Summary of Sermons

Bishop Lyght

Give them something to talk about

People who have fallen in love with Jesus have something to talk about, and that is love, love, love.  Bishop Ernest S. Lyght welcomed all to Conference during the opening worship service and Holy Communion. He urged individuals and congregations to take their love for Christ into the communities where they live.  “Has anyone talked about your Christian activity?” he asked. Has your church been the talk of the town, not for some church fight, but for something worthwhile in the community?”

The Bishop recounted the Apostle Paul’s visit to Thessalonica. He wanted people to know about Jesus, who came into the world for all of God’s people.  “There were no options from Paul’s point of view,” he said. “It’s Jesus.”

Bishop Lyght quoted a country song by Bonnie Raitt, about falling in love. Titled Something to Talk About, the lyrics describe a couple’s behavior that leads others to believe they’re in love.  “They think we’re lovers,” the song goes on. “So let’s give them something to talk about…love, love, love.”

The Bishop said Paul and Silas came to town and gave the Jews something to talk about. What was it? It was their love affair with Jesus. When you fall in love with Jesus, you can’t keep it to yourself, Bishop Lyght said.

“Have we given our neighborhoods anything to talk about? Let’s give them something to talk about,” Bishop Lyght said.  He said people talked about Jesus’ miracles, his healing, when he raised the dead, and when he said ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ He also gave the woman at the well something to talk about. “Is Jesus the subject of your conversation?” the Bishop asked. “Are you giving people something to talk about? Is your congregation the subject of community conversation because of your discipleship?”

Jesus turned the world upside down because of people’s reaction to his preaching and teaching. Others like Billy Graham have literally turned the world upside for Christ, sometimes going where no one else is willing to go.

John Wesley summarized our calling: “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.”  “Let’s give them something to talk about,” Bishop Lyght concluded. “What is that? Love, love, love.

   Keep fires burning

Bishop Lyght was ordained as an elder in 1966 by Bishop John Wesley Lord. He remembers his father standing with him. He doesn’t remember the sermon, but hoped it would be different today.

Preaching during the Ordination Service, the Bishop said, God’s Word is unfettered. II Timothy tells us to throw yourself into this work for Christ. Paul was in jail but not his word, so share the Good News.  Each of us is called to proclaim and do the Gospel. We must fight outside negative influences and internal conflicts.  Whatever it takes to keep the fire burning, pass it on, he urged.

We also have to share in suffering – the task of ministry has never been easy. In the end, what do you want on your tombstone, he asked. What did you do with God’s word?  Even in prison cells, Peter, Paul and Silas impressed the jailer so much that he said, “What must I do to be saved?”

John Bunyan, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King, Jr., were inspired by God to write or witness while in jail. How do you want to live your life, Lyght asked.  God’s word gives us new beginnings. Our task is to teach the truth of God’s word.

   Concluding by turning to prayer, he said that prayer precedes new beginnings, new beginnings are conceived in prayer and prayer sustains new beginnings.

Deborah Shreve

Let go of what’s holding you back

Letting go of things that obstruct our humble response to God’s will frees us to be the child of God we were created to be.  The Rev. Deborah Shreve, pastor of the Mathias Charge, Potomac Highlands, delivered the sermon Saturday morning during Conference. “We hold on to words, actions, attitudes,” she said, “and become reckless with God’s call on our lives.”

Rev. Shreve told the story of a monkey who got its hand stuck in a hole because it wouldn’t let go of a coconut.  Like that monkey, she said, we must let go of the things that hold us back to do the things God wants us to do  “If Jesus lives in our hearts, we have no call to seek justice for ourselves,” Rev. Shreve said.  She said if we constantly hold on to hurt feelings or ill will toward those we feel have treated us badly, God won’t be able to work through us.

Rev. Shreve gave her personal testimony, describing a young teenager who had built up a wall around herself so as not to be hurt anymore by others. When she gave God permission to tear down those walls, her life turned around. “Before Jesus came into my life, I was going in the wrong direction,” she said, “but when I experienced the loving kindness of our Lord, I was saved.”

