Bishop's Office

We are in the heart of the appointment season right now, and much of our Appointed Cabinet work lies in the best matching of our clergy leadership with the needs and demands of our local churches.  We are attempting to place the best spiritual leaders into a church culture where their gifts and graces will best match what the local church needs in fulfilling its mission. 

It is hard and difficult work.  New cabinet members are always surprised at the level of complexity and the depth of discussion and spiritual work that the Cabinet does in making appointments.  We always attempt to remain faithful to where we believe the will of God is in our discernment and appointive work.

However, what many of us (who have been veterans of this type of work) have noticed is the tremendous changes that have come in the appointive process.  When I started as a district superintendent some 10 years ago, there was a fairly clear sense of major church appointments that would open up due to retirements or a pastor moving.  We would then engage in the work of making a “pattern” of appointment movements that would involve three, four and even more individual church appointment changes.  There were some set rules of attempting to reward pastors who had done well at one level by appointing them to a larger church.  It was a culture where we could count on certain presuppositions happening, and clergy understood the system and where they might fit into the process.

Even though I am writing this reflection much before Holy Week and Easter, because of our production process, you will not be reading it until after Easter is over.  As such my message will come after the depth of Holy Week, the despair of Good Friday, and the absolute glory of the resurrection on Easter.  It will have been a dynamic week for all of us, and I pray that you had a meaningful and transforming Easter.

However, it has always struck me that the post resurrection stories of Jesus were as significant, if not more so, than the pomp and circumstance of the crucifixion and ascension.  In many cases, when Jesus appears before the disciples they do not recognize him.  In the John 20 account, Jesus must show them his wounds in his hands and side before they fully recognize him, and Thomas does not believe until he is able to feel his wounds (John 20: 27).

From my Asian-American roots, this is a highly significant fact.  In most Asian countries, suffering is the name of the game.  Buddhism, which sprang from this Asian soil, makes liberation from suffering itself as the central tenant of its faith position.  In the Asian mindset, suffering is part and parcel of life itself, and the acceptance of this suffering is a natural part of the cultural condition of being Asian.

As I write this reflection, funeral services have concluded for our General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) leaders, the Rev. Sam Dixon and the Rev. Clint Rabb.  Both were tragically killed in the Haiti earthquake. 

Sam Dixon was the Deputy General Secretary for our United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), one of the most recognized service agencies in our whole church.  Clint Rabb was the Associate Director for the GBGM.  Both of these leaders were not lower-level workers, but near the top of the GBGM leadership.  Sam was the head of UMCOR.  The fact that the very highest-level leadership was on the ground in missions is highly significant.  It would be easy for them to send lower-level associates to these places of mission, but that was not the style or role of these two men.

Sam and Clint were working with Haitian government officials on how to better bring needed medical services to Haiti.  This work re-enforces our long UMC commitment to Haiti, not just the current relief effort and response to the devastating earthquake we are seeing, today.  Officially our United Methodist Church has been in Haiti for some 30 years, helping and serving the people there.  Historically, we have been a church presence there since the 1800’s.

 

It is still hard for me to accept the deaths of these dedicated servants.  I knew both of them personally and worked with them while serving as a Director for GBGM.  Sam and Clint had great senses of humor, and both of them were deeply relational people.  Sam once told me, “Congratulations on your promotion as Dean of the Cabinet.” I responded to him, “How did you know that? I try to stay stealth.” To which he replied: “You can’t escape, we keep close tabs on our Directors.”

Like many of you who knew these men, I was down and depressed in facing the reality of their deaths.  Why take the lives of people who were making such a difference in our world? But the more that I have reflected upon their lives, the more inspired and motivated I am by their courage and faithfulness.  I am reminded of the passage from Matthew*: “Those who give their lives up for my sake will find them.”

Sam and Clint made the ultimate sacrifice for us and for their faith in Jesus Christ.  Instead of being down about their sacrifice, we should stand up and proclaim from the highest hill about their faith and gift to the world.  The giving of their lives holds the greatest modeling and message for us who must continue on.  For in losing their lives, they undoubtedly gained the ultimate reward; their sacrifice is a tribute to the One who gave his life up for all of us in pledge.

Thank you Sam and Clint.  May we see each other in God’s own time.

Be the Hope,

Bishop Grant

Editor’s Note: This passage can be found in Matthew 16:25.

In much of contemporary business and management literature, there is a strong emphasis on metrics, or measurable data that can be analyzed.  In most for-profit businesses, the bottom line is the profit margin, or how much net income is produced.  

Of course, the church as a non-profit organization is somewhat different.  We do not measure success in how much money we have left over at the end of the year (although it sure helps to be in the black in the end!).  Our metrics are much more complex; not having measurements is just as bad as not having the right ones.  Our specific metrics have to do with people resources: How many people are in attendance in worship, how many cell groups have we formed, how many disciples have we been forming, and how many people have we led to Jesus Christ?

Our overarching mission statement for The United Methodist Church is “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” This particular mission statement has both metrics as well as goals.  We are to make disciples of Jesus Christ (something that can be counted and measured) for the greater transformation of the world (a lofty goal worthy of our work).