9/19/2023
A United Women in Faith missionary since 2012, Grace Musuka says change has taken place in the African countries she’s served for the past 11 years. Grace Musuka gives a presentation during the United Women in Faith gathering in McPherson. Photo by Bishop David Wilson “The women I worked with became more confident because we did programs to raise their self-esteem,” she said. “We also did and are still doing programs to ensure that they’re economically not only self-sufficient but improving ...
David Burke
9/18/2023
By Kaitlin Green When Ann Joyner and her husband first visited Church of the Resurrection in 1993, they had no intention of returning. While they enjoyed the service, there was an instrumental piece missing for the family: there were no Sunday resources to support Joyner’s 9-year-old son, Matthew, an individual with special needs. “We truly felt the Spirit moving in that church in the gym,” Joyner said. “But, we thought, ‘We’re too high maintenance. There’s not enough of them to handle us.’” ...
9/13/2023
IMPERIAL, Nebraska – The downpour started about 15 minutes before the beginning of worship services at Faith United Methodist Church of Chase County, as people grabbed umbrellas and rushed into the Upper Republican Valley Natural Resources District offices. “I’m afraid the sign might blow over,” Melody Newman said as she watched the fiberglass sandwich board, signifying the location of the service, withstand the southwest Nebraska rainstorm. “That’s OK, we need the rain.” But a record 50 ...
David Burke
8/30/2023
Bishop David Wilson, the Great Plains cabinet, and the conference’s Committee on Native American Ministries (CONAM) took part in a Native American Cultural Immersion trip Aug. 20-25 in Oklahoma. The group of 22 people from Kansas and Nebraska toured the First American Museum in Oklahoma City, the Washita massacre site near Cheyenne, Oklahoma, helped in a garden ministry near downtown Oklahoma City, and toured a museum and garden memorializing the site of the Tulsa race massacre in 1921. After ...
8/29/2023
TOPEKA – More than 60 people got a taste of Café Quetzal during the coffeehouse ministry’s second anniversary celebration on Aug. 24. Despite an air conditioning system on the fritz, longtime customers and churchgoers, volunteers and newcomers learned about the coffeeshop in a gala to mark the first of a three-day celebration that also included its first open mic night and a daytime parking lot party. Rev. Christine Potter, on guitar, is joined by Mikki Burcher, Lilia Potter and Barb Muench...
David Burke
8/29/2023
MANHATTAN — Youth learned about opportunities to express their faith during the first Southeast Regional Youth Rally, Aug. 26 at Manhattan First United Methodist Church. More than 80 middle- and high-schoolers and 10 adults from the eastern third of Kansas attended the all-day rally. Zander Seth, a freshman at Kansas State University, who walked from his college residence to the church, confessed that the sticky notes holding his sermon were missing, but were recovered for him a few minutes ...
David Burke
8/23/2023
It’s nearly 8,800 miles from Kansas to Tanzania, but the connection is closer in the Great Plains Conference. Angel House Children’s Home, based in the country on Africa’s east coast, is led by Holly Heyroth Opundo, former youth director at Derby Woodlawn United Methodist Church. Holly Heyroth Opundo with Neemah, an orphan who was rescued by police and brought to Angel House. Contributed photos Heyroth Opundo’s move to Africa in 2009 put Angel House on the radars of Janelle Wilke and Karen ...
David Burke
8/16/2023
TOPEKA – In its two years of existence, the coffeehouse ministry Café Quetzal has steadily become a haven for the LGBTQ community. “We added some signs and things that have really changed public perception,” said the Rev. Christine Potter, who opened up the Topeka café two years ago. “And it claimed our affirmative nature.” “I mean it’s always been there, we’ve had the flags and the welcome mats,” business manager Barb Muench said. “It was part of us, but we’ve really embraced the identity ...
David Burke
8/14/2023
OMAHA — Vines and branches. Blooming and pruning. The Aug. 13 installation of the Rev. Stephanie Ahlschwede as Missouri River and Elkhorn Valley East districts superintendent had a decidedly horticultural theme, including the use of John 15:5 as its scriptural base and an offering to benefit The Big Garden, which Ahlschwede founded in 2005. “Scripture claims us as people of gardens, people of cultivation and people of growth,” Ahlschwede said in her sermon to about 150 people at Omaha Grace ...
David Burke
8/9/2023
During the Rev. Hollie Tapley’s 8 ½ years as disaster response coordinator for the Great Plains Conference, she’s worked with Kansans and Nebraskans whose homes have been devastated by tornadoes, floods, wildfires, hailstorms, straight line winds and ice storms. “Any natural disaster that would affect a homeowner,” she said. Tapley estimates that $800,000 worth of assistance has been provided, mostly in building materials and hardware, to those homeowners, since she began in early 2015. But ...
David Burke
8/1/2023
The Rev. Dr. Gerald Liu is ready to plow new ground as the emerging faith communities cultivator for the Great Plains Conference. “I feel like there’s a lot of promise because this is such a major pivot in the life of The United Methodist Church, so I’m glad to come and, at the annual conference level, be able to see how we can be faithful going forward,” said Liu, who began the new position Aug. 1. Liu’s resumé includes more than two years of work with the General Board of Higher Education and ...
David Burke
7/21/2023
A new position in the Great Plains Conference will work with the families of clergy in cross-racial/cross-cultural appointments. Rev. Seulki Choi has been hired as the first intercultural family ministry coordinator, a half-time contracted position financed by the clergy excellence and congregational excellence departments, as well as the Prairie Rivers District. Rev. Kathy Williams, clergy excellence director, said the conference has the most international pastors of any conference in the ...
