Reconciling Ministries Network

Hearing a New Song

By Peter L. DeGroote

I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh:
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your young shall see visions,
your old shall dream dreams…Acts 2…

Those refreshing, even consoling words ran through the mind of this 71 year old as I departed Sing a New Song. After 35 years of glbt activism, 31 being primarily related to the UMC, I had become accustomed to disappointment with the church. A friend for most of that period had begun wondering if he had the energy to continue the struggle.  

We were able to set the weariness aside because we had heard our sons and daughters speak the truth. (In the New Testament prophesy is truth telling.) Not biological sons and daughters but those who have taken up the reconciling banner and given it new energy, direction, words, and song. Hearing and feeling their guiding visions, we were left to the luxury of once again dreaming the dreams we had come to doubt. 

No, we are not prepared to abandon the reconciling movement; it has been a place of safety, even a home for too many years. But I am aware that I don’t always understand what young folks are doing, or the reasons behind their strategies, but I usually like the results.  That’s a good reason to get out of their way, cheer them on, and support them when they ask. Their new energy, many changes in the church, and our changing social geography offers them unique opportunities to accomplish what has been so elusive in the past.

And I am once more able to celebrate the past. Years ago, a small group of clergy and seminary students reacted to the 1972 General Conference claim that “homosexuality” is incompatible with Christian teachings by either leaving the ordained ministry or abandoning their call to ordination. They did not abandon the church, the church had abandoned them. In a demonstration of their integrity, faithfulness, and commitment to the church, they recruited others and formed Affirmation, United Methodists for Lesbian and Gay Concerns. I discovered them in 1979; the memory of their witness has been a continuing inspiration for me. 

Some of those witnesses have left us but many are still around, many have gone on to significant accomplishment in other arenas. Affirmation was the early foundation on which the reconciling movement was built. We do not need to know the history to observe that it is now a complex network that includes a great diversity of lgbt folks, as well as our parents and friends.

Poke around in the UMC a bit and you will see the movement’s impact. In addition to the many reconciling congregations and fellowships, you will discover the meaning of reconciliation being explored in congregations, Sunday school classes, choirs, student groups, conference groups, and even some of our national church agencies. Again and again we are rediscovering that the reconciliation we claim in Christ was not given to us to selectively dispense but a gift we are obligated to share with all, including lgbt folks. 

You will also discover retired bishops who have now found their prophetic voice urging the General Conference to change the Discipline. Our sitting bishops, having offered a call to action meant to renew the church, remain silent when it comes to lgbt folks; or, better said, ignoring the elephant in the room. (Even so, a confidential source reports that the bishops are seeking to halt church trials over lgbt issues because they have proven both embarrassing and too expensive.)

Explore a little further and you will discover that, despite occasional charges and trials in the past, some clergy and congregations have been long celebrating holy unions between same gender couples and, now that a number of civil jurisdictions allow marriage or civil unions without regard to gender, those are also being celebrated. Further, some conferences have been routinely approving candidates for ordination without regard to their sexual orientation, the incompatibility language being ignored.

If you are lucky you will find the joy of being a witness to the baptism of an adopted child of a same gender couple. It is increasingly common for a simple reason: How can you deny baptism to a child? As their same gender parents bring their child forward, grandparents, witnesses, and godparents join them, bearing witness to the meaning of family in a way that cannot be denied.

So, what’s the bottom line? Even though I confess to a bit of weariness, Sing a New Song gave me a chance to be thankful for what has been wrought. More important, I know I can be thankful for what is to come. I am excited by the new and young voices. I am moved by their boldness, willingness to claim loves and loyalties, and fearlessness in standing their ground. They have brought us a new song. It is worth singing.

---

Peter is a second career pastor who has served in several churches in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Prior to his ordination, he was a secondary-school teacher, a university lecturer in Government, an Associate in a government related professional association, CEO of a national financial institution. Peter was involved in Mid-Atlantic Affirmation, served on the National Council of Affirmation, and sat on the Board of the Reconciling Congregations Program, the predecessor name for RMN and has worked with BWARM (Baltimore-Washington Reconciling United Methodists).

The Not So Impossible Dream

by Violet Fenn

With the recent amazing developments from several Annual Conferences, including resolutions passed to eliminate the “incompatible with Christian teaching” section from the Book of Discipline, and the church trial of Rev. Amy DeLong, I have been pondering about my future in the United Methodist Church. I am a transgender woman and currently identify as a lesbian. Right now, the latter would automatically prevent me from ordination. Despite this, I am currently in seminary and plan on beginning the process to pursue ordination.

