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Young people will gather
to explore call to ministry
Jan. 23, 2006
By Vicki Brown*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — The Rev. Telley Gadson says she will “come full
circle” when she preaches at the opening worship service of “EXPLORATION 2006.”
Although Gadson, now pastor of Saint Mark United Methodist Church in Sumter,
S.C., delivered her first sermon at age 14, she made her final commitment to
full-time ministry at the 1994 EXPLORATION event.
“I wanted to be an attorney. I was comfortable with the call to preach, but I
didn’t want to do ministry full time. I was negotiating with God,” the
31-year-old elder recalls. But then she heard the late Rev. Cornelius Henderson,
who preached a sermon about the story of Jonah at EXPLORATION 1994.
“Clearly, from that message, I knew God was calling me to Nineveh. ... I went
back to my hotel room, and I had a new Bible. I wrote my commitment to the call
in that new Bible,” Gadson says.
The Rev. Meg Lassiat, director of student ministries, vocation and enlistment at
the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, says she’s excited
about the community that the event will bring together Nov. 17-19 at the Hyatt
Regency in Jacksonville, Fla.
“I think there is great value in the number of young people who can be there,”
says Lassiat, who is organizing the event. “Oftentimes, when youth or young
adults feel a call to ministry, they don’t know other people who are considering
the same thing. It’s good for them to see that many people are exploring similar
questions.”
Cindy Heilman, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Kansas, agrees.
“When I was first called, I was kind of confused,” she says. The 2000 event in
Chicago provided her with a chance to meet others struggling with the same
questions. “It helps you sort out what you are really called to do. Makes you
feel you are not alone.”
The three-day event is designed to help high school seniors to 24-year-olds
respond to God’s call to ministry, and to explore their gifts for ordained
ministry as a deacon or elder in the United Methodist Church. It is sponsored by
the Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
Participants pay travel expenses and a $150 registration fee, which includes two
nights at the Hyatt Regency, meals and events.
A limited number of registration scholarships are available from the Board of
Higher Education and Ministry for eligible participants.
The event comes at a time when many in the United Methodist Church are concerned
about the small percentage of ordained clergy who are younger than 35 years old.
According to the Pastoral Leadership Search Effort, less than 13 percent of
United Methodist clergy in the United States are under age 40, while half are
over age 50.
“We’ve got some younger speakers, we’ve got deacons and elders, we’ve got people
like Phil Amerson (the president of Claremont School of Theology), who has a lot
of experience and passion about engaging young people in leadership. We have two
bishops coming,” Lassiat says.
In addition to Gadson and Amerson, speakers include the Rev. Susan Wilhauck,
assistant professor of Christian formation at Wesley Theological Seminary in
Washington; the Rev. John Miyahara, director of religious life and community
services at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.; and Bishops Michael Watson of
the South Georgia Area and Minerva Carcaņo of the Phoenix Area.
Workshops will address such topics as discerning God’s call, the steps into
ministry, how to balance family life with ministry, and more. Young people will
also meet in small groups for discussion.
The workshops will provide participants with an opportunity for discernment, not
only about entering the ministry, but about the ministerial path they will
choose, Lassiat adds.
“It’s not just a matter of asking the big questions of, ?Are you called to
ministry?’ It’s the question of, ?In this time, in this society, in this
culture, what gifts do I bring to ministry? In what capacity am I called?’ ”
For details on the event, go to
http://www.gbhem.org/exploration/.
*Brown is an associate editor and writer in the Office of Interpretation at the
United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
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