David Burke
7/19/2023
The Great Plains Conference was one of four American episcopal areas participating in 2022 in a pilot program for reflective supervision, allowing clergy to explore and reflect on their ministry, calling and well-being. Rev. Dr. Shelly Petz, who is taking over as the conference manager for reflective supervision, said 27 pastors went through the program last year and that clergy with all levels of experience are welcome to participate. Rev. Dr. Shelly Petz “We have a greater pool of ...
David Burke
7/12/2023
By Amy Geiszler-Jones WICHITA -- The message of achieving unity through diversity resonated in many aspects of the July 9 installation service of the Rev. Dr. Kalaba Chali as the Wichita East and West districts superintendent. Rev. Dr. Kalaba Chali preaches during his installation service, July 9 at Wichita Saint Mark UMC. Photos by Amy Geiszler-Jones Not only was it the theme of Chali’s sermon but it was reflected in other ways: the opening prayer given in Korean by the Rev. Hyun Jung...
7/12/2023
Backed by $500,000 from the Great Plains Conference Council on Finance & Administration, grants will soon be available to churches in Kansas and Nebraska dealing with the aftershocks of disaffiliation. The grants are for both churches that survived disaffiliation votes but lost members and those communities whose churches have disaffiliated but individuals and groups want to remain United Methodist, according to Rev. Jeff Clinger, chair of grant committee. $500,000 was approved for churches ...
David Burke
7/12/2023
SCOTTSBLUFF, Nebraska – At the foot of the Scotts Bluff National Monument, a Vine is starting to grow. The Vine United Methodist Church – a joining of Scottsbluff First, Mitchell, Morrill and Henry Lyman UMCs – sprouted in a July 9 introductory service at the YMCA Trails West Park in an open-air pavilion. About 200 people attended the introductory service, followed by a barbecue lunch and swimming at the camp pool next door. Rev. Craig Collins and Pastor Joe Schumacher welcome the new ...
David Burke
6/29/2023
BALDWIN CITY, Kansas – Three weeks after the youth from the Great Plains made some of the most memorable moments of the annual conference session, many of them took leadership roles at the United Methodist Youth Institute. The youth were on a panel with bold statements discussing the Church of 2050 and had poignant and powerful moments leading worship on the final day of the June 7-10 annual conference. And that carried through to Institute, a Methodist tradition at the Baker University campus ...
David Burke
6/28/2023
Editor's note: This is the final installment in a series on churches in the Great Plains that survived close disaffiliation votes. PRATT, Kansas – Opinions on the present state of Pratt United Methodist Church after a close disaffiliation vote and the state of the congregation’s future all depend on whom you ask. Some in the church say they’re more energized than ever after the March 5 vote, and others believe the future of the Pratt UMC is in jeopardy. Members of Pratt UMC pass the peace ...
David Burke
6/26/2023
HIAWATHA, Kansas – When Hiawatha Trinity United Methodist Church closed in June 2021, Laura Fortmeyer and Cindy Barnes had the same thoughts, although they didn’t know it and barely knew each other. “Cindy and I were both looking for a place to address the needs we were seeing in the community at the same time,” said Fortmeyer, who was operating a community food bank at a Baptist church in town. “It took a while, but we all got together.” One pew remains in the sanctuary of the former ...
David Burke
6/21/2023
Taking on a new job in a new place already has its challenges. But those are multiplied when one is a Black pastor appointed to a church that has had all white clergy in its 150-year history. That’s what happened to Nebraska’s Lexington United Methodist Church nearly a year ago, when Rev. Velma Tim was appointed as its pastor. “I didn’t know if they were going to like me — the way I talked, the way I dressed, the way I did my hair,” the native of Cameroon told the Great Plains Annual ...
David Burke
6/21/2023
Editor's note: This is the second in our series about churches in the Great Plains that survived disaffiliation votes. OGALLALA, Nebraska — Continuing a longtime tradition, just before the benediction at Ogallala First United Methodist Church, everyone in the sanctuary grasps hands and sings “God Be with You till We Meet Again.” It’s a show of unity for the church in the Nebraska panhandle that survived a disaffiliation vote 6½ months earlier, with two-thirds of those voting electing to stay ...
David Burke
6/16/2023
Bishop Fritz Mutti and his wife, Etta Mae, arrived in the Kansas East and West conferences in 1992, not long after the loss of two of their sons, both to AIDS. “They made no secret of that – in fact they led with that,” recalled retired Great Plains Conference treasurer Rev. Gary Beach, whom Bishop Mutti later appointed Flint Hills District superintendent and later director of connectional ministries. “They made themselves very vulnerable, but it improved the perception of people who had AIDS,...
David Burke
6/14/2023
Campus ministries making several changes Several changes in campus ministry positions were announced during the Great Plains Annual Conference. Rev. Eduardo Bousson, campus pastor at Nebraska Wesleyan University for the past 10 years, announced he is leaving the position to become director of schools, colleges and universities for the Nashville-based General Board of Higher Education Ministries. Rev. Eduardo Bousson, left front “He is working remotely for GBHEM,” the Rev. Karen ...
David Burke
6/14/2023
A week after the Great Plains Conference approved the disaffiliations of 156 churches in Kansas and Nebraska in an online business session, clergy and lay members were ready to mold the future during the in-person portion of annual conference, at the La Vista Convention Center in La Vista, Nebraska, an Omaha suburb. Wanda Jackson from Centering Souls Ministries was at the potter's wheel for much of the annual conference. “Clay in the Hands of Our Creator” was the theme of this year’s annual...
David Burke
6/14/2023
LA VISTA, Nebraska — When the Rev. Tony Serbousek crossed the stage, was blessed by Bishop David Wilson and received his stole as an elder in The United Methodist Church, it was the culmination of a 30-year dream. “Even if you took away the Native American aspect of it, it would still be a very powerful moment for me,” said Serbousek, the first Lakota to be ordained in the Great Plains Conference, in the first class ordained by Bishop David Wilson, the first Native American bishop in the ...
