The first four years in ministry were spent as an associate pastor. This role gave me a lot of flexibility and served to prepare me to be a pastor. Often I was surprised at the cynicism of senior staff members towards an annual reporting/meeting known as charge conference.

When we finally launched out into fulltime ministry at Berryville UMC, I began to understand for myself why they dreaded it so much. The report itself is fairly comprehensive in nature. It is designed to ensure that building...

Last week I wrote my newsletter article from home. Our entire family was tested last Monday, and gratefully everyone tested negative for the virus. When the results came in on Wednesday, there was a collective sigh of relief and hugs all around. Honestly, the whole episode was a severe shock to our sensibilities.

Leigh Ann Guest went above and beyond, helping us navigate the complexities of preparing to address the testing. She called with our test results, answered all of our questions, an...