more grounded in their Christian and Wesleyan identity. They say with surprise in their voices, “I loved this class!”

She said to me, “Just be with me. Remember, we are called ‘human beings’ not ‘human doings.’” She had been a resident of St. Elizabeth’s for 39 years. The institution, her home, was facing the results of legislative changes in regard to mental health care. She would soon find herself in ‘community based care.’ She was fretting and I, a young chaplain, was trying to fix. She gave me one of the greatest gifts of ministry that day with her wisdom. I try to practice the presence she called me to in every encounter.