She said God wants to work through us in order to come in contact with everyone we meet. But he can’t do that if we are focused on ourselves.  “Are you more concerned about your privileges, your needs, your desires, your feelings?” Rev. Shreve asked.  “As soon as you totally surrender and abandon yourself to Jesus, the Holy Spirit will give you a joy you’ve never experienced in your life,” she said.  “All those things we clamor for are just a part of life. The greatest sacrifice God wants is your life,” she said.  “What or who is causing you to hold back?” Rev. Shreve asked. “It’s time we let go and let God be in control of our lives.”

Ellis Conley

    Remember those who held you up

At the Friday night memorial service, candles were lit in memory of 20 ministers, six spouses and 17 surviving spouses who had died since the last Annual Conference.  At left, Mary Belle Rowe lights a candle in memory of her husband, Rev. Raymond Rowe. 

Rev. Ellis Conley of First UMC, Elkins, remembered those who had touched his life. They made his walk with Jesus Christ and the Annual Conference greater.  Like the story of Exodus, he is mindful of folks who held up his hands in battle, like those who did for Moses.

Conley (pictured left) was baptized by Rev. B.W. John. 20 years later, he met John at Annual Conference. John quipped, “Your baptism took!”  Conley’s uncle served in the inner cities of the Baltimore-Washington Conference and reminded him that the place you serve doesn’t matter and to always love the children in the church.

He remembered the Rev. Claude Collins who invited him to play ping pong and Dr. Jennings Fast who invited him to play tennis.  40 years ago, Rev. Bill Wood chose him to be a page at Annual Conference and Conley kept coming back. In the early days, he remembered a young Bill Wilson and  J.F. Lacaria. He grew up with Rev. Charles Thompson, whose church became the center of relief after the 1967 Silver Bridge collapse.  Dr. Melvin Risinger always told him to smile and advised him if he visited during the week, folks will listen to anything you say on Sunday.  Rev. John Geary told him to pray and play with colleagues. Share the joys and the sorrows. Rev. Idus Jones said to go ahead and do your own thing.

When Conley was a child, he went with his family to put flowers on the graves on formerly Decoration Day, now Memorial Day.  His grandmother told him to put leftover flowers on other graves – they were just as important. Conley said that we don’t have a conference cemetery, but this is our time to remember the great work of these ministers who were faithful stewards of the Gospel. But what we bring from this ceremony is that God’s work in us must continue.

James Salley

Jesus can fix power failures

Everyone faces power failures eventually, said James Salley, assistant vice chancellor for institutional advancement for Africa University in Zimbabwe.

Speaking during worship Thursday night, Mr. Salley said the first thing to do is to be creative.  He shared a story of a bishop who could not take part in a bike-a-thon. So while his assistant drove a truck, the bishop rode a stationary bike in the back.

   Mr. Salley said it is hard to avoid burnout for doing good. But faith will see us through. He quoted civil rights worker Fannie Lou Hammer, “When I help others, I help myself.”

In hearing about a suicide, Mr. Salley said if only he could have stopped the despair by saying that God gives a second chance and also a third and a fourth. It is never ending.  When we go through power failures, he emphasized that Jesus is the answer.  To the clergy, he said, believe what you preach.  The Scripture says if we do good to all people, we will reap the harvest.   Photo:  Rev. Barry Moll, left, greets Mr. Salley following worship.

Mr. Salley also delivered the message at Friday morning worship.  “I believe in the connection,” he said. “I don’t see the doom and gloom that some people do,” he said.   Taking his text from 2 Corinthians 8:10-15, the Africa U official complimented the Conference for being among the first to give to Africa University beyond the apportionment.  He noted that the Apostle Paul complimented the church in Corinth for its willingness to give, but urged them to “finish the work” according to the gifts that are given them.

All peoples’ needs are satisfied, Mr. Salley said, when we give with a willing heart according to that which we have been given.  Mr. Salley said it had been his experience that in giving “I have received far more than I have given.”

