Contents
May/June 2006
FEATURES
Guardian angel on alert Chuck Ferrara discovers something beyond the badge.
John Wesley and United Methodist renewal James V. Heidinger II appeals to the wisdom of Methodism’s founder
The emergence of confessing Christians Thomas C. Oden encourages mainline renewal.
Anne Rice: The dark wing of night Trish Teves inquires the once gothic author about her conversion.
Holiness Manifesto The Wesleyan Holiness Study Project makes an appeal.
Columns
Editorial Why membership matters
Next Generation The answers are right, but the life is wrong
RENEW Women’s Network The tie that binds
The Great Commission The world in high resolution
From the Heart Tell
DepartmentsLetters to the editor
Straight Talk
News
Re-thinking ‘doing church’ to reverse membership decline
Prayer event brings unity to community
U.S. church opens arms to Iraqi girl with birth defect
Culture in View
Family films with a message
Walking the line into a ring of fire
If the United Methodist Church continues its current pattern of membership decline it will no longer exist in the year 2020, according to Dr. Robert Pierson, senior pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Pierson spoke in January near Dallas at "Worship Connections," an event sponsored by the Large Church Initiative of the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church, and Cokesbury.
"That information was a surprise to me, it set many of us back on our heels," said the Rev. Dr. Brad Lauster, pastor of Grace UM Church in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Walt Kallestad, who pastors Community Church of Joy, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Glendale, Arizona, was the event's keynote speaker.
"Walt brought us back to the centrality of the Word and challenged us as pastors to be careful we present the gospel in worship, instead of making worship 'the presentation,'" Lauster said. "It was convicting and a reminder to me that it is the Word of God that changes people's lives; the style of worship is merely a tool God uses to accomplish eternal purposes."
The Rev. John Ciampa of Harrison City UM Church, also in Western Pennsylvania, said the event challenged the church to change to meet the changing needs of an emerging culture that no longer plays by the long-held rules of the modern age.
"The church which can connect with the emerging culture is in a place of great risk-taking. Seeing what is being attempted and what is being done reminds us of the need to have open communication with people outside the existing church. Finding ways to engage the ever-morphing emerging culture is a task that cannot be contained in rigid structures. My experience is that most churches are not prepared to take the risks needed to connect in this unpredictable arena," Ciampa said.
Ciampa said he was struck again with how important it is to provide options for people to choose if the church wants to engage them with the gospel message. "It was also made clear to me that no one church can reach all the people in a region. Churches need to know who they are attempting to reach and make the necessary changes to allow that to happen," he said.
Lauster said he went home with a deeper understanding of how Jesus entrusts his Bride (the Church) to the shepherding minister of pastors until Jesus (the Groom) returns for her. Speaker and author Dan Kimball demonstrated the wedding of the Bride and Groom with worship stations that drew attendees into active participation in the worship process.
"As his Bride, Jesus trusts me to protect her, to love her, to nurture her, to shelter her and to care for her. Before the conference, I didn't look at my calling that way. I am now and will for the rest of my life," Lauster said. He's already passing along worship concepts to his staff. "It opened my mind up to be in touch with God like I've not been in a long time."
Conference presenters stressed the church at-large is not effectively reaching Gen Xers or the Millennial Generation of young people.
"In order to do so, we can no longer do what we do the way we are doing it. Reaching those generations requires re-thinking how we 'do church' and will require all of us begin to do things in ways that are (or may be) dramatically different than we've ever done in the past," Lauster said.
He was surprised to learn that only 20 percent of worshippers are auditory learners. The remaining 80 percent learn visually, through touch and other experiences. The gospel is usually presented in ways designed to reach auditory learners only. "It's no wonder people say they don't get anything out of worship and we have the trouble we do helping people experience God's presence during worship!" Lauster said.
Ciampa said the conference illustrated a variety of creative ways church leaders address the unique circumstances of their own settings. "Many issues are common to us all, but each place presents unique challenges. It was good to be with others who are trying new ways of being the church. As I have always found to be true, wherever there is an effective ministry there is a person (or persons) of dedication and passion providing the drive," Ciampa said.
