“A Future with Hope”
Bishop Ken Carter serves our denomination in Florida. Our paths crossed pleasantly in days gone by, and it’s good to read things like this from him earlier this week —
Three years ago today I was consecrated for the work of a bishop. I will always be grateful for the church that called me to this; it is a work in progress, and I am still learning. Almost daily I remember the wisdom of my friend Larry Wilkinson, a long time ago: it is a consecration, not a coronation!
Increasingly, I do sense that people want bishops to punish someone (choose your side of the aisle). There is accountability without punishment. I also sense that people want the accountability to be public (when it is the other) and private (when it is themselves or someone they love).
I remained convinced that there is a great deal of grace within our discipline, that there is a profound diversity within the generously orthodox Christian tradition (in which the Wesleyan stream flows), that secular perspectives on the church do not “get it”, since they are not of the spirit, and that the church media, including social media, is generally conformed to secular media, regarding the church. So don’t believe everything you read about the church on HuffPost or Fox.
I have stood amazed at the presence of the living Jesus in local church after local church (I have been in several hundred over these three years), and I am in awe of many elders, deacons and local pastors who give their lives to this work. I am especially excited about the younger clergy I know, and believe they will have extraordinary resources and opportunities to serve and lead. And we could not have imagined a better place to live or work than in the Florida Conference.
I am more hopeful than ever about the United Methodist Church. We will look very different in 7-10 years, and this has little to do with social issues—there are demographic shifts, and we are being pruned (John 15). But there is life and vitality, and, yes, to retrieve a phrase, “a future with hope”. I am blessed to be a part of that, in this way.
— Please celebrate leaders like him with me, and let’s keep all church leaders, laity and clergy alike, in our prayers.
joescheets 
In all my prayers!!
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