On June 16, 2013 at FUMC-Winfield, Jane Boatwright Wood, Foundation for Evangelism president, will present the award and a special commemorative plaque to the congregation.  Joining Mrs. Wood for the celebration are Dr. Scott Jones, Bishop, Great Plains Area; and Rev Gary Brooks, District Superintendent, Wichita East.

First United Methodist Church – Winfield identifies and cultivates those who God is calling into fulltime Christian service nurturing them with internship opportunities, scholarships to help offset the cost of tuition, small group opportunities, servant ministry opportunities, and relevant engaging worship.  Leah Hartman, Young Adult Coordinator, writes, “The internships allow them to gain practical experience in a ministry setting and helps expose them to ministry as they discern their call…people identify and use their spiritual gifts as well as take seriously our responsibility to love others.”

In the past 15 years, more than 21 persons age 35 or under from FUMC-Winfield responded to God’s call to fulltime Christian service. This next generation of Christian leaders is serving the Church in an amazing variety of ways such as the local church, ministry in Africa, campus minister, and professor in the United Methodist university system.  These passionate, young leaders are helping others experience God’s transforming love through Jesus Christ around the globe. All this ministry is built upon the foundation of FUMC-Winfield.

The Culture of the Call Church Award is part of the vision of The Foundation for Evangelism to raise up generations of leaders with a passion for evangelism. We are pleased to join Bishop Jones, Rev. Brooks, and Rev. Smith in recognizing the 2013 Culture of the Call Church, First United Methodist Church of Winfield, Kansas, for nurturing, supporting, and equipping young people to fulfill the call to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

2013-Culture of the Call_ FUMC_Winfield Press Release 6_6_2013

The general title “Who believes, stays different” inspired both leaders and participants for discussion and celebration in more than 100 events during these four days. In various bible studies, keynote plenary addresses, a vast number of specific theme forums and workshops the issue “what does it mean to live a distinct Christ-shaped life?” was the heart of the matter. Public worship services and “mile of culture” gave the event a holistic coining.

At the end UMC President of the Bishop’s Council, Rosemarie Wenner, gave her heartfelt thanks to Dean Prof. Dr. Jörg Barthel (RTS) and Dr. Lothar Elsner (EIUMCG) including the teams that stand behind those institutions. The overall echo to this First UMC congress in Germany was overwhelmingly positive. The small UMC churches in the German-speaking part of the world were spiritually encouraged and nurtured, and the overall public in our city became newly aware of the gospel of Jesus Christ through this inspiring event.

Prof. Achim Hartner was head of eight public events, including one large plenary session on the issues of societal changes that challenge and open new possibilities for a missional church today as well as a seminar on “God’s call and our professions”. As a communicator of the gospel in manifold ways, he also contributed as a musician and a fine artist. Looking back, he attests that during the process of preparation of the venture, God has been opening manifold doors towards a new public awareness of the Church and its life-changing message: Who believes, stays different!

Our thanks to Prof. Achim Härtner M.A., E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism, Reutlingen School of Theology/Germany for this release.

To learn more contact your Annual Conference Office or visit Harry Denman Evangelism Award.

If Frankie Hopper has a superpower, it’s like X-ray vision, except that he sees through the humdrum landscape of Henry County to discover those who are in need.

“The Lord showed me the homeless — in my community,” says the McDonough resident, a retired Army lieutenant colonel with a bad back and a good heart. “They’re not just downtown.”

Photo credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Hopper, one of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Holiday Heroes, was ready to exercise his superpower-like skill on a recent chilly, glowering Wednesday afternoon. Meeting with fellow volunteer Wayne Clement in the food pantry at Jodeco Road United Methodist Church in Stockbridge, Hopper prepared for a trip to a nearby campground. “There are folks in tents there, and they’re not on vacation,” says Hopper.

With the support of this church’s pantry, Clement and Hopper deliver food several times a week to men and women and families living in extended stay motels, recreational vehicles, or under bridges or in the woods.

Hopper points out the window of his SUV as they head south past a construction site and says, “There’s a man who lives in a shipping container over there.”

Clement’s truck pulls a trailer filled with bins of food, mostly cans of beans, corn and beef stew, packaged mixes, ramen and other durable staples. The food is collected and stored by the Jodeco Road church, which receives grants and donations.

