by Jason Byassee
Jason Byassee
The church is one of the only places in culture where people of multiple generations make our lives together. This is the way God wants it. Augustine addresses God in prayer this way: “Beauty ever ancient, ever new.” I think here of an early church martyr named Polycarp who was ordered by the Romans to curse Christ. “I have followed him eighty-six years and he has done me no wrong. How can I curse my king who saved me?” I think too of John the Baptist leaping in his mother Elizabeth’s womb. The church stretches from the not-yet-born to those on the cusp of the next life.
This is also really difficult. Younger and older folks often struggle to understand one another. We all know this in our own families. Why would we think the church would be any different?
Yet it is crucial that all ages become God’s church together. Scripture promises that Israel’s “sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams and your young shall see visions” (Joel 2:28). This is fulfilled in the church at Pentecost according to Acts 2. How can the church be, like God, ever ancient and ever new?
I was delighted when Arnold Lester joined our church recently and added to our north-of-90 set. I am struck how often they tell me how pleased they are to see younger folks at our church. Bill Dixon, of blessed memory, used to know every child’s name at our church. Buck Robbins, also of blessed memory, was an advocate for children his whole life here. This church stood in for him when he had no father of his own, so he knew in his bones the church must be a surrogate parent for today’s young. When Gene Ammons joined us as one of our retired ministers he pointed to the regular infant baptisms we do as a reason. And when Leveda Law started worshiping as a retired missionary some of her fastest connections came among our young families.
I have been pleased with the way older members of our church have leapt in and joined me in leadership. I have asked for their help, being keenly aware of my own inexperience. Five of our most important committees are ad council, finance, missions, trustees, and staff-parish. Two of those groups have the same leader I inherited. The other three saw as their first new leader after I came someone decades older than the person in that chair when I arrived. All have been a privilege to work with.
Our visioning group, which has yielded our new mission language, is both seasoned and new. John Thomas has been one of the most active leaders in that group. Bob Dunnigan was gracious to lend his effort early on. Jim Deal and Bobby Sharp and Susan Jones have decades of leadership at our church. Even some of the younger folks, like Michaele Haas and Kelly Broman-Fulks, have nearly four decades of experience at our church between them. Altogether that group has more than 200 years of membership at our church.
One of the most exciting proposals that group has had, about which you will hear much much more, is for an elder care facility in our town. Part of our excitement is that a similar facility in West Jefferson intentionally puts their elders in relationship to their preschool kids. What a glimpse of the church–making our life together across four generations, dreaming dreams and seeing visions, becoming the church God dreams about.
by Jason Byassee
Jason Byassee
One thing Pentecost means is that the Holy Spirit enables all of us to be like Jesus. We are like the disciples on our own: betrayers, deniers, those who flee. Then the Spirit breathes life into us and we can do what the apostles do in Acts: we can do miracles, preach, love our enemies, and for our purposes now–they can heal.
One of the best parts of my work is the chance to visit the hospital. The place pulses with life, even as it can be a place where the line between life and death is thin. I went today to meet young Chapman Blalock, Lance and Jessie Rose’s second son, and unimaginably tiny and mighty at the same time. New life! I also saw one of our most dignified and gracious older members, who had a fall recently, still radiant in her smile. I saw one of our guests who got hurt rescuing her children from a dangerous situation. She jumped up on the running board of her car to keep it from rolling off the mountain with her kids inside. She was lucky to escape with a broken leg alone, bless her. I hadn’t planned to, but also bumped into another parishioner in for unplanned and unpleasant surgery. We prayed together. Finally I prayed with Andy Ellis before his knee surgery, asking God to restore him to health to lead our youth and church toward Jesus. Five patients, part of an afternoon, the first day and the last phase of life; a courageous hero and a couple of maintenance surgeries.
Prayer is not healing. The doctors and nurses handle that part, thank God! But God is our ultimate healer, our great physician, and none of us gets out of this life alive. But prayer shows us Jesus is with us at every phase of life and will raise us to perfect bodies one day.
I was with Leighton Ford at a retreat recently. He is Billy Graham’s brother-in-law, and a treasure trove of stories of his own life and evangelism as well as his older mentor’s. He told a story of his daughter Debbie, who had breast cancer for the second time. She was naturally nervous, and as she headed to the hospital again she dreaded being there. Walking down a long hallway for tests she saw an old man in a wheelchair and sunglasses at its end. As she got closer she saw it was her uncle, the famous evangelist, Billy Graham. He was in for tests too, and had learned when she would be there and was there to meet her. She collapsed in his arms and said that was the best sermon he ever preached–not on the platform or in front of millions but with her in her weakness and in his, for prayer.