David Burke
6/1/2023
Bishop David Wilson issued the following statement June 1, 2023, related to the disaffiliation of 156 churches voted on during an online business session the night before during a Zoom online meeting. Download the printable PDF. Sisters and Brothers of the Great Plains Conference: I want to start by thanking you for your ongoing ministries in recent days and in the past few years as our conference and the denomination has struggled with disaffiliation. As you no doubt have noted, ...
6/1/2023
Nearly 96% of the clergy and lay members of the Great Plains Conference who took part in an online annual conference business meeting on May 31 approved the disaffiliation of 155 congregations from The United Methodist Church. Through online voting, 655 individuals voted to authorize the disaffiliations and 29 voted against. “I just have to say this breaks my heart,” the Rev. Cheryl Jefferson Bell, community justice pastor at Resurrection, a United Methodist Church, said before the vote in an ...
David Burke
6/1/2023
Two members of the Great Plains Conference’s Clergy Excellence team will be taking on additional duties. Rev. Dr. Ashlee Alley Crawford, who has been clergy recruitment and development coordinator since 2014, will become associate director of clergy excellence. Rev. Dr. Shelly Petz, who has been clergy faith and wellness consultant on a contract basis since 2020, will join the staff in the same role. “As Clergy Excellence recognizes what is essential for clergy effectiveness and wellness, and ...
David Burke
5/31/2023
NICKERSON, Nebraska – Eight years of dreaming, fundraising, planning and praying came to fruition May 26 with the ribbon cutting for Olson Lodge at Camp Fontanelle. “It started on the back of a napkin in 2015, and 2016 is when we kicked off the project,” Kent Van Horn, longtime site council member, said of the $4.3 million, 11,000-square foot facility. The new lodge has five suites, which hold 80 bunk beds, as well as about two dozen new bathrooms, meeting space and new staff offices. ...
David Burke
5/31/2023
FORT SCOTT, Kansas – The Rev. Christopher Eshelman doesn’t remember his introduction to labyrinths but does know that they have been an integral part of his faith journey for years. “It all comes into this path of wholeness,” the pastor of Fort Scott First United Methodist Church said. “It’s just a wonderful metaphor for me.” Eshelman dedicated a Fort Scott labyrinth on Pentecost Sunday, May 28, hoping others in the community will find something in it. The 44-foot-wide labyrinth sits a ...
David Burke
5/30/2023
Ericson United Methodist Church had the recipe for improvements to its kitchen all along. The north- central Nebraska church currently has a kitchen that connects its sanctuary to its fellowship hall. But in the kitchen, the floor was becoming uneven, one of the two sinks was unusable, and the cabinets were showing their age. The exterior of Ericson United Methodist Church. Duane Waddle, who has been a member of the church for the past 34 years and its pastor for the past seven, said there...
David Burke
5/24/2023
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories about churches in the Great Plains Conference who have endured after votes to disaffiliate. WAMEGO, Kansas – Some of the members of Wamego United Methodist Church say they could see dissension on the horizon for years. To others, it came as a shock. After combining their two services into one, attendance at Wamego UMC has been about 100 people. Photos by David Burke Church members voted March 26 by a 129-113 margin to stay United ...
David Burke
5/16/2023
LEAWOOD — She may have received the distinguished graduate award from Saint Paul School of Theology this year, but Bishop Delores Williamston says her time in seminary was almost over before it started. She took an Introduction to Ministry course, which she thought would be the basics, but went far beyond what she was expecting. Bishop Delores J. Williamston speaks after receiving the distinguished graduate award from Saint Paul School of Theology. Photos by David Burke “I did not understand...
David Burke
5/11/2023
The annual conference session workbook for 2023 is now available for download. This document is a PDF that can be printed in color or black and white. It is 210 pages long, with three pages at the end reserved for any notes participants would like to take during the conference. The workbook includes legislation related to disaffiliations, church closures, and other business before the annual conference. It also includes reports from conference staff and committees, as well as from agencies, ...
5/10/2023
Nehemiah Assemblies for justice organizations, where priorities are given to needs in communities, action plans are announced, and commitments are presented to government officials, wrapped up May 7 in the Great Plains Conference. May 4 was the assembly for the Lincoln-based Justice in Action, and May 7 was Justice Matters’ assembly in Lawrence. The groups are partly funded by the Great Plains Conference’s Doing Justice Initiative, and United Methodists from the two states play predominant ...
David Burke
5/9/2023
Lavina Schwaninger, Lisa Maupin says, was her role model for a lay woman in leadership in The United Methodist Church. “She was one of the people that I watched in leadership,” said Maupin, current Great Plains Conference lay leader. “As a woman, you’re always watching for other women in leadership … and I picked out pieces of her that I could emulate as I became a leader and how I wanted to be in the church.” Schwaninger, lay leader and associate lay leader of the former Nebraska Conference ...
David Burke
5/3/2023
Nehemiah Assemblies for justice organizations, where priorities are given to needs in the community, action plans are announced, and commitments are presented to government officials, are underway in the Great Plains Conference. May 1 saw meetings for the Topeka Justice Unity and Ministry Project, or JUMP, and Churches United for Justice in Kansas City, Kansas. May 2 was the Good Faith Network of Johnson County assembly at Resurrection, a United Methodist Church, at its Leawood campus. May 4 ...
