Natalie Brown puts her faith into action, closing the gap of poverty and injustice. "I think that a true faith is something that’s going to guide your actions throughout the week, not your location on a Sunday morning. So I think that it’s really important for everyone who claims to follow Jesus to really live out that lifestyle of helping others."
At 5-foot 3-inches, 150 pounds, 73-year-old Ernestine Shepherd can bench press 135 pounds. She starts her day with prayer at 3 a.m. and heads out the door for a 12-mile run. Then she is off to the gym or Union Memorial United Methodist Church where she is a fitness trainer and an inspiration to the women in her classes.
Catherine Ritch Guess always knew she wanted to do mission work. But rather than traveling to a distant land, she felt called to use her artistic talents to bring the joy of God's love to children right here at home. "The most important thing is that there is someone that says to them not in words, 'I love you,' but in doing."
General Philippe Mangou is Chief of Staff of the Defense and Security Forces of Cote d’Ivoire. Living through years of brutal civil war, he turned to his faith to help him survive…and to give him the strength to forgive. "It is not easy to look at the one who was your enemy...and say, 'You are my brother, I forgive you.'"
Dick Banks embraced his passion for bicycles, partnered up with God and his local church, and a ministry has emerged. Banks runs a bicycle club for kids, giving them a chance to "earn a bicycle, make that a point of pride, a point of accomplishment and in many cases a real decision maker in changing their outlook on life."
For Delia Ramirez, each day’s service is a matter of sharing the love of Christ, just as that love was shared with her family. "As a Christian, I have been called by God to love other people. I can’t call myself a Christian, being blinded by situations that surround me. I cannot love you and see you hurt. I cannot love you and see you die of hunger."
Dr. Solomon Christian serves God and humanity by providing dental care for those around the globe who otherwise wouldn't have access. "It is my passion to be used for God’s glory. I feel that God has given me this special mission. When we go and help these people, they see the love of Jesus Christ in us."
At the age of 14, Elisabeth Clymer discovered she has the power to save lives. After learning that malaria kills over 3,000 children a day in Africa, she formed a Nothing but Nets campaign at her church. "As United Methodists, we're life savers."
Matthew Sleeth picked up a Bible one day and hasn't been the same sense. "I was confronted with Christ, and Christ changes everything." He quit his job as a doctor, and now he and his wife, Nancy, travel the country advocating for the environment.
Fourteen-year-old Peter Larson has spent the past eight winters forgoing his warm bed, and choosing instead to sleep outside in a cardboard box in sub-zero temperatures. He does it to raise awareness and funds for the homeless. "I'm called to do this," he says.
Tina Luce serves as worship leader at Wesley United Methodist Church in Salem, Mass. Blind since birth, Luce describes herself as a "broken vessel" and believes "the Lord ministers through broken vessels powerfully ... I tend to trust people who minister with a limp more than those who don’t."
God wanted Jerry Nail in prison. It was a call he couldn’t ignore. Nail, a member of Christ United Methodist Church, Franklin, Tenn., is minister of prison ministries at his church. His journey into prison began after he attended Disciple Bible classes. “It was very clear to me,” he said. “A voice said ‘That’s where I want you; I want you in prison.’”
David Corner founded The Gathering Project to bridge the gap between excess and waste in the United States and extreme need in other parts of the world. It's "an outreach of the Christian gospel, reaching out to do what it can do for those who really need the help. I mean they need it desperately. And I’ve seen how it’s changed their lives."
Julie Taylor serves as a parish nurse at Pathways United Methodist Church in Springfield, MO. "Our spiritual health and our emotional health is completely one with our physical health, and each one of those affects the other. My main goal is to have people realize that in a more meaningful way."
When Beth VanSickle was bedridden with cancer, she remembered a sock monkey her grandmother had given her when she was young. "It always brought me joy." That prompted Beth to start Sock Monkey Ministries, Inc., that has so far sent sock monkeys to over 8,500 people who needed a smile.
After taking a Disciple Bible study class, Allen Avery decided to start a scouting ministry at his church. "I saw [scouting] as an opportunity to really get involved and start to bond with some of these young men and teach them what it really means to be a man, and specifically a man of God."
