Archive for April, 2009
Heeding God’s Call on our Lives: One Woman’s Story
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and took note that these men had been with Jesus. But once they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.” Acts 4:13-14
Have you heard God’s call on your life? Could you tell that’s what it was? Were you able to discern the call and follow through with actions in accordance with God’s call?
Our clergy brothers and sisters have felt God’s call to ordained ministry. They have followed it into seminary and then into our churches or other places where they serve.
But God calls the laity as well. Maybe we don’t realize that we are being called until we look back. People talk about the call they have felt on their lives in many different ways.
At the Laity Luncheon on Tuesday, May 26, you will hear the story of God’s call on the life of Tanya Sterling, a gifted lay woman who is now on staff at First United Methodist Church, Houston. Tanya heard God’s call on her life. She followed that call and has now made it her career. Tanya had the courage to see a need and to find a way to fill it. As Director of Joy Ministries, Tanya serves those with special needs and their families.
To purchase your tickets before Annual Conference you can go online to www.txcumc.org/layluncheon09. Tickets are $15. Come by the Laity Luncheon table at registration to pick up your tickets. You do not need to be a lay person to hear Tanya’s story. Clergy are welcome and encouraged to attend. You can bring a friend who is not a lay delegate. If you know someone who has heard God’s call on their life and is looking for a way to put that call into action, feel free to bring them along.
I’ll look forward to seeing you for good food, good music and an inspirational story!
Showers of blessings,
Leah Taylor
Conference Calendar on Website
Monday, April 20th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
There is so much happening in our conference – not just for clergy but for laity as well. Now you can look on the conference website, www.txcumc.org, and click on the word “Calendar” in the white bar and you’ll be able to see what is going on! Events are color coded and the current day will be outlined in red. You can’t change the calendar but you can submit your events to Jan Ervin (jervin@txcumc.org) and she will work with you to get appropriate items onto the calendar.
In looking at the calendar for the rest of April, I noted that there is Lay Speaker’s Training going on in two different locations this coming Saturday, April 25. If you are one of those frustrated Lay Speaker’s looking for places to go for training, the Conference Calendar should be a wonderful tool for you.
Lay Speaking is a valuable ministry in the United Methodist Church. In some of the more rural districts of our conference, Lay Speakers are sometimes called upon to fill pulpits when clergy are not available. In the more urban areas of our conference, Lay Speakers can be utilized fruitfully in many different ways – as teachers, committee chairs, and mentors, to name just a few. The training is useful to have for almost any work that a lay person feels called to do in the church.
Looking to the future, I hope to have a Conference Director of Lay Speaking Ministries who would have responsibility for making sure that all trainings get publicity throughout the conference. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a way to get to know other lay people in our conference who feel a similar call on their lives? It might be fun to travel away for a weekend, meeting others and learning together in a community of faith. Even if you don’t choose to do that, getting all those dates on the calendar and publicized will help you plan for the future.
The Conference Calendar is just one more tool in our growing toolbox designed to communicate more fully with clergy and laity spread throughout the conference. Later this week, the Cabinet will be meeting and one item of discussion will be the assessment of the restructuring done over the last few years. Communication is always at the top of the list in these discussions. If you have ideas for more or better ways to communicate, don’t keep them to yourself. I want to hear them, and I bet your District Superintendent does, too. Send me an email (tayleah@comcast.net) and let me know your thoughts. I’ll carry them on to other places for discussion.
You have a couple more days to participate in choosing the tagline for laity email communications – so go to http://www.txcumc.org/laitysurvey and let me know what you think!
Tickets to the Laity Luncheon at Annual Conference will go on sale on-line but not until May 1. Look for details in my blog next week.
Showers of Blessings,
Leah Taylor
Plan to Attend Laity Events at Annual Conference
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Annual Conference is just a few weeks away. We will gather in the Woodlands beginning Sunday afternoon, May 24. You’ll be able to pick up your materials at the Marriott Waterway Hotel before opening worship at The Woodlands United Methodist Church that evening. Online registration is open for delegates and clergy spouses here.
The Lay Member Assembly will begin at 9:00 am at the Marriott Waterway Hotel. Try to come early and hear the joyful sounds of The Chosen Generation, the youth choir from Windsor Village UMC. These teens will be getting up early on a school holiday to share their gifts with us. Please be there to welcome them and enjoy.
The theme for Annual Conference is Faith Forming Relationships. In the Lay Member Assembly we’ll be sharing some of the ways that Laity throughout our conference are building those relationships. Stories from the net distribution team that traveled to Cote d’Ivoire, new ways laity are working in their districts and new programs for empowering the ministry of the laity will be highlighted.
The Laity luncheon will take place on Tuesday, May 26 in the The Loft Worship Gym. The Houston Choral Showcase will sing medleys of show tunes and patriotic music. Our speaker is Tanya Sterling, Director of Joy Ministries, First Methodist, Houston. Tanya, a lay woman, will share an amazing story with us of how she made her dream of serving those with special needs and their families a reality. It will be a wonderful gathering.
Tickets to the Laity Luncheon will be available on-line beginning May 1. Stop by the table at registration to pick up your ticket. Remaining tickets will be available to purchase at that time.
Pre-conference meetings begin this weekend. The first one is Saturday for the Central North District at 10:00 am at Spring UMC. If you can’t make it to your District meeting, feel free to go to another. There is a list of dates and times on the Conference website!
Don’t forget to vote on your favorite tagline for Laity Communications by going to www.txcumc.org/laitysurvey. Results will be unveiled at Annual Conference.
Showers of blessings!
Leah Taylor
Wishes for Peace and Joy this Holy Week
Monday, April 6th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Holy Week began yesterday with the celebration of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. At St. Peter’s, our children process through the Sanctuary at the beginning of worship waving palm branches. We sit and sing so that we can all see them. The littlest ones seem to be in one of two groups – those who are smiling broadly, waving their palm fronds madly, searching the crowd to find their proud parents and those who are skeptical or shy, not knowing what to make of this ritual, looking at their shoes rather than making eye contact with those surrounding them. As I watched them my only thought was how cute they all were. Well, it also made me a little nostalgic for the days when my daughter was one of the crowd. But for me it didn’t matter whether they looked me in the eye and smiled or whether they were looking straight at the carpet. The future of our church marched down the aisle and it made me smile.
What a great illustration of how God must feel about each of us! Whether we approach with fear and trepidation or with a heart filled with gladness, because of our faith, we know that God’s love is waiting for us. In my devotional this morning, Dan R. Dick writes:
“Yet the grace-filled message through this Holy Week is simply this: life is fraught with contradictions and conflicts. But through it all, in every dark and demanding place, God is with us. This is the God who places within us the Holy Spirit that we might not be crushed, might not faint or fear. We may walk as Jesus walked facing terrible torments, but we will never walk alone.”
These words filled me with great peace – for this Holy Week, for this season in the life of the church and in my life. I hope your walk this Holy Week brings you peace and joy in the love of our savior, Jesus Christ!
Showers of Blessings!
Leah Taylor
PS Next week I’ll share details of the Laity Events for Annual Conference. In the meantime, go to www.txcumc.org/laitysurvey to see the choices for a tagline for Laity communications.