The pair of volunteers help those who have sought assistance from the church, but they also heed their instincts and strike up conversations wherever they go. “Sometimes we don’t know where we’re going to go,” says Hopper, 65, following behind Clement in his SUV. “We just go where the Lord tells us.”

At an RV park that is a former KOA campground, they bring a bin to a slight woman with a graying hair. Her name is Mary Little and she’s limping from knee trouble, but brightens up when she sees Hopper. “You are a great and wonderful man and one of my heroes,” she says, grabbing him in a hug.

“I’m just doing what you’re supposed to do,” he says.

In addition to helping Clement, Hopper is also part of an interchurch group that prepares hot meals for the homeless, served Fridays at McDonough First United Methodist Church. On those days, he also delivers food to the needy and to shut-ins.

Amy Chaffin, music director and praise director at the church, marvels that the genial retiree, who is disabled from his years in the service and walks with a cane, isn’t hobbled by his own problems.

“When he couldn’t even walk he’d be coming over here and loading up the truck,” she said. “He wasn’t going to let his suffering interfere with his work for God.”

A native of Alabama, Hopper graduated from Auburn University in 1969 and joined the Army, serving in Vietnam as a communications and electronics specialist. Most of the time he spent running convoys on the highways from Cam Ranh Bay to Nha Trang, hauling “beans and bullets.” The Army kept he and his wife Linda moving for the next 20 years.

“We’ve been married 45 years and we’ve moved 33 times,” says Hopper.

After his service, Hopper worked for the Veterans Affairs until retiring three years ago. Linda Hopper says her husband became involved in serving the homeless after the two joined Jodeco Road United Methodist Church in 2001.

Hopper’s tireless efforts earned him a Harry Denman Evangelism Award in 2009, an honor given by a non-profit entity within the United Methodist Church called the Foundation for Evangelism. It is offered to clergy and lay people who “exhibit who exhibit unusual and outstanding efforts for the work on Christian Evangelism,” according to the Foundation for Evangelism website.

“He is the sweetest man in the world,” says Jane Purcell, of the Jodeco Road church, who nominated Hopper to be a Holiday Hero.

Says Clement, “Everyone who sees Frankie sees God’s love.”

Photo Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM
Story originally ran in the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution online on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012

Dr. Andrew "Andy" Root

Among the fascinating topics of the day was a lecture on the emerging question of “Who am I” that is impacting our young adults. So often we read that 18-35 year-olds are lost to the church. Dr. Root has found that they are not repulsed by it – they just do not find it relevant to where they are in their lives. It is not that they do not believe in religion; they simply understand that religion is something you do when you are conventional. They do not self-define as conventional.

In his lecture, Dr. Root shared that the culture of the United States has changed. In the not too distant past, young people committed to a lifelong career, fell in love, married, and began a family in their 20’s. There was no question of “Who am I ?” You were defined by your career, your position in the community, and your family status.

Root discusses ways the church can connect with young adults in Wesley Chapel.

Today, young adults do not, and in many cases cannot, make a lifelong career commitment. The transition into a family of their own on the average happens in their early 30’s. Therefore identity – answering the question of “Who am I?”- must be answered in a new way. The emerging pattern shows this demographic self defining through consumption. Don’t like how you feel about yourself, purchase the latest smart phone and you are a new person. Likewise, relationships during this period are more about intimacy, a feeling of intense closeness, rather than love, considered a lifelong commitment.

Here is where the Church comes in. We may look at that information and see the fleeting nature of these life measures. However, this is where Dr. Root sees the opportunity for the Church. The Church’s challenge is to fill the void that comes when these measures of self fail you by sharing the truth of a Christ who is there in the darkest, loneliest places offering life in a place of death.

To read more from Dr. Andy Root, visit www.AndrewRoot.org.

The Wallace Chappell Lectures, awarded annually to a United Methodist-affiliated seminary, enable the selected institution to bring to its campus a national or international leader in evangelism for a series of inspirational lectures and classroom appearances.

What does the Distinguished Evangelist award mean to you?

First, I find it very humbling.  I look on the list of previous winners, and see people who are my “evangelism heroes.” George Morris, Eddie Fox, Joe Harding, and Joe Hale were all mentors in one form or another.  Adam Hamilton, Kirbyjon Caldwell, and Ed Robb are friends as well as inspirations.  To share this award with them makes me feel like (to misquote scripture) “a lion in a den full of Daniels;” I am silenced in their company.

