Albion College United Methodist Student Spotlight

Josiah Fallot
Year: Junior
Major: English education
Home church: Morenci UMC
At age 12 Fallot attended Albion College as part of his process of being confirmed in the United Methodist Church and eight years later he is more than half way through his education there.

He is a co-president of the Student Volunteer Bureau, where he’s helped set up community service trips to places like Cass Corridor in Detroit and he’s active in Karate Club and the college’s Peace Action Club.

But what has helped define his experience more than anything he says, is the personal introspection he’s experienced through shared experiences with people of so many different faith backgrounds.

“I really enjoy a group called Bridge, which is essentially a meeting of any students willing to talk about their progress and spiritual growth. We meet once a week over lunch and usually one person will give kind of the evolution of their spiritual beliefs and their historical backgrounds to help us understand their perspectives on life,” he said. “A lot of my friends were already in this group and others were not. The leader of the group is from Nepal and he has a very interesting spiritual background in that there were Buddhist temples as well as Hindu temples next to each other and it kind of just debunked some of the beliefs I had prior to speaking with someone like him.”

Fallot said his home church, Morenci UMC, still holds a special place in his heart because the congregation is like family to him and he learned a lot about interconnectedness growing up.

David Keyworth
Year: Senior
Major: History
Home church: Midland UMC
Keyworth was the son of a United Methodist pastor growing up, but he didn’t have a clue one day his children might be called “PKs” until Albion College helped him discern his call.

He said he was ready to get involved with on campus ministries right away, but it wasn’t until a friend invited him to a Wednesday night chapel service that everything started clicking.

Keyworth joined the chapel band as a singer, and he now plays keyboard for the group. He said students are empowered by leading the entire chapel service, including giving the message, and he has been shaped by his interactions with other faithful Christians the last three-plus years.

He said people always told him to consider ordained ministry, but he just shrugged it off — until one Wednesday evening he heard God calling.

“The people here and Chaplain Dan (McQuown) helped me move forward and one night in chapel we were having a quiet time, with music softly playing and people praying — and at that time I heard God tell me I needed to go to seminary,” he said. “The powerful experiences we have in chapel, the powerful experiences being able to interact with other Christians on campus helps shape who you are, helps shape the person you’re going to be.”

He will head to Asbury Theological Seminary next fall, but before that he hopes to have a greater impact at Albion. He graduates in December and McQuown hired him as an advisor to all of the Christian groups on campus for the spring semester.

“A major goal of mine next semester is bringing all the chairs of the different Christian groups on campus together so we all know what each other are doing,” Keyworth said.

— RJ Walters

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Liberation through exploration at Adrian College

By RJ Walters, Editor

More than 250 students are involved in regular spiritual activities at Adrian College — some with traditional United Methodist backgrounds and others far from that.

Take junior literature major Meela Zecevic for example. Her father was “like Muslim and Catholic” when she was growing up, while her mother was “like Muslim and Christian” before they moved to Germany and became Jehova’s Witnesses.

Adrian junior Meela Zecevic.

Now she said she guesses the family considers themselves “some form of Christian” living in the United States and Zecevic said Adrian College has been the perfect place to explore her spirituality and purpose in life.

Recently she was honored to give a speech relating to the Biblical story of Daniel and the lion’s den at a Wednesday chapel service.

Chaplain Chris Momany said students have been leading chapel for about a year now and it gives them a chance to relate with fellow students on a whole new level.

“At first I had to re-read it and then for a little while I was kind of irritated at Daniel,” Zecevic said. “So I didn’t want to bad-mouth Daniel or whatever, so I put it aside for a while and like a week before I started writing about it and I decided to talk to everybody about how the story relates to us all when times are tough and that pretty much if you believe in yourself enough you’ll get a lot of things done that you need to get done.”

She said “being on the other side” was empowering and she’d love to do more public speaking.

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Brighton FUMC developing ‘social missionaries’ to expand the life of the church

By RJ Walters, Editor

Instead of being afraid that allowing some free-flowing philosophical dialogue might take a dive into the oblivion, Brighton FUMC has created nurturing organic church groups conducive to building real relationships with the churched and un-churched.

