8, 2024
General Superintendent
Max Edwards
I Love Our People and Our Churches
I truly treasure the blessing of serving as General Superintendent, having the opportunity to travel the country to fellowship and worship with our EMC family. We have congregations in big cities and in small towns. Some are as urban as you can get, such as First Filipino American EMC, nestled near the heart of San Diego, and some are as rural as can be, such as Little Orleans EMC in Flintstone, Maryland, or Grace Chapel in Prairie City, Oregon.
Just this last week, I landed in Atlanta, the busiest airport in the world, to take the short drive to Gospel Light Community Church in Marietta, GA. These precious EMC’ers have been meeting together for many years. Pastor Jim Parham pointed to a place at the altar where one current member prayed to receive Christ some 60 years ago. Pastor Parham himself is in his 90’s, and faithfully continues to lead, love, and shepherd this church. The people were warm and welcoming, and I treasured worshipping the King of Kings with them.
Earlier last week, I touched down in Raleigh, NC, driving west for 90 minutes to the small community of Tobaccoville, NC. My iphone’s GPS voice couldn’t even muster a correct pronounciation! The Wednesday night service was the culmination of their fall revival, and I had the privilege of preaching before the service concluded with the water baptism of four people who made a bold and clear statement of their faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Lord of the Universe. It was a beautiful evening!
The shepherd of Old Richmond EMC is Pastor Bruce Wham. Pastor Wham is less than half the age of Pastor Parham, but both are sold-out ministers with a clear call to preach. Both churches love to share the Gospel with people in their communities who will spend eternity in either heaven or hell. Their patterns of worship are different, and that is OK . Our Discipline makes it plain that “It is not necessary that rites and ceremonies should in all places be the same, or exactly alike; for they have been always different, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and men’s manners …” as long as nothing is done in contrast to the principles contained in God’s Word
It actually seems clear that our God likes diversity. Look around, if you’re not convinced. The faces and places around us tell us that we serve a God who is not stuck - - not boring - - not one-dimensional.
Thank you, Gospel Light, and thank you, Old Richmond, for being houses of worship that point people to the One and Only True and Living God. Keep it up, my friends.