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Getting Our Priorities Straight
Published: 6/17/2010
BY BISHOP W. EARL BLEDSOE
North Texas Conference
I’m writing this article the day after our historic 2010 Annual Conference. I believe our time in holy conferencing in Wichita Falls, Texas, was a defining moment in the life of the North Texas Conference of United Methodists.The members of the Conference listened to one another, shared mutual concerns and made a decision to move forward, trusting in the grace of God to get us to the place of our calling in Christ as a church and as a Conference.
And now the work begins. Just this week the new Core Leadership Team charged with the responsibility of holding the Conference accountable for our mission and our values will get organized and oriented to our task and the new way of relating to one another. We begin the process of charting the future we believe God has called us into as a Conference.
Let me say, despite the long days and full agenda, I enjoyed the time spent at Annual Conference. I am inspired by the hopes and dreams of the newly ordained ministers in our midst. I believe they have a passion for Christ and will serve their respective mission fields with distinction.
Meetings and gatherings are one thing, but what gets my juices to flowing is “doing something” that reflects our faith and values. I saw this year’s Annual Conference participating in hands-on mission projects the Wednesday following Conference. Children, youth and adults (both lay and clergy) met for breakfast at Floral Heights UMC in Wichita Falls. After praise, worship and prayer, we each joined various assigned project teams to go about the work of helping to improve conditions in the Wichita Falls mission field. Some painted, some washed cars, some helped in food pantries, and others built ramps for the handicapped at various homes throughout the city.
I worked with project team #1, led by Ray Beall, to construct a ramp for an elderly woman. Ray is part of the Dallas Ramp Project which builds handicap ramps in the Collin and Dallas counties of Texas. He has experience building more than 2300 ramps and taught us the fundamentals of their ministry and service. Although we learned about lumber, screws, and how to use a hammer drill, we also got to know about each other as laity and clergy working side by side to make a difference in the life of another.
The Dallas Ramp Project builds ramps on the 2nd and 3rd Saturdays of each month. If you’d like to help, or need their help, or want to support their ministry, go to www.dallasramps.org. They provide a great service for those in wheelchairs needing an easier way to get in and out of their homes.
This was a historic Annual Conference in more ways than one. I trust we can build on its success. Who knows? Perhaps we’ve started a tradition of not only holy conferencing, but “doing something” as radical as hands-on ministry as well. What a revolutionary idea in the twenty-first century!