Month: May,2023

FULL IMPLICATIONS OF BEING PRO-LIFE

May 31, 2023 By dwayman

Rev. David Wisener, Redeemer Free Methodist Church

I’m concerned pro-life Christians aren’t being ethically comprehensive. We need to reflect a coherent ethic that does justice to the value of all human life. We need to both recognize how wide- ranging the issues are surrounding the protection of life and be more precise with how we define the stances we choose to take.

A prime example for more precision is The Book of Discipline’s statement regarding abortion: “The intentional abortion of a person’s life, from conception on, must be judged to be a violation of God’s command, ‘You shall not commit murder,’ except when extreme circumstances require the termination of a pregnancy to save the life of the pregnant woman.”

The statement implicitly assumes all instances of terminating a human embryo occur within a woman’s body, but that is not the case. What of embryos that are created as part of invitro fertilization? In this process, several are created and frozen until a couple decides what they want to do with them: one or more are selected to be implanted to carry to term, but what about the others? The only options available are for the couple to either donate them to other couples; donate them for scientific use; dispose of them; or keep them frozen.

Yet, if we are going to use the same ethical logic from The Book of Discipline stated above, unless a couple donates their remaining embryos to other couples,

A CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS

May 26, 2023 By dwayman

Rev. Dr. Keith Cowart

Beyond These Walls Conference (ILI)

The Woodlands: Houston, Texas

April 2023

Dr. Keith Coward is a candidate for bishop.  To see his introduction click here.  To hear his interview click here.

 

A Church Without Walls video click here.

 

Speaking of Jews and Gentiles, the Apostle Paul declares in Ephesians 2:14:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…

When I was 6 years old my parents made a decision that would shape my life in ways I never could have imagined. They decided to send me to the newly integrated public school instead of the brand new private school that most of my friends would be attending. As a result, I was one of the first in our county to attend twelve years in a fully integrated school. Most of my new friends were black. We went to class together. We were in the same clubs. We played sports together. That’s me circled in red – the kid with the great hair. (The Lord gives and the Lord takes away!) Now, there were some interesting policies in our school,

SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH

May 23, 2023 By dwayman

“A Surgeon General’s Advisory is a public statement that calls the American people’s attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. Advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action.”

More research is needed to fully understand the impact of social media; however, the current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. At this time, we do not yet have enough evidence to determine if social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents. We must acknowledge the growing body of research about potential harms, increase our collective understanding of the risks associated with social media use, and urgently take action to create safe and healthy digital environments that minimize harm and safeguard children’s and adolescents’ mental health and well-being during critical stages of development.

The influence of social media on youth mental health is shaped by many complex factors, including, but not limited to, the amount of time children and adolescents spend on platforms, the type of content they consume or are otherwise exposed to, the activities and interactions social media affords, and the degree to which it disrupts activities that are essential for health like sleep and physical activity.6 Importantly, different children and adolescents are affected by social media in different ways,

JONAH, A LEGACY OF LOVING OUR ENEMIES

May 21, 2023 By dwayman

JONAH, A LEGACY OF LOVING OUR ENEMIES

Rev. Dr. Amelia Traylor, M.D.

This sermon was given July 2022 at Northern Hills UMC

Rev. Dr. Amelia Traylor is a candidate for bishop.

You can hear Dr. Traylor’s introduction here.

You can hear her interview here.

Amelia Traylor is a medical doctor who is also a Superintendent in the River Conference.  This sermon is given when Dr. Traylor is a guest speaker at a UM church and her sermon begins 24 minutes into the service.  You can watch the video by clicking here.

THE GOD WHO SEES AND HEARS

May 21, 2023 By dwayman

THE GOD WHO SEES AND HEARS

Genesis 16

Rev. Dr. Michael Traylor, M.D.

Rev. Traylor is a candidate for bishop.

You can see his introduction here.

To see his interview click here.

This sermon was given on October 30, 2022 at New Hope Free Methodist Church.  Click here and start at the 49th minute into the service with the Scripture reading and Rev. Traylor’s insightful study follows.

PowerPoint for the sermon imbedded in the video:

 

ORDINATION SERVICE

May 16, 2023 By dwayman

Bishop Matt Whitehead

at the Ordination Service of the Free Methodist Church in Southern California, May 2021

II Timothy 4:5

Matt Whitehead is a candidate for Bishop.  See his introduction here.  Hear his interview here.

It’s wonderful to be with you. Obviously, with COVID, we’ve all been dealing with this reality of not being able to be together. It’s been an incredible learning curve, this new role that I’ve been in. My wife said recently, “It will be a shame to come to the end of your four years as a Bishop and never get out of our basement!” So, I’m glad to get out of the basement to be here with you and celebrate.

I’m going to take a few minutes to talk to the ordinands and the ministerial candidates. The rest of you are certainly welcome to listen, but I want to direct my thoughts to you, specifically today, who have taken this significant step of signing on and saying, God, use me! And some of you are coming to the point of ordination, and you’ve been on a journey, and boy, it is not easy to be ordained in the Free Methodist Church. We don’t want it to be frustrating, but it’s not easy. There’s a challenging road. And I know some of you,

PRAYER, MOSES & THE HOLY SPIRIT

May 4, 2023 By dwayman

THREE SERMONS PREACHED AT THE ARBOR CHURCH

KAYE KOLDE, 2023

Kaye Kolde is a candidate for bishop.  Her introduction is available here.

1. BOLD PRAYER

CLICK HERE.  Bold Prayer, Part 1 We look at how Jesus gave us access to a new kind of prayer life, inspired by the Spirit and calling on a good Father. Paul has given us examples of some of the boldest and most inspired prayers to learn from in the book of Ephesians, and they are the basis for this 2 part series.

* 2. THE STORY OF MOSES:  Kill Me Now CLICK HERE.  This message, “Kill Me Now,” is part of a 14 week series called, The Story of Moses. It was a deep look at the life of a man who came to know the Lord intimately while withstanding all the difficulty of leadership and opposition from the Lord’s enemies. * 3. EMPOWERMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:  Spirit-fueled Movement CLICK HERE.  The basis of renewal at The Arbor Church has been seeking the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, just as it must be for The Free Methodist Church and our mission of catalyzing a Spirit-fueled movement. This message is part 3 in a 7 part series,

THE VINE, THE WINE, and THE SIGN

May 3, 2023 By dwayman

The Vine, The Wine, and The Sign

Linda J. Adams, February 21, 2021

The Arbor Church, Spring Arbor, MI

Linda is a candidate for bishop and is introduced here.

Since I grew up in this church, you will understand why I know almost nothing about wine. So, for much of my life, some the most prominent symbols in the Bible have been invisible to me. My limited experience with vino blinded me for many years to some rich, beautiful, and powerful images in Scripture.

Let me put it this way. In my family, grapes were for eating, or maybe for turning into grape juice, which we almost never drank except once a quarter at church in a tiny little Communion cup. One time my Grandma Beardslee served me home- canned grape juice—it was brownish purple, unpasteurized, pulpy and not nearly as sweet as Welch’s.

My earliest introduction into how wine is made came from an episode of I Love Lucy where Lucy and another woman stomped grapes in a giant vat. Remember this?

I pastored for 10 years in Rochester, NY, near the Finger Lakes with their famous vineyards. Down in Naples, I learned the proper way to eat a Concord grape. Walking through the vines, you pluck a little cluster of grapes off the vine, hold one grape up to your mouth and squish it till that succulent little thing pops into your mouth.