News

July 2, 2010 The Journey Continues...

After 128 days at sea, the founders of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World, arrived at Cape Henry, Virginia, on April 26, 1607. When they disembarked, these grateful settlers raised a large wooden cross and thanked God for their safe arrival on the soil of their new home. It wasn’t all pleasant from that point forward. There were dark and dismal days for these new settlers.  Disease-filled swamps, skirmishes with Native Americans, and untold challenges...

Delegation Endorses Two for Bishop

 Western Pennsylvania’s delegation to the United Methodist Church’s General and Jurisdictional conferences has endorsed two of its members as candidates for bishop of the Church: Greensburg District Superintendent William B. Meekins Jr. and Washington District Superintendent Eric S. Park.  Both are “preacher’s kids” who spent their formative years in Western Pennsylvania, Meekins in urban areas around Pittsburgh and Park in Indiana, PA. What they...

Walker Named to Congregational Development Post

The Rev. Jim Walker has been living his dream the past nine years as one of the founding pastors of the vibrant Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community on Pittsburgh’s South Side. Now, Walker said, it’s time for him to pay it forward.  He hopes to do that in his new appointment as director of congregational development and revitalization for the Western PA Conference. Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton said he is very excited about Walker assuming his new responsibilities.  “Jim...

March Lay Speaking Schools Offer Classes for All Church Leaders

  As Lent begins, District leaders are turning their attention to the annual Lay Ministry schools – and they’re not your father’s lay speaking schools!   Most people view the Lay Ministry Schools as a training ground exclusively for those called by God to fill in for the pastor when he or she is not available to preach a sermon, but the schools offer a variety of courses beyond those for lay speakers.   The schools provide quality training for all people of...

June 4, 2010 The Journey Continues...

Many of you are aware that our oldest son T.J. has joined the Peace Corps. You know that because simultaneous joy and concern for him spills rather quickly from my lips. T.J. is in Honduras. Earlier this month he received his permanent assignment for the next two years. The assignment came after two months of intensive language and culture training, along with interviews and analysis of the potential each volunteer possesses. What follows are T.J.’s own words after receiving his...

April 2, 2010 The Journey Continues ...

In the 1930s a young traveler was exploring the French Alps. He came upon a vast stretch of desolate, barren land.  It was forbidding and ugly, the kind of place you hurry away from. Suddenly the traveler stopped dead in his tracks. In the middle of the vast wasteland was a bent-over old man. On his back was a sack of acorns and in his hand a four-foot-long iron pipe. The man was using the pipe to punch holes in the ground. Then he would take an acorn from the sack and put it in the...

March 5, 2010 The Journey Continues

There was once a young soldier who was traveling through the country when he stopped to rest his horse in a small village. As he walked around the small houses, he spotted a wooden fence. On the fence were nearly 40 small chalk circles. In the center of each was a bullet hole. What amazing accuracy, the soldier thought as he examined the fence. There is not a single shot that has not hit the bull’s eye. The soldier quickly set out to find the one who possessed such great skill. He was...

Sept. 4, 2009 The Journey Continues ...

As is typical this time of the year, another wildfire is burning its way across California. Containing such fires requires a 24-hour effort by dedicated professional firefighting crews. One lesson they've learned is that fire creates its own wind, and that wind can cause the fire to spread more quickly than anyone expects. This week I read an opinion piece sent across the church by a prominent leader in our denomination. He devoted significant space to justifying his position on certain issues...