Just because we are now five districts does not mean we have less land to cover or fewer disciples to make. In our district it does not mean there will be less to do, that is for sure.
We always need more volunteers. I have never attended any UMC event where I heard we have way too many volunteers.
Lay leadership takes us all. Some districts may opt to have two lay leaders and maybe two lay servant ministry directors. With the amount of area being covered and number of churches, this will be needed.
If you do not feel like your gifts are being utilized, have you reached out to your district lay leader or district superintendent to let them know? District lay leaders are available for you to utilize as laity. That’s why the Book of Discipline requires it to be a position with every District Superintendent.
If you have not reached out, please do! There are many ways to get involved. Also, please make sure you have correct information in Brick River and with your district office. We cannot reach you if we don’t have your information.
You never know what just making yourself available can do!
District events started up this year with District Gatherings. For some districts this had not happened since 2020. There were training courses and business meetings to which each of you were invited to. These taught laity about vital roles in their church.
Kristen Harlin
Have you ever been asked to do something at church and you did not know where to start? These trainings help with how to be on trustees, finance, SPRC, lay leader, but they also give us the opportunity to expand our connectionalism.
Connectionalism has been the most helpful thing to me to come from these events. The relationships I made at the events allow me the opportunity to pick up my phone to call, text, or email someone in the connection to ask a question.
I have friends in every district that have valuable knowledge. I check in with them from time to time to catch up or to pick their brain about how to do something.
Have you attended a District Lay Servant Ministries Training? If you have not, just go to one class and see if you can leave without a new friend, being fed by the Holy Spirit, or having a new skill. I have attended in other districts to be taught and to lead classes. You do not have to attend in your district, you can attend anywhere in Oklahoma. I encourage you
to do this. Check the OKUMC website for more information.
The new Northeast District will be hosting two training courses in the fall one in August which will be an overnight retreat at Egan and one in September in the Tulsa area. I may or may not be teaching a class and trying to recruit more helpers.
Do you want to know more about Lay Leadership? Lay Servant Ministry Trainings are the place to not only gain some knowledge, but you will also learn how to get plugged in and where you can use those gifts you may discover you did not know you had.
In Council Oak, we have a list of Certified Lay Speakers and Lay Servants who fill pulpits each week across the district and helping neighboring districts so pastors can have respite or if they have an emergency and their church does not have someone who likes to speak, then they are covered. Some phone calls happened Saturday night after 10 p.m., and the list still showed up. I enjoy visiting other churches to meet new people and how they are doing mission in their community.
Have you attended camp or volunteered at one of our missions and ministries? If you have not, I encourage you to read your Pre-Conference workbook. Find one that speaks to your interests then get connected.
Do you know where to get started? Get with your pastor or missions team at church to invite some of the mission and ministries to come visit you at your church. Despite what you have heard they will not just ask for money. They will in fact have hands-on opportunities for you.
Project Transformation had Facebook posts just this week looking for more help for people to read to children, serve in kitchen, provide dinner, snacks, or drinks. They host over 150 children in four sites, I bet there is one in or near your new district. Call 405-530-2000 and talk to Marla Lobo.
CJAMM sent out emails just last week needing help with New Day for volunteers to assist with camp. This seems like too much of a commitment? What about delivering household items, clothing or food to the Exodus Houses to help those re-entering society? Providing a meal to a Redemption Mission? cjamm.org
Cookson Hills needs assistance with many things also. They have volunteer days where your church can volunteer for a day and they will have projects for you to do.
Camps need paid employees, but they also need leaders to volunteer just a few days of their time. You cannot this summer? You’re already booked? Great
news, in the off seasons camps need help too, making sure the camp stays in great condition.
Are you looking for a way to help or get involved? Check the Contact, okumc. org, and Facebook. I run the Council Oak District UMC Laity Page and post things for churches and volunteer opportunities for our mission and ministries. If you look on OKUMC.org, it will give you contact information for lay leaders, connectional ministries, district superintendents. Call the ministry center and they will point you in the right direction.
When I say we are connected I mean it. Connectionalism is what we do bestwhen we communicate. I am truly a life changed by connectionalism. I am not a cradle United Methodist. My husband and son are.
In 2008 my pastor said I needed to attend this class. It was the basic class to become a lay servant. After the class I took a certified laity class. What I found from this is it was not just training I
learned more about faith, discipleship, connectionalism and gifts are given from God to equip us to serve.
Since the class I have served in numerous ways within the connection and have many friends. Our family moved across the state in 2012, we immediately found a UM church and were able to plug in .