The Rev. Julienne Judd pastors three Native American churches and is part of the Native American Disaster Early Response team. They provided relief in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, Hurricane Katrina, and the Eagle Pass tornado. "We realized that there was a need for disaster response specifically that understood Native issues."
Karen Hewitson is a self-proclaimed Martha personality. "I’m the type of person that always has to have goals and things to do." Along with being the northern Illinois conference president of United Methodist Women, she is also an active member of the Green Team, educating others on environmental justice issues.
Tonny Mbowa became an orphan at the age of seven, after his father was killed by Idi Amin's army and his mother died of cancer. But thanks to a total stranger who sponsored him, he was able to get an education and achieve his dreams. "I felt so touched, as I grew, I grew into imagining what kind of love is this."
Myrtis Parker is the United Methodist Women's president of the Central Texas Annual (regional) Conference. Along with working to better the lives of women and children around the world, her group has been assigned the task of baking over 14,000 cookies for the upcoming General Conference in Ft. Worth, Texas.
At Centenary United Methodist Church in Richmond, Va., Polly Chamberlain started a ministry called "Bless My Sole" that nourishes the soles—and souls—of the homeless in her community. Polly, along with Joe McDuffie, Barbara Taylor, and Jimmy and Bettie Sue Mills, serve as examples of Christ's love.
Maceo Pembroke is a 5th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a certified master instructor. He's using those skills in a martial arts ministry for youth at his church. "I want to help to make better men, better women. I know that will result in better families, a stronger community, a stronger nation, and hopefully at some point a better world."
The Rev. Bau Dang is translating the Bible into Vietnamese so that the people of his homeland can know the love of God. "If people can read the Bible...in the language that they understand, they understand the love of God. Then the spirit of God would use the power of the living word to transform their life and then transform the nation."
Barbara Gaskill loves to dance. Besides being director of liturgical dance at her church, Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist, she also volunteers her time teaching ballet to low-income immigrant children who wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity. "Whatever spiritual gifts we've been given...it's our mission, it's our duty and our joy to use them."
Matthew Taufetee used to be a member of the worst Blood gang in Hawaii. He served time in prison for murder. But Matthew found love and forgiveness in Christ, and started a Life After Prison program to help ex-cons. "A human mind would only think that a person like me deserves to go to hell ... but we serve a loving God who is forgiving."
Stacy Welk is Executive Director of the Wesley-Rankin Community Center in West Dallas. But just a few years ago, Stacy walked through those doors needing help. "I didn't have any hope left. And I didn't believe in myself anymore. And Wesley-Rankin ... helped me restore my own sense of worth and helped me figure out what my potential was."
Nehemiah 8:10 says, "...the joy of the Lord is your strength." Christian comedienne Kelly Sisney lives by that truth. Her ministry is making people laugh, and reminding them of the joy of Christianity. "I personally believe the Lord has a sense of humor...I always say anyone who could stick Mary on a donkey when she's in full labor, He's got to be funny."
Harold Taussig owns a travel company that makes millions ... and he gives it all away. He's found that enjoys living the "simple life" and doesn't need "things" to make him happy. "My mission in life is to get this out into wider discussion of how we've subverted our society with consumerism."
When someone succeeds as an artist, or politician, or leader in business or the church, they are an inspiring example to the rest of us. How much more amazing it is to meet a person who has succeeded in all these fields. Kelly Haney has done exactly that. Haney is the chief of the Seminole nation in Oklahoma, and a life-long United Methodist.
Dale Long of Hamilton Park United Methodist Church in Dallas has been a Big Brother to six "littles" over the past 30 years. "When people ask me about how long the relationships last, I’m fond of saying it’s a lifetime." Dale has a heart for service. "I’d just like to be able to continue to do what I’m doing so that I can make a difference."
Hyepin Im is founder and president of Korean Churches for Community Development, an organization that empowers the Korean American church community and the Korean American community as a whole. She heard God's call, "and I started off reluctantly, but once I answered the call, God turned my fears and reluctance into great joy."
