Impressions of our trip to the Holy Land a week after we returned.

One topic that I hear about over and over again is “Lay Leadership;” and not in the context of being the Lay Leader of a local church.

Today it is Tuesday and I’m in Beaumont with Bishop Huie and B.T. Williamson, Assistant to the Bishop.  The Bishop has been making her annual visits to each district, meeting with clergy and laity, sharing information about the Quadrennial Assessment that was authorized by the Annual Conference last May.

Last spring as the political crisis in Cote d’Ivoire became violent; one of the unintended victims of the fighting was the United Methodist School System.

Last Friday at the Core Leadership Team (“CLT”) meeting, we discussed two topics. The bulk of the meeting was spent doing the team’s Quadrennial Assessment. Each team and ministry within the Annual Conference has been discussing the same questions and answering them from their particular perspective.

Annual Conference is over so for some of our pastor friends it is time to move! Last Thursday, I got a list from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership titled “50 Ways to Welcome your New Senior or Associate Pastor,” principally authored by Robert Cressman.

Annual Conference is just around the corner.  Here are a few last minute details.

Pre-Conference meetings begin tomorrow evening, April 28. While these meetings are specifically put together for clergy and lay delegates to Annual Conference, anyone is welcome to attend.

Last Wednesday I participated in an historic event in the United Methodist Church. As we gathered at Bellaire UMC to be a part of a webinar we learned that Methodists from more than 1000 locations were joined for three hours hearing the same presentations and talking about the same things.

UMW hosted their 2011 Spring Celebration at Lakeview Conference Center. The theme for the spiritual retreat was The Joy of Sisterhood.

As a lay person, I believe that you, as our pastors, have the ability to set the tone of how we deal with church finances as well as influencing our levels of giving. Three ways that you can do that are how you take up your offering, how you talk about apportionments and how to talk to lay people, face-to-face, one-on-one, about giving.

Last week I attended a memorial service celebrating the life of one of our St. Peter’s “Patriarchs.”

This past weekend there were at least four different training events in our Annual Conference.

Traditionally the Conference Lay Leader has hosted a luncheon at Annual Conference. Although clergy have always been welcome, it has been called the “Laity Luncheon.”

In the last few days, I have heard about two different churches that have started community outreach programs which have proven to be successful for them.

Sunday morning when I arrived at St. Peter’s for worship, our senior pastor came up to me, shook my hand and said, “Hi. I’m Don Smith, one of the pastors here at St. Peter’s. We’re so glad that you could be here with us today.”

Last week Bishop Huie, Rev. B.T. Williamson and I completed the Bishop’s conversation in all nine Districts.

For the past two weeks, I have truly been on the road almost the entire time.