Why am I doing this? One of the reasons is that I’m a dreamer. I dream of the day that the United Methodist Church will be fully inclusive of everyone and anyone called to the ministry will be able to be ordained.

I’m a lover of Broadway musicals. One song that I’ve kept coming back to is “The Impossible Dream” from the musical Man of La Mancha. The lead character, Don Quixote is a dreamer. Unfortunately, his dreams are in some ways unrealistic and delusional. In fact, he believes his romantic interest, Aldonza, is a lady of nobility when in reality she’s a prostitute. Despite all of the evidence to the contrary, Don Quixote refuses to believe her. At one point in the musical, Aldonza asks him why he goes around doing good deeds and believes her to be something she isn’t. He replies by singing “The Impossible Dream.” His quest is to “fight the unbeatable foe,” “right the unrightable wrong,” and “run where the brave dare not go.” His optimism is admirable, but sadly it’s an unrealistic pursuit.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call the naysayers foes, but of course there are Methodists against full inclusion and I would venture to say that many view our work as impossible as Don Quixote’s quest. It’s not an impossible task. Evidence of this comes from the resolutions passed by several Annual Conferences as well as statements from clergy pledging to perform same-sex unions. We are closer than ever before and we can’t stop now.

This is why I am attending Sing A New Song in August. I can sense change in the air and it’s given me another boost to keep pursuing the dream we all have. The dream is fantastic and closer to coming true. To quote from another musical, The Sound of Music, we should “climb ev’ry mountain, ford ev’ry stream, follow every rainbow ‘til you find your dream.” Keep on singing, keep on climbing. Keep the dream alive.

---

Violet Fenn is currently a United Methodist in exile due to a lack of reconciling congregations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she lives and is attending a UCC church. She began her gender transition in 2008 and has been active working against bigotry and intolerance for many years. She is active in MOSAIC and the leader of its TransJustice working group. This fall, she is beginning the next chapter of her journey by attending Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa for a Master's in Divinity. Despite the bigotry and transphobia she has experienced at the hands of a UMC congregation, she believes that the Methodist Church will become open and affirming of everyone in the LGBTQ community.

An Inclusive Congratulations

by Leland G. Spencer IV

Annual Conference season has arrived, so I wanted to take a moment to express congratulations to everyone who is being/has been commissioned or ordained at annual conference this year. Especially to allies and LGBTQ people who have navigated the arduous process of candidacy, I say, congratulations. I'm glad you're working from the inside to make the whole church a place that shares God's inclusive heart.

I also want to congratulate Reconciling United Methodists with different relationships to the candidacy process, as I think these relationships are valid, valuable, and under-appreciated.

I say congratulations to LGBTQ people and allies who have been deferred or denied because of who you are. Perhaps you were honest about your identity or your supportive views, and such honesty led to your exclusion. I'm sorry this happened, and I'm sorry that Boards of Ordained Ministry sometimes function as gatekeepers rather than bodies that exist to recognize and celebrate God's gifts for ministry in the lives of the called. But I say congratulations for your exclusion. The voices of religious and political authority who have a vested stake in the status quo will often work hard to protect it, and that sometimes means keeping out those with other perspectives. In the fact of boards that are especially draconian, you could have chosen to equivocate or even transfer to a more open conference, but you made a difficult and courageous decision. Congratulations.

And I say congratulations to those who feel called, but have voluntarily withdrawn or extricated themselves from candidacy. That, too, is a difficult and courageous choice, and one I made four years ago. It is one that means understanding our call in new ways, like being present for people who have had bad religious experiences and need an affirming voice from an intelligent layperson who doesn't represent the institution as such.

Finally, I say congratulations to those who remain in candidacy or process for ordained ministry, but do so in different denominations. We'll miss you in the UMC, but I'm glad you've found a place your gifts will be recognized and celebrated. I'm sorry you had to leave this denomination to find a home, but that, too, is a difficult and courageous choice.

This season of the year is a difficult one for me, as it always means revisiting the painfulness and difficulty of whatever choices allies and LGBTQ people who are called to ordained ministry in the UMC make. Right now, none of these options are fully adequate (and none of them are all bad). All of them, I hope, offer us glimpses, albiet incomplete, of how to be about the reconciling work of loving God and loving our neighbor.

