Cabinet Committed to Lifelong Learning

Two weeks ago the extended Cabinet met at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, for the first full Cabinet meeting since Annual Conference. While the meeting was described as a retreat, we worked all day each day, getting ready for a new year in the life of the Texas Annual Conference. As always, we began each day with worship. Members of the Cabinet take turns leading worship for the group and it is a wonderful way to center ourselves and welcome the Holy Spirit into our midst.

Before getting down to business, we spent time sharing with the group our summer adventures and what was going on in our personal lives. I have found that as I work with people it helps me to hear about what is going on in their lives. It gives me an understanding of how they are viewing each situation and what perspective they might be bringing to the discussion.

A description of the current Cabinet is that we are each individually and as a group dedicated to being lifelong learners. Each of our Center Leaders, District Superintendents and Bishop Huie are constantly reading books which challenge them to look at how they can do their jobs more efficiently, effectively and with a heart for how God is calling them each day. At this meeting we discussed a book that we had all read, ­Leading from the Second Chair, by Mike Bonem and Roger Peterson. While the book was written from the perspective of an executive or associate pastor, much of it has relevance for not only Cabinet members but most people in leadership within the United Methodist Church. We spent some time discussing the book and how its teachings might influence how we each do our jobs.

A unique aspect of this meeting was that several of us shared “book reports” on books that we have read recently, whether or not they were books with direct relevance to our jobs. To see what the extended Cabinet is reading check out the following:

• Finest Hour, by Tim Clayton & Phil Craig (a historical look at the events of 1940)

• A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, by Edwin H. Friedman (a look at qualities of leadership necessary today)

• Getting Naked, by Patrick Lencioni (a business fable about shedding the fears that sabotage relationship loyalty)

• Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour (learning to be a Palestinian Christian peacemaker in the Middle East)

• American Saint: Francis Asbury and the Methodists, by John Wigger (a biography of one of America’s leading religious voices)

• Three Cups of Tea; One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin (building schools in remote areas of Pakistan)

Reading is one of my favorite past times. I was one of those kids who read under the covers at night with a flashlight until I was caught by my mom!  I still read constantly, sometimes I have more than one book going at a time. Sometimes I stay up way too late, like last night, because I just can’t put a book down. So one more book I read this summer that is must read for all of us who lived through the Civil Rights era is The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. Even if you are too young to remember the time of separate restrooms and water fountains, Ms. Stockett brings this period of time alive in a way that we can all learn from.

At the end of our week in North Carolina, we spent two days in discussion with the extended Cabinets of the Western North Carolina and Baltimore-Washington Conferences.  It was a time of sharing and learning. We heard about what these conferences are doing to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world in their areas and we shared our experiences in Texas. We found that we are all doing some of the same things but that we are all doing different things, too. It was a great way to end a long week – food for thought as we begin again finding ways to welcome God’s kingdom here on earth.

Showers of blessings,

Leah Taylor