Waiting for a Call

Each Spring United Methodist Clergy across the country begin to wonder, “Am I going to get a call from the cabinet this year?” The Cabinet is the group that makes appointments for United Methodist Clergy to local churches, it consist of a Bishop and her or his District Superintendents.

When I was a student at WSU, a friend of mine who is a pastor called me asking if I knew about any clergy who were moving this year. I didn’t have a clue. Apparently he was charting all the moves that he had heard about. I don’t know if he was thinking of moving that year or if he just made a chart each year.

Now with the internet we get updates as decisions’ are made about appointments. They will read something like: "Bishop Simpson has announced her/his intention (Bishops can always change their minds) to appoint Sally Smith to Gravelrock UMC effective July 1st." So now we can all chart the moves. Sally was at Riverbed UMC so now that is open . . . sometimes it’s a fun game to play, a bit like chess or a jigsaw puzzle.

This year Kendra is up for a new appointment. The church she has served these past three years is making some staffing changes for their budget. As a clergy couple we pose some extra challenges to the cabinet. We need appointments within a reasonable commuting distance. Yet, we are really not very different from most other clergy who have working spouses and need to be within a commuting distance for their jobs.

So this year we are prayerfully waiting for that phone call where a cabinet member will ask Kendra to consider an appointment. Hopefully it will be within a commutable distance of Longview. However, there is a chance that we will both have to move. If that happens I will trust in the mysterious working of the Holy Spirit to provide the right clergy person for Longview UMC.