Steven Taylor had a life in engineering before the Lord called him to service in ordained ministry. Deeply formed by camping ministry, with a heart for the Northeast, Steven served in the Confessing Movement for many years before being entrusted with a lot of the leadership transitioning out of the UMC and into the GMC. This servant leadership was acknowledged as he was appointed to serve as the Conference Superintendent of the Northeast Annual Conference.

This conference has the highest population of any of our American conferences, with huge metropolitan areas. Even so, it is only a mid-sized conference with respect to the number of churches and average attendance. Its constituency is not necessarily representative of all of the constituencies in that region. Even so, Steven trusts in the Spirit and is optimistic about future prospects of making disciples and spreading scriptural holiness.

This was an edifying conversation about Steven's personal ministry, his theological insights in dialogue with demographic realities and challenges. Steven is liked and respected by many colleagues, and for good reason. I think it would be of benefit to many Global Methodists to consult his wisdom here in order to know how to pray, not just for the Northeast Conference, but also for our covenant body as a whole.

Northeast Conference Website - https://northeastgmc.org/

John Hollon is a Global Methodist elder serving in Ardmore, Oklahoma. He also leads the Heartland Annual Conference's mission and ministry work abroad alongside Superintendent McFall and others. He recently returned from a trip to visit our missional partners in Ethiopia.

In this conversation, we talk about John's background, our hopes for future collaborative mission work in the GMC, and the reasons for why engaging in missional partnerships is so key. Anyone with a heart for spreading scriptural holiness across the globe is going to enjoy this conversation very much.

To give to Ethiopian partnership - https://heartlandprovisionalannualconference.breezechms.com/give/online?fund_id=1903438

Ardmore FGMC - https://www.ardmorefirst.org/

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If you would like to join my Locals community, where I give a full morning briefing (where this came from), go to plainspoken.locals.com and become a supporter!

If you would like to subscribe to my pastoral Substack, where I publish articles on topics pertaining to pastoral ministry and Methodism, you can go to jeffreyrickman.substack.com.

If you would like to subscribe to the PlainSpoken Podcast Substack, where I publish articles, video, and audio pertaining to Methodism and the culture war, you can go to plainspokenpod.substack.com.

If you're not interested in any of that stuff, but you want to give directly to my church, you can go to https://tithe.ly/give?c=2198808 and make a donation there. Thanks!

What is it like to lose a church property? Ted Johnson, pastor of what used to be a United Methodist local church body, spent some time with me to tell his flock’s story. They have now come out on the other side, but it has been somewhat of a rough ride getting loose of the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the UMC. He and his people thought they had gotten free in 2021 when they changed their legal documents to reflect an independent status. Little did they know that, a few years later, the UMC would be demanding the property.

I have covered Warrington a couple of times on my live stream, picking up first the statement from the conference and then reading an article published at AL.com. Many details were lost on me around how it was that the congregation may or may not have been acting in good faith. I have already done a good deal of coverage on this annual conference, on legal insights from Dan Parsons and Lloyd Lunceford, and on the Association of Independent Methodists, which is the new home for this congregation.

I decided to be a platform for this conversation because I still very much have a heart for those left behind after disaffiliation was ended. Hundreds of congregations remain within the UMC because they are not altogether sure what might happen to their properties, their pocketbooks, or their spiritual wellbeing if they entertain certain options. It is only by talking through particular cases that local churches can do the calculus needed to make informed decisions. I hope that this conversation helps you and your congregation to discern your way forward.

Consider Warrington Church at www.warringtonchurch.com.

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If you would like to join my Locals community, where I give a full morning briefing (where this came from), go to plainspoken.locals.com and become a supporter!

If you would like to subscribe to my pastoral Substack, where I publish articles on topics pertaining to pastoral ministry and Methodism, you can go to jeffreyrickman.substack.com.

If you would like to subscribe to the PlainSpoken Podcast Substack, where I publish articles, video, and audio pertaining to Methodism and the culture war, you can go to plainspokenpod.substack.com.

If you're not interested in any of that stuff, but you want to give directly to my church, you can go to https://tithe.ly/give?c=2198808 and make a donation there. Thanks!

Many of you know of Vic Reasoner. He's a prolific writer and publisher on all things Wesleyan. He's a great resource for people in different Methodist bodies. In this conversation, we talk about the topic of Methodism's doctrine of scripture. Many in leadership today make the case that to follow in the footsteps of those original Methodist revivalists is to have a more comprehensive understanding of the scriptures than many of today's inerrantists. There has effectively been a stink put on the notion of a simple and plain people who simply read the scriptures and submit to the bible as ultimately authoritative in their lives.

As a Global Methodist, I want to have a sober conversation about the pitfalls that await us depending on the doctrines we preach and uphold. Is there a way for Global Methodism to guard against the degradation of liberalism (as seen in The United Methodist Church) without reclaiming a higher doctrine of scriptural inspiration and authority? Vic was an excellent dialogue partner with respect to this topic.

If you're interested in following up on this topic by reading Dr. Reasoner's work on the topic, here is your link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bCC2NtJeDMTC150rznLMVPp_rSAf-W1L/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117124792218903575974&rtpof=true&sd=true ———————————

If you would like to join my Locals community, where I give a full morning briefing (where this came from), go to plainspoken.locals.com and become a supporter!

If you would like to subscribe to my pastoral Substack, where I publish articles on topics pertaining to pastoral ministry and Methodism, you can go to jeffreyrickman.substack.com.

If you would like to subscribe to the PlainSpoken Podcast Substack, where I publish articles, video, and audio pertaining to Methodism and the culture war, you can go to plainspokenpod.substack.com.