David Burke
5/2/2023
The expected disaffiliations of 150-plus churches from the Great Plains Conference will result in a 4.26% decrease in the budget for 2024, the Connecting Council was told during its April 28-29 meetings in Topeka. The proposed budget of $15,124,101 is a decrease of about $672,000 from the 2023 budget, said Scott Brewer, director of administration and interim chief of staff. All departments in the conference have about 7.8% reductions in their budgets, he said. With the Rev. Amy Lippoldt, ...
David Burke
5/2/2023
The Rev. Larry Moffet is being remembered as a pastor who cared about his congregations, his fellow clergy, and the communities he served. Moffett, who served the former Nebraska Conference and Great Plains Conference from 1984 until his 2019 retirement, died April 26 from complications of Hodgkin lymphoma. He was 71. The Rev. Larry Moffet died April 26 from complications from Hodgkin lymphoma. Photo courtesy Beth Booker “He took his spiritual journey seriously,” said the Rev. Don ...
David Burke
4/30/2023
A Kenya-born pastor serving in a cross-racial, cross-cultural appointment will be the new Intercultural Development Coordinator for the Great Plains Conference. Rev. Dr. Jane Langat The Rev. Dr. Jane Langat, pastor at Longford Bethel and Mizpah United Methodist churches in north central Kansas, will begin serving in the new role July 1, 2023. She succeeds the Rev. Kathy Williams, who became director of Clergy Excellence on May 1. Williams began work in the newly created position of Clergy ...
David Burke
4/26/2023
The Great Plains Conference’s Volunteers in Mission team started their 2023 season off on a roll. “We got an unbelievable amount of stuff done,” co-chair Linda Buchmueller said of the work done at Camp Horizon from April 16-21. “We started off with one list and by Monday evening the team leader was asking Joel (Wilke, camp director) for a second list. By the time we got to the end of the week we were on list No. 4.” Volunteers sort T-shirts for attending Camp Horizon this summer. Photos ...
David Burke
4/20/2023
The Rev. Dr. Victor McCullough has positive memories of his time at Wichita Saint Mark United Methodist Church. “I really saw church at another level at Saint Mark,” said McCullough, who served as executive pastor of the church from 1997 to 1998. “Saint Mark was a large church and sort of a corporate model of doing church. I had never been part of a church that had been organized to do ministry the way Saint Mark did it. The Rev. Dr. Victor McCullough will become the pastor of Wichita Saint ...
David Burke
4/12/2023
Throughout his ministry, Rev. Dr. Rex Bevins contributed on the local, conference and denominational levels of The United Methodist Church. Bevins, who died on Good Friday at age 90, spent 22 years of his ministry as senior pastor at Lincoln Saint Paul UMC from 1980 to 2002, after six years as executive director for ministries in the former Nebraska Conference. In the denomination, he served on the General Board of Global Ministries, the General Board of Discipleship, the World Methodist ...
David Burke
4/11/2023
KEARNEY — For Laura Stubblefield, campus ministry has been 20-plus years of on-campus worship services, bible studies, late-night basketball games, band practices, mission trips, and church visits. “I’ve always loved working with kids and students. They’re just the most amazing thing,” said Stubblefield, an appointed campus pastor at United Campus Ministry at the University of Nebraska-Kearney since 2002. “I never felt like I had a job. It was a blessing to be asked to do it and watching them ...
David Burke
4/4/2023
LEWELLEN, Nebraska – The sound of several simultaneous conversations is broken up by Jean Jensen ringing an antique school bell. “I know if you were in a formal church then you’d sit in the back row — and that’s OK,” she announced to the group of 20. “But this is a gathering, and we want to be up front and close.” The group gathered in this Nebraska panhandle town consists of United Methodists from Lewellen and Oshkosh, 12 miles away, whose churches both voted Feb. 26 to disaffiliate from ...
David Burke
3/29/2023
One church traces its roots in Johnson County back to 1865. The other started as a church plant nearly 15 years ago. And beginning Palm Sunday, they’ll share a space. Monticello United Methodist Church in Shawnee will become the host church for LifeBridge KC, which had been meeting at a Baptist seminary about 2½ miles away from the Monticello church since 2015. A screen grab from a Zoom interview shows Rev. Bailey Amtower from LifeBridge and Pastor Matt Ozment from Monticello UMC. With ...
David Burke
3/23/2023
After nearly 6½ years as treasurer and director of administrative services of the Great Plains Conference, Scott Brewer is getting a new title and an adjustment in duties. On April 1, Brewer will become director of administration and interim chief of staff, adding many of the duties of assistant to the bishop. Scott Brewer presents the treasurer's report during the 2022 annual conference session in La Vista, Nebraska. Photo by Jayna McFarland Bishop David Wilson said Brewer will coordinate ...
David Burke
3/21/2023
A typo proved to be a revelation for Rev. Rebekah Simon-Peter. The keynote speaker for the Laity Summit on March 18 said she accidentally typed “Great Plans Conference” in her notes and noticed the difference. “You’re the ‘I’ in Great Plains,” she told the 158 laity registered for the fourth-annual online gathering. “Without it, all we have are ‘plans.’” Simon-Peter, an author and visionary, expanded on the themes of her book “Dream Like Jesus: Deepen Your Faith and Bring the Impossible to Life,...
David Burke
3/21/2023
Two separate emailed bomb threats over the weekend related to the Drag Story Hour at Urban Abbey, a United Methodist coffeehouse ministry, are being investigated by Omaha police. Prior to the 10:30 a.m. Saturday story hour, which has been a regular feature at the downtown church since 2018, a text was sent to the Abbey that began “There is nothing more disgusting (sic) vile and degenerate than violating a child’s innocence. That is exactly what is being done with these child drag queen ...
