A look at elected delegates for the 2012 General Conference from the West Michigan Conference

• By RJ Walters, Editor •

At the 2011 Detroit Annual Conference and West Michigan Annual Conference delegates were elected for the 2012 General Conference and 2012 Jurisdictional Conference.

The 2012 General Conference will take place in Tampa, Fl. from April 24 to May 4 and the North Central Jurisdictional Conference will run from July 17-21 in Akron, Ohio.

The conference will work to set policy and direction for the church, as well as handle other business of the global and national church. General Conference is the only entity that speaks for The United Methodist Church.

West Michigan Conference General Conference Clergy Delegates
Rev. Laurie Haller
Age: 56 Church: Grand Rapids District Superintendent
# of times elected: General Conference — 4
The Grand Rapids District Superintendent said the United Methodist Church is at a crossroads where “God is calling our denomination to be a world leader in spreading scriptural holiness, creating a truly global church, and becoming a catalyst for shalom for people of every nation and religious faith as well as the created world.” She said she believes General Conference will include passionate debate about: strategies to revitalize declining congregations, a clarification of the relationship of the UMC in Africa, the Philippines and other countries, a hard look at guaranteed ministerial appointments, the possible reduction of certain boards and conversations about social principles regarding human sexuality.

Rev. Benton Heisler
Age: 54 Church: Cornerstone United Methodist Church (Caledonia)
# of times elected: General Conference - 4
The West Michigan Conference Director of Connectional Ministries said his time spent in large cities, small towns, a university town and in a Native American congregation will help him represent the diverse nature of the West Michigan Conference. Heisler said it is critical for the conferences to address the best ministry foci and leadership structures for moving forward globally in a way that makes local congregations the “most significant area for making disciples.”

Rev. Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai
Age: 52 Church: Milwood United Methodist Church
# of times elected: General Conference - 1
Bigham-Tsai has years of experience related to justice, peace, racial reconciliation and issues of equity from her service on the conference Board of Church and Society and from her time as the director of the Grand Rapids District Peace with Justice Community.
At conference she expects critical debates on sensitive issues including human sexuality, immigration and racial justice, as they pertain to the inclusiveness of the United Methodist Church. “I would hope that we would not pit evangelism and social justice against one another, but would see both as part of the social and personal holiness to which all disciples of Jesus Christ are called,” she said. She said it is also important to grapple with how to live out the church’s mission statement in a time of diminishing resources.

West Michigan Conference General Conference lay delegates

Nichea VerVeer Guy
Age: 56 Home church: Grand Rapids Trinity United Methodist Church
# of times elected: General Conference – 1; Jurisdictional Conference - multiple
VerVeer Guy has long been involved in community ministry programs in Grand Rapids and currently she serves with United Methodist Women and the General Board of Global Ministries. She said that regardless of what issues are discussed she hopes the overpowering theme of conference will be creating an understanding that all are worthy of God’s grace. She believes integrating that love into the structures of the church is essential to being better servants.

Laurie Dahlman
Age: 72 Church: Milwood United Methodist Church
# of times elected: General Conference – 4; Jurisdictional Conference -5
The West Michigan Conference lay leader wants her passion for missionaries to shine through at conference. “In the past few years our church has decreased the number of missionaries and this defeats our purpose,” she said. “We should be about sharing God's Word and growing our churches, not closing them.” Dahlman believes a vital issue is figuring out how the North Central Jurisdictional Conference will be reduced by one bishop, as mandated by General Conference.

Valerie Mossman-Celestin
Age: Unavailable Church: Trinity United Methodist Church (Grand Rapids)
# of times elected: Unavailable
The executive assistant and office manager for the West Michigan Conference is very involved in ministry in Haiti as the co-founder of Haitian Artisans for Peace International (HAPI). She believes that “all means all” inclusiveness in the denomination is an important discussion to have because it is a key issue in attracting and retaining young people. Mossman said that her stance is that being exclusionary in any way harms people and creates obstacles for creating disciples of Jesus Christ. “Wesley’s criteria for evaluating issues boiled down to 3 simple rules,” she said. “Do no harm, do all the good you can, stay in love with God.”

Also:
A glance at the Detroit Conference delegates elected for the 2012 General Conference

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Grand Rapids DS blog: Who's afraid of Rob Bell?

• By Laurie Haller, Grand Rapids District Superintendent •

As I turn off I-196, the exit ramp is completely backed up, and I wonder, “Is the traffic for Mars Hill Bible Church always this bad, or is it just because Pastor Rob Bell is preaching after one of the most intense weeks of his life?”

I know I’m in the right place when I notice the bumper sticker on the car in front of me: “Love Wins.” Having missed Mr. Bell preach 10 years ago when I last attended Mars Hill, today seems a great time to hear one of the most influential and provocative Christian preachers and teachers in America today.

