2 fROM ThE EDiTOR


ThE WEsT ViRGinia UniTED METhODisT • www.wvumc.org


DECEMBER 2010


21st Century Circuit Riders Sharing connection in the digital age


FROM THE EDITOR


Laura Allen


U


nited Methodists oſt en refer to the power of ‘the con-


nection.’ Our system of working together from the lo- cal church/parish level all the way through to the general church is a powerful part of our present and past. In 18th


century America,


Methodism connected the rural frontier of a young na- tion through ‘Circuit-Riders’, preachers assigned by the Bishop to serve more than one church. Circuit-Riders had a hard, lonely existence. Travelling on horseback with only what could fi t in their saddlebags, they faced long periods of separation from home and family. I wonder what an 18th


cen-


tury circuit rider would have thought about the iPhone. It would have fi t easily into a saddle-bag, and with it, they could stay connected with the churches on the circuit they were assigned to. With this device, they could


have kept up on all the stories this year that had a Methodist connection, such as the Haiti earthquake last January and the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster in April. T rough the Facebook application, a circuit rider would have helped raise funds for earth- quake relief, and reassured his churches through prayer and scripture. Perhaps all of us are circuit


riders now. T e tools of new media off er an opportunity for us to share who we are as fol- lowers of Jesus with the world. T is year, we’ve shared our story through Facebook, You- Tube, Flickr, and Twitter, and you’ve told the story with us.


UNITED METHODIST The West Virginia


RESIDENT BISHOP Ernest s. Lyght EDITOR


Laura harbert allen ASSISTANT EDITOR adam Cunningham PRODUCTION ashley Perks


Dr. William H. Wilson Dr. J.F. Lacaria


Rev. Thomasina Stewart Rev. Amy Shanholtzer


Director of Connectional Ministries Director of Leadership


formation and Ministry support Director of Ethnic Ministries


Director of Evangelism and Congregrational Development


T e West Virginia United Methodist is published by the Communications Team in the


Connectional Ministries offi ce of the West Virginia Annual Conference in Charleston. Telephone: 1-800-788-3746. E-mail address: wvumc@wvumc.org. Mailing address: P.O. Box 2313, Charleston, WV, 25238.


Internet Address: http://www.wvumc.org. Non-profi t postage paid at Elkins, WV.


Submission of stories for publication is encouraged. Unless otherwise noted the deadline is the fi ſt eenth of the month preceding publication. Subscription rate - $15.00 per year. Signed letters to the editor and opinion articles refl ect the views of the authors and not necessarily the opinions of the West Virginia United Methodist or T e United Methodist Church. USPS 300


PhOTO By aDaM CUnninGhaM


Rev. Rodney Smothers hears input from a small group at the Bishop’s Convocation on the Black Church at West Virginia Wesleyan College in October. Smothers was one presenter during the event, which was an opportunity for African- American congregations and their pastors explore renewal and revitalization.


You can re-live Annual


Conference via our recorded streams at UStream T.V., leave a comment about a news story posted on Facebook, or download a picture for your bulletin from Flickr. Many of the stories in this


issue of the West Virginia United Methodist were fi rst seen online. For example, we tweeted Kathy Mattea’s per- formance (p. 7), and the story about Woodland UMC (p. 3) has been online for a few weeks now. T e United Methodist


Church has some powerful new tools to enhance and ex- tend our connection with the world. In the West Virginia Conference, that connection is shared with nearly 850 peo- ple who ‘like’ us on Facebook; with over 1,000 of our Twitter ‘followers’; and with the 1400 or so folks who get the enews in their inbox each week. When you think about it,


this is who we’ve always been – on the edge, out of bounds, unfettered by tradition. John Wesley leſt the walls of his church and preached to those outside its bound- aries, because that’s where the people were. He didn’t wait


for the world to understand the church; he pushed the church to be relevant in the world. We have an


opportunity to seize that rel- evance again – by sharing and creating our story. In the 18th


centu-


ry, church mem- bers and communities had to wait for the circuit rider to hear news of ‘the connection’. We are the circuit riders of century. Let’s take our


the 21st


connection and story where the people are, and let them share it with us.


BISHOP’S CONVOCATION


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