At the current 2012 United Methodist General Conference in Tampa, Fla.-- a 10-day meeting that helps decide the direction the discipline (the order that is followed by UMC members both lay and clergy) -- it was voted on and passed that no longer would any clergy have guaranteed appointments. Previously the discipline stated that if one graduated from a UMC approved seminary, the appointment (or post or position at a local church as pastor or associate) would be guaranteed. You couldn't be "fired" unless you broke some sort of church law. Local pastors, those who went to license to preach school then on to course of study and who serve on either a full-time or part-time postion, were not guaranteed anything. In the future, all postions will be based upon merit, it is said, going on a matrix of data that show whether the pastor is doing the job well, or not.
So in the future, we will be called.
We will get ready.
We will go.
That's the deal. That's the process. That hasn't changed, and as near as I can tell, won't change because we are called, we must get ready, we must go, and we MUST do the job well in order to stay there. Seems completely reasonable to me. I hope the sermon Sunday is as good as the reading of the text has been to me this week. I'm preaching on Acts 8: 26-40 (Philip's evangelistic work with the Ethiopian eunuch), and it would be good for you to read it, as well.
I am concentrating on a few aspects of this rather long text. I can't get past the fact "an angel of the Lord" told Philip to get ready and go south, and Philip got ready and went.
Simple, isn't it?
I've told many about the phone call I got from Lake Charles District Superintendent Steven Spurloch in late March asking if we would consider the move to Eunice-Kinder-Iota and preach there. Consider, huh? Mary, my wife, and I had 10 minutes to decide if we would take the offer, for the cabinet (the Louisiana Annual Conference Bishop and his eight district superintendents) "needed to get out of there by 4 p.m." It was 3:40. I was 10 minutes from the parsonage in my car after having spent more than an hour talking about the feeding program at my current church outside of Covington, La.
I called Mary, told her what little I knew of the situation we were being offered, arrived at the parsonage still talking, got out of the car, and I looked into her eyes. She and I had talked and prayed for months leading up to this phone call. We had decided that if God was asking us to go somewhere, and we believed that was what the cabinet was about -- receiving God's call, placing a pastor (and his or her spouse) -- then who were we to say no. Could we have said no, I'm often asked? I have answered from the beginning that of course we could have said no, I just didn't know of anyone who had.
I'm also asked often if this is a better situation we're going to than what we're leaving. Somehow that is presumed.
At the time I didn't know the answer. Now, I believe it is not a better situation but it will be, if that makes any sense. It's like picking (for those of you who watch and follow the NFL) Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck as the No. 1 selection in the NFL draft recently over No. 2 Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III. Luck supposedly is more ready to play right now but has less growth possibilities. He is, as they say, the finished produce. They also say Luck's ceiling is lower than is Griffin's.
In the same manner, Eunice has more growth potential, while Fitzgerald is already there and perhaps has peaked. Eunice will be the better position one day, but it's not there now. Eunice averages 70, Fitzgerald 82. But Fitzgerald was averaging 51 when we arrived, and the church has four or five youth meeting on Sunday evening while Eunice has had up to 54 on Wednesday nights (which includes unchurched kids and kids from other denominations).
In any case, we used those 10 minutes not to decide if we would go, but to simply make sure that this was what God was calling us to. We felt as sure as we could, so we called back (on the phone number of New Orleans District Superintendent RL Bethley -- as that was the number we had been called on)and said yes. Then and only then were dollars talked about and it turned out the new position paid substantially more than the current one. That had not even been in the conversation prior to that.
Again, the order was,
Go (yes)
Get ready (we're trying)
We're going.
"Go" the angel of the Lord said.
Philip got ready and went.
I'm not saying in any shape, form or fashion that I am Philip. I am saying, however, that the call is the same, it always is the same, it always will be the same.
Go south or west or east or north, we hear as pastors.
We get ready.
We go.
That's the process.
But we as a church must also recognize this: When Philip was called to go to the desert road and find this unnamed Ethiopian eunuch, he didn't know why he was being called, he didn't know exactly where on the road he was to find someone, and when he did find someone and was told to chase after him and then he did what he could to bring him home, still he was helping ONE PERSON. When Philip was called to go south and he went, he was leaving behind a good situation. In Acts 8:4-8, it reads, "But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. There was great joy in that city because of this."
This notion that a pastor who has been granted great success by God should be appointed to a church that is equally successful is a bit of a stretch when one looks at Philip's career here.
If the matrix is correct that only numbers matter, then Philip was called from a place of great success to preach (speak, witness) to ONE. That couldn't possibly be right could it? And would Philip keep his appointment if he only got one profession of faith in his new appointment?
What matters, I suspect strongly, is the ONE who came to Christ because of Philip's obedience. The ONE who was changed then went back to Ethiopia, one suspects, and preached (spoke, witnessed) of this Jesus who he didn't learn about in seminary but on a roadside discussion of the book of the prophet Isaiah that was every bit as important as Paul's Damascus road experience.
And what more do we hear of Philip? I'm sure he went on to preach at the First Church of Somewheretheheckother and he had 500 professions of faith a year and he baptized people left and right, despite having no seminary experience himself. Surely there is a whole book of the New Testament devoted to him. Surely.
In Acts 8, Philip's story concluded with these words: "The Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. ... Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea."
Then, in Acts 21, we read, "The next stop after leaving Tyre was Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed for one day. The next day we went on to Caesarea and stayed at the home of Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven men who had been chosen to distribute food. He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy."
That's Luke talking (and writing) about his experience with Paul the apostle. And what can we make of this: 1) Philip was the Billy Graham of his day (called the Evangelist because of his work) and he had four daughters who could prophecy. That's it. That's all.
Sounds like an appointment to me. in Caesarea. Go south, Get ready to go north, Leave. Preach along the way until you find the sweet spot and stay there. Unless, of course, God calls again. Then, Go. Get Ready. Leave.
That's the life, and that's the calling.
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