South Annual Conference -- June 4

Twenty-one conference members are en route to becoming ordained and 18 ordained are retiring. This was noted as an event to celebrate during the Clergy Session of the South Indiana Annual Conference Wednesday morning at First UMC in Bloomington.

Bishop Woodie White opened the session, reminding his colleagues in ministry that "it's a gift to be in ministry. Most of us would do what we do for nothing -- sharing the good news of Jesus Christ."

The session continued with prayers offered by the bishop and committee chairs of Elders and Deacons, and the president of the Fellowship of Local Pastors. As part of the clergy session, 13 members were elected as probationary members for ordained ministry, seven were elected as members in full connection as Elder, one was elected as a member in full connection as Deacon and 18 were retired from active ministry.

In his charge to the clergy, Bishop White thanked the more than 500 clergy present for their work during the past year, especially those who had a difficult year. He also extended words of accommodation to the numerous local pastors who served appointments in the conference.

Members elected to full conference membership and ordination include: as Elder -- Marcia Faye Carpenter of Rosedale, Rosa Elene Holmes Harris of Seymour, Marianne Hawkins of Bicknell, Roy Eugene Ice of Elberfeld, David Michael Miller of College Corner, Patricia Ann Payntor of Carmel and Karen K. Powell of Castleton; and as Deacon -- Ann Hutchins Case of Indianapolis.

Members elected to be commissioned for probationary ordained ministry included John Leland Adams of Crothersville/Cana, James C. Anyike of Indianapolis, Beth Ann Cook of Sandy Hook, George William Craddock of Otisco, Rosella Kay Helms of Pendleton, Darin Calvin Hendrey of Spencer, Richard Aaron Hobbs of Indianapolis, Jill Sue Kaetzel of Santa Claus, Jeffrey Alan Landon of Spiceland, Christopher Douglas Millay of the Evansville District, Alvis Holmes Styron Jr. of Indianapolis, Daniel James Walker of Lebanon and Jeanne Susan Winter of West Terre Haute.

Members retired from active ordained ministry included: as Full Member -- Howard Allen, Betsy Baxendale, William Best, David Campbell, Edward Curtice, Randy Danko, Mark Dennis, Charles Flory, Adolf Hansen, George Hunsaker, Stephen A. Johnson, Jack Miller, Neal Partain, R. Anthony Underwood, John H. Williams; as Associate Member -- Claude Atkins and Hugh Reynolds, and as Local Pastor -- Lloyd Swango.

In closing, Bishop White reminded the clergy that this is an election year and that "strange things happen in an election." He said, often words are mis-spoken. "I should hope all of you will conduct yourself in such a way that our election process will be as sacred as a worship service," he said. -- Daniel R. Gangler

SIC Manuscript Contest Winner:

'Welcoming the Stranger'

AnnaMarie Fernihough of Blythe Chapel UMC won the 2003 SIC Manuscript Contest. Her manuscript called for United Methodists to welcome strangers, as they are special guests in our lives. "Somehow, we don't think of strangers as angels or friends."

Fernihough, who was unable to attend the session, continued with instructions on how to welcome strangers -- much like the early church -- and bring them to God.

Recalling how church regulars are at one time strangers, she called on people to reach out and not judge. "Our faces show what our brains are thinking," she wrote. "Our job ... is to make strangers feel ... comfortable."

She concluded on how members live in a time -- while cyclical of history -- that is an exciting time for ministry with new immigrants and changing and different lifestyles. "Not everybody fits a stereotype," she wrote. "You're a stranger to them, too.

Runners-up include:

Pastors and spouses remembered in the vastness of the universe

The belief that God, the creator of the universe, calls human beings like you and me (into ministry) borders on being outrageous, the Rev. Dr. Adolf Hansen proclaimed to more than 1,200 members of the South Indiana Annual Conference as he preached during the Memorial Service Wednesday afternoon.

Hansen, vice president of administration at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., and a member of this conference, described the vastness of the universe. He said the Creator who made at least 100 billion galaxies, each with more than 100 million stars. "Wow. That's like one star for every second since 1703, the year John Wesley was born," said Hansen.

"The God who created all this -- calls you and me to ministry," Hansen emphasized. "The same God who created the entire universe that called you and me and these we remember today."

Hansen said he was made aware of this vastness during a two-week cruise on a small boat. "Every night I saw these galaxies" -- thousands of them.

Turning to the Scriptures, he said, Paul, the writer of Ephesians, in chapter four expressed God's presence and unity with the words "above all and through all and in all." The challenge is to be behaved -- "live a life worthy of the calling."

A second challenge, he said, "is the challenge to carry out our ministry with humility and gentleness with patience both with oneself and with others in the community." Or as Ephesians says: "Making every effort to maintain the unity of God's spirit." This challenge is to be done in the bond of peace, Hansen directed.

Third, the challenge is with one body, one hope in peace. But to have this peace it is essential that we have a right behavior, he said. "What a challenge it was to those whom we honor this day," Hansen said. "And for those of us who are called to unity."

But the Discipline also says the laity as well as the ordained are called to the work of the church. "This letter was written to lay Christians," he said.

To those whom we remember, it can no longer be a challenge to them, but is a challenge to us. It's on the order of being outrageous, but yet not. "Let us respond (to God) by leading a life worthy of our calling. Let's accept it as a tribute to God and to those whom we honor today," Hansen concluded.