By the Spirit’s power we can do what Jesus does. We can be part of the healing he brings to the world. In our church there are several ways to do this: you can be part of our prayer team. You can come forward and kneel for healing at communion. You can visit in hospitals or nursing homes with pastor Jeff. He brings his kids to show them while they grow up that visiting the sick is something Christians do. You can apply with Jeff McClain (care@booneumc.org) to be a Stephen Minister. This may be our most important ministry of healing and it needs our best people–maybe you.
It won’t be just you doing it. It will be Christ working in and through you. Just think of your relief when you see someone you love ready to pray with you when you need it. And sign up to be that for others this Pentecost.
by Jason Byassee
Jason Byassee
A favorite New Yorker cartoon depicts Adam and Eve leaving the garden. One says to another, “My dear, we are living in a time of transition.” Human beings are always in transition. The only question is whether we are becoming more or less faithful to Jesus?
In a college town in particular we tend toward transitions this time of year. Several affect our staff. One delightful transition is to Luke Edwards’ work. He has done wonders as our Director of Community Engagement while studying at Asbury Theological Seminary. We applied for and received a grant from the Western North Carolina Conference office of New Church Development to fund King Street Church and make Luke its full-time pastor. King Street will worship in cell groups around downtown and aim at folks vastly disconnected to church or without knowledge at all of what life with Jesus is like. As Luke often puts it, KSC will offer “Christian community for those who have never tasted its sweetness.” They will meet in living rooms, coffee shops, bars, or wherever folks gather downtown and seek to become disciples in disciplined community groups with leaders Luke will raise up and train. This gets Boone Methodist in relationship with a population we have really missed up till now and expresses our value that “Everyone everywhere matters.”
Boone Methodist is no stranger to launching bold new endeavors. We have come to speak of our “responsiveness”–when we see a need, as a church we mobilize to meet it. We have done that with our role at Esmirna Metodista in Patzibal, Guatemala, in starting FaithBridge in Blowing Rock, and in the launch of our own 8:45 and Crossroads services, as well as our link with Blackburn’s Chapel. When it comes to planting new communities of faith we have often been “all action and no talk” (which is better than the reverse!). And we have done it before without $132,000 in seed money.
Luke will become a licensed local pastor at annual conference in late June and shift to this work full time July 1. He will remain on my staff and connected to Boone UMC for his support and our growth. We will search for a replacement part-time hire in our missions program as well.
Another transition is taking place at Blackburn’s. Lindsey Long, who has done remarkable work as pastor of the chapel and head of the Blackburn House intentional community, is getting married this fall in Milwaukee. She and her fiancé Adam Joyce are seeking work as a pastor and editor and ask for your prayers. Her replacement has been an intern at BBC and resident at the BBH this year–Brandon Wrencher, a North Park Seminary student and terrifically gifted young pastor. Just as Lindsey has preached at special services and participated in our staff at Boone so too has and will Brandon. His wife Erica is a phenomenal singer and teacher and their son Phillip is prodigy-smart. Our relationship with Blackburn’s Chapel continues to bear more fruit for them and us than we had imagined.
Summer also sees its share of exciting events. We will send mission teams to Cherokee, Rwanda, and Daytona Beach. We will host Vacation Bible School June 16-20 including an adult portion that will be the perfect place to invite that person you’ve been meaning to invite to church. On June 7 from 11-2 we will officially open the Boone United Trail with a huge party. On June 8 we will gather Sunday School teachers at 10 and all committee members (and anyone else who’d like to come!) for a noon lunch to consider our mission together. And ongoing initiatives will spend the summer tackling our interior aesthetic, or practices of welcome, and the efficiency of our use of space.
And we will be changed. Your prayers will ensure that those changes draw us all closer to Jesus.
by Jason Byassee, May 28, 2014
Jason Byassee
May is Teacher Appreciation month. It is a good time to reach back out to teachers who influenced and blessed and loved us well. It is also a good time for our church to think about the God-given goodness of the vocation of teaching. Each week in May we’ll interview one of our teachers about their work and the ways they find God in it. I hope we’ll all learn more about the richness of the body of Christ of which we are all a part.
