A Letter to Baby Brooks

Dear Great Nephew Baby Brooks (who is expected into this world right around Christmas):

Today is a day that will not be forgotten in the life of The United Methodist Church.  This has been the faith tradition of the Ensley side of your family for more than 9 decades.  Your Great Great Grandfather Ralph led the Methodist Church in Fieldale in hymns that praised God for all of creation at a time when people of what was considered the "wrong" ethnic background were being slaughtered around the world.  Your Great Grandfather Gene risked his life in World War II to fight for those who at that time in history were deemed "unworthy of life."  Depending on which historical accounts you read, that group of people included those of Jewish heritage, Polish ancestry, Chinese labors, people with disabilities and mental illness, homosexuals, and many other "labels."  He came home to continue singing about a God who loves all people unconditionally.  Your Great Grandmother still worships in that same church in Fieldale which now has members who are people of color, something that was unthinkable when your Great Great Granddaddy Ralph was leading the choir.

Your Grandfather Ralph served during the Vietnam Conflict.  In his inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy pledged to "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty."  Your Grandfather voluntarily joined that cause.  As your grandfather was coming home, I was about to become the first Ensley to go to integrated schools after the long struggle for civil rights in our country.  Even now, your dad is serving to ensure a level of freedom and dignity for all people around the globe.

While I know my political views don't always agree with the rest of the family's, I continue to sing of a God who came into this world as a human to try to teach me how to love and respect those who walk along side me.  I firmly believe in the teachings of our United Methodist tradition that I must live out my faith in all the actions I take in my walk along this earth. In doing that, I can't exclude anyone.

So that brings us to today.  By the time you are old enough to read history books, you probably won't find any information about the impact that events of this day will have on The United Methodist Church. Yet, today will be a turning point in our denomination as a retired Bishop, the son of sharecropper parents (like your Great Grandmother) who spent three days and nights in jail with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. following a civil rights protest, blessed the marriage of two people who are deeply in love with one another.

This will be a turning point for our church.  What I pray, Baby Brooks, more than anything is that you will be able to find strong, vital United Methodist Churches all around you as you grow up and that someday you will be proud to say your family was a part of helping The UMC live into being followers of Jesus Christ who have open doors, open minds, and open hearts to truly understand the mystery of God's love for all people.

With all my love,
Aunt Martha

A Lesson from Dr. Seuss

I was sitting here wondering how I got to this place.  How did the little child in the white choir robe with the big red bow under her chin singing on the steps in the sanctuary at Fieldale UMC in the Danville District get to Nashville to serve as a director for the General Board of Discipleship?  When did I move from drawing really sad looking pictures on the blackboard as a teenager attempting to illustrate Sunday School lessons to younger children to trying to bring about lay leadership excellence? How could I have ever imagined when I told my advisor in college that I wanted to major in religion that I'd end up working for the denomination? Can't say that vocational path was considered as a 20-year old! For some reason this afternoon, all this pondering is reminding me of a quote from the world's greatest theologian, Dr. Seuss:  "You're on your own.  And you know what you know.  And you are the one who'll decide where to go."

We never know where God will lead us, what opportunities will present themselves or what roadblocks there may be along the way.  But, we do have to be the ones to decide where to go.  We can keep our focus inward, thinking only of our own best interests (or those of our local church).  We can limit the questions we ask and the people we build relationships with, or we can put our faith in God's unfailing grace, exploring all the possibilities for what lies ahead.  I may not know how I got to this place, but one thing is for sure:  that little girl singing on the steps was encouraged by many, many people to explore who God is and what church is really all about.  

During this Pastor's Appreciation Month, she has to give thanks for the clergy who recognized her gifts and nurtured them over the years. That little girl (and now middle aged woman) even has to be grateful for the ones who have made her angry, for each has pushed her to new understandings of what it means to be the church. More importantly, in this month of celebration of the ministry of the laity, she has to remember and celebrate all those laity who took the vows we repeat at every baptism seriously - to help one another learn what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  I still may not know exactly what "lay leadership excellence" is, but I know the first step toward it is taking seriously our commitment to live every moment of each day as ministers of the Good News in our relationships, homes, churches, work settings, and community. It has to start there...and then we'll decide where to go.

A Life-or-Death Battle

Wayne Calloway, former Chairman of Pepsico, Inc., is quoted as saying, "I'll bet most of the companies that are in life-or-death battles got into that kind of trouble because they didn't pay enough attention to developing their leaders."  Whether its Pepsi or the local church, we do get into trouble if we don't give direct attention to how we identify, train, deploy, and support potential new leaders. Yet, I've been challenged this week to reflect on how I try to encourage churches to make this a priority. 

 I'm supposed to do the first of several leadership workshops on the role of the Nominations and Leadership Development Committee this Sunday.  Each year, I'm asked to lead this workshop in various districts.  People come and respond positively.  I feel like I'm giving them the tools they need. Yet, every year when Charge Conference time rolls around, I still hear people talk about trying to fill a slate of nominations so that the reports are filled out correctly and turned in on time.  We received one of those calls last week in our household. That same day, I visited a church where the lack of emerging leaders was a huge topic in our conversation, only to hear someone in the group say they only focused on leaders right before Charge Conference.  Just the day before I had been in a meeting where those gathered began to talk about how long some people in their local churches had served in the same leadership positions and the lack of gender and age diversity in important leadership roles.  It's times like this when I want to throw all my resources into the recycling bin and say, "God, I've tried long enough, and it's not making a bit of difference."  We are in a life-or-death battle, but in many cases, we're not doing much from a leadership standpoint about it.

Leadership directs the work of God in the faith community.  Thus, identifying and nurturing leaders is a huge task that cannot be done intentionally and well in 6 weeks prior to charge conference. We have to move away from thinking of leadership as just filling a required spot or attending meetings.  The first step toward a different view of leadership begins with asking how serving in leadership roles can help people grow spiritually. Ongoing leadership development provides special opportunities to grow in our knowledge, ministry skills, attitudes, and values as well as exploring options for service.  Our goal should always be to help those who are offering their service to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ and to experience the joy of serving, NOT to merely fill positions.  We are in a life-or-death battle. What are we going to do about it?