David Burke
3/14/2023
The Rev. Dr. Richard Fitzgerald’s new role with the Great Plains Conference will be somewhat of a 21st century circuit rider, traveling throughout Kansas and Nebraska to work alongside small churches where clergy might not be available. Fitzgerald, senior pastor of Salina First United Methodist Church since 2019, will begin July 1 as the conference circuit pastor. “Richard will be traveling around, coordinating with the local churches and the lay people in the region, defining what a circuit ...
David Burke
3/14/2023
We pray it in church every week, the Rev. Rebekah Simon-Peter says. “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven … .” “That’s Jesus’ big dream for the world,” the acclaimed author and consultant said. “We pray his vision every single Sunday. And we’re the people who are stewards of that vision.” Rebekah Simon-Peter Simon-Peter will appear at this year’s Laity Summit, March 18, in an online keynote address based on her book, “Dream Like Jesus: Deepen Your Faith and Bring the Impossible to ...
David Burke
3/9/2023
Rev. Kathy Williams speaks during the installation service for Bishop David Wilson on Feb. 11 at Countryside United Methodist Church in Topeka. Williams has been named as the next director of clergy excellence for the Great Plains Conference. She will start in her new role May 1. Photo by David Burke More than two years after she was appointed as clergy leadership coordinator, the Rev. Kathy Williams will be moving up as director of clergy excellence. “I am thankful for the many qualities ...
David Burke
3/7/2023
When the first Laity Summit was conceived for March 2020, it was to give laypersons in the Great Plains Conference their version of the clergy’s Orders & Fellowship gatherings, a chance to meet, interact and learn. We don’t need to tell you what else started in March 2020. COVID forced the summit to quickly shift to an online format, where it’s stayed ever since – and it isn’t looking back. “We like it in the virtual format, because of the fact that we’re a two-state conference, and for laity...
David Burke
3/1/2023
Two changes in the Great Plains Conference’s congregational excellence team will take place beginning March 1. The Rev. Nicole Conard, young adult leadership and campus ministries coordinator, will become the associate director of congregational excellence, a new position. And Jeanie Leeper, conference director of Lay Servant Ministries, will become a half-time lay leadership coordinator. Rev. Nicole Conard The Rev. Jeff Clinger, congregational excellence director, said Conard will continue...
David Burke
2/28/2023
Two youths who apparently snuck into Lincoln First United Methodist Church during Ash Wednesday services caused more than $50,000 in damage from vandalism that was discovered the next morning. These screen grabs from KLKN-TV show damage done to Lincoln First UMC after Ash Wednesday services. According to Lincoln police, most of the damage took place in the church’s sanctuary, including discharging a fire extinguisher, and breaking a glass chandelier, flat-screen television, a wooden ...
David Burke
2/27/2023
ANTHONY, Kansas — Kid Power bounds around the stage at Chaparral High School, energetically and playfully informing the elementary school children in the audience about the benefits of good nutrition and exercise. But a few children in the audience knew the secret identity of this healthy-living superhero. As Kid Power, Bruce Wilson leads children in movement in a performance at Chaparral High School. Photos by David Burke He’s their pastor. “He was very awesome,” Wyatt Williams, a ...
David Burke
2/21/2023
Bishop David Wilson has issued a plea to United Methodists in Kansas and Nebraska to donate funds to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to assist with aid efforts after another strong aftershock hit the already embattled region along the border of Turkey and Syria. Download a printable version of the bishop's letter. Sisters and Brothers of the Great Plains Conference: As many of you have heard in news reports, a powerful 6.3 aftershock struck Turkey’s Hatay province, near the...
2/21/2023
As excited as Chris Nord was about becoming a licensed local pastor, he had dreams of finishing seminary to achieve his goal of becoming an elder in The United Methodist Church. Funeral services for Chris Nord will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at Topeka Susanna Wesley UMC. “As a local pastor, he got very emotional and tearful about ‘I really want to be an elder. I have always wanted to go and learn more, and that’s really my goal,’” said Shari Combs Nord, whom he married on Dec. 10. ...
David Burke
2/15/2023
TOPEKA — Bishop David Wilson invited more than 40 friends and family from Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference to his installation ceremony on Feb. 11, and the love and respect for the first Native American to be elected as an episcopal leader in The United Methodist Church was loud and strong. “It’s a breath of fresh air, it’s a sigh of relief to know that there’s finally that bridge has been crossed, where we now acknowledge and accept a new bishop that’s Native American,” ...
David Burke
2/14/2023
A 28-year veteran pastor and the current chair of the Great Plains Conference’s board of trustees has been selected as the Missouri River District superintendent. Rev. Stephanie Ahlschwede The Rev. Stephanie Ahlschwede, 55, will begin at the start of the appointive year on July 1. She will succeed the Rev. Dr. Chad Anglemyer. “Stephanie has the skillset needed to serve as a superintendent and knows that area very well. She has much respect from her colleagues and from laity in the annual ...
David Burke
2/14/2023
By Trisha Johnson The 48th annual Nebraska Ecumenical Legislative Briefing Day drew approximately 160 participants to Christ United Methodist Church in Lincoln, on Saturday, Feb. 11. This was the first time the event was held in person since 2020, due to COVID-19 restrictions and concerns. According to the Rev. Ron Roemmich, a retired UMC pastor from Omaha and event co-chair, there was a general feeling of excitement from participants about meeting in person once again. “This is as much of a...
2/14/2023
TOPEKA -- If there are dominant feelings from members of the Great Plains Conference delegation about Bishop David Wilson it’s these: It’s about time. We’re glad it’s us. On the eve of his installation as the Great Plains episcopal leader, General and South Central Jurisdictional conference delegates who have known him since he was first in contention for bishop in 2012 are rejoicing that not only was he elected, but that he’s been appointed to the bi-state area. “From the get-go he made ...
