Mark Calhoun

We Made It!!

Well…It’s been a very busy couple of weeks… Our tip to Montana began on June 15th, the day after I returned from the Yellowstone Annual Conference in Billings… We spent Sunday rounding up the U-Haul, packing, and loading the truck.   The next day, Monday the 16th, we were caught a bit off guard by some news from one of Julie’s doctors that she had Thyroid Cancer. After weighing the options… surgery in Wichita or waiting a few weeks and having the surgery in Missoula… we opted to postpone our departure and have the surgery. By 3:00 we were at the hospital, by 7:30 Julie was in surgery, and by 9:30 she had been relieved of both sides of her thyroid and a small cancerous cyst the size of a plum. After several days of rest at the Kromer Inn and Recovery Spa Julie was ready to make the trek north. In a week or so, Julie will meet with a oncologist in the area for a radioactive iodine treatment and some testing… we’ll keep you all posted prognosis… please continue to pray for Julie and her recovery.

The days following Julie’s surgery we had lots of help packing and loading… we closed on our house in Wichita on Friday the 20th and by Sunday we were on our way to Montana... Two U-Hauls, the ol’ trusty Dodge Dakota, a Mark, a Julie, a Zach, a Jake, a Samson, and a Nammy.   All in all it was a great trip… we hit most of our pilgrimage stops along the way… Taco Johns… LaFonda De Acebo... the Golden Holiday Inn…etc. We spent a rest day in Lander at my parent’s house, loaded up my mom’s friend Donna and took out for Big Sky Country. We arrived in Polson on Thursday the 26th, unloaded one truck at a storage facility, 30 or 40 boxes at the church, and spent Friday unloading the big truck into a rental house. For the month of July we will be staying on the Ranch of church members Greg and Lynn Gardiner. The ranch encompasses over 10,000 acres and is located about 17 miles Northwest of Polson. The days are very long here… the sun rises early and set tonight at 10:38 pm… It feels a tad remote where we are… it is very dark and night (no city lights) and it is very quiet and peaceful… it has taken us all a few days to settle in.   We went to church on Sunday and met lots of new people… it’s exciting and a bit intimidating all at the same time. Vacation Bible School is this week so we have been hanging out there in the mornings. For the past several years our church has teamed up with 4 other area churches for Vacation Bible School. This year, VBS is being held at the Lutheran church and is led by counselors from the Lutheran camp that is located about 20 miles up the road.

We are without satellite TV (we do have a DVD player though… ran “A River Runs Through It” last night and tonight) , phone, and internet service out at the ranch so things are pretty quiet… it is a nice break from the life we have been living… nobody is going crazy… yet. Tonight was our 4th night out at the ranch an our first major thunderstorm… amazing… it was quite an experience to watch the storm roll in from the mountains… the storm moved extremely slowly and settled in on top of us for several hours… the moisture will definitely help control the dust on the roads in the area.

Oops… forgot to mention one exciting thing… during our first night here in Polson a dang black bear decided to paw paint our truck… he didn’t get in, but he did do a fine job of wiping his muddy paws all over the back of the truck… the dog food was in the back of the truck in an air-tight container, but we think he sniffed it out anyways…

Today was my first official day in the new appointment!! A tad quiet around the ol’ church house… I did get to answer the phone twice… ‘First United Methodist Church, this is Mark’… but they were both wrong number calls.

That’s all for now… a few pictures here…

It is finished...

Graduation is starting to feel like a possibility....

...just a few more papers.

Saint Paul School of Theology

Kansas City, Missouri

announces that

Mark D. Calhoun

is a candidate for the degree

of

Master of Divinity

with a specialization in Evangelism

at the

Forty-seventh Commencement Convocation

Friday, May sixteenth

Two-thousand eight

at four o’clock

The United Methodist

Church of the Resurrection

13720 Roe Avenue

Leawood, Kansas 66224

Reception immediately following

So....

... I guess forty doesn't look so bad from where I am sitting.... you can't beat a pirate themed birthday party...

GC 2008 ~ Final

Well... it has been a week since I returned from General Conference, and a day or two since the final GC session. I have to admit it was quite an experience. On one hand, being somewhat allergic to the institutional nature of our denomination, there were many elements of General Conference that I found frustrating and discouraging, but on the other hand there were many things about General Conference that I found to be life-giving. In and of itself the notion of Holy Conferencing seems to set a certain hope-giving tone, although at some points I could not tell the difference between the floor of GC and the floor of Congress. There were, however, points in time when pieces of legislation were being debated and voted on that the body would turn intentionally to God, through silence or corporate worship, for wisdom and understanding. While the schedule and pace of GC is draining, I found myself energized by the worship, by the time I spent in Legislative Committees, and during break and meal times when I had a chance to visit with people from all over the world. People who, like me, have a passion for God, a passion for the Church, and in this case a passion for our United Methodist heritage. It was a blessing to be a visitor to this years General Conference... it was a blessing to work alongside the GCCUIC folks... and it was a blessing to travel to GC with Bishop Mutti and our friends and colleagues from Saint Paul School of Theology...