Utilizing $90,000 in grant money from the Office of New Church Development spread out over the course of three years, Brighton FUMC Associate Pastor John Ball is helping create spaces for people to explore their spirituality, while discussing the supernatural as well as the mundane.

When he joined the church’s staff in 2009, Rev. Sherry Parker was attempting to bridge the gap between the relationship of the local church and community and the church considered everything from new “emerging worship styles” to the possibility of having a second venue to even purchasing a coffee shop.

After researching local demographics and considering how the new organic group could be invitational, create and develop disciples, and serve people, Ball said a small-group gathering called Sanctus was born.

”What we then narrowed in on was this organic model that was more transient in nature, that matched and mimicked the personality of the culture,” he said.

After Ball and Christian Education Director Suzy Hutchison attended a four-day conference led by church start and organic church expert Neil Cole, the initial Sanctus gathering took place in an Irish pub in town. Ball said it was a little bit too loud to clearly engage in dialogue though, and he has been open to letting it evolve into what has become three small groups that meet at houses once a week.

Brighton FUMC leaders.

Instead of just bringing a Bible and smile, the requirements have more to do with foods to snack on, beverages to consume — not excluding a little alcohol — and an open mind.

“It is very Wesleyan and I think it is so important to give people a space, acknowledging people have social systems they are a part of every single day — whether it’s “happy hour” on Friday with the guys after work and watching ESPN; we’re saying that’s not necessarily wrong, but we want to provide an experience that has spiritual depth and a place where people can receive healthy systems of support,” Ball said.

A normal gathering will involve some political talk, philosophical debates, jokes and plenty of comrades willing to listen.

At one session last, month the talking points even included the concept of “losing your faith” to inadvertently find it — addressing the importance of salvation and forgiveness as opposed to religious rituals and doctrines Christians often become so consumed with.

Sharing personal experiences, one man admitted he “realized he was human 40 some years ago” when he made a major blunder during a public speech and another talked about the power of “realizing you can’t carry all of your baggage with you everywhere,” which he drew from a video by Mars Hill pastor Rob Bell.

The groups are currently reading the book The Orthodox Heretic and Other Impossible Tales by Peter Rollins, a collection of modern day parables that seems to be a great conversation starter.

“It’s not as intimidating, it’s contemporary, it’s written in a language people can understand and relate to,” Ball said. “They get these parables when they read them and they understand them and it is so provocative that there’s no question about it creating dialogue.”

Currently the groups consist of Brighton FUMC members and Ball said Sanctus is certainly molding disciples, but it hopes to become more effective at inviting others and serving the world.

“What we’re choosing to do as a model is develop leaders inside the life of Brighton First who will then serve as “social missionaries” — a missionary to our culture, who are then developed and empowered to start asking people to join in on the dialogues that are happening,” he said.

For Ball, it is a welcome retreat from the rest of his week and he said it’s therapeutic for him “because it’s not just spiritual conversations that take place, but we discuss our relationships…it’s a place where people are able to share the stuff in their life in an intimate setting, knowing that people care about them and they’re valued.”

He said being missional minded and creative with new outlooks for growth in and out of the church building are what local pastors need to look for, instead of being so focused on potential membership decline.

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Concord UMC utilizes 'audacious love' in trendy new Free Store

By RJ Walters, Editor

If it’s clean, in working order and will bless somebody then it’s probably going to be available. And if it’s available, it’s free.

It’s really that simple.

Empowered by stories of successful “free stores” nationwide, including the Church For All People Free Store in Columbus, Ohio which was highlighted at West Michigan Annual Conference, Rev. Melany Chalker knew it was time to play her hand and so far it looks like she is holding a royal flush.

The pastor at Concord UMC had been dreaming about such a boutique at other appointments in her 11-year ministry career, but nothing had every fully materialized. But when a layperson in her congregation came back equally as charged up about the free store idea following annual conference, it was only a matter of time.

