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Convocation for Pastors Focuses on Healthy Connections

(January 9, 2007, GBOD) -- Some 500 United Methodist pastors and church leaders gathered for the 2007 Convocation for Pastors of African American Churches meeting at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas through January 6.

The annual event is sponsored by The United Methodist Church General Board of Discipleship, headquartered in Nashville, and hosted by Saint Luke Community United Methodist Church in Dallas.

Focusing on "Healthy Connections: Spirit, Body, and Mind," the gathering got underway with three plenary sessions and an evening worship and healing service centered on the theme.

Agency executive the Rev. VanceP. Ross told the gathering of church leaders, “We don’t need anymore casualties of this war. If the pastor is not healthy, there is no need to expect the congregations to be so. You are set apart and you must be healthy. We need to make some healthy connections,” he said.

The first day of the event focused on things of the spirit. In plenary session one, “Soul People, Spiritual People,” which was led by the Rev. Safiyah Fosua, director of invitational preaching ministries for GBOD, participants were transported to Ezekiel’s’ valley of dry bones. “Spirit is not something you keep to yourself.” Something happens to Africana people when they move in the spirit together. We [can make] bigger waves if we just move together and come together in the spirit.

"In Ezekiel 37, [the prophet] preached to the dry bones. After the bones were joined together, God put muscle on them and gave them strength. He put skin on them and gave them an identity. The bones did not come to life until the Holy Spirit breathed on them,” Fosua told the church leaders. She challenged the group to come together, get strong, and discover their identity and let the Holy Spirit breathe on their lives, ministries, and communities.

Suggesting that Isaiah 59 raises a standard, she explained that in the text, “we encounter the Spirit of God holding things together. Nothing that is worth anything comes without risks. We have become at ease in Zion. We have forgotten how to put it on the line. The spirit is not a thing for you to possess by yourself.”

In a Sunday morning worship/retreat-like setting, church leaders were admonished and cajoled to be healthy leaders leading healthy congregations. Pastors were told they had to intentionally focus on those things that would lead them to making healthy connections in all areas of life.

Health, exercise, practicing the spiritual disciplines, prayer and fasting, and Sabbath rest ruled the day.

This is the fifth convocation for Pastors of African American Churches sponsored by the General Board of Discipleship.

The General Board of Discipleship’s mission is to support annual conference and local church leaders for their task of equipping world-changing disciples. An agency of The United Methodist Church, The General Board of Discipleship is located at 1908 Grand Ave. in Nashville, Tenn. For more information, call the Media Relations Office toll free at (877) 899-2780 Ext. 7017.

Other News Coverage of the 2007 Convocation of Pastors of African American Churches

"Daniels Tells Pastors to See the Community As Their Parish"

"McKinstry Leads Worship and Healing Service"

"Pastors Need to Know When to Call Time-Out and When to Get Up!"

This article was written by by Jeanette Pinkston, Media Relations Director for the General Board of Discipleship.