Returning to the Blogosphere

Things have been insanely busy lately; so, I have unfortunately neglected my blog. However, I am back to the blogosphere this week, and with nothing much to say!

As far as my ministry goes, I can’t help but feel that I have spent so much time in meetings talking about ministry that I haven’t been able to do ministry. It seems every week I am on the road (you can’t get anywhere from Welch, so everything’s a half-day drive). It doesn’t help that the West Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church seems to have realized in the last months of 2008 that this was supposed to be a year about evangelism and that we need to have lots and lots of workshops and retreats about it.

So, in September I was off to a two-day clergy mentoring retreat that was supposed to teach us “provisional members” how to respond to mentors while our mentors learned how to be mentors. (It was a 4-½ hour drive to get there.) I’m not sure what I was supposed to get out of it aside from two days lost from my ministry. As soon as that ended we began our “residency” program. This two-day event was slightly more beneficial (as far as “getting-to-know-you-sessions” can be). When that came to an end we had to jump into our cars and rush to Summersville for “Commission Possible.” This was an event that was really pushed by our Bishop and I desperately wanted to go, but that sermon wasn’t going to write itself. I opted to bail out of that event and made the long drive back to Welch so that I could “sermonate.”

I had a week to catch up on all that I could not accomplish during the week on the road and then I was back on the road to attend “Pastor’s School.” This was an event that I did get a lot of useful information out of, and I did thoroughly enjoy worship that I didn’t have to lead… but it was another week away from my church, and ultimately, away from my ministry.

Since then I have been in no less than two meetings a week and have been frantically filling out forms for our yearly charge conference…

And then, this past Thursday, we had to hit the road again for a district pastor’s meeting at which the District Superintendent gave us a parable about “fishermen” who talk about fishing, study fishing, think about fishing… but never actually fish. The question was, Are they really fishermen? It was a jab at us… if all we do is talk about evangelism, are we evangelists? I say no… but why pass out a parable that makes fun of people who meet to discuss “fishing”, when you yourself have called the meeting?


On a lighter note: The leaves are changing. A little east of Welch the leaves are at their peak, so I took a drive this weekend to enjoy them. Colorado had Aspen gold, which is beautiful… but that Aspen gold just doesn’t hold a candle in the wind to the bright vibrant colors of the East. Eye-popping red, fire orange, day-glo yellow… I have missed this palette of colors and am so grateful to see them again.

Today, I grabbed take-out for lunch and ate in the car as I drove through the county, taking in the scenery. I couldn’t help but think about the difference between living here and living in Denver. In Denver, I had to give a ten-digit phone number when I handed it out. Here, I give the last four digits. Currently West Virginia only has one area code (soon to be two) and Welch only has one prefix (not changing any time soon). In Denver I felt suffocated by the constant stream of traffic, noise, and buildings. Here, a good number of the buildings are abandoned and being overtaken by the forests and I can sit on my front porch for an hour and not see a car go by. In Denver, I had to climb in my car and drive over an hour to get to scenery that felt more at home (the mountains.) Here, I am always in the mountains. No matter where you are or where you are going, if you are in West Virginia, you have to navigate a mountain: you go up the mountain, down the mountain, around the mountain, over the mountain, and sometimes through the mountain… I love it!

Peace and blessings!