Following Hansen's sermon, a bell rang in memory of each clergy who died since last annual conference. They included: Michael Anthony Anderson Sr., Paul Bayne, Dahlgren Emerson Casey, Fred Nelson Dean, Leon Eugene Gardner Sr., Albert Earl Howard, William Howard Jaquess, Thomas C. Kuhn, Ralph L. Mohler, H. Orval Moore, Warren Sawyer Saunders, Wayland Eugene Siders, James N. Skinner, Andrew F. Stirsman, Philip James Stone, John Napier Thompson and Charles Arthur Tyler.

Again, as a bell rang, each spouse of an ordained clergy person who died since last annual conference was remembered. They included: Joan Audrey Boyer, Irene Carmichael, Iva Mae Clark, Anna Lou Roberts Fehrman, Napoleon Harris, Lillian Mather, Marjorie E. Miller, Katherine R. Pierce, Mary Renner, Martha Kay Riggs, Katherine Shaw, LaVerne Smith, Josephine Thompson and Edwinna J. Tyler.

Following the reading of these names, conference members we're asked to remember others in prayer, including members of the congregations, family members and those who died in conflicts around the world. With Bishop White officiating, the conference concluded the service by celebrating Holy Communion. -- Daniel R. Gangler

Young violinists entertain All-Conference Dinner

When the members of the annual conference sat down for the All-Conference Dinner on Wednesday evening, everyone wondered who the entertainment would be.

The Mossburgs -- a violin-playing family from Uniondale, Ind. -- wowed the crowd, bringing them to their feet with numerous rounds of applause, plus a request from Bishop White for an encore.

The four out of the eight Mossburg siblings that comprise the group have been playing together for about five years. Caleb, 14; Aaron, 12; Rachel, 11; and Jacob, 10, keep the family on the go, performing more than 200 shows in 2002, says Cindy Mossburg, their mother.

Why the violin? Simple: Caleb begged for a year to play the violin. "Because he was so young at first, we didn't take him seriously," recalls Cindy.

Then Aaron and Rachel were wanting to play the violin because Caleb had one. "It's because it's what our family did together."

The older five children also play the piano and Aaron has added the harmonica to his repertoire. -- Matthew Oates

Laity Session:

SIC members prepare for reconciliation

The Rev. Dr. Bruce Robbins came "home" to South Indiana to explain reconciliation to the lay members of the annual conference during the Laity Session on Wednesday.

Robbins, general secretary of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, is an Elder of the Troy Annual Conference, but his father and uncle were baptized in South Indiana and his grandparents served at Broadway UMC in Indianapolis. "I'm a Hoosier in some ways through my family," he said.

In his message Robbins showed how repentance is a biblical act and the process by which the denomination is making reconciliation with black Methodist churches and members.

"It (the act of repentance) generated interest as well as suspicion," said Robbins. "Admitting racism and the act of repentance is not easy. The woundedness was present among us," Robbins continued by citing various meetings with church representatives.

As general secretary, Robbins has received reports from various annual conferences and churches on how the process is going. "The stories that are coming out are quite powerful."

For example in San Antonio, one of the participating churches held meetings in a chapel that upon further research was found to be named after a prominent member who was the head of the Texas Ku Klux Klan. In Alabama, paintings of Central Jurisdiction bishops were placed next to paintings of Alabama bishops in a meeting room. The Southwest Texas Conference is conducting a yearlong campaign for all congregations to repent.

Adding that while John Wesley was against slavery and telling of some historical moments, Robbins said racism has permeated the church for years. "We are connected to Methodists who were slaveholders. We are connected to the Methodists who voted in 1939 to establish the Central Jurisdiction," he said. "It (the act) may be a small step, but one never knows where these small steps lead."

In other news of the Laity Session:

Laity urged to take biblical call seriously and to make disciples

As the song says -- "'Through it all, I learned to trust in God. Through it all, I learned to trust in Jesus.' And through it all, I've grown closer to each of you," said James Shaw as he addressed the members of the South Indiana Conference on Wednesday evening.

Shaw is the Conference lay leader and a member of Barnes UMC in Indianapolis. This was his seventh laity address.

In opening remarks, Shaw said it was a pleasure for him to represent this conference in many areas, including the Episcopacy Committee, the Council on Ministries, the Board of Laity and representing South Indiana at the jurisdictional and general church levels.

He said today's role of the laity comes to us from Ephesians 4:1-2, 4-5. Paul wrote, "Live a life worthy of the calling you have received ...." Verse four reads, "there is one body, one spirit ...." Paul was also writing to all the believers at Ephesus. Paul was writing to the laity.

Shaw claimed the early church understood "laity" as all the people of the early Christian movement. However, today, he said, "laity" has come to mean any non-professional within the church no matter what ones field of endeavor. The clergy, on the other hand, are the professionals.

Shaw pointed out that Elton Trueblood, a popular 20th century theologian, said the movement of lay religion in his time was in essence a conscious and widespread revolt against the tacit assumption that only clergy are called by God.

Today, said Shaw, Loren Meade, a theologian writing about five challenges for the future, says we need to transfer this ownership. The church cannot be fully and effectively in ministry in the 21st century by continuing the patterns inherited from the 20th century.

Shaw proclaimed: "Laity and clergy must work more closely together. Those churches that have followed this action have begun to train and work with their laity to enable them to function in the ministries of the church. God calls all of us, both laity and clergy."

"As a lay person, if God has placed something on you heart, go to your pastor and tell him or her," instructed Shaw. Lay members today have the best opportunity ever for providing leadership in the church.

Test your biblical IQ answers:

Ishmael (Genesis 16:1-12)
Two (Genesis 19:1-22)
Peter (Acts 12:1-19)
He was holding a drawn sword (Numbers 22:22-35)
To give him instructions on conquering Jericho (Joshua 5:13-15)
The Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39)