David Burke
2/13/2023
TOPEKA — The night before he was formally installed as the episcopal leader of the Great Plains Conference, Bishop David Wilson joined family, friends, and colleagues from the past and present for a dinner. “These are the people who support me, keep me in check and make me better,” he said during the dinner at Spring Hill Suites in Topeka. Leaders from the Great Plains, Oklahoma and Oklahoma Indian Missionary conferences gathered around tables to interact in conversation before and after the...
David Burke
2/13/2023
TOPEKA — The first Native American bishop in the history of The United Methodist Church was formally installed in the Great Plains Conference with a blend of Indian culture and denominational ceremony. Bishop David Wilson’s installation service, Feb. 11 at Topeka Countryside UMC, included performances by the Cherokee Adult Choir from Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the bishop’s first appointment as a pastor. It also included a native sign language interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer by Freda Gipp, a ...
David Burke
2/8/2023
The Great Plains Conference invites churches across Kansas and Nebraska to score big for the hungry in their communities as the NFL’s biggest game of the year prepares to kick off Sunday. The bishops of the Great Plains and Missouri conferences have challenged the bishop who serves both the Greater New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania conferences to see which community whose teams are involved in Sunday’s Super Bowl can collect the most food to feed the hungry. The Kansas City Chiefs and ...
Todd Seifert
2/7/2023
Bishop David Wilson sees his installation ceremony this Saturday as a way to introduce himself to the Great Plains Conference. “It’s important to me because for a lot of people it will be the first time they will get to hear me preach,” said the bishop, who began his assignment Jan. 1. “I want folks to come away understanding and knowing a bit about who I am and where I come from.” The installation ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at Topeka Countryside United Methodist Church, 3221 SW ...
David Burke
2/7/2023
Two members of the Discipleship Ministries team are touring the Great Plains this week, the first of numerous visits to individual conferences by the United Methodist resource agency. “Our approach to trying to develop resources is hearing from the end users,” said the Rev. Dr. Evan Young, executive director of stakeholder relationships. “To find out what’s working, what’s not working – what are the gaps that might exist that you would like to see your Discipleship Ministries general agency ...
David Burke
2/7/2023
Rev. Changsu Kim was among the first ordinands as a provisional elder in the then-newly formed Great Plains Conference in 2014, after receiving approval from the Board of Ordained Ministry. A decade later, he will be chairing BoOM, after election by the board on Feb. 3. “I love this job. I love serving on BoOM, interviewing candidates and getting to know other colleagues in ministry,” Kim, 40, said. “I believe God is calling me to serve more, extending my duties and responsibilities.” Rev. ...
David Burke
2/6/2023
TOPEKA — The Great Plains Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, or BoOM, has seen a boom of its own this year. A record 50 candidates interviewed with BoOM from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2 at Topeka First United Methodist Church as part of the credentialing process that will lead to ordination. Rev. Andrew Conard, left, speaks to some of the candidates at the Board of Ordained Ministry interviews at Topeka First UMC. Photos by David Burke “It’s pretty exciting,” said the Rev. Andrew Conard, BoOM ...
David Burke
2/1/2023
It’s been a year since the Rev. Jeff Clinger was offered the position of director of congregational excellence for the Great Plains Conference, and seven months since he took over the job. “I made the right choice when I said yes to (then-Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr.),” he said of his time so far. “Working with the congregational excellence team I was able to look at those leaders and people I really admire and respect, and it’s been an incredible gift to come along and work alongside them.” The ...
David Burke
2/1/2023
TOPEKA — Demolition on the inside the new office building for the Great Plains Conference will begin this month, with a tentative move-in date coming as early as October. Scott Brewer, treasurer and director of administrative services for the conference, gave the communications staff a tour of the building at 100 S. Kansas Ave. in Topeka on Jan. 31. This artist's concept drawing shows the completed Great Plains Conference offices. Brewer said the top floor of the two-story building would be...
David Burke
1/25/2023
TOPEKA — Bishop David Wilson joined statewide religious leaders in calling for reform of payday loan regulations in Kansas. The Great Plains Conference bishop joined Catholic and Jewish leaders in calling for changes in the industry in a Jan. 25 news conference in the rotunda of the state Capitol. “We don’t always agree with each other,” the bishop said, “but we agree on this.” Bishop Wilson asked the Kansas Legislature to conduct hearings in the House Financial Institutions and Pensions ...
David Burke
1/24/2023
ELSMORE, Kansas – Rev. Ralph Peters asks and answers his own question. “Why is an old pastor, 91 years old, still preaching?” he said in the middle of a recent sermon at Elsmore United Methodist Church. “I’m still preaching because I love the Lord God, God’s power, and the things He can do.” Rev. Ralph Peters talks to the congregation at Elsmore United Methodist Church before Sunday services. Photos by David Burke According to Great Plains Conference statistics, he’s the only nonagenarian ...
David Burke
1/18/2023
KANSAS CITY, Kansas – With the image of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King as a figurative and literal backdrop, Churches United for Justice asked local law enforcement officials to begin initiating group violence intervention programs in Wyandotte County. “The violence must stop,” the Rev. Ronald King, pastor of Mason Memorial United Methodist Church, said at a news conference Jan. 16 that preceded MLK Day celebrations at Memorial Hall. Churches United for Justice is a coalition of 14 houses of ...
David Burke
1/17/2023
The former mercy and justice coordinator for the Great Plains Conference will become the district superintendent for the Wichita area beginning July 1. Rev. Dr. Kalaba Chali, 45, will succeed Rev. Dr. Mitch Reece, who will reach his eight-year limit on the appointive cabinet. Reece will be appointed as senior pastor of Wichita Aldersgate United Methodist Church. Rev. Dr. Kalaba Chali “Kalaba Chali will be a great superintendent for the people of the Wichita districts. He is very familiar ...