If you're not interested in any of that stuff, but you want to give directly to my church, you can go to https://tithe.ly/give?c=2198808 and make a donation there. Thanks!

This is the fourth of a four-part series that Rev. Dr. Pete Bellini and I agreed to do. It is aimed at equipping individuals and churches to do discipleship better in the local church. Christianity requires intentional discipleship, but that is easier said than done. Thus far, we have worked to establish listeners and participants to better understand our undergirding beliefs about the nature and call of holiness, about the context of the local church, and about the yearning all believers should have for Christlikeness.

Today's segment will be concerned with the nuts and bolts of daily discipleship for all believers. We are all aware on some level that the faith of Jesus Christ requires a changed way of life. Yet that language is quite broad and vague. Given that we cannot subjectively determine these things, we need to approach this subject objectively. Take the time to join us, and engage us with questions as we go along. We want to make sure this speaks to people practically and directly. Help us do that!

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If you would like to join my Locals community, where I give a full morning briefing (where this came from), go to plainspoken.locals.com and become a supporter!

If you would like to subscribe to my pastoral Substack, where I publish articles on topics pertaining to pastoral ministry and Methodism, you can go to jeffreyrickman.substack.com.

If you would like to subscribe to the PlainSpoken Podcast Substack, where I publish articles, video, and audio pertaining to Methodism and the culture war, you can go to plainspokenpod.substack.com.

If you're not interested in any of that stuff, but you want to give directly to my church, you can go to https://tithe.ly/give?c=2198808 and make a donation there. Thanks!

Rev. Dr. Chris Lohrstorfer is a man who wears many hats. The initial reason I reached out to him was because he is a professor at Wesley Biblical Seminary, and I want to learn more about their environment. I have spoken with folks at United Theological Seminary, Asbury Theological Seminary, and Mid America Christian University. I hope to, over time, be able to help students discern which higher educational institutions might be a good fit for them.

We had a really balanced conversation on the role that classical Methodist doctrine needs to play in the present moment. Chris is a pastor and professor, mentor and thinker. I knew almost nothing about him before we visited. I was delighted at the conversation we had.

Link to his book - "Learning to Breathe: Mastering the Art of Spiritual Respiration" - https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Breathe-Mastering-Spiritual-Respiration

Rev. Dr. Ben Witherington has recently published a book on the historic notion of sola scriptura, which was a central contention of the Protestant Reformation. Though, as he reveals, its roots actually go back further than that. Witherington is eminently qualified in this subject as one who has been publishing on biblical interpretation since the 1980s.

In this segment, we discuss the history of biblical interpretation, starting with the early church, also visiting the Methodist Revival. We speak to the present moment and the challenge of contemporary covenant bodies in adopting a right lens through which we read the scriptures.

Links: "Sola Scriptura: Scripture's Final Authority in the Modern World" - https://a.co/d/2MM86aT Dr. Witherington's Website - https://www.benw3.com Dr. Witherington's Patheos - https://www.patheos.com/blogs/bibleandculture/

This series is aimed at helping local churches and their people to hunger and thirst for righteousness as our Savior directs. Once upon a time, there were fervent believers called Methodists who practiced holiness of heart and life, watching over one another in love. They effectively spread scriptural holiness across the land. Many of us aim to do the same thing today, but a reorientation is in order. We have learned the wrong ways, believed wrongly about a few things. Rev. Dr. Pete Bellini is helping to set me and my audience straight!

Today's topic is on the "nature of true discipleship." We live in a counterfeit world with a lot of pretension and hypocrisy. We would like to think this stuff doesn't enter the church, but it does. How do we navigate and combat these things? Join us live as we speak with an audience (you) and seek God's truth together.

Have those of us in the Methodist tradition had the right theology around the sacrament of communion? Specifically, are we right to let anyone come to the table? A few today, including me, are of the mind that we would do well to reinvestigate this particular practice. I don't doubt the good intentions of those who welcome everyone to the table, but I have come to suspect that we are doing harm in this practice.

Jarrod Neal is fellow Global Methodist clergy. He doesn't agree with me, but that's okay. We have communicated via text and now we're going to actually talk through some of these things face to face for the benefit of an audience. So join us with your questions and contributions as we go live here in a minute.

Empathy is generally seen as a universal good. Similar to love, we imagine it to be universally virtuous. Dr. Joe Rigney has recently published a book that questions this presupposition, arguing that empathy can be and has been used to co-opt and destroy institutions. In a recent development at Wheaton College, a rather innocent social media post resulted in a full blown crisis among the alumni. Rigney went viral on X when he was able to explain the mechanics of how this “steer” worked.

Joe was kind enough to visit with me about the substance of his new book in reference to my former tribe, The United Methodist Church, which was effectively overtaken by those who use empathy as a wedge. I seek his insight about how it is that institutions can be wise to such weakness, and how it is that we can guard ourselves against future incursion by these spiritual forces.

While Dr. Rigney represents a different strand of the Reformed tradition than I do, I found his contributions to this larger social question to be timely and helpful. How do we navigate a world of competing subjective interests without reacting towards sociopathy? How do we find a healthy and stable place in between the extremes offered? What does the ideal spiritual leadership look like? I hope you enjoy thinking through these questions with us, and that you might find helpful answers!

Links:

“Anatomy of a Steer” X Thread - https://x.com/joe_rigney/status/1888349456493404330

Dr. Rigney’s Faculty Page - https://nsa.edu/contributors/joe-rigney

Order The Sin of Empathy - https://canonpress.com/products/the-sin-of-empathy