Thoughts on the Call

Back in the day when God issued a call to preach instead of a call to ministry, everyone who received the call knew it meant more than just preaching.  Anyone like me who experienced the call framed inside the call to preach model figured it meant a life of service to Christ through the local church.  At least such is what I understood and accepted when the call itself was finally accepted.  And in my situation, there was no real question about where that call was to be fleshed out.  It would be within the Methodist Church of the area which had been home for me all my life.    

South Georgia was where I wanted to be.  It was where I sensed God was calling me to preach.  I grew up in South Georgia.  I knew it as home.  It was not a perfect place, but it was where I believed God was calling me to serve Him.  It has not been a decision I have ever regretted.  When my mother re-married after my father's death, she married a young Methodist preacher whose father was a Methodist preacher in the South Georgia Annual Conference.  So, as the years unfolded I came to see myself as a third generation preacher of the Methodist Church in South Georgia.   

When I finished seminary and was assigned to my first appoinment, it was a three point charge known as the Stapleton Charge.  I went there determined to change the world, to preach sermons which would keep everyone awake, and to see people touched by the Christ.  I may have changed the world a bit at some intersections where people lived, my sermons did put some people to sleep, and along the way I count with joy some folks who came to Christ in response to the ministry God entrusted to me.  I am grateful for the call to preach.  It set me on a course that made all the difference in my life, enabled me to give to the church which gave so much to me, and hopefully brought blessings to a few along the way.