I spent a marvelous few days in Albuquerque this last weekend to share worship and fellowship with the good folk at Church of the Good Shepherd. They were warm and hospitable. Their worship was lively and engaging. The sacred conversation on race we shared was honest and insightful. It was my first visit with them, and I enjoyed it very much.
The trip was also an opportunity to honor the ministry of Rev. Dr. Sue Gallagher. A pioneer in ministry, she was among the very first and very few women that the Board for Homeland Ministries entrusted a new church start to - in Tallahasse, FL (it is still going strong today!). She has a real passion for stewardship, and has served as an able ally in the effort to teach us all the principles and practices of giving that make good ministry possible. Under her leadership, the COGS has raised its OCWM offerings 15% each year she was there. We thank her for her years of dedicated service to the Gospel, and are proud of all that she has done for the sake of the Church.
I am off to Orlando for a week with my colleagues in Conference Ministry. Pray for us all. I would expect that by the time we all return next Tuesday evening every challenge, every difficulty, and every problem currently facing the denomination will have been addressed and solved. Expect membership rolls and endowment contributions to swell. I am bringing my golf clubs in the hopes that we will have all that accomplished by early Monday - leaving just enough time for a round or two in the cool Florida breezes.
In the certain hope that we in the Southwest Conference will, with the help and through the impulses of the Holy Spirit, grow in love, succeed in mission, embrace our future, embody Christ's compassion, empower the weak, and elicit the creative spirit within us all - I bid you all a fond farewell till next time.
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