Last week I had a great time hanging out with Pastoral Residents at the annual "Transition Into Ministry" Consultation at the University Place Conference Center on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IN). The Consultation is a program that is funded by the Lilly Endowment and coordinated through the Fund For Theological Education (FTE) which is based in Atlanta, GA. The purpose of this program is to provide resources to recent seminary graduates to help them in their earliest years. This event brings together recent seminary graduates who are currently in Pastoral Resident programs in churches of different denominations. These residents serve in these congregations for two years and can be ordained while residents. The overall goal is to ease the transition from student to pastor in order to keep good ministers in the local church because we all know that this transition can be very difficult and lead to burnout and people leaving the ministry.
We had a total of 97 people in attendance from different denominations - Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, United Church of Christ, Baptist and Disciples of Christ (Christian). I was invited by my friend Trace Haythorn, the President of the FTE. We co-lead a workshop on "The Importance of Pastor as a Public Leader" and I led a discussion group following our keynote addresses. We began with dinner and introductions on Monday evening, May 4th. The next day we heard from our keynote speaker, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, an associate minister at St. John's Baptist Church in Durham, NC and a leader in the new monastic movement. He spoke from his recent book New Monasticism: What It Has To Say To Today's Church. I highly recommend the book for your reading because I think the mainline churches can learn a great deal about new monasticism. On Wednesday Trace and I co-led three workshops (yes - THREE!) and the whole group relaxed with a night out on the town at Rock Bottom Cafe. After a short plenary with worship we ended the next day.
Overall I had a great time! In my ministry I truly enjoy getting to know and helping first-time young adult pastors. From all denominations, this group of pastors were very sharp and attuned to the world around them while at the same time respecting their own denominational traditions. I can say that I have hope for the future ministry of the Christian church! I am especially thankful to David J. Wood, the outgoing Director of the Transitions Into Ministry program as he answers a new call to the Glencoe (IL) Union Church this July and the staff at the Lilly Foundation as well as my friend Trace and his staff at FTE. I am also thankful for all the great pastoral residents at Bryn Mawr, Second, Central, and Fourth Presbyterian Churches as well as those from the Company of New Pastors. May God bless all of the pastoral residents in their ministry!
Thanks Byron! It was great to meet you...I have hope knowing pastors like you and Bruce have blazed a trail and are there to support us new pastors.
Posted by: Susan SB | May 11, 2009 at 09:57 AM
Susan - great to meet you as well! Hope you had a safe trip back home and thanks for the words of encouragement. Blessings to you and your ministry at Bryn Mawr and for the future ;-)
Posted by: Byron Wade | May 11, 2009 at 02:18 PM
Hi,
I would like to share with you a good ebook that's free to help pastors and their wives with discouragement and burnout. You can find it at: http://www.stoppastorburnout.com . It's quite helpful.
If you have pastor friends or even their wives, we are currently inviting pastors and pastor wives to join charter membership club for free for 2 months,you might want to share this with them. You may visit http://www.susandavidlifecoach.com/index.php/sponsors for more information.
We would also like to invite you to view our video on this topic at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miF-R0bCz0A.
Feel free to share this with your friends or people you care for.
Thanks,
Susan David
Posted by: Susan David | July 12, 2009 at 06:17 AM