By James V. Heidinger II,
President and Publisher
GOOD NEWS PERSPECTIVE – No. 11, January 14, 2008
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CONGRESS ON EVANGELISM DRAWS MORE THAN 700 IN SAVANNAH – With the Charles Wesley hymn “Spirit of Faith Come Down” providing the theme, the 2008 Congress on Evangelism brought together more than 700 United Methodists to share their passion and strategies for spreading the Gospel.
The congress is a place where “we can come and use the ‘E’ word without being ashamed or looking over our shoulders,” said Bishop James Swanson, resident bishop of the Holston Annual Conference, during the opening worship service.
The January 2-5 event was held on Hutchinson Island in honor of the 300th anniversary of Wesley’s birth. Both Charles Wesley and his brother, Methodism founder John Wesley, came from England to southeast Georgia and landed February 6, 1736, on Cockspur Island, just downriver from Hutchinson Island. “We United Methodists are here at the birthplace of the Wesleys’ work in the new land. . .the Colony of Georgia,” wrote the Rev. David Kerr, president of the Congress, in a message to those attending.
The congress, held each January, is sponsored by the Council on Evangelism and the United Methodist Board of Discipleship with the support of the Foundation for Evangelism. This year’s three-day event was filled with preaching, workshops and, of course, the hymns of Charles Wesley.
Bishop Swanson said the 40-year decline in membership in The United Methodist Church has “happened on our watch,” and that reversing that trend will require the power of the Holy Spirit. “We cannot do this on our own power or with our own strength. We forgot it is not about what we possess; it’s about what possesses us,” he said. The Bishop also did a workshop on “Preaching for Conversion” which was well-attended.
The National Association of United Methodist Evangelists presented the “Philip Award,” named in honor of the evangelist Philip in Acts, to the Rev. William Bouknight and the Rev. Bob Nelson for their outstanding leadership in evangelism.
For the full UMNS article by the Rev. Jim Nelson, editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, go to: http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b= 2433457&ct=4918849&printmode=1
SOULFORCE PLANS “DIRECT ACTION” AT 2008 GENERAL CONFERENCE
The Soulforce United Methodist Planning Team released a statement announcing a planned direct action at the 2008 United Methodist General Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 26-27. Signers of the statement include co-chairs Steven Webster and Dotti Berry, as well as Reverends Gil Caldwell and Phil Lawson.
Soulforce was launched nearly ten years ago by Mel White and Gary Nixon. The two believed they were laying the groundwork for a new social movement. Drawing upon the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, they began to organize lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans to study the principles of nonviolent direct action.
In the statement released January 11, the planning team said, “For almost forty years, the United Methodist Church has struggled with fundamental issues of fairness and inclusion, including same-sex unions, LGBT clergy, and the status of LGBT lay members. In 2006, the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church—led by Surgeon General nominee James Holsinger—issued Decision 1032, which granted sole authority to local pastors to deny church membership to gay men and lesbians and made a mockery of the official slogan of the United Methodist Church: ‘Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.’”
For eight General Conferences now, United Methodists have engaged in prayerful and respectful Christian conferencing. It is the position of Soulforce and its United Methodist constituents that our denomination’s position reflects “bigotry” and misinformation about LGBT people. With our bishops all talking about and hoping that Christian conferencing will be the norm for the upcoming General Conference, one wonders how they will lead the church in light of Soulforce’s planned “direct event.” One 30-minute demonstration before 1,000 delegates on the floor of General Conference costs the church 500 delegate-hours of work.
For the complete text of the statement, go to: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/1/prweb614801.htm
DENZEL WASHINGTON’S MINISTRY OF MOVIES – Christians everywhere will be encouraged to know that Denzel Washington, one of America’s most beloved and critically acclaimed actors, is a serious Christian. He studies the Bible daily, prays every morning and night, and sees his films as a form of preaching.
He just recently received a Golden Globe nomination for his role in “American Gangster.” He also has the lead role in “The Great Debaters,” a film about the winning debate team in the 1930s at Methodist-related Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. The film represented Washington’s second directorial effort and the film also has been nominated for a Golden Globe award for best drama.
Washington is listed second on Beliefnet’s “Most Powerful Christians in Hollywood” list. He also lent his voice to “The Bible Experience,” an audio Bible featuring some of the country’s top African-American stars.
When asked by Beliefnet about the role of prayer in his life, Washington replied, “Even this film [“The Great Debaters”]—every major decision I made, I made through prayer, about who I was picking to be in it, what it was I was trying to say, praying that the film was saying the right thing and that it would reach the right people. It’s every aspect of it. It’s how I start every day, and it’s how I end every day.”
For the full text of the Beliefnet interview, go to: www.goodnewsmag.org, where the interview is posted.
DONALD HAYNES ON EVANGELICALISM — For some time now, I have been reading with appreciation columns in the United Methodist Reporter (and online, the UMPortal.org), articles by Rev. Donald W. Haynes.
His first of two columns on the evangelical heritage is well worth reading. He gives a bit of the rich history of evangelicalism and then moves to the early 20th century, when Methodist leadership sought to distance the denomination from its evangelistic heritage.
During this period, says Haynes, “Reason trumped experience, worship was formalized, the gospel hymn was mostly excised, the sermon moved toward moralism and ethics, and the invitation was dropped.” The problem, he says, is that Methodists had adopted the philosophy that “religion is taught more than caught.” Thus we cast our future with the Sunday school and other educational or nurturing means, rather than expecting our children to be converted.
He goes on to say that as the emphasis on experience and Scripture wanted, the only facets of Wesley’s quadrilateral that survived were reason and tradition. Haynes adds humbly, “I am not casting stones; I am confessing. This was the basic journey of my own ministry, and my name among 20th-century Methodist clergy is ‘Legion.’”
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