Dear friends in Christ,
As I have shared with you before, I am proud to be your pastor, and I consider it an honor to labor alongside you in the work of God’s kingdom. I have greatly enjoyed meeting many of you in porch visits and other settings. If we haven’t been able to set something up yet, I would still love to find a time to meet with you. I really enjoy these conversations. We can meet outside or even set up a Zoom meeting if that is more comfortable. September marks a time of transition in the church. We celebrated the departure of our summer field education interns Jonathan Punt and Stephen Fitch and we welcomed our new student pastor for this academic year Noah Glover. We are now busy with preparations for the fall season, including a Homecoming celebration, Stewardship campaign, new Bible study, and Charge Conference. Our drive-in worship task force is meeting to evaluate the safest and best way for us to meet as a congregation, and we are seeking your input via survey. We are still in uncertain times due to the pandemic, but it is also an exciting time with new opportunities on the horizon.
I do want to share with you some wonderful news that is a huge milestone for me in my calling. On September 17, we held the virtual session of the clergy session of the clergy in the North Carolina Annual Conference. At this meeting, I was approved and welcomed as an Elder in Full Connection with our conference. Normally, this meeting is immediately followed by the ordination service at our Annual Conference in June. However, due to the pandemic, this has been postponed and made into a virtual experience. I still wait for the time when the bishop can lay hands on me. But for all practical purposes, this marks the end of the process for me becoming an Elder. This process has had many joys and trials along the way, and it has taken many years to complete. I started seminary in 2008 and began the ordination process in 2013. I have served in 4 different churches and three different districts of our conference. I have completed six additional required courses that I did not have in seminary. I completed about 200 pages of papers, monthly meetings over the course of 2 years, and many interviews with the Board of Ordained ministry. God is good and God is faithful in guiding me through this entire process!
I was asked by one of the committees about my understanding of ordained ministry. I thought I would share with you a portion of this to give you an idea of what this means to me. As an ordained Elder, I am called to the fourfold office of Word, Sacrament, Order, and Service. My full list of responsibilities in carrying out my calling is found in The Book of Discipline, paragraph 340. In the ministry of the Word, I hope to be faithful to reading and interpreting God’s Holy Scripture. I will proclaim the truth of the Gospel even if it is hard to hear. I will seek to study, instruct, and teach others to live according to God’s word. And I will take complex ideas about God and humanity and explain them in a way that all types of people can understand. In the ministry of the Sacraments, I will maintain a reverent appreciation for God’s grace at work at the font and the table. I will include all people in the invitation to be transformed by these means of grace. And I will help congregations understand that our practice of Baptism and Holy Communion have implications for the way we act and speak in the world. In the ministry of Order, I will exercise my leadership and administrative gifts as I develop teams, manage resources, order the worship life of the church, and evaluate effectiveness. Finally, in the ministry of Service, I will seek to follow Jesus who came not to be served but to serve. I will exemplify a life of service through my words and actions, and I will encourage the community of faith to be servants as they share God’s love in the world.
I also understand my vocation as Elder to be a covenant with God and also with my fellow clergy in the connection. I take this commitment very seriously as I seek to live a life of personal integrity and to minister in a way that glorifies God. I am held accountable to high moral and ethical standards because of my connection with other clergy within the United Methodist Church. The connectional system helps to encourage, equip, challenge, support, inspire, and correct me as I join in ministry with others throughout the North Carolina Conference and the global United Methodist church.
I hope that in my ministry I will offer honor and glory to God as I draw attention to the work of God in people’s lives, rather than drawing attention to myself. My approach to ordained ministry is echoed in John the Baptist’s statement, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Ordination is a gift whereby we have an opportunity to witness God’s grace at work in individuals, communities, and the world.
Thank you for your partnership in the journey.
In Christ,
Pastor Eric