David Burke
1/11/2023
A $10,000 grant from the General Commission on Religion and Race will go toward a border immersion opportunity for those in the Great Plains Conference wanting to learn more about immigration. The immersion trip, under the umbrella Justice Encounters, will be March 23-28. Leaders from the Great Plains Conference went on a border immersion trip in March. Photo courtesy Central Texas Conference The grant will alleviate some of the cost for the 35 people who have signed up for the trip to the...
David Burke
1/10/2023
Bishop David Wilson continued a 50-plus year tradition Jan. 8, delivering the sermon at Topeka First United Methodist Church. From its days in the former Kansas East Conference through its time in the Great Plains Conference, the downtown Topeka church has traditionally hosted the new bishop for that person’s first sermon as episcopal leader. Bishop David Wilson delivers the Jan. 8 sermon at Topeka First UMC. Photos by David Burke The tradition began in 1972, shortly after the Rev. Dr. E....
David Burke
1/4/2023
The Great Plains Conference will continue to provide clergy an opportunity to choose their own means of self-care. Launched as a pilot program in 2021, clergy well-being grants will continue in the new year with a handful of changes, including a limit of $400 over a two-year period and two grant cycles, one Feb. 1 to May 1 and the other from Sept. 1 to Nov. 1. “The goal is for those who are actively serving in ministry is to be thinking, ‘What can I do for my soul in an intentional way?’ This ...
David Burke
12/14/2022
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Those who have known and worked with Bishop David Wilson describe him with various combinations of three C’s: Caring, compassion and connection. Bishop Wilson, who will begin as episcopal leader of the Great Plains Conference on Jan. 1, has been assistant to the bishop of the Oklahoma Conference since 2021, and before that served 19 years as conference superintendent for the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, or OIMC. The OIMC is 81 Native American churches, mostly in ...
David Burke
12/13/2022
Sixteen months isn’t very long on the job. But it was that time frame as director of clergy excellence and assistant to the bishop of the Great Plains Conference that gave Bishop Dee Williamston the courage and the confidence to make advances in the denomination. “It was fast,” she said with a laugh. The 57-year-old Topeka native was elected as the first Black female bishop in the South Central Jurisdiction on Nov. 2 during its conference in Houston, chosen on the first ballot, along with ...
David Burke
12/13/2022
The United Methodist Church’s highest court has ruled that new delegate elections “are not required” for the long-delayed and potentially pivotal General Conference, now set for 2024. “The delegates duly elected to the 2020 General Conference for the 2020-2024 Quadrennium stand as submitted and certified by the annual conference secretaries,” the Judicial Council said Tuesday in Decision 1451. In practice, this means that the same delegates elected in 2018 or 2019 to a General Conference facing ...
United Methodist News Service
12/12/2022
With waves of laughter and tears, the Great Plains Conference bid farewell to Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. and his wife, Mayé, on Dec. 9. About 150 clergy, laity, cabinet, retirees and staff members gathered at Topeka Countryside United Methodist Church to honor Bishop Saenz, who will begin Jan. 1 as the episcopal leader of the North and Central Texas conferences. Those attending the farewell service for Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. and his wife, Mayé, offered them a blessing. Photos by David Burke ...
David Burke
12/6/2022
OKLAHOMA CITY -- With the blessings of dozens of Native American tribes, Bishop David Wilson was sent off from the Oklahoma and Oklahoma Indian Missionary conferences in a Dec. 4 ceremony at Mosaic United Methodist Church. “He made a pathway to You to become the first OIMC bishop,” Rev. Mike Svitak, OIMC district superintendent, said in an opening prayer for Bishop Wilson, who will begin at the Great Plains Conference at the first of the year. Svitak sang a Kiowa hymn, one of five hymns by ...
David Burke
11/15/2022
LINCOLN – In the space of a 70-minute community problems assembly, Lincoln and Lancaster County’s new justice organization determined its two top priorities, elected officers, selected its name, and announced a Great Plains Conference clergy as its lead organizer. Justice in Action, the name selected by the 300 people attending the assembly at Eastridge Presbyterian Church — over Justice Coalition and Stronger Together — on Nov. 10, is partially funded by the conference’s $2.1 million Doing ...
David Burke
11/15/2022
As a candidate for bishop in The United Methodist Church this summer, the Rev. Dee Williamston got a wild hair. The director of clergy excellence and assistant to the bishop at the time, she was talking to the Rev. Jeff Clinger, director of congregational excellence, at the conference office in Topeka. The Rev. Jeff Clinger and Bishop Dee Williamston show off their new cuts. Photos by David Burke “We were just bantering because I just got my hair cut,” she said. “I said, ‘Maybe if I get ...
David Burke
11/9/2022
Two veteran Great Plains Conference clergy will temporarily fill the positions of the departing Bishop Dee Williamston, Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. announced Wednesday. The Rev. Ashlee Alley Crawford will be the interim clergy excellence director, and the Rev. Dr. Mitch Reece will be interim assistant to the bishop. They will temporarily take over the position previously held by Bishop Williamston, who was elected to the episcopacy last week and has been appointed to lead the Louisiana Conference. ...
David Burke
11/8/2022
A 30-year veteran of camp leadership through both the YMCA and The United Methodist Church will be the first director of camping services for GP Camps. Bob Kahle is currently director of programs and operations for SC Camps and Retreat Ministries in the South Carolina Conference, including managing the largest of its three camps, Asbury Hills. He previously worked for YMCA camps in New Jersey, California, Michigan and North Carolina. “We thought he could bring a new, fresh perspective as we ...