The worship service is simple: a few songs, a time of greeting, an “interview” with Mr. Bell on his experience of the past week, his sermon on Revelation 2:12-17, and communion. I recognize that I am clearly one of the older people in this megachurch.

I am curious why Mr. Bell’s new book Love Wins has put him on the evangelical hot seat. No one is more surprised than Mr. Bell himself. At the beginning of the service he emphasizes, “I believe in heaven and hell. I’m not a universalist. I believe people get to make a choice. And I believe it’s best to discuss only books that you have read.”

Mr. Bell expresses gratitude for the support of his congregation. He says, “Thank you for trusting your experience of the resurrected Christ when others put you on trial. Thank you for allowing the heat. It’s good, and it will make us all Jesus-like.” He is no doubt including himself as well.

Being conversant with religious trends by reading books, magazines and blogs is necessary for church leaders, whether lay persons, pastors, superintendents or bishops. That leads me to read Love Wins, which seems to have touched a deep-seated anxiety in our individual and collective hearts by asking such questions as: Is the defining characteristic of God love or fear? Did Jesus die only for those who are saved or for all sinners? Could a loving God condemn anyone to hell?

Church camp dropout
Like most of you, my religious experiences have helped to shape who I am today. In my home church I knew nothing but the love of Jesus. Outside of church, however, I heard a different story. During my one year at church camp, in fourth grade, I learned about God’s wrath toward those who reject Jesus and was pressured to accept Christ as my savior to avoid burning in hell. Never mind that I was already a Jesus-lover. Because I didn’t express my faith with the same language as my counselors, I wasn’t truly saved. Spooked by the experience, I never returned to church camp again.

I also attended revivals with friends in high school where I heard much the same message. Somehow fire and brimstone sermons didn’t do it for me. Shocked by the anger of the preachers and turned off by the coercive tactics, I yearned for God’s grace, which seemed in scarce supply in those settings. I discovered early that fear is not a motivator for me.

When I became a pastor, I was faced with the inevitable funeral scenario. Someone died who had not been a professing Christian. Convinced that the grace of God that is greater than all our sin mysteriously extends even to those who die without believing, I did not presume to usurp God’s role and judge the deceased. Rather, I shared the good news of God’s unending love for our world and its people through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then I challenged the congregation to choose to follow the one who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Our own hells
In Love Wins Mr. Bell uses an abundance of biblical images to raise questions, challenge long-held assumptions, and wonder about beliefs that other Christians see as non-negotiable. The book will likely be threatening to anyone who lives in a black-and-white world, where you either are or aren’t a Christian.

Rather than critique Love Wins, I’d rather share a few quotes from the book and some personal observations in the hope that it will encourage you to read the book yourself, examine your own ideas about heaven and hell, and find a group of people with whom to discuss them.

• “Really? Ghandi’s in hell? He is? We have confirmation of this?” When my high school Baptist friends would comment about all the people in Africa and Asia who were condemned to hell either because they had never heard of Jesus or chose to follow another religion, all I could think was, “Many of them are much more caring, compassionate and Christ-like than I am. Who’s to say I’m in and they’re out?”

• “Heaven is that realm where things are as God intends them to be.” I believe that after I die I will go to live with God in heaven, but the greatest reward and motivator I can imagine is the privilege of building God’s kingdom here on earth by living like Jesus.

• “There are individual hells, and communal, society-wide hells, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously. There is hell now, and there is hell later, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously.” I don’t know what hell after death is like, but I do know that we can create our own hells when we choose not to live in Jesus-like ways. God’s deepest desire is to restore us and all of creation to wholeness and harmony, but God made a conscious decision never to force the human heart. When we run as far away from God as we want, God respects our choice, but the hound of heaven will never stop pursuing us with love.


As published on Haller's blog and by the United Methodist Reporter

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Imaging a greater future, instead of settling for the status quo in the local church

• By RJ Walters, Editor •

No one was seen jumping off cliffs at Bishop’s Day 2011 at Grand Rapids FUMC, but hundreds of attendees were encouraged “to learn how to dance in dangerous places,” including stepping over the proverbial cliff’s edge in imagining what church can be.

The theme “Imagine” was communicated through everything from video clips of a couple dancing gracefully on the side of a mountain to contemplation of the simple power of a blank sheet of paper and economy writing instrument in the timeless kids book Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton enlivened the crowd in the morning with a stirring rendition of Jesus the Light of the World on the piano, following a proclamation that the church is alive and well with a significant amount of dreamers leading it into the future.

“Ever since I’ve been in the (United) Methodist Church it seems people have told me the church is dying or it is going to die and I said, well, I’m not going to believe in that,” he said. “I’m going to spend my time believing the church is going to grow and the church is going to develop because even the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church!”