---

Leland G. Spencer IV, a lifelong United Methodist, is a PhD student in the department of communication studies at the University of Georgia, where he researches religious rhetoric as it intersects with gender and sexuality. Leland holds an M.A. in Communication from the University of Cincinnati (2009). While in Cincinnati, Leland served as the worship intern at the Wesley Foundation. Leland served as a part-time local pastor at Mapleton United Methodist Church in the East Ohio Conference from 2005 until 2007 when Leland withdrew from the candidacy process because of the United Methodist Church's exclusive position about the ordination of LGBT persons.

"Forgive them, for they know not what they do."

In the last several weeks, I've been reflecting on a scripture passage that most of us will hear soon as we approach Holy Week: Jesus' prayer from the cross, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." What I've been thinking about is whether such a prayer is appropriate to borrow in my own experience, particularly related to the often difficult work of being a voice and presence of reconciliation.

As I mentioned in my previous entry on this blog, sometimes the work we do as Reconciling United Methodists is difficult. Sometimes, we're called to have conversations with hostile people or called to be vocally and visibly present in places where our voices and bodies are not welcome.

Still, I hesitate to respond too hastily and hyperbolically to opposition. I don't want to make flippant comparisons between my own situation the crucifixion of Jesus. Neither do I want to suggest that people who disagree with me--and are doing their best to be faithful--are willfully and stubbornly ignorant. Even so, I would be dishonest if I said that some of the conversations I have had in the last few weeks were easy to brush off. Indeed, some were more than just difficult. Some were downright hurtful.

For now, I've concluded that I can use that prayer for myself, as long as I also use it on myself. I pray that God will forgive those who hurt me and people like me, and I acknowledge that perhaps they do not know the impact of their positions. However, I must also recognize my own incompleteness. I, too, sin. I, too, grieve God's heart and hurt people. Just as I pray, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do," I must also pray, "Forgive me, for I know not what to do. Creative and Creating God, search me and reveal to me those places and times where my own ignorance and arrogance causes pain and brokenness in relationships."

May this be our prayer for those who hurt us, and may this be our prayer for ourselves.

---

Leland G. Spencer IV, a lifelong United Methodist, is a PhD student in the department of communication studies at the University of Georgia, where he researches religious rhetoric as it intersects with gender and sexuality. Leland holds an M.A. in Communication from the University of Cincinnati (2009). While in Cincinnati, Leland served as the worship intern at the Wesley Foundation. Leland served as a part-time local pastor at Mapleton United Methodist Church in the East Ohio Conference from 2005 until 2007 when Leland withdrew from the candidacy process because of the United Methodist Church's exclusive position about the ordination of LGBT persons.

I Will Not Go Quietly

Recently, I learned that Chad Holtz, a recent graduate of Duke Divinity School who was serving as a United Methodist local pastor in North Carolina was fired for questioning the existence of hell. Here is a link to his blog post about it. This disturbing incident prompted me to think about the risks that we Reconciling Methodists take every time we work towards inclusion of LGBTQ people in the UMC.

     Currently, I am a student at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As far as I know, I am the first transgender student the seminary has had. Back in 2009, the UMC church I attended in Tulsa was no longer welcoming to me and I became a member of a congregation of the United Church of Christ.Despite not being a member of the UMC, I was still active in RMN and MOSAIC. This fall, I am transferring to Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Chicago and coming back to the United Methodist Church, the church that I love. God has called me to be what a friend has termed a "holy rabble rouser." I am not the only one.

     Despite the very real risks that we face, we continue to fight for full-inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the UMC. Despite being told that we are of sacred worth, we are denied even the possibility of ordination because homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching." Despite the attempts to silence us, we scream with indignation and make our voice heard, even if it's one small voice in the crowd. If your voice is small, keep using it. Many small voices will eventually be heard. The battle for inclusion has been a long, hard, and painful one. We mustn't give up. In spite of the attempts to silence us, we cannot go quietly. We are fighting a good fight. To quote John Wesley: "Do all the good you can, ...By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can To all the people you can As long as ever you can!"

---

Violet Fenn is currently a United Methodist in exile due to a lack of reconciling congregations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she lives and is attending a UCC church. She began her gender transition in 2008 and has been active working against bigotry and intolerance for many years. She is active in MOSAIC and the leader of its TransJustice working group. This fall, she is beginning the next chapter of her journey by attending Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa for a Master's in Divinity. Despite the bigotry and transphobia she has experienced at the hands of a UMC congregation, she believes that the Methodist Church will become open and affirming of everyone in the LGBTQ community.

