The “guaranteed” appointment of UMC elders was passed as a calendar item approved overwhelmingly in legislative committee. In the plenary session there was a motion to reconsider, but the motion failed. So… no more secured appointments for elders. This is a huge change in our polity with far reaching consequences…. It’s just not clear what…

Congratulations to Jan Love, Kasap Owan, William J. Abraham, and Bill Arnold on their election to the University Senate of the UMC at the 2012 General Conference.

GC 2012 has been…. eventful. It looks like the Call to Action legislation will not go through in anything like its original form. In all likelihood some much less drastic changes to the denominational structure will go through. I met with Bishop Peggy Johnson today. She is perhaps our most significant and visible denominational advocate for…

I have a lot of admiration for N. T. Wright. If you’re not familiar with Wright’s perspective, this a nice lecture which touches on some of the major themes of his recent work. 

I was recently asked to speak at a conference on human trafficking and domestic violence. Shannon Sellars at United was kind enough to record a podcast of the lecture after the fact. If you’re interested listen to the podcast here.

Today, 3/21, is World Down Syndrome Day. The date was chosen to represent the third copy of the twenty-first chromosome that causes Down Syndrome, or Trisomy 21. People with Down Syndrome most often experience learning disabilities that create difficulties in advocating for themselves. In part it is up to us, the church, to advocate for…

Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned a Christian group from advertising faith healing. You can read an article about this here. The Authority claims that this type of advertising is misleading and could generate false hope in people. (I guess that never happens in advertising otherwise.) This, folks, is interesting. Often people have indicated that…

Please take some time to read Bishop Whitaker’s blog post on our thinking through church decline theologically, rather than simply sociologically. This is an insightful post and I think he’s hit the nail on the head.

Candida R. Moss and Jeremy Schipper are the editors of a new volume called Disability Studies and Biblical Literature (Palgrave Macmillan), 2011. This one is a bit hefty in price (it lists for $90 on the Macmillan website), but it looks like it may well be worth a trip to the library. The fields of…

I just reread the Call to Action legislation that will go to the General Conference of the UMC. I think the point of this is to create accountability for our various areas of ministry (currently overseen by the general boards and agencies) and to streamline our massive bureaucracy.  O.k…. I think it will do the…