My husband Kerry and son Chandler (13 years old) are certified lay servants and I am a lay speaker. We love the connectionalism! We have been to churches all over the state to participate and assist in ministry work.
Kristen Harlin is the District Lay Leader for the Council Oak District and will be part of the Northeast District.
Greetings, grace and peace in the strong name of Jesus Christ.
It was my honor and joy to preside over my final Annual Conference session with you last week. We heard reports of transformational ministry, received updates from our delegation to the recent General Conference, honored eighteen pastors who retired from active ministry and sent eight new pastors (four commissioned and four ordained) into the world, which is our parish. We unveiled a teaching and worship resource for celebrating the 240th anniversary of Methodism in America and many of you participated in a Day of Learning about communities impacting poverty.
At the same time, I understand that some members of the Conference felt confusion and uncertainty based on the motion and vote to adjourn without a final vote on the resolutions that had been debated on Saturday. I would like to address a few concerns which have been raised since then.
Robert’s Rules of Order classifies a motion to adjourn a privileged motion that supersedes ordinary business. A member of the conference can make a privileged motion while other business is pending. That is what happened during our meeting, and it is in order. Based on the rules, such a motion is not debatable or amendable, which is why speeches on that motion were not allowed.
The two resolutions which had been calendared for action were both aspirational resolutions. This means they express an opinion which would have become the opinion of the conference should they have been approved. These two resolutions did not in any way impact the recent decisions of General Conference.
We have been in touch with The Board of Church and Society and they are going to continue to work on the two resolutions, meet with others in the conference, create educational materials and will move them through the process for presentation at next year’s conference session.
CONTACT US TODAY TO PROVIDE FOR THE MINISTRIES OF YOUR CHURCH AND LASTING GOOD IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Let me remind you that the actions of the recent General Conference empower our churches and our clergy to follow their conscience as it relates to weddings in their contextual ministry settings. We are bound by the decisions of the General Conference.
I appreciate all the ways you all honored me for my time among you, but I want to say one more time what a privilege it has been
to serve the Oklahoma Area of the United Methodist Church. As Paul said to Philippians, “I thank my God for every remembrance of you, always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”
Faithfully yours,
James G. Nunn
This spring has been busy with storms in Oklahoma. Some of the storms have been predicted days ahead of time and others show up suddenly.
One Sunday evening, I found myself at Canyon Camp for a training session and with limited wi-fi and no meteorologist breaking in to give updates and warnings, we had to depend on the skies for our predictions.
Gazing into the clouds from the porch of Miller Hall, we recognized that the clouds were taking on a unique appearance. The clouds began to look like cotton balls - a type of cumulonimbus rain cloud called a mammatus cloud.
Add in the lightning and thunder, and we knew that storms were near. However, the anxiety that normally accompanies a storm was not present.
Our knowledge of Oklahoma weather patterns told us that the worst of the weather was north and east of us - so we settled into our rocking chairs under a
covering and watched the light show.
Afterward, I reflected on being at camp and away from the constant barrage of information. The weather circumstances did not change, but the way we reacted did. We were able to be in the moment and experience nature without someone else filling us
with anxiety. When a camper attends one of the three Oklahoma United Methodist Church camp locations, they can power down from the technology and pressures of their daily lives and live in the moment.
What a lesson to learn about silencing the noise around us and focusing on what God may be trying to communicate.
A storm gathers over Canyon Camp. Photos by Kathryn Witzel.
The first person to tell me that they recognized my call to ministry was my dad. One summer evening when I was 12, I was sitting at a picnic table in the backyard while my dad was grilling our dinner. He asked me what I wanted to be when I was grown. I told him I wasn’t sure, and asked what he thought I’d be good at doing. He responded that he thought I’d make a great pastor, but regardless of what I did he was sure I’d be good at it. I’m grateful that my dad could recognize and hold on to God’s call on my life for me until I was ready to accept it for myself.
Though I’ve been a pastor for 11 years, it was just this past fall when I got to serve in worship leadership with my dad for the first time. He was asked to officiate a funeral for a long-time church member, and I was invited to assist as I knew the family, too. Though it was a sad occasion, I felt an unusual sense of peace knowing that my dad and I were working together to give glory to God for the life of a saint of the church. I think it gave him a sense of comfort to have a familiar partner in ministry to rely on in the worship service. I hope we have more opportunities to serve in worship together in the future!