But I am also challenged and inspired by the award.  It is the nature of grace to name us as God sees us and then to transform us into that vision.  This award puts a claim on my life that, whatever my merits, is shaping me more into the vision behind this recognition.  For that, I am most grateful.

Are there any experiences in your ministry that stand out in your mind as “pivotal” or “aha!” moments where you saw God at work?

There are three in particular.  The first is studying under George Morris in seminary.  George was forecasting decades ahead of time the changes in world and culture that would shape the evangelistic task.  One vision that George especially impressed into me was the then-future role that planting new congregations would have for making disciples.

The second experience was being appointed to start a new congregation in 1985.  I spent the entire summer knocking on doors and talking with people.  I personally visited with some 1,400 households in all.  Through that experience I learned how evangelism actually begins with listening:  listening to the person and listening to what God is up to in and through that person.  So much of the evangelistic fruitfulness of that new church plant was directly related to that listening.

The third experience was the five-year journey of that new church plant.  When I finished my appointment there, I looked back and asked, “Why were some things so effective despite all our mistakes and failures…and why were some things so barren despite our best efforts and investment?”  I discovered that spiritual fruitfulness tends to happen at the intersection of three factors:  a God-given vision, a Spirit-driven champion, and a season-specific anointing.  So I began to ask three questions of every possible ministry:  What is the vision?  Who is the champion?  Where is the anointing?

When did you first hear God’s call to ministry?

The day my mother was told she was pregnant with me, the devotional text for that morning was Jeremiah 1:5; “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  Mom was so struck by the intersection of her news and that text that she prayed that day for my life to be used in God’s service.  So I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say I heard my call before I had ears to hear.

Do you have a process in place for your own spiritual renewal and ministry planning each year? What does that look like?

I just returned from my annual retreat time inColorado.  I spent one week at a Benedictine monastery in centering prayer.  There is a “Quiet House” in the Texas Hill Country dedicated to such retreats.  I take several prayer retreats every year, each for at least three days at a time.

I also spent 10 days inRockyMountainNational Park, planning the sermon calendar and ministry vision for the next year.  This is a habit.  I’ve had for 15 years now, and is modeled on Maxie Dunnam’s practice of two sermon planning retreats a year (I just combine those into one retreat).  It is the spiritualhigh pointof each year.

Who has been an inspiration to you in your life and ministry?

I’ve already mentioned the foundational role George Morris played.  My preaching has its roots in my friendship with Fred Craddock.  Dick Wills, whom I met when he was at Christ Church in Ft. Lauderdale, inspires me with his insistence on obedience to God and tenderness toward others.  The late Bishop Ben Oliphint shaped much of what I know about the “joy and delight” side of ministry.  My father-in-law, Dr. Roland T. “Bill” Scales, is my living link to Methodism’s great minds, such as Albert Outler and Walter Wink.  Finally, Tim Bias (pastor of Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church in Cincinnati) has defined for me the best of the Wesleyan spirit and its evangelistic imperative since we first met 35 years ago.

What have been some “standout” moments in your time at University United Methodist Church?

At University, the pivot was when we got clarity on two things:

The first was discovering our congregation’s primary spiritual gift.  For us, it became clear that our primary spiritual gift is mercy—that is, meeting the needs of others with the tenderness of Christ.  We think that we most look like Jesus when we practice our gift of mercy.  So, if we want people to see Jesus, then our best way to show Jesus will be through our most evident spiritual gift.

The second was when we asked, “What are the populations around our location in which mercy has been in short supply?”  Two became evident:  the outlier skateboard population in the local high school and the large number of persons with developmental disabilities.  So we began evangelizing at the intersection of our spiritual gift and those at-risk populations.

The results?  Our “U|Sk8” skate church has seen 97 conversions for Jesus Christ, with a number of these considering ordained ministry.  Our “Believer’s Garden” for the developmentally disabled has now held two confirmation classes with over 100 professions of faith.

Does that mean every congregation needs a skate church and special needs confirmation class?  Absolutely not.  It does mean, however, that your church is more likely to be evangelistically effective if you concentrate your energies and efforts at the intersection of your primary spiritual gift and an underserved or at-risk segment of your local population.

Where do you see The United Methodist Church in 5 years? 10 years?

There are bishops, general secretaries, General Conference delegates, seminary presidents, and blogging pundits seeking to answer that question.  I am none of those, so I leave that to those more qualified than I am.

However, I am deeply invested in the evangelistic task.  From that point of view, I see a good news trend and a bad news trend.

