Archive: Good News Convocation Focuses on Being the Church

“Jesus is not just about stopping things. He’s about building His kingdom! The Kingdom is Christ, His authority and rule in the earth,” evangelist Tom Skinner charged in his keynote address to the National Good News Convocation in Washington, D.C. last month.

Speaking to the Convo theme “The Church: Transcending the Culture, Transforming the Nation,” Skinner, former youth-gang leader in Harlem, urged participants to be the church in a multi-cultural society and especially in the nation’s needy urban areas. This means being a part of the church which is departure from the authority of “called out” to live differently, transcending the culture in this sinful world. “We are to colonize our world and our neighborhoods,” Skinner said. “We’ve got to be willing to go where the people are. We must test the Good News in the crack houses where sinners are,” he added.

Chaired by Good News board member, the Rev. George Anderson and his wife Carol from Mitchellville, Maryland, the national Good News event was held July 22-25 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the heart of the city. Some 500 persons registered, braving the 101 degree sweltering summer heat in the nation’s capital.

Each morning, Dr. Richard Halverson, Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, dashed from the Senate floor after offering the opening prayer in order to deliver the morning Bible study at the historic Mount Vernon Place UM Church near the hotel.

Halverson, nationally-known Christian leader and long active in the Prayer Breakfast movement, blessed listeners with wisdom from years of faithful ministry, reminding them that Christ promised, “I will build my church.” Repeatedly, he charged that “It is His Church that He is building. Not ours, but His! The entrance into the Church is by acknowledging Him as Savior and Lord. And the Church which belongs to Him is indestructible.”

In a surprise addition to the convo program, Vice President Dan Quayle spoke Thursday morning just before the final session. He urged those in the Good News movement to remain steadfast in their fight for traditional family values and morality in the church.

Citing his roots in a grandmother who was Methodist and a great grandfather who was a Methodist minister, the vice president told convo participants, “It’s not easy being in the minority, but a determined minority can turn itself into a majority.” He added, “Your faithfulness has been a blessing not only to the United Methodist Church, but to the nation as well.”

Following his message, Pastor William Mason, chairman of the Good News board, presented the vice president with a handsome leather-bound Bible and Chaplain Halverson prayed for “Dan,” as he warmly referred to him.

Nationally syndicated columnist Cal Thomas gave a spirited Convo address lamenting the mainline church’s departure from the authority of Scripture. He, along with other speakers, charged that “We’re in a battle of ideas. We must get ours into the marketplace.” Thomas went on to say, “When I minimize the written word, I dishonor the incarnate Word.”

Another nationally-known participant was Dr. Mildred Jefferson, a general surgeon with Boston University Medical Center and assistant clinical professor of surgery at Boston University School of Medicine. She is also president of Right to Life Crusade, Inc.

Dr. Jefferson, a leader for many years in the pro-life movement, challenged participants concerning abortion and other moral issues, saying, “If we don’t make our views known, our silence is viewed as consent.” She added, “There are those who still believe that if you place the label of privacy around some action, you can get away with anything.” Concerning the 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, the surgeon and candidate for U.S. Senate in 1994, said, “In that decision the Supreme Court acted as a Super Congress giving a woman and her doctor sweeping rights they did not have previously.”

Bishop Felton E. May (Harrisburg Area), one of several leaders giving briefings on special ministries, reported on his work with the Bishops’ anti-drug initiative that he led during his recent, unprecedented year’s sabbatical from episcopal duties in his annual conference. He told of persons being “delivered” from drugs during the joint effort of UM pastors in Washington, D.C. Ministry was carried out in tents erected to serve as “soul-saving stations” in the nation’s capital. That ministry, launched during the summer of 1990, was continued and expanded during the summer of 1991.

Other participants at the afternoon briefings included Robert Dugan, head of the Public Affairs office of the National Association of Evangelicals; and Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council, a Washington, D.C. based division of Focus on the Family.

Good News Board Takes Action

Just prior to the convo, the Good News board held its semi-annual meeting and took several actions. First, it clarified that it is not recommending, and has never recommended, that General Conference dissolve the General Commission on Religion and Race (GCR&R). That was erroneously reported in February by UM media as a result of an article by Good News editor, James V. Heidinger II, suggesting the UM bureaucracy be reduced. One way that might happen, Heidinger suggested, would be the elimination of several agencies, such as the Commission on the Status and Role of Women (COSROW), the General Council on Ministries (GCOM), and the General Commission on Religion and Race (GCR&R).

“It was my mistake to include GCR&R as a group that might be dismantled to reduce church expenditures,” said Heidinger. “Neither the Good News board nor I are recommending it be dissolved. We take the sin of racism seriously and affirm an inclusive church; a conviction reflected in the election of two more ethnics to the Good News board, bringing to six the number of ethnics on our board.”

In another action the board called on the General Board of Global Ministries and the Council of Bishops to “discontinue their opposition to the appointment of ordained clergy to serve with the Mission Society for United Methodists.” The action also called on members of the Council of Bishops “to appoint candidates … to the Mission Society on the same basis as appointments are made to other valid ministries beyond official United Methodist structures.”

The board also went on record expressing its appreciation to the commissioners of the Presbyterian Church for their recent 534-31 vote affirming biblical authority and the traditional scriptural standards on human sexuality. They soundly rejected their denominational study panel which had recommended the church open its doors to homosexual practice.

The Good News board noted the completing of the sale of its publishing arm, Bristol House, Ltd., which relocated May 1 in Lexington, Kentucky. Former Good News staffer James S. Robb is serving as editor-in-chief of the new, for-profit corporation. As a part of the restructuring following the sale, the Good News board updated the purpose statement for its ministry. The new statement says in part, “The Good News movement is a voice for repentance, an agent for reform, and a catalyst for renewal within the United Methodist Church. By God’s grace, we will proclaim and demonstrate the power and effectiveness of historic Christianity as emphasized in Wesleyan doctrine and practice.”