Sometimes making a difference requires stepping outside of one’s comfort zone and Bishop’s Day 2010 encourages people to do just that.
From the radical vision of mission work from nationally acclaimed author and church leader Mike Slaughter to the basics of a concept called “servant evangelism,” which has been fashioned by church-expansion expert Steve Sjogren, Bishop’s Day has expanded to offer ideas and hope the people of the United Methodist Church.
The 2010 theme is “Called Out – Creating New Places for New Faces” and sessions will be held in six different regions throughout the state in the month of March.
According to Michigan Area Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton the events are much more than just speaking engagements, they are “continuing education events that should be worshipful, creative and full of ideas — something that has some sort of fellowship to it.”
Bishop’s Day is Keaton’s brainchild, an initiative he created to help support and affirm the opportunities UMC members have to make a difference through discipleship, evangelism and stewardship.
It started out as being a day where the bishop would invite people from throughout Michigan to come to Lansing for a day of teaching and enlightenment, but Keaton soon realized God had bigger plans for Bishop’s Day.
“(After two years) I realized that I look over an area with about 170,000 United Methodists, so I should have more than 300 people show up to come visit me,” he said. “So the following year I decided that rather than being the sponsor of this event and have everybody come here, I had the idea of talking to my 13 (district) superintendents and telling them we should have Bishop’s Day in every single district.”
Now over 3,000 people attend sessions each year and Keaton said ideally he’d like 10 percent of the membership from each district to be trained and inspired through this mission.
This year’s lineup of speakers is as diverse as the general church population itself.
