Inspiration From Within

Greetings:

What a blast to have our Connectional Leadership Team in one room! We are truly grateful that you all gave up your Friday evening and Saturday to be with us. Your feedback was tremendously insightful. I was truly inspired by everyone’s enthusiastic support for our work together.There are so many people who worked incredibly hard to make this retreat what it was for us all.

Once again, thank you so much for your time and expertise you so graciously offered to us. Let us keep on plugging and plowing along the exciting journey ahead. There are so many people who worked incredibly hard to make this retreat what it was for us all.

Firstly, I need to thank the professionals who joined us, our retreat team leaders Susan Graebe and Carlin Johnson. I want to offer our heartfelt gratitude to Rev. Steve Casteel and his staff for making everything works so well for this retreat.

As our Connectional Leadership Team continue to work in peace and harmony to raise the bar in the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church, I hope you are able to ask yourself what is important in the work that you do – what is essential. You are then able to make all else secondary. You sacrifice the small points and forego the credit to make sure that the one thing that is really important gets done the way it needs to get done.

So, using this ability as a guide, I ask myself: what is essential for our church as a whole to grow and flourish? What do we have to do? What is God asking each of us to do? I have worked closely with many of you who came to the retreat and know what kind of leaders you are. There are so many generous people on this Connectional Leadership Team – people who have really committed themselves body and soul to our church. What more can the Mississippi Conference ask of you?

We need to connect more people to the United Methodist Church in more ways than we have thought of. We all know that over 50% of our communities are not affiliated with any church organization and do not FEEL the need to become connected. So let’s get busy getting them connected.

We need each of you to find ways to reach out and bring more people in. More people, younger people, and more diverse people. I say that as I turn to you, esteemed leaders, and ask what the hallmark of our leadership will be. What are you passionate about? What will be the legacy you leave for the next generation of the United Methodist Church? What trait do you have that is so exemplary that everyone on your prospective committees and tables wishes they could embody it?

We all came to the retreat this weekend committed. We each came to our prospective tables to think about what our next level of leadership is because leadership is not a one-size fits all proposition. It comes in different styles, different roles, and is suited to different needs.

We each have to challenge ourselves to get to that next level of leadership.

We have been giving the green light to go make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. And I say, let’s have a fun time doing it. Wherever you are, there is always somewhere else to go. Whatever your sphere of influence is, you can always expand it to include more people, more ideas, more breadth and more depth.

We’ve had an extraordinary retreat together. It has been a God-send for me as a way to begin this new journey on a high. We feel connected. Let’s translate our solidarity to a church that so desperately needs it. We have a motto at my home church. That motto is White Oak United Methodist Church is the church where Jesus Christ is in the center and his love is all around.

The message is clear: put Jesus in the center of your prospective tables and his love will –spill over into your teams. Let this retreat – all of its inspiring moments and positive energy – spill over into the ordinary days ahead and make them extraordinary. We each hold this challenge. I challenge myself continually and am asking you to do the same. Thank you for coming and thank you in advance for leaving this retreat with a personal challenge to strengthen your leadership and take it to new heights.

Blessings to you all,
Timothy Crisler
Conference Lay Leader