Hello Wonderful People of Geneseo Global Methodist Church!

                I confess. The weariness of focusing on political ideologies and opinions had gotten to me. The fire of longing for a movement of God within the hearts of the people who profess to believe had diminished to barely a slowly dying coal. I was living the first half of Proverbs 13:12, “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” It was a year ago I felt released to move on, to join those who profess to want the same thing I do—a focus on the transformative power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and a desire to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, following God into the future.  This year at our Annual Conference I found the second half of Proverbs 13:12 coming alive again in my heart, “but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

                One of the founders of the Methodist movement believed that Christian Conferencing was a “means of grace,” which is something God uses to help believers experience his grace. The Annual Conference was a means of bringing the connection of Methodists together to foster spiritual growth, have accountability within the clergy, and to help the church fulfill its mission. It was to be a time of building up the body of believers for the work of the church. As I attended my first Annual Conference within the Global Methodist Church that is what I experienced! If I could only convey how refreshing and uplifting that was and is—yes, it is “desired fulfilled” and is as “a tree of life.”

                Sure, we had business to attend to. We have a General Conference coming up in South Africa. We needed to elect delegates to that Conference. That took time and lots of votes, votes made more difficult with the fact that many of us are just getting to know one another. There were no arguments, there were no political speeches, the entire voting process was handled with grace. We paused with each vote to pray! Every vote was bathed in prayer!

                Prayer and seeking God’s direction was woven throughout the conference. The conference verse was Jeremiah 6:16:

Jeremiah 6:16 (ESV)

Thus says the LORD: “

Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.

But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

The call is to look for those ancient paths, to return to them, to return to listening for the voice of God instead of our own. The warning falls at the end of the verse and further—the temptation to listen to our own voices instead of God’s.

                We were reminded that we are at a crossroads. We can choose to listen to where God is leading, or we can go down a path that is not God’s direction. Our Bishop, Mark Webb challenged us to “Align ourselves with God’s promises and to live in alignment with their fulfillment.” He shares that the way to do this is to, “moment by moment surrender to Gods’ Holy Spirit” that forms our nature more and more like Christ. He reminded us to look at Hebrews 11, the chapter of faith and to remember those who lived lives of faith in God and did amazing things through that faith.

                Yes, there was a bit of business and in the future there will be more. What I experienced at Annual Conference was so much more! I loved what someone said. They said on a farm you have chores that simply must be done. That does not mean you ignore the other greater work like planting and harvesting. They equated the chores with the business part of the work of the church—which needs done. Yet, we cannot allow the chores to overshadow the greater work, the purpose of the farm. My hope is that the spirit of our new movement will penetrate all our churches, and we will stand at the crossroads and hear the voice of the Lord calling us to those ancient paths.

                I look forward to sharing more with you in person and putting the things we prayed about and learned about at the Annual Conference into practice here in Geneseo.

Praying for the Holy Spirit’s direction and our hearts to hear,

Pastor Melody