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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
May 2001 |
Bishop Raines, 'old-school commander'
By E. Carver McGriff
Fair minded, benevolent, courageous, and of unimpeachable integrity, Bishop Richard C. Raines nonetheless brooked no intrusion into his area of authority. Stories were often told about one minister or another who was called to the episcopal parsonage and asked how he felt about being appointed to this or that church. The man was then told "go home and pray about your decision, then be ready to move on June 12th." …
I happened to be seated in Bishop Raines' home one day when his phone rang. From the one-sided conversation, I could tell it was a District Superintendent on the line. It seemed one of the man's pastors wanted a new appointment for which the D.S. considered the man unqualified. Raines listened, then he said to the D.S.: "Several years ago I asked that man to take the appointment where he is now. He didn't want to go there. I promised him that if he would go where I sent him and do his very best, when the time came for him to leave I would see that he received a desirable appointment. Now it's time to keep that promise. Send him where he wants to go."
The young reader may find it hard to believe that as recently as the 1950s, few ministers knew what church they were to serve until the list of appointments was read at Annual Conference. Behind the scenes, the Superintendents caucused with the Bishop and last minute changes were often necessary. One clergy family on their way to their new appointment is said to have been stopped by an Indiana state trooper and told they must change their destination. It seemed the Bishop had changed his mind, the moving van had been diverted, and here was the new address of their home for the following year.
While we're all glad those days are gone, something wonderful at the time went with it. The high moment for many Methodists in those earlier days took place on Sunday mornings following Annual Conferences, in Fort Wayne, Lafayette, and Bloomington. The Bishop would preach to 2,000 delegates and family members, then appointments were read. People who experienced one of those Sundays never forgot them.