The Rev. Brian Bauknight, pastor of Christ UM Church in Bethel Park outside Pittsburgh came home from the conference feeling he connected deeply with the idea of an "emerging generation," and what that means for the future of the church at large. Bauknight is on the Large Church Initiative board.
"I've heard some of this before, read books about it, but this was the first time it 'connected' with me," Bauknight said.
As the pastor of the largest church in the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference, Bauknight noted the benefits to doing things with smaller numbers of people. "This kind of worship is more multi-sensory, presenting ways to experience a transcendent God in a smaller setting," he said, noting Kimball doesn't pastor a mega-church.
Bauknight said pluralistic young people are open to many forms of spirituality. "Don't ram a particular form of Christianity down their throats," he said.
Bauknight spoke briefly at the event on the slow decline in worship attendance in what he calls "Rust Belt Christianity"-the church in the northeastern United States
People are going to church less often now than past generations did, perhaps two or three times a month instead of four times a month, he said. He sees this happening at Christ church, but not a correlating decline in giving.
One reason for that is because "regular" church attendance is newly defined. "Two times a month now can mean 'regular.' Regular means something different than it used to," he said.
People are also redefining what it means to "worship." "If someone goes to Disciple Bible Study, they may say they've been 'to church' this week," he said.
It's not because Christians are less interested in faith but we live more cluttered lives, he said. "It's symptomatic of our part of the country," perhaps more than in the south and Midwest, Bauknight surmised.
For more information on the LCI, contact the Rev. Bob Pierson, Christ UMC, 3515 S. Harvard Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74135, 918-747-8601.
Jan Woodard is a staff writer for the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the UM Church, and a free-lance inspirational writer and speaker.
Who is it that said, "We'll pray for our nation; we'll pray for the world, but we won't pray with one another"? The churches in Whittier, California- spearheaded by a small United Methodist church-want that to change. For the past eight years, more than 40 local churches and ministries have been gathering for an annual prayer summit.
This year's event, held February 11, brought more than 200 pastors, church leaders, and intercessors in the Whittier area in southern California together to pray for their community.
Those attending have experienced great benefits in church relations and challenge other communities to do the same. As one pastor commented afterwards, "I was very impressed with the way you handle this. It is a very beautiful and moving expression of the Body of Christ."
The 11-hour summit is led by pastors of various denominations and is an unapologetically Christian-based session flowing with prayer and praise. Prayer focuses on topics like "Personal Heart Searching Time," "Prayer for Marriages, Homes & Families," "Schools & Teachers," "Personal Needs," "The Persecuted Church," "Homeless and Hungry," and "What Is God Wanting Me to Do?"
Sandwiching the 16 focuses of prayer are times of worship and praise led by local church worship teams. Elected and appointed officials who respond to an invitation are prayed for. One segment is devoted to Latino pastors for ethnic music and for prayer in Spanish (usually with translation). The procession ends with a "Prayer for Youth and the Call to Go Into the World to Serve Jesus."
What is the purpose of this prayer summit? It is a call for greater unity in Christ that the Apostle Paul points to: "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord." (Philippians 2:1-2).
When pastors set aside hectic schedules to pray with one another, the result may be better networking and teamwork among local churches for God's purposes.
Another goal is to take responsibility for the area that we live in. If we believe that prayer is effective, then isn't this a powerful way to impact a community? The famous preacher Charles Spurgeon said, "Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence."
A third purpose is to make an effective witness for Christ's love. International evangelist Ravi Zacharias states that one question he most often receives when he travels is, "Why are there so many divisions among Christians?"
When pastors in the same town lay differences aside to pray together fervently, it embodies the message, "See how these Christians love one another!" People and even local media take note.
The seeds for the Whittier Area Prayer Summit were planted in 1997 by one vigorous, hometown pastor with a vision to see the churches work together. When he challenged ministers to participate in a Saturday Convoy of Hope to feed the area's hungry, the response from 35 churches was 900 volunteers who fed more than 8,000 people! The pastors saw that some things won't happen until churches put a priority on doing spiritual things together.