The good news is that there is lots of experimentation.  This is an intense time of creativity within both American Christianity and the United Methodist Church.  The missional church movement is redefining the “what” and “how” of evangelism.  Multi-site congregations, satellite congregations, and church plant programs are opening avenues of outreach for congregations of all sizes and demographics.  House churches are breaking new ground. The internet and social networking are getting the gospel into the hands of persons who would never enter a traditional sanctuary.  There is a lot of permission giving by bishops and annual conferences to take risks and to even fail for the purpose of discovering what will succeed.

The bad news is that there continues to be lots of confusion.  We continue to see confusion over the definition of evangelism, wherein we make it totally synonymous with membership recruitment on one hand and acts of random kindness on the other.  We also see confusion over the motive for evangelism, which tends to be driven by institutional survival.  When a confused definition and a confused motive come together, the result is a message that says, “Please become a member of our Christian club, so that our boat won’t sink.”  That hasn’t worked for forty or more years now, and there is no indication it will in the future.

How does the practice of Wesleyan evangelism translate to today’s culture? How might this understanding of evangelism be used to help bring people into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

If I could pull only one aspect of John Wesley’s evangelism into my life and context, it would be the role of prayer.  Wesley was a fine theologian, a gifted innovator, a skilled leader, and an organizational genius.  I believe, however, that the Wesleyan Revival might have taken place in the absence of any one of those factors, except for the role of prayer.  Wesley’s greatest challenge to me is how much and how deeply the man prayed.

My greatest disappointment in my own journey with evangelism is the extent to which I practice—or don’t practice—prayer.  I have more financial resources, more technological tools, more accessible data, more measurable metrics, and more support systems than Wesley could ever imagine.  But Wesley prayed as if it was the breath of life itself, because it was for him.

I am convinced that the best evangelism is primarily a “submerged and subversive act”; that is, most of it is prayer.  Someone can reject my witness, skip my program, ignore my words, and avoid my church.  They cannot stop me praying for them.  Prayer is “divine sabotage”—you can’t stop it.  It happens underground.  I would go so far as to say the great unexplored territory in contemporary evangelism is the role of prayer prior to any overt action or conversation.  I truly believe that prayer may make up as much as 90% of any evangelistic effectiveness.

What advice would you give to a pastor at a new church start?

I would frame my advice in three questions.

First question:  ”What did you hear?”  A church launch is an act of listening—listening to the community and listening to God speaking through community.  No amount of creativity on my part could have substituted listening to 1,400 stories of “hopes, hurts, and hungers.”  No demographic study could have given me the “street cred” that receptive listening did.  Church planting, like gospel communication, begins at the ear.

Second question:  ”What do you see?”  A church launch is an act of vision.  It’s a God-given vision seen by a Spirit-driven visionary.  I can recall standing in a rice field years before any building, and literally seeing what would arise there and who would come.  It’s that God’s-eye-view on reality that will drive the founding pastor through seasons of drought and challenge.

Final question:  ”What will you risk?”  Like Jesus’ parable of the talents, a church launch is a holy dare.  It’s a continuous experiment in risk, where the biggest risk is actually playing it safe.  The sure news is that you will probably have more than your share of failures and disasters. But the good news is that life in a church plant is moving so fast that there is simply no time or energy available to fixate on the failures.  You are too busy moving on to the next risk, and that does not allow opportunity to mourn or analyze to excess.  Put it behind you, and move on!

What are three vital pieces of information/advice you would share with local church leaders that could transform the church?

First, train church people to look for Jesus.  Begin by regularly asking, “Where have you seen Jesus?”  Intense, long-term repetition of that question sets two expectations:  first, that Jesus is making Himself visible in the world and in our lives…and second, that it should be something that we can talk about and will want to talk about.

Second, talk in each and every venue about looking for Jesus—Sunday school, in committee meetings, in small groups, in women’s and men’s ministries, etc.  Once you’ve trained the eyes to look, train the voice to speak by giving very safe and very frequent venues in which to share a Jesus meeting.  Not only will this train the voice, but it also begins to excite the heart—everyone loves to tell a story, especially if it involves them.

One thing that I had our church leaders do two summers ago was spend an hour each week in a local Wal-Mart with the specific intent of having them look for Jesus.  They were to look for signs of the Savior in the people and events they encountered there.  This sensitized them to the incredible number of ways—heretofore unseen—that Jesus was operating in the world.

