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

The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell "When you have a winner's mentality, you have to know how to get up. When you get knocked down, stay there for a while."

The four-day event, hosted by Saint Luke Community United Methodist Church, focused on “Making Healthy Connections,” a theme inspired by Ephesians 4:16—“…joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”

Attended by some 500 participants, the convocation was designed to help United Methodist pastors and leaders of African American congregations be intentional about focusing on healthy options that connect spirit, body, and mind.

The event featured plenaries, prayer times, worship celebrations, and workshops that advocated keeping in touch and in tune with the Holy Spirit, modeling stewardship of the physical body, and understanding how thinking profoundly influences living and being.

Pastors need to call a time-out
The Rev. Freddie Haynes, pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas preached a sermon titled, “If you want to walk on water, you need to call a time-out.” Haynes took his text from Matthew 14:22-23.

“In verse 22, Jesus dismisses the crowd and calls a time-out, he said. Ego will cause you to kick it with the crowd, rather than dismiss the crowd. Jesus had sense enough to call time out!”

"When Jesus went to the mountain, he came down with more power. In this text, he came down and walked on water.”

Using a NASCAR racing analogy, Haynes reminded pastors that they, too, must call a time-out to get refueled. “If you call time out when it’s calm, God will keep you calm in the storm,” he said.

The Mindset of a Winner: A winner knows when to get up
The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of Windsor Village UMC in Houston, Texas, both mesmerized and inspired the gathering with a sermon on the “Mindset of a Winner.”

Caldwell showed video clips from the baseball game where Reggie Jackson hit four home runs in a row in the 1976 World Series to illustrate how a winner thinks; and he showed clips of the match up between Mike Tyson and Buster Douglass to demonstrate what to do when you get knocked down.

The Rev. Vance P. Ross and The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell

“A winner knows how and when to get up,” he told the crowd packing the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Anatole Hotel.

“When you have a winner's mentality, you have to know how to get up. When you get knocked down, stay there for a while,” he said.

"The mistake most people make when they get knocked down is to jump up too soon. They jump up so that nobody can see them."

But Caldwell suggests you stay down, and while you are down, ask yourself some questions.

“The first thing you want to ask is, “How did I get here? What happened?”

When Caldwell finally rose to illustrate how to get up once you have been knocked down, he called the GBOD Associate General Secretary, the Rev. Vance P. Ross to the pulpit, where the two strollel for several minutes, reminiscent of Jesus walking in the garden.

Quoting favorite Scriptures from the Bible, Caldwell reminded the group of the importance of walking with the Lord and reading the Bible.

Shadow boxing around the stage, he told the crowd, “You had lost your fight. You were ready to roll with the punches.

"From this day forward [you can declare], I will get what I fight for. I will fight for my health. I will fight for my equilibrium. I will fight for my family. I will fight for a balanced life. I will fight for an equitable compensation package,” Caldwell said.

“We may fall and we will stay down until [God] says rise. We will stroll where [God] leads us. The winner is in you. You are more than a conqueror,” he said

.On Friday, the convocation participants were transported to Saint Luke UMC for dinner and an evening worship and Communion service, where the Rev. Gregory Palmer, resident bishop of the Iowa Area preached from Matthew 26:26.

"We were dead in our trespasses, but in Christ, we have been made alive.”

Participants could choose from a variety of workshops, including clergy self-care, managing anger and stress, preparing for the future, faces of depression, the prayer experience, healthy congregations, recognizing and responding to burnout, exercise, nutrition and good health, healthy sexuality, and balancing ministry and family.

Among the plenary and worship leaders were:

* The Rev. Dennis Blackwell, senior pastor, Asbury UMC, Merchantville, NJ
* The Rev. Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, senior pastor, Windsor Village UMC, Houston
* The Rev. Joseph W. Daniels, Jr., senior minister, Emory UMC, Washington, DC
* The Rev. Safiyah Fosua, director, invitational preaching, The General board of
Discipleship, Nashville, Tenn.
* The Rev. Telley Gadson, senior pastor, Saint Mark UMC, Sumter, SC
* The Rev. Hayes T. Gainey, Jr., senior pastor, Edisto Fork UMC, Orangeburg, SC
* The Rev. Frederick D. Haynes, III, senior pastor, Friendship-West Baptist
Church, Dallas
* The Rev. Walter Kimbrough, pastor emeritus, Cascade UMC, Atlanta, GA
* The Rev. Geraldine McClellan, district superintendent, Gainesville District,
Gainesville, FL
* The Rev. Dr. Pat McKinstry, senior pastor, Upton UMC, Toledo, OH
* Bishop Gregory V. Palmer, Iowa Area, The United Methodist Church,
* The Rev. Rudy Rasmus, co-pastor, St. John’s UMC, Houston
* The Rev. Juanita Rasmus, co-pastor, St. John’s UMC, Houston
* The Rev. Kelvin Sauls, director, congregational development, General Board of
Discipleship, Nashville, Tenn.
* Bishop James E. Swanson, Sr., Holston Conference, Knoxville, Tenn.

This is the fifth annual convocation for pastors of African American congregations 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

"Convocation for Pastors Focuses on Healthy Connections"

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

"McKinstry Leads Worship and Healing Service"

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