21st Century Sheep » pilmoor

Preparing for transition in the Church

Paul — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:33:24 +0000

Today we said goodbye to Scott Wilson-Parsons and his family. Scott has been our pastor for 11 years and is moving on to Seaside UMC. This is an emotional time for everyone. I know many UMC churches and preacher’s families are experiencing the same thing today. My father was a UMC pastor and we had our share of moves. I attended 10 different schools and 3 different high schools. I know it can be a tough time. There are many things a congregation can do to ease the transition but today I want to look at the electronic transition.

If the pastor is deeply involved with the church website, email, computers and network, it is important to make sure all the knowledge doesn’t leave with the pastor.

Here are some things to have in a good transition document.

1. Email – usernames, passwords, account numbers

2. Web Hosting – account numbers, usernames, passwords, procedures for updating, when the bill comes due and who it is paid to

3. Computers – usernames, passwords, file structure organization, warranties, backups (where stored)

4. Networks – switch and router addresses, switch and router configuration backups, passwords, wireless configuration and encryption

5. Misc. – Usernames and passwords for Facebook, blogs, photo hosting sites, and other online sites that are in the church’s name

Having a good record of these things helps ease the transition and avoid those late night calls to the former pastor because no one knows the password to update the church website!

I pray a blessing on all the UMC churches and families who are experiencing transitions this month.

Online with the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church Annual Conference

Paul — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:54:35 +0000

I have never been to the Annual Conference of our Church. It is held early in June and that is a very busy time those of us who work in the public schools.

This year the NCCUMC put much of the Annual Conference online at this site.

You can view video from the general sessions, read proposed amendments, and see how the votes went. You can even follow the NCCUMC on Twitter.

I applaud those folks who made the effort to put this online for those of us who could not attend. This is a great way to increase lay involvement in the workings of the Church.

Memorial Day Prayer

Paul — Tue, 26 May 2009 02:38:20 +0000

Today was Memorial Day in the U.S. This is a day when we remember those who have died in military service to the country. In my experience there is a tendency for patriotism and religion to get intermingled and even confused on days like this (and July 4th). Our pastor, Scott Wilson-Parsons, gave a prayer in the service yesterday that, in my opinion, honors both patriotism and God, and does not confuse the two. Portions of it are copied here with Scott’s permission.

“On this memorial day, O God, we remember. We pray that we may never forget, but always remember before God that in your sight, war is evil and that to all who experience it, war is brutal and cold.
Let us pray for leaders who send the young to war, that their judgment be sound and their motives be pure.
Let us pray for soldiers who lay down their lives for others, that the love which inspires their sacrifice may be fulfilled in the love of Christ.
Let us pray for soldiers who have been maimed or brutalized by war that our love for them may make their scars of no consequence and make their brutality yield to the tenderness of returning love.
Let us pray for those of us who are left behind, that we may live on in the strength of the love that we knew.
And, O God, let us pray for those who suffer most from war, that the homeless, the orphaned, the hungry and the innocent may help us to turn from warlike ways to accept God’s gift of peace.

Father, help us never to forget that war is a human invention created by our failure to find our peace in you..
Help us to honor its dead and to pray for its victims who live on, help us to pray always for peace…
As your gathered church today, we pray for peace, we pray for our leaders, we pray for our enemies.

Help us, O God as we struggle. Help us to be your church. Amen.”