A month after pitching the idea to her church’s leadership council, Chalker found several buildings in homey downtown Concord to rent and they just happened to be owned by another pastor. She really wanted the building formerly occupied by a trendy coffee shop, but she was a day late; the owner said someone rented it the night before she called.

“I thought, ‘No way,’ it was already finished, we don’t have money to rehab somebody else’s building and it’s on the corner, it’s got windows,” she said “He said, ‘You know, that's not handicap accessible,’” and I said, ‘Hmm, you know, a free store would have to be handicap accessible’. He said there’s only one in town that is and I own it.”

Located between a bar and grocery store and with the owner offering it to the church for just $295 a month — around 60 percent of its rental value — Chalker asked the leadership council for permission to rent immediately and finalize the details later.

What a good choice that turned out to be.

Fresh coats of paint are currently being put on the walls, volunteers are being lined up and money and sponsorships are already flowing in.

The store, which will officially be called the Open Door Free Store has already secured three “charter partners,” which will provide volunteers, financial backing and leadership for decision-making. The local Catholic Church, as well as nearby Presbyterian and Free Methodist churches have joined forces and in one week alone Chalker took in over $3,100 in monetary support, including one donor who wrote a check for $1,200.

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Saginaw Bay celebrates new District Superintendent

By Michael Desotell, Correspondent

Pastors and parishioners of the Saginaw Bay District, along with the friends and family of the Rev. Dr. Jeffery Maxwell gathered at Christ United Methodist Church in Bay City to celebrate the installation of Maxwell as District Superintendent.

The worship service highlighted the creativity and passion of the district, featuring the Trash Can Band from St. Luke’s UMC and the young streamer dancers from Faith Way Church.

Bishop Jonathan Keaton was on hand to offer words of encouragement to both Rev. Maxwell and the Saginaw Bay District. Keaton also explained to those in attendance how God led him to call Rev. Maxwell into this new ministry.

“Every now and then in this work of responsibility I have the privilege of extending personal calls myself. I do that when I look out and hear the words of superintendents and hear the words of laypersons and hear the words of these district committees on superintendency and what they need when I have to select a new superintendent,” he said.

“And in the midst of all of that information that came to me and looking out at the universe of people in the Detroit Annual Conference, the name by word, by deed, by prayer that came to me was Dr. Jeffery Maxwell.”

Keaton called attention to the many ministry areas in which Rev. Maxwell has served during his tenure and how they will enhance his service as a district superintendent. The Bishop also acknowledged the difficulty of making it through the trials of ministry alone and extended his thanks to God for the wonderful partner that Rev. Maxwell has in his wife, Jan.

Keaton also offered a few words of comfort and encouragement to Rev. Maxwell for those difficult times that may lie ahead, saying, “It’s going to be alright! Not because I am with you, but because God is with you!”

Rev. Maxwell brought the celebration to a crescendo with a message from 1 Corinthians 12. He emphasized the diversity of the district and how important that diversity is to fulfilling their mission of making disciples for the transformation of the world. Those in attendance laughed in approval as Maxwell engaged Keaton to represent the Body of Christ as represented in the scripture that was read.

The congregation was privileged to witness, for the first time, Rev. Maxwell actually “bending” the ear of the Bishop.

On a serious note, Rev. Maxwell included three promises to his new district.

“As I stand before you I am going to make you three promises. Promise number one: I promise to strive to grow in grace and knowledge. Oh Boy! Now is not the time to stop learning. Now is not the time to stop growing,” he said.

“My understanding and experience of the ways and will of God and even of God need to deepen and expand…”

His second promise was geared directly at the unique gifts possessed by each pastor.

“You all have your own personality and preference and gifts package; you have your own unique experiences, and I want to know you. I want to know who you are and the uniqueness that God has invested in you,” he said.

His final promise was focused on building personal relationships with all churches.

“Just as each person is unique, so too is each church. Each church has a culture,” he said. “Each church has unique offerings to the kingdom. I want to know each church.”

Maxwell explained that as the district holds him accountable to these promises he will be able to more effectively utilize the gifts and graces and passion that God has given him.

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