When Ray Bringham, a founder of Prayer Summits, called me about such a prayer event, many pastors were ready. Held on the "neutral ground" of a ballroom in a local hotel, the first Whittier Prayer Summit was a success. One pastor came to describe this time of prayer as "something which starts the new year off with a really positive thrust."
Though this grass-roots effort has been a success, challenges remain. A number of churches in town don't participate. Disappointment is expressed by those praying about why more people in the community don't attend. Others have difficulty with people of diverse backgrounds and varying worship and prayer styles. Yet isn't this the challenge of love: to live with and even appreciate differences?
In Whittier, the prayer summit has become a blessing for the community and marks the calendar, as does a Mayor's Prayer Breakfast and the National Day of Prayer. Each of these latter events lasts only an hour or two; the prayer summit is 11 hours. It has no other agenda than prayer. It convenes not to talk or teach about prayer. It meets to pray!
Yes, it is a lot of work. But it is worth it. "I have just spent five and a half hours at the prayer summit," wrote one person who attended, "and feel grateful and overflowing with the sense of God's presence as well as the warmth of authentic fellowship. I want to thank you for making this possible and for letting me be a part of it."
Dwight Sullivan is pastor of Whittier (Calif.) Evangelical United Methodist Church. Distributed by UM News Service.
Ghofran Alyass traveled from Iraq to Tennessee for surgery she hopes will give her more years with her family. Along the way, she found her family growing as she developed a special bond with a new "sister."
Ghofran, 10, became fast friends with Samantha Ousley, 8. Samantha's family is hosting Ghofran and her parents while they are in the United States.
"I'm very happy," says Ghofran, who was born with spina bifida. "Samantha, my sister."
Samantha, an only child, found a new international playmate.
"It really felt good because before, I was lonely and I really didn't have anybody to play with, except at school," she says.
The friendship between the two girls developed after Samantha's father, Ted Ousley, started a campaign to bring Ghofran and her parents to Tennessee. Ousley, a radio personality known to his listeners as "Gunner" on WIVK in Knoxville, learned of Ghofran's plight while embedded with American troops in Iraq.
Ousley's church, First United Methodist of Maryville, took up the cause and raised $10,000 to cover the family's travel and other expenses.
"Helping a family is a huge thing because, you know, word will spread," Ousley says. "You don't do it at the point of a gun, and I think we're realizing that more and more."
The Rev. Brenda Carroll, co-pastor at the Maryville church, says even with the surgery, Ghofran will not be able to walk, but the procedure should extend her life and allow her better mobility in a wheelchair.
"Once you see Ghofran, there's never any question that you're going to do everything you can to help that child," Carroll says. "We want to help that family to have this precious child in their midst for as long as they possibly can."
Members of a children's Sunday school class at First United Methodist made a blanket to keep Ghofran warm and give her reassurance thousands of miles away from the war in Iraq.
"You know that there's a lot going on (in Iraq), bombs are going off and stuff," says Elizabeth Morton, -10, a fourth-grader who worked on the blanket. "And just to help her, to comfort her with blankets and stuff, makes me feel good inside."
Ghofran has never attended school in Iraq because of her medical condition, but with Samantha's help, she learned the English alphabet. Ghofran also taught Samantha how to count in Arabic.
"I feel all the people like me and love me," Ghofran says through an interpreter. "Thank you for this family. Thanks."
Samantha says she hopes the surgery will be successful and help her new friend lead a better life when the family returns to Iraq. "I would feel really sad if she really didn't get better. I really want her to get better," she says.
Ghofran's father, Abdul, says he has seen his daughter smile more since her arrival in the United States. "She's different now; she's different," he says. "I am very happy because I can see the future for my daughter."
Spina bifida is a birth defect caused when the spine does not close completely. Researchers are not sure what causes the disorder.
Members of the surgical team are donating their time to help Ghofran. A foundation is also covering hospital expenses, so there will be no cost to the family.
"I want (to) ask all the people and all the church to
pray (for) Ghofran and ask God to help my daughter," says mother Zeinab Alyass.
A new outlook
Samantha's mother, Laura Ousley, says the friendship
between the two girls has given Samantha "a different way of looking at life."