Here is a shortcut to all of my General Conference 2008 postings....

GC 2008 ~ Day 6 - part 2

Following lunch I found myself with Doug back in the Faith and Order Legislative Committee. This time the Petition at hand was one of extreme intensity...

Remove Exclusionary Language (80019-FO-¶304.3)

Amend ¶304.3 of The Book of Discipline, as follows:
While persons set apart by the Church for ordained ministry are subject to all the frailties of the human condition and the pressures of society, they are required to maintain the highest standards of holy living in the world. The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church.

Rationale:

The United Methodist Church acknowledges that all persons are of sacred worth. “Sexuality is God’s good gift to all persons”¹. Any prejudice based upon who a person is (his/her very being as a child of God) is incompatible with the teachings of Jesus.

72 - Delegates eligible to vote

24 - Votes to adopt

44 - Votes to reject

***Update - this vote carried as the main  floor (all 1000 Delegates) rejected the petition 579 votes against, 335 for***

This means that the language does not change...and the exclusive nature of the paragraph remains. In this case a minority report will most likely be filed and this petition will actually go to the main floor for debate. My guess is that this Legislative Committee is fairly representative of the entire floor and the results of a floor vote will be about the same. This process was handled very well by the chair. Following debate we had a minute of silence prior to the casting of the votes. While the votes were being counted we all stood and sang together.

Today, the church I love made a clear choice to stand outside of God's Love and Grace... that's a tad sad for those of us that proclaim that God's love is not selective and is for all of creation...

GC 2008 ~ Day 6 - part 1

At the beginning of each day, as we enter the conference center, there are lots of people on hand handing out all kinds of daily, pertinent information. here are a few photos of what that looks like...

GC 2008 ~ Day 5 - photo share 2

Tonight we took a little trip to the Ft. Worth StockYards for a dinner field trip...

GC 2008 ~ Day 5 - part 3

Today there have been several sensitivity issues running through my mind...

• The first one deals with something that I alluded to earlier. When I first read the petition dealing with the ELCA I naturally assumed that this petition had Global issues for United Methodism, but because this portion of the Lutheran communion has the word 'America' in the title, some of the Central Conference folks made the assumption, and drew attention to the notion that this petition might only have implications for United Methodists in America. I think that it was helpful for our brother from Africa to draw attention to this particular point of clarification.
• The second issue deals with the UMC mission statement petition that I pointed to in an earlier post. The petitions are printed in a Book Called the Daily Christian Advocate... there was an advanced version of the DCA printed and we receive updated volumes each day. As it turns out, the Advance version was printed in several languages including French, Spanish,and Portuguese. What we have learned is that some of the translations are not very accurate, in fact the first French version was rejected and had to go through another round of translating. In this instance, as we dealt with the mission statement, we all learned, from one of the translators, that the word make... as in 'make disciples of Jesus Christ' was actually translated 'Create.' As well, we have since learned that there were a number of locations where the word 'not' was left out and was not translated.
• A third instance that demanded attention regarding sensitivity came at the beginning of one of the Faith and Order Legislative sessions when a delegate asked for a point privilege to share something that was on his heart. As it turns out, this particular person, who happens to be the leader of his delegation, found himself at a local restaurant, which I won't name here... while at Bennigan's his order was somehow lost and eventually totally disregarded by the wait staff and ultimately this person was never served a meal. The interesting part to me was that it was pointed out to this person, by another member of his delegation, that this mix up with his meal was a deliberate act of intentional racism rather than a simple miscommunication between the wait staff and the kitchen. As a result of this story the entire room of delegates gathered around this person for a prayer and to extend words of comfort... While I am still processing this experience, I am sure of one thing... As Christians, in a global context, I think we are all called to be attentive in some way to issues such as this whether they are what they seem or not...
• My final instance is more of an observation than anything else. As it turns out, in each of the 13 Legislative committees you can find, within the gallery of visitors, a number of representatives of COSROW. COSROW is a watch dog group that reports to the General Conference, and to the denomination regarding the inclusivity of persons regarding a variety of isms like racism and sexism. I find it interesting that the COSROW representatives in the Legislative Committees that I have been watching have all been white females. I find that to be an interesting example of inclusivity. I am guessing that COSROW also watches itself and as a whole is represented well across sex, gender, and racial lines...

I bring all of these examples up in order to say that I think, as we navigate this world, we are all called by God to be sensitive to a variety of variables that in some way impact the entire context of our lives together. I am thankful for experiences like this that cause me to think.

GC 2008 ~ Day 5 - part 2

My big day on the floor...  Today I had the opportunity to check out a floor pass so that I could go down on the floor to take pictures. I suppose in some senses it is like stepping onto Holy Ground, as well, I suppose that in some senses it is not. Any hoo... I enjoyed my time down on the floor with the selected few who are busily about the task of shaping our doctrine and polity. Today was also Jayhawk day for the Kansas East and West delegation. Most everybody played by the rules and wore their shirts. Even Bishop Jones rose up in support and was recognized by the main floor as his challenge was read by the secretary. The challenge was in the form of a bid for a basketball held by one of the other bishops... I can't remeber all of the details...