Keynote speaker the Rev. Bobbi Kaye Jones, the district superintendent of the Austin District in Texas — who filled in admirably when an emergency arose for scheduled speaker Bishop Thomas Bickerton —invoked a series of questions for lay members and clergy when she approached the pulpit.

“When you imagined Bishop’s Day, did you imagine that in our global context people all over the world in country after country would be putting their lives at risk for liberty and freedom and that many of them would be succeeding, but some would not and they would be getting shot and strafed by their own government?” she said. “Did you imagine that when you imagined this event?”

“Did you imagine the budget woes sweeping our nation would bring teachers out of the school house and into the state house?”

“When you imagined this day, did you imagine the United Methodist Church would still be in our, let’s call it a downward trend, and that all of us would be asking the question, ‘What do we do?’ in looking toward a faithful future?”

She then paused, allowing the levity of her questions to sink in.

“This morning from Japan to Haiti we can literally hear the craving of all creation for compassion and community and I believe the United Methodist Church brings a world of hope.”

As an active proponent of denomination-wide initiative Imagine No Malaria, Jones said raising $75 million to eliminate deaths caused by malaria in sub-Saharan Africa is a substantial example of how bold imaginations can bring the church closer together.

“I have never experienced anything like this program. This program has just popped churches open. When neighbors found out about it (in the Austin District), even if they didn’t go to the church, they wanted to know how they could help,” she said. “Imagine No Malaria will expand the capacity of your congregation to have compassion. And as it says in Ephesians, ‘God can accomplish more than any of us can imagine.’”

It is estimated that a child in Africa dies of malaria every 45 seconds and Imagine No Malaria’s goal is to eradicate the suffering and disease by 2015.

Jones said the project reverberates within the walls of UMC’s because people “badly want to be connected” and to “feel vital.”

People can donate money to Imagine No Malaria or learn more about the project at www.imaginenomalaria.org.

Donations of $10 can also be made via cell-phone by texting “Malaria” to 27722.

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New church start Valley Church on its way to self-sufficiency in 2011

The Rev. Matt Bistayi (left) interacting with young adults at Valley Church.

By RJ Walters, Editor

The Rev. Matt Bistayi is the kind of guy who isn’t afraid to say he’s wrong and you’re right.

He’s the type of team player every coach would pick first.

And he’s thrilled to be spreading the gospel in a place where he finds people “searching for something more” as they endure the struggles of everyday life.

Based on the community being built at the Valley Church in Allendale less than 20 months into the new church start, the fruits of his engaging labor are evident.

The West Michigan Conference church plant is averaging 120-140 adults in worship each week, with 30-40 kids tagging along each Sunday.

Valley Church is comfortably meeting benchmarks set forth by the conference with the counsel of their Director of New Church Development Barb Flory and Bistayi said the church has high hopes of being self-sufficient and accommodating 150-200 regular worshippers by year’s end.

District Superintendent Laurie Haller said the 39-year old Bistayi not only has a certain “It” quality needed to succeed as a church planter, he is also extremely teachable.

“That is a great gift because if something doesn’t work Matt will try something else,” she said. “If I see something or Barb Flory sees something or (the Rev.) Brad Kalajainen (of Cornerstone Church) sees something that he’s not doing that maybe he should (Matt) isn’t defensive, he doesn’t say he knows it all and he’s very open.”

Haller said his out-going personality draws in young families and young adults and he is committed to studying new church techniques and taking risks.

Bistayi has leaned on the spiritual influence of small ‘house churches’ — groups of churchgoers who meet regularly and engage in service opportunities together — and he has attempted to cater to the college students at Grand Valley State, while trying to stay transparent about where the church is financially and what the future may hold.

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Africa University: The school of dreams in the valley of hope

By Rev. Laurie Haller, Grand Rapids District Superintendent

“You are at the school of dreams in the valley of hope.”

Our tour of Africa University (AU) in Old Mutare, Zimbabwe, began with these words from administrator Andra Stevens.

In early November six clergy and laypersons from the Grand Rapids District of the West Michigan Conference met with university officials and students at AU. Our goal was to determine how we might best partner with AU in order to sustain and enhance university programs.

Why Africa University?
• Africa University is a vibrant United Methodist university whose 1,200 students come from 25 countries and 85 percent of whom return to their home countries after graduation. The ability of AU to nurture ethical servant leadership, peace, and prosperity on the African continent is essential to the
welfare of the African people as well as world peace.

• By investing in the success story of Africa University, we are engaging in the transformation of governmental structures and institutions on the African continent. AU graduates are pastors, doctors, attorneys, politicians, business owners, non-profit leaders, and educators who are bringing hope to their countries.

What is AU’s greatest need?
• AU has a compelling need for a gathering place on campus where innovation and hope grow out of relationship building, dialogue, and holy conferencing among people from many nations.

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