David Burke
11/7/2022
HOUSTON -- As the newly elected and veteran bishops prepared for the consecration service that concluded the South Central Jurisdictional Conference, all of them reflected on a historic, whirlwind week. “It’s surreal, it’s surreal,” said Bishop Dee Williamston from the Great Plains, assigned to the Louisiana Conference. “It’s so exciting and I am just happy, speechless most of the time, but I am just thinking, ‘Look what God has done.’” Bishop Dee Williamston and Rev. Cheryl Jefferson Bell ...
David Burke
11/4/2022
HOUSTON — They’re not quite sure who had the idea first. Siblings Roy and Abigail Koech pose for a photo at First United Methodist Church's west campus in Houston, the venue for the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. Abigail Koech was encouraging friends in 2019 to nominate themselves as delegates to the General and Jurisdictional conferences during the Great Plains Annual Conference session, and reluctantly decided to put her own name in. Her brother Roy, meanwhile, was ...
David Burke
11/3/2022
Bishop-elect David Wilson waves to attendees from the Great Plains Conference after he was named as the next episcopal leader of the conference beginning Jan. 1, 2023. First Native American bishop 'elated' to serve in Kansas and Nebraska HOUSTON — The first Native American bishop in the history of The United Methodist Church will become the episcopal leader of the Great Plains Conference effective Jan. 1, 2023. Bishop-elect David Wilson’s assignment was announced ...
David Burke
11/3/2022
Twenty-four hours after her monumental election as the first Black female episcopal leader in the South Central Jurisdiction, Bishop-elect Dee Williamston is still being cheered on by her colleagues in the Great Plains Conference. Bishop-elect Dee Williamston stands with representatives from the Louisiana Conference after she was announced as the new episcopal leader there during the South Central Jurisdictional Conference on Thursday in Houston. “Dee is an awesome leader,” said the ...
David Burke
11/3/2022
Capped by a rousing standing ovation, Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. asked the South Central Jurisdiction to look beyond the turmoil of the present and ahead to the church of the future. “For too long, but particularly the past six years, we have been consumed with the present as a denomination,” the leader of the Great Plains and North Texas conferences said during the episcopal address. “In fairness, we have had difficulty focusing on anything else, given all the successive shocking events we’ve ...
David Burke
11/3/2022
The South Central Jurisdiction overwhelmingly approved three resolutions Thursday morning, including asking those who are considering leaving the denomination to step back from church leadership roles, showing support for regional conferences, and giving justice and empowerment to United Methodists who are LGBTQIA+. Jesi Lipp presents a resolution meant to empower LGBTQIA+ persons in local churches and throughout the United Methodist connection Thursday during the South Central ...
David Burke
11/2/2022
Rev. Dr. David Wilson and Rev. Laura Merrill both were elected on the first ballot Tuesday at the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. The Rev. Dr. David Wilson was one of two history-making elections Tuesday at the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. He is the first Native American bishop in The United Methodist Church — which he believes is the last denomination in America to choose an indigenous leader. He joins fellow bishop-elect Rev. Dee ...
David Burke
11/2/2022
Rev. Dee Williamston waves to the crowd after receiving her bishop's pin minutes after being elected on the first ballot Tuesday during the South Central Jurisdictional Conference in Houston. Clergy excellence director becomes 1st African-American woman elected in South Central The Rev. Dee Williamston hopes her history-making election at the South Central Jurisdictional Conference will pave ways and open doors. “It’s been incredible to have the opportunity. God just showed up ...
David Burke
11/2/2022
HOUSTON – Delegates to the South Central Jurisdictional Conference elected three candidates, filling all of its vacant bishop seats, on the very first ballot Tuesday. The Rev. Dee Williamston, director of clergy excellence and assistant to the bishop of the Great Plains Conference, received 141 votes. The Rev. Laura Merrill, district superintendent in the Rio Texas Conference, received 99 votes. And the Rev. Dr. David Wilson, assistant to the bishop of the Oklahoma and Oklahoma Indian ...
David Burke
11/2/2022
The 2022 South Central Jurisdictional Conference is the second in a row that Bishop Scott Jones has hosted. The former Great Plains Conference bishop, now the episcopal leader in the Texas Conference, also oversaw the 2016 conference in Wichita. Bishop Jones gave a preview of the 2022 SCJ to communicators from the jurisdiction on Wednesday morning, prior to the opening worship and start of the first session at 3 p.m. He said that although three bishops are retiring — Arkansas’ Gary ...
David Burke
11/1/2022
HOUSTON — Candidates for bishop introduced themselves to the delegations from the South Central Jurisdiction on Tuesday night, answering random questions from their favorite hymns and pastimes to disaffiliation discernment and whether they would agree to ordain LGBTQ+ clergy. Although individual delegations had met privately with the candidates, the night-before-opening of the jurisdictional conference was a gathering of all the groups in one room at the west campus for First United Methodist...
David Burke
10/31/2022
For an hour, the sanctuary at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Papillion turned into an art gallery, photo display, theater and comedy club. It was the culmination of the first semester of the Papillion Creative Arts Academy at St. Paul’s UMC, where children and youth from preschool through middle school showed off their newfound talents. A young girl shows off her ribbon twirling skills during the "Music & Movement" presentation. Photo by Diane Adams “It’s a beautiful expression of...
David Burke
10/25/2022
The Perkins School of Theology Alumni/ae Council has selected Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. (M.Div. ‘97; D. Min. ‘09) as the 2022 recipient of the Perkins Distinguished Alumnus/a Award. He will be honored Nov. 14 at SMU. Saenz, a native of south Texas and lifelong United Methodist, was elected bishop in 2016 at the South Central Jurisdictional Conference and assigned to the Great Plains Conference, based in Topeka, Kansas. In his role as episcopal leader in Kansas and Nebraska, Saenz has worked to ...