Elizabeth McKee's life is about serving others. She's spent time in the Peace Corps, and now works for the United Nations Foundation. "My major kind of life hope right now, is that we all become world neighbors again, good citizens, that we give back, and that in everything that we do...we are thinking of our fellow man."
Fortune Masamba grew up in Zimbabwe and would have been forced to join the military had it not been for a Volunteers in Mission group from Community United Methodist Church in Crofton, Maryland. They brought him to the states and put him through college; he's now a graduate with plans to go back and help his homeland.
During college, the Rev. José Peña-Nazario began to sense a deep need to find meaning in his life. He made the decision to go to seminary and become a pastor, and some mission trips he took to Honduras changed his life drastically. He now serves as a full-time missionary pastor in Honduras.
Anita Crump is a member of Bethany United Methodist Church–one of the 90 churches that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. "We will survive. We will come back, and we will be stronger than we have been in the past. Because of our faith in God, we know that through Him everything is possible, and that He will make things alright for us."
Elma Jocson's mother was a “Bible woman.” When her daughter asked for advice on what she should do in life, Mom knew best. “Why don't you choose from one of the ministries of Jesus: teaching, preaching and healing?” Ultimately she chose healing, and is the senior surgeon at Tansen Mission Hospital in the Palpa District of Nepal.
Many experiences in his life have helped Erick Veliz hear God's call to help the poor, the least and the lost. Growing up in La Paz, Bolivia, he never considered himself poor because there was always food on the table. When he was 10, after years of struggle, his parents raised enough money to move to the United States.
When Ezequiel Nhamtumbo was a little boy, Jesus Christ came to him in a dream with a message: "Go and serve and be an instrument of my kingdom." Today, Nhantumbo saves lives in his homeland serving as a bridge between United Methodist churches in Mozambique and United Methodist churches in Missouri.
United Methodist Army Chaplain Jay West says he has the best job in the world. “Filling a pulpit is not the only way to be in ministry," he says. "I get to stand as a visible reminder on behalf of God’s holy church and say that even in the midst of the most unholy there is the presence of the holy.”
Going to church every Sunday is just something Mary Lou Pitzer does. In fact, she hasn't missed a Sunday in over 50 years. She even planned her wedding around getting to church. "I refused to get married on a Saturday because I knew it would be asking too much to drag him to church on Sunday after we got married on Saturday."
"When I was a young child, I made the deep commitment that when given the opportunity in my life, I would try to serve others." Lifelong United Methodist Champ Merrick fulfilled that commitment, founding the Children of Abraham, an organization that ships medical supplies to countries in desperate need.
Casey Robbins’ faith landed her on the roof of her house–in the winter, in Minnesota. She spent 100 cold nights in a sleeping bag on a roof because she wanted to know what it felt like to be homeless. Her church, Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, turned her mission into a fundraiser for a center that helps homeless people.
In Zimbabwe, AIDS is endemic and it is the church that cares for sick and the lost. The country is in the midst of economic turmoil, its citizens are hungry and unemployment is rising. The Rev. Elliot Chikwenjere says, "I don't have any doubt that God called me for this special ministry."
Renee Grounds made a casual promise to her dad when she was in the third grade. That promise has become the passion of her life. “I remember one time my brother and I were in the car with my dad and he asked if I was interested in learning Euchee. I naively, kind of loosely, said ‘yes, definitely.’”
Sam Lee had gone to church for 30 years, but it wasn't until he joined Nashville Korean United Methodist Church that he learned how to read the Bible and apply it to his life. "I changed inside," he says. Following Christ's example, Sam now feeds over 100 homeless people every week with food from his restaurant, Khan's Mongolian BBQ.
Teca Greathouse is a United Methodist missionary sharing God's gifts with people in the place of her birth – Brazil. "I visit, on a regular basis, families that many times do not have anything to eat, do not have even hope, which to me is the saddest part of life. And I am committed to make a difference in the lives of those people."
“We believe in God and in each other.”The people of The United Methodist Church