All you are asked to give, he said, is what you have to give and the Lord will provide the increase.  “When you give,” he said, your gifts and your prayers are multiplied through the graduates of Africa U all across the continent.”

Cabinet Address

Let’s go….we are…

Picking up on the cheers of two state universities, Dr. Chuck Pullins involved the conferees in vocal responses as well as the Cabinet in a spirited reader’s theatre in a combination pep rally and revival for the coming year in the Cabinet Address.

He referred to a new beginning at Marshall University after the plane crash and the 2007 WVU Sugar Bowl win, leading the members in “We Are” and “Let’s Go” but answering in goals for the church.

Accompanied by Eleanor Lyght at the piano and a PowerPoint presentation of faces and churches across the conference, Pullins asked if we, the fans, have a message for our 1200 churches.

He lauded the net growth of members in two districts and the second lowest net loss since 1968. Five of the nine districts have had increase in worship attendance. 49% of our members are in church every week.

On the down side, we are inconsistent in our follow up with new members and lack a mentoring process.

Pullins said that renewal means to try something new in worship, have a better prayer strategy, become houses of prayer. Are lives being transformed? Is there daily salvation?

Have we lost our United Methodist identity? Our roots of Methodism are warm hearts and giving to the unlovable and the lost.

He reminded us we are people of the Book so churches must have ongoing Bible Study, small groups and classes. We need to reach out to the prodigals of the world.

Vital congregations are a community of faith more important than any individual but community and the world are more important than any community of faith. Becoming one in Christ is the way we honor God.

In a healthy church initiative, our mission is to make disciples to transform the world but we also need to be evangelists to ourselves. We need serious missional energy for social action, financial giving, worship and help for others.

Repeating Bishop Lyght’s 2006 Annual Conference theme of “Hit the Road,” each district superintendent highlighted what churches were doing: new worship schedules, charges are doing youth ministry, Christ’s Kitchens, outreach to correctional centers, nursing homes and schools, using the three minute rule to greet at the beginning and end of services, Natural Church Development, lay leader training, ministering with growing Latino communities and in conjunction, Spanish language classes; reconfiguring charges, church assessment teams, new signage inside and out.

Also scholarships to national conferences, youth helping with worship, quilting, purchasing an armory for a community center, Saturday services, Volunteers in Mission, health kits.

Pullins said that the healthy church initiative is not a program but a movement away from sameness, routine and decay. We are all recovering sinners. He challenged us to go to today’s wells – colleges, stores and shelters. Many are lost and lonely. We need to go from playing lands to mission fields.

He reminded us that we are the body of Christ and we won’t look back.

Laity Address

Fred Kellerman, Lay Leader

Fred Kellerman, Conference Lay Leader, delivered the Laity Address at Conference. The graduate of Virginia Tech University said he and his family had shed tears over the tragedy that occurred in Blacksburg last spring.  “When we look at what is happening now on that campus,” he said, “and the sense of hope that has arisen out of the ashes, I’m reminded of a glowing ember floating toward heaven.”

Mr. Kellerman said the early Methodist movement was on fire for Christ.  “We instead,” he said, “have grown comfortable with our Jesus and have cooled down to a degree of complacency and that complacency has become our tragedy.”  However, the Lay Leader said he could see that spark beginning to emerge again.  “I can see it around the Conference. It’s there.”

Mr. Kellerman said revival of the church begins with prayer.  “Pray as you’ve never prayed before,” he said.“Continue to be in mission,” Mr. Kellerman said. “We have more missional activities going on in our Conference now than ever before.”  However, he asked whether we, through our missions, are inviting people into our churches. “Are we telling them the message of Jesus Christ,” he asked.

He said take time to be healthy.  “To be good stewards, we must be healthy,” Mr. Kellerman said. “Spirituality and health go hand in hand.” He also said church members must learn to listen to God. “When I’m talking, I’m not learning anything new. We need to listen for God.”