Then I had them write down and send me their most profound moments each week.  This taught them to think in terms of story or narrative and then to put it into a form that would communicate to someone else.  They put their Jesus encounter into an interesting story that others could identify with…which kind of sounds like evangelism to me.

Third, remember and reaffirm the organic tie between evangelism and discipleship. Evangelism is the first phase in the journey of Christian discipleship.  Evangelism is not “pre-discipleship,” any more than birth is “pre-life.”  Evangelism, like birth, is that necessary first step in an organic growth into the person you are designed to be.  Evangelism no longer “brings people in” (that’s membership recruitment); evangelism rather “starts people off” on a journey whose destination is growing into the fullness of Jesus Christ.

A church that takes evangelism seriously will, therefore, find itself more and more engaged in helping people learn the message of Jesus and discover their mission for Jesus.  This is what Jesus did with his first disciples after meeting them—He taught them His message and He assigned their mission.  It’s a biblical progression:  once you have a person asking, “What’s my need for Jesus, and what do I do about it,” they will eventually want to know, “What is the news about Jesus, and what do I do about it,” and “What is my call from Jesus, and what do I do about it?”

What is the relationship between clergy and lay leadership in establishing and maintaining a vibrant ministry/church?

For me, I would go with this:  effective evangelism in churches today looks like the character and culture of that particular congregation.  I don’t understand evangelism so much any longer as a program or a priority—I understand evangelism as the outreaching extension of what is present or absent in the heart of the local congregation.  If evangelism is telling others where I’ve seen Jesus, then the local Body of Christ profoundly shapes what I’ve seen of the Christ and how I’ve seen Him.

In that sense, evangelism is sacramental:  it is the outward and visible sign of the congregation’s inward and spiritual grace.  And evangelism is individual:  evangelism will look unique, particular, and “one-of-a-kind” to its local congregational origin.  It won’t look like any other congregation’s plan or program.

The implication?  Clergy and lay leadership are the primary “shapers and shifters” of a congregation’s character and culture.  Spiritual health in these two constituencies and between these two constituencies will convey what is present—or absent—in the heart of the congregation.

I remember Dick Wills saying, “The primary job of a pastor is to grow his or her soul more toward Jesus Christ…and the next job of a pastor is to grow the souls of his or her church leaders more toward Jesus Christ.”  Bishop Wills is correct.  While church growth doesn’t always lead to church health, church health eventually and ultimately leads to church growth.

“It was a privilege to be present for the celebration of Hoyt’s life. His Christ-centered life has made a difference to both those who knew him and those who received the bounty of his good works. His loss is felt throughout the Foundation family,” shared Jane Wood, Executive Director for The Foundation for Evangelism.

Hoyt Cole with daughters Sue Lynn (left) and Kerry (right) at the 2011 Annual Banquet of The Foundation for Evangelism

Born on March 13, 1926 in Rochester, Texas, Cole was a native of Texas, and a life-long United Methodist. Those remembering him shared stories of his passion for The United Methodist Church, beginning with his origins as a “preacher’s kid” in rural Texas. Later in his life, Mr. Cole became a member of First United Methodist Church of Anchorage, and he and his wife helped establish a Union Church in Libya.

Mr. Cole served in the U.S. Army Air Corp during World War II. He was in the first group of replacements deployed to Japan after V-J day, and served in the 5th Air Force in Japan.

As a member of The Foundation for Evangelism’s board of trustees, Cole’s work helped to influence national and international evangelism. During his tenure on the board, the Foundation completed the funding of the E. Stanley Jones Professors of Evangelism, established the Denman Fellows and Timothy Scholars programs, and completed pilot programs with Grace Spiritual Leadership Academy and the Partner Church Initiative with United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.

Dr. W. Stephen Gunter, E. Stanley Jones Professorship Director for The Foundation for Evangelism and Associate Dean for Methodist Studies at Duke Divinity School, has released his newest book Arminius and His Declaration of Sentiments: An Annotated Translation with Introduction and Theological Commentary. This is the first direct translation of Arminius’ Declaration of Sentiments into English from the original Dutch. Gunter provides expert translation and theological commentary, while providing a rich, historical context for this 16th century Dutch theologian. For more information, download the full description of the book provided by the publisher.

W. Stephen Gunter is the author, co-author, or editor of six books, including Considering the Great Commission: Evangelism and Mission in the Wesleyan Spirit; John Wesley and The Netherlands; and The Quotable Mr. Wesley.