June 27, 2005
John Wesley set in motion the Methodist Conferencing tradition almost 300 years ago. He called his ministers together once a year for fellowship, worship, inspiration and accountability! This Methodist “Method” still works. The California-Pacific Annual Conference met in Redlands, CA last week. To be candid, I complained to myself about the traffic jams getting from San Diego to Redlands, especially the I-215 “stack” at Riverside. Because of an accident, I traveled just four miles in one hour on one stretch of modern highway. Then I remembered reading Tobias Gibson rode horseback from Natchez, Mississippi to South Carolina for Annual Conference in 1800. YIKES! Methodist Circuit Riders for three centuries have traveled to annual conferences to learn where they would be appointed for the next year, many times not knowing until the end of the conference where the Bishop would station them.
This year’s conference marked a milestone for me. With my appointment for 2005-2006, I begin my seventh year as pastor of Christ United Methodist Church. This is the longest pastorate in my career, exceeding the six years I served the Claremont Harbor/Pearlington Charge on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It was there I had the great honor to start the Diamondhead UMC. We began with eight members meeting in an office building at 8:00 AM each Sunday. Today, Diamondhead UMC has a beautiful new building and averages 150-200 in worship. Back then, I preached three times at three different churches each Sunday…a modern form of Methodist Circuit Riding.
There are two basic forms of church governance. One is the “free church” model, where autonomy and independence are emphasized. The other is the “Episcopal” model, where disciples are accountable to each other, usually within the bishop-elder-deacon chain of command. I have served under both systems. Both forms have strengths and weaknesses. It is important to me that I should be held accountable to my fellow Christians, my Superintendent (Presiding Elder), my Bishop, and ultimately, my God.
Thank God for the Church, Christ’s Bride. Thank God that through the church, we are accountable to each other.
Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley, wrote the great old Methodist hymn, “Love divine, all loves excelling”. These words echoed through my mind many times last week as I traveled again as a circuit rider to annual conference and participated in great tradition of holy conferencing.
“Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before
Thee,Lost in wonder, love, and praise”
You are a wonderful congregation, and Anita and I love you very much for allowing us to serve along side you. May our sabbatical year as pastor and parish find us “lost in HIS wonder, love and grace!”
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