Conference within a conference

The past few days have had me busy trying to catch up from the time I missed when I was back in Arkansas for annual conference. Hopefully, my posts will become more frequent in the days ahead.

I can't overstate how optimistic I was at the general vibe on the part of Gen X and Millennial clergy who got together during our annual converence session. This was really the "conference-within-a-conference" for me. In fact, I was so pumped that I worte a column about it in the Reporter. You can read it here.

One of the things that occurred to me as I was sitting with my colleagues and friends at annual conference is that we are "on the clock," so to speak. We ain't gonna be young long. So our window to really influence the church in a formative way is probably going to be narrow.

Oh, we'll influence the church sooner or later. But if we don't make our presence felt until we achieve "senior status," then I am afraid we will have forgotten why we thought the Christian life should be lived differently in the first place.

For any Arkansas readers out there, Eric Van Meter has begun to follow up on our discussions at conference. I believe he will be trying to get folks together late in the summer or early in the fall. For non-Arkansans, I hope you all will begin to investigate common work and ministry among the X'ers and Millennials out there. It is worth the effort.

Peace to all...

Gen X/Y Gathering

Things are extraordinarily busy right now. I'm taking a large summer load of coursework, and I'll be taking off this weekend for annual conference in Arkansas. I am going to try to continue to post at least once per week, but if I slack off a little bit, just bear with me. I am laptop-deprived, so I don't know what my opportunities for Internet access will be in AR next week.

Just wanted to give everybody a heads-up on Amy Forbus' report on the Gen X/Y Gathering that took place at Mt. Sequoyah in Fayetteville, AR, in late May. You can read it on her blog here. I also talked with Eric Van Meter, a clergy friend from the Arkansas Conference, and he said the event was fantastic. There were about 56 participants, mostly from the South Central Jurisdiction, but also including people from as far away as Florida and Maine. Doug Pagitt and Tim Keel were featured speakers. There was worship, Holy Communion, and lots of free time to discuss the future of the church and how we might lead in the coming years.

The Gathering was also put together in 'grassroots' fashion. This was not the programmatic idea of a general board, jurisdictional committee, or annual conference. It was the result of a Spirit-led movement of pastors who wanted to see seminarians and clergy get together to talk about crucial issues of how we can lead the UMC faithfully forward in our day.

My current residence in Durham didn't allow me to attend, unfortunately. But it has been good hearing about it from Amy and Eric, and I'm sure I'll hear more at annual conference next week. From what I understand, the Gathering has already spawned further conversations - about another event in the future, but also about more sustained work between pastors and churches within annual conferences. That is good news.

If you attended the Gathering and would like to share more in the comments section of this post, feel free.