New Direction

Following nine months of discernment, I disclosed in early 2008 to the church where I serve that I was seeking a new ministry appointment. Honesty is very liberating. The message that I shared with the congregation of Cashiers United Methodist Church introduces the new direction of my journey of life and ministry. These words begin my reflections of life at the riverbank.

I would like to have been at the river that Sabbath day. The prayers were being lifted in harmony with the soothing, life-giving waters. The fellowship was bearing witness to the need for life lived in community. Lydia and her companions were engaging in the familiar—sharing the everyday. Unsuspecting. Unassuming.

The visitors strolled along and joined them by the river. Little did the women know that this meeting would transform their lives. Little did they know that they would be set on a new direction of faith. Little did they know that the Lord would make an opening for them that would compel response.

We don’t know much about this encounter between Lydia and Paul and their friends, but what we do know is that Lydia heard something new that day. The familiar and everyday became something more. Her transformation and new direction culminated in her response through baptism, and she heeded the call, as “the Lord opened her heart.”

I often imagine myself sitting at the riverbank with that group of praying women. I think about such a grace-filled, seemingly unlikely occasion when hearts are opened and the word of the Lord falls afresh on innocent ears. I recognize the effervescent possibility at the waters edge when that call is heard. I understand all too well the transforming power of such an encounter.

I have been at the riverbank, and I have heard the unexpected call afresh on my ears. For me it means transformation and new direction, and as startling and unsettling as it may be, I have realized its truth for my life. Following much reflection and discernment, God has helped me to envision for myself a new path of ministry, and I have been compelled to respond.

At the start of the New Year, I submitted a formal request to our District Superintendent for a change in appointment. In this my fourth year of service at Cashiers United Methodist Church, I am humbled by my experiences of ministry and am grateful for the growth and learning that has come to me in this place. However, I see the inevitable promises of ministry that are to come at Cashiers UMC, and I honestly know that I am not the one to carry it forward.

With the needs of families, youths, and children at the forefront, I clearly understand that my own calling and giftedness do not compliment these important areas of ministry. I trust that there is another gifted clergy colleague in the waiting in the Western NC Conference, who can provide with energy and excitement new vision—new leadership—for our growing church. With this said, there is a wealth of opportunity for the next associate minister to be a leader not only in age-specific ministry but also in teaching, preaching, and providing pastoral care.

I do not yet know where my next appointment will be, nor do we have any idea at this point who will be appointed at the time of my departure. However, we do know that appointment changes are made at the end of June and that they happen concurrently. In the meantime, I will continue to live with you in the Cashiers UMC family, and I will continue to share this ministry that God has given us. It is my distinct privilege to be in service with you, and I thank you for your constant love, uplifting support, and faithful prayers.

I am honored to have been the first of what is sure to be many associate ministers at Cashiers UMC. I am thankful to have been able to help identify needs within this growing congregation and in turn to have been able to identify the desires of my own heart for ministry. At this point, I am no longer sitting at the riverbank. Instead, I am responding to God’s leading and am walking in a new direction of faith. May God’s grace and love sustain us along the way!


The journey continues...