Rev. Katie Paul
When I met Michael eight years ago, I was looking for someone who would affirm and support my call to ministry as well as work alongside me in the church. And what better partner for a pastor than a fellow clergyperson (in my humble opinion!)? Balancing three churches and two young children is difficult, to say the least, but there’s no one I’d rather do it with than Michael. His gifts, his passion for ministry, and his love for God and God’s people make me proud to call him my partner in ministry and in life. I’ve never doubted his belief in my calling and his confidence in my abilities is a constant source of encouragement on my hardest days.
I thought I loved Michael when we married, but I have felt that love grow 100-fold as I have watched him become a father and grow as a parent and person. He demonstrates the support, love, care, enthusiasm, and much needed silliness we all hope parents will provide for their children. He is gentle, present, and navigates fatherhood with intention and unfaltering dedication. Both our sons wholeheartedly love and trust him and know that they come first in his life—no matter what. As much as ministry is a calling for him, he is also called to fatherhood—and he fulfills that calling beautifully. We are so blessed to call him ours.
Rev. Emily Robnett
Father’s Day is a happy day for me this year. My beloved husband, Alex, has always dreamed of being a dad and he’s in his second year of being an incredible father. Clergy spouses don’t get enough appreciation for all they do. Lord knows my own ministry wouldn’t be possible or nearly as fruitful without Alex’s unwavering support and generosity. Lord knows there’s been seasons when he’s had to step up as technical support, puppeteer, and nursery worker.
There are many weekends when I have to work because of a funeral, church business, or some crisis has emerged. He steps into dad mode and Saturdays have become daddy fun days for our daughter – they go grocery shopping, visit the park, and go for bike rides. He fills her world with magic, wonder, and love. While Alex is pouring into our daughter love and support that I know will fuel her development and discipleship for years to come, he’s also setting her expectation of what men in her life should be: kind, generous, loving, supportive, and good. As his partner in all things, I can’t begin to express how fun it has been to watch this part of him bloom. It’s like a new part of him came alive the day he became a dad. He is thriving in the role, and I just want to celebrate this man every day for the incredible human he is. I thank God for Alex in my life and the joy of having such a great partner and co-parent.
Rev. Betsy Stewart-Doolin
One of the joys of being a parent is when your child becomes a parent. Watching our son with his daughters shows us a side of him that many do not observe. He dances, laughs, guides, and teaches. They bring out a softness in him that is needed in his role as a pastor. Being raised at Village United Methodist Church, Trey was cared for by adults of all ages. There were mentors and guides that showed him how to be a Christian. We were lucky that there were several men in the congregation that were able to be role models for him when he went through those teen years that can be so difficult. Those men were telling him the same thing his father would and validating his calling.
Now that Trey is serving at McFarlin United Methodist Church, we see him recognizing the impact of the church members on his own children. He affirms the adults and youth that care for his girls and how important that is for their own development. It is easy for pastors’ children to see the church as a competition for their parent’s attention. I applaud Trey’s commitment to seeing the church as an extension of their family. The local church’s ability to love the children of their pastors and staff is a beautiful way to support their families and prevent burnout. On Father’s Day, we celebrate the men who are fathers and the men who father. The wonder of a multigenerational church like the United Methodist Church is the ability for children to experience the presence of additional caring adults of all ages.
Kathryn Witzel
What are these cute kiddos doing? Find out in a future issue of The Contact! Hint: They’re at Ceili Camp! Submitted photos.
1. Show up. The payout of just showing up and committing goes a long way. It builds confidence, and with that growth, your mindset begins to change.
2. Find an anchor. This can be what grounds you. For many, that anchor is faith. Have faith and trust in God when everything else seems to go dark.
3. Ask why. This is really simple. In order to change your thinking, you have to dig deeper into what it is that’s causing a reaction. Asking why over and over again is a great technique for understanding yourself and your thinking.
4. Step out of your comfort zone. Our mindset will only begin to change if we allow ourselves to be exposed to the possibilities of change. Strive to learn something new every day
5. Look at things from a different view. Why do others believe the way they do? What must this look like for them?
6. Slow down. Science says we make 35,000 decisions a day; therefore, it makes sense that half the time our minds are on autopilot. When you slow down, you turn off autopilot and begin to notice things around you.
7. Eliminate excuses and create solutions. How often do you use the word “but?” Eliminate that qualifier and find out what you can do with the first part of the sentence. Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m not a racist, but...” What would happen if the words after the “but” were excised?
Adapted from “7 Practical Ways to Change Your Thinking and Change Your Life” by Akina Chargualaf of LifeHack
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The Ministry Center is closed June 19 in observance of Juneteenth. It will also be closed July 4 for Independence Day.
Share your event or job opportunity in the Contact For consideration, email your listing to editor@okumc.org.