"She (Ghofran) has enriched our lives," Mrs. Ousley says. "She's shown us that, no matter what you're situation is, what matters is what's in your heart. She's got a big heart."
Ghofran's new friends are also hoping she will be able to attend school after she returns to Iraq. "She's a smart little girl, and she's never been able to go to school," Rev. Carroll says. "We certainly pray that could happen for Ghofran."
John Gordon is a freelance producer and writer based in Marshall, Texas. Distributed by UM News Service.
One of my most memorable childhood experiences had to do with finding out how close to the bathrooms our family's campsite was going to be as we drove across the United States in a camper. We did this as a family several summers in a row. It was a time when my sister and I had eagle eyes for a KOA campground with some kind of an amenity such as outdoor movies or a swimming pool or an arcade.
RV is a refreshingly big-hearted comedy about family life in a hyper-techno era. In order to keep his job and a promise of a vacation to his family, Bob Munro (Robin Williams) convinces his wife (Cheryl Hines) and kids to give up a trip to Hawaii for an excursion across the heartland of America in a gigantic recreational vehicle.
In the beginning, the entire family is caught up in their iPods, listening to their own music on headsets. As they individually sing along, it creates a dreadful cacophony and an indicative portrait of the way in which technology has driven the family apart. As Williams comments in the movie: "We all watch TV shows in different rooms and i.m. [instant message] one another when it's time for dinner."
As Robin Williams told Good News, RV is about a "white collar family forced by this vacation to deal with each other." That is no small challenge. But as if that was not enough, the Munros run into the hilariously eccentric Gornicke family who are on the road all the time-home schooling their kids and earning their living from a mobile sales job.
The Gornickes (Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth) are salt-of-the-earth people who go out of their way to help strangers. This is exhibited by a lengthy scene where the Munros have big time troubles eliminating the sewage from the RV's toilet-not a segment for those who object to potty humor.
Jeff Daniels, who is a real-life RV owner and enthusiast, has a close family that spends a lot of time traveling together. "We just ended 14 years of travel hockey with two boys. My daughter was always a part of that. There are a lot of trips to hockey games." He is quick to point out to other sport parents, "It's about the drive there and the drive back-not the trophy."
Daniels says he and his wife have always had a "good relationship with our kids because you're driving with them and talking to them at the age of eight, nine, ten." Life on the road can certainly bring out the best and worst in a family. Although it can be rough, Daniels said that his family connects through travel. "Nevertheless," he warns, "it's not for every family. If you hate each other, you're going to hate each other even more after a 12 hour day."
As Kristin Chenoweth joked, "I strongly recommend that if anyone has a dysfunctional family they should definitely get trapped in a little car or a bus and go traveling across country. It will do great things for you," she said with a laugh. Although she was kidding, that really is one of the central themes of the film.
Robin Williams perpetuates his reign as one of the funniest comedians on the planet and RV surrounds him with a great cast, hilarious gags, and a great family message.
RV is rated PG for crude humor, innuendo, and language.
There are few things in life more nerve-racking for a kid than having to go to a new school. Where is your home room? How do these lockers work? Who are the bullies you have to pay off with a baloney sandwich? It's been a long time since I've been a newbie at school, but it still conjures up bad memories.
That is one of the launchpads of the new movie Hoot, a Jimmy Buffet-produced adaptation of a Carl Hiaasen book for young readers by the same name. Middle schooler Roy Eberhardt (Logan Lerman) has just moved with his family from Montana to southern Florida. Talk about culture shock. His ranch-style fashion cause him to stick out like a sore thumb and he is personally introduced to the school bullies, as well as a parent-less, Dennis the Menace-type kid who lives in secret on an abandoned boat.
Mullet Fingers (Cody Linley) is the boy on the boat. He is supposed to be off at military school, but ran away and now lives off the coastland with the help of his sister, Beatrice Leap (Brie Larson). Through odd circumstances, Roy, Beatrice, and Mullet Fingers join forces to delay the construction of a Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House because there are families of burrowing owls currently nesting on the property. The developer and the construction supervisor have deceptively hidden an environmental impact report that would have delayed the construction. Mullet Fingers takes it into his own hands to creatively delay the building process that would kill the owls that burrow in the ground instead of the trees.