Anna Mills Welsh
What got you into teaching?
I have always loved children. When I was in high school, I babysat for a family with four children all under the age of five. It was a joy to watch them grow and learn each day. I learned quickly that teaching would be a fun and rewarding profession
Tell me about a teacher you admire.
We moved eight times growing up. Entering a new school at times could be a challenge. But I was blessed with wonderful teachers that helped me with my adjustment. When I moved from California to Minnesota it was difficult, but my 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Hawkins, wrote me letters every few months to check in on me. I was always thrilled to see a letter in the mail from her. She went above and beyond to show me love and encouragement. I will never forget her.
How does your faith weigh into your work as a teacher?
I used to teach preschool at a church in Asheville. One of my favorite songs that we taught the children was “Fruits of the Spirit” (“Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control”). I try to remember that song as I teach my students. These are all important qualities to have throughout life. Each morning as I prepare for school I try to remember to love the students as a Christian would love them.
Some days are difficult, I confess, but I try to exhibit a positive attitude for the students. I try to encourage and love the students. Each student has baggage that she or he carries into the classroom each morning. It may be that the parents argued the night before, lack of food at the house, a fight with a sibling, a sick family member . . . all these weigh on the children as much as they do on the adults.
I want to remember that when I hug or encourage, it may be the only positive action of love that they get that day. I give out silly cheers (roller coaster cheer, firecracker, superstar) when I see positive behaviors. The look on the child’s face is so priceless as they beam with pride. That is the greatest reward of teaching!
Tell me about a time when God surprised you with the goodness of your vocation.
I was a first grade teacher in a school in Atlanta that was 99% African American. I was the minority in the school. It was at that school that I learned a lot about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. What an amazing example of how a Christian should act and treat others.
My students taught me to look at the content of character and not the color of skin. I would often get pictures that the children had drawn of me. I would have brown skin and black hair. Well, I have light skin, freckles, and red hair. The students saw me as one of their own. We were a family. I know that God placed me in that setting to learn about looking at people from the inside. I now teach children from all different backgrounds. Some are affluent, some are living in poverty, some have special needs, some don’t speak English. But I try to teach them that we are all equal and can become a family that cares for one another.
Anna Mills Welsh has been a teacher for 16 years and is now a kindergarten teacher at Hardin Park School.
by Jason Byassee, May 22, 2014
Jason Byassee
May is Teacher Appreciation month. It is a good time to reach back out to teachers who influenced and blessed and loved us well. It is also a good time for our church to think about the God-given goodness of the vocation of teaching. Each week in May we’ll interview one of our teachers about their work and the ways they find God in it. I hope we’ll all learn more about the richness of the body of Christ of which we are all a part.
Nora Shoemake
What got you into teaching?
Like much in life, teaching was an unexpected path I tumbled on to. My family had recently moved to a new area and there were no available preschool openings for our then four year old daughter. Except, that is, for teachers’ kids. The preschool had a very last minute job opening and they were in desperate need of a teacher and I desperately wanted my daughter to have a preschool experience before kindergarten. We were a perfect match. That first job challenged and surprised me.
I reflect back on that new teacher and simultaneously envy her energy and cringe at her inexperience and naivety.
Tell me about a teacher you admired.
I admire teachers in general, but especially those who are unafraid to look silly, those who are constantly educating themselves, those who are willing to take risks, those who are curious, those who can admit and learn from mistakes, those who are passionate, and those who respect the dignity of their students.
How does your faith weigh into your work as a teacher?
With Colossians 3:23 as a guide (“Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for other people”) I rely on grace to work at teaching with my whole heart as unto the Lord. As a teacher in a Christian preschool, I have the privilege to pray with and for my students and to share and teach from the bible. Mostly, though, my faith opens my eyes to learn compassion, acceptance, love, forgiveness and joy from a group of four year olds.
Tell me about a time when God surprised you with the goodness of your vocation.
Not to sound trite, but I am reminded daily of the power of child-like faith. I have been humbled by the prayers of preschoolers, delighted to see God’s creation through their eyes, and saddened by the ways adults lose sight of what is truly important.
Nora Shoemake graduated from ASU with a degree in elementary education and currently teaches at Boone United Methodist Preschool. She and her husband, Ben, live in Boone with their three children.