Hoot clumsily pits business against environmental concerns and smart kids against dense adults. Of course, that is the kind of simplistic sitcom formula that hopefully will get kids to ask questions and help them get the message that they are never too young to make a difference.
Are Mullet Fingers' delaying techniques (pulling up survey markers, deflating vehicle tires, and other activities) merely mischievous or full-scale vandalism? Are his actions illegal and immoral or morally justified, considering the circumstances? These are going to be great questions for parents to discuss with kids.
"I think that it works for the characters in the film because this is a kid who doesn't know right from wrong," Brie Larson responded when asked about the actions of Mullet Fingers. "He is a kid who has lived off of the land. And to him, what they are doing is a million times more illegal than what he's doing."
Her co-star agrees. "Mullet Fingers is kind of an outlaw," Cody Linley says about his character. "He's different than me in real life but I think that what he did was maybe not legally right but was morally right. He had to take a stand for what he believed in and he kind of had to take desperate measures."
Director Wil Shriner told me that he wanted kids to know that it was okay for them to stand up for something they believe in. "If you think there is an injustice, don't be afraid to speak up, stand up, do whatever you need to do to bring attention to the problem," he said. "The message is that it is okay to care about the environment, it is okay to care about the creatures, because if you guys don't do it, your kids won't have any."
Steve Beard is the editor of Good News. Hoot is rated PG for mild bullying and brief language.
Brutal honesty is one of the admirable aspects of the movie Walk the Line, the fascinating and explosive bio-pic of Johnny and June Cash (now out on DVD). His exploits on the dark side, as well as the scorching love he found in the arms of June Carter, are brilliantly illustrated in the film, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. Walk the Line only portrays a small sliver of Cash's luminous and industrious career marked by bouts with the minions of hell and the fiery love of June and her parents, the musically trailblazing Maybelle and Ezra "Eck" Carter. The movie is high-octane Johnny Cash, warts and all.
Walk the Line is a gut-wrenching story that causes anyone to squirm, and yet we love Cash. We always have. He was America's blue-collar troubadour of tales of heaven and hell, murder and redemption, love and death, sin and salvation. He was never too proud to seek grace, but he would never pretend to be pious. He once referred to himself as a C-minus Christian-a believer who had nose-dived into the sumptuous buffet line of fame and fortune and was working his way towards paradise, one painful day at a time.
My church-going friends are going to be frustrated by the movie's timeline. Walk the Line ends right about the time Johnny and June get married. You never really get to see a full-orbed picture of the way in which faith revived Cash's life-the Billy Graham Crusades he participated in, The Gospel Road film he financed, the book on St. Paul he wrote. In the film, you see plenty of the pill-popping but none of the Bible-thumping.
When asked about the absence of faith in the latter half of the movie, Walk the Line director James Mangold acknowledges that "the part of John's story that we're telling about is the part where he pushed God away. And really, God started coming back to him, as did belief and love and life and living and art at the point the movie ends. A man who's lost, taking pills, and trying to destroy himself is not a man who you can just easily stick into a scene of faith."
Walk the Line powerfully reveals the depth of rejection that Johnny felt from his father. According to Mangold, Cash "wanted to make sure that his relationship with his father was done right. He had both very powerful, positive feelings about his dad and was very conflicted about that relationship. He wanted to make sure both aspects were explored."
At the same time, the film attempts to beautifully display the love that the Carter family had for Cash. But once again, you cannot comprehend Johnny's redemption apart from the fact that they all prayed like Pentecostals facing a tornado. They cared deeply for the man who would eventually marry their daughter. They understood his addiction and did everything they could to help him beat it.
In some ways, Eck Carter was able to see more in Johnny Cash than we are in the film: "The Lord's got his hand on Johnny Cash and nothing's going to happen to him. The Lord's got greater things for him to do." Despite its gaps and shortcomings, however, Walk the Line is powerful and electric-the kind of movie that Johnny Cash could appreciate.
Steve Beard is the editor of Good News. Walk the Line is rated PG-13 for some language, thematic material, and depiction of drug dependency.
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