Just Too Much

Yesterday, I said to a colleague, "Every time I open an Internet browser, it seems that I hear about another gay suicide." I know from my training as a student and scholar of communication that the number of news stories about something, whether shark attacks at the beach, plane crashes, or gay teenagers killing themselves is not necessarily indicative of a trend or pattern, but rather of newsworthiness.

I am not sure whether suicide rates of LGBTQ teenagers are increasing, but the recent number of stories about it has caused me to pause for thought. In a widely circulated video, Ellen addresses this series of recent stories poignantly:

As Ellen says, "we have an obligation to change this. There are messages everywhere that validate this, [...] and we have to make it stop. We can't let intolerance and ignorance take another kid's life."

My dear friends, if ever we become complacent in our work of reconciliation, let this be a reminder of what we're about. Our beloved United Methodist Church is one of the places that produces the sorts of messages Ellen refers to so powerfully here. I need not rehearse the hurtful terms in our polity or the even more hurtful things that faithful--but I believe misguided--United Methodists say in their attempts to interpret and live out that polity.

I know some of our readers would not consider themselves Reconciling UMs. Some are here with questions. Some are here to keep tabs and see what we're doing. So, I want to close with a question for those who disagree with me on the question of inclusion/reconciliation: Do you believe, as I do, that God's heart breaks for these young people and their families? And if so, how does the current language of our official position work to do anything but exacerbate their pain and God's pain? When will we understand the impact and the consequences of our language and the attitudes of our hearts?

---

Leland G. Spencer IV, a lifelong United Methodist, is a PhD student in the department of speech communication at the University of Georgia, where he researches religious rhetoric as it intersects with gender and sexuality. Leland holds an M.A. in Communication from the University of Cincinnati (2009). While in Cincinnati, Leland served as the worship intern at the Wesley Foundation. Leland served as a part-time local pastor at Mapleton United Methodist Church in the East Ohio Conference from 2005 until 2007 when Leland withdrew from the candidacy process because of the United Methodist Church's exclusive position about the ordination of LGBT persons.

Ain’t No One Monkey Run This Movement

Years ago, I had a supervisor who periodically had to remind me that I wasn’t indispensable.  As she put it, Ain’t no one monkey run this show, ain’t no one monkey make it go….

Her expression stuck with me, and I’m often reminded of it in movement work when people appear to have appointed themselves as the sole hub around which our wheel should turn. For whatever reason, they expect to be consulted in advance of any utterance or action, so they can give their blessing—or veto. Perhaps you’ve seen this in operation in your congregation, annual conference, or coalitions.

But vibrant movements don’t work that way. The success of our movement depends on a variety of people taking a variety of actions. Our success depends on

• some people working inside the system and some knocking loudly on the door from outside,
• some working behind the scenes and some stepping boldly out front,
• some making quiet witness and some making noisy proclamations.

In the end, our success depends on engaging clergy and laity, LGBT and non-LGBT, young and old, those with wealth and those with limited means, accountants and dancers and parents and healers—all of us, in our own ways, to do what we can in our own settings, based on our own gifts, our own roles, and our own unique opportunities. 

What would our movement be like—how might it grow—if we took on the practice of cheering each other on, encouraging each other to discern where we’re called, and supporting each other to fulfill those calls? 

That kind of practice would surely empower the movement. And it just might reflect to the world the peace we are all working for.

As for me, I’m grateful that there ain’t no one monkey…

---

Ann Thompson Cook directs Many Voices, which later this year will launch an online, ecumenical clearinghouse of worship and educational resources for the welcoming movement. Her books on sexual orientation and gender diversity—And God Loves Each One, Dios nos ama por iqual, and Made in God’s Image—are distributed by eight national organizations including RMN.

The Fear of Church and Some Consequences

By Peter L. DeGroote

At yesterday’s BWARM* gathering a participant said the church is one of the most dangerous places an LBGT person can go. He was emphasizing the importance of clergy and leaders carving out a safe place of welcome in otherwise hostile congregational environments.

That was followed by stories pointing to another reality: Very often clergy are the source of the danger; that through sermons and attitudes clergy plant the seeds of rejection and hatred rather that a sense of honor and respect (love) for all creation.

Overall, the program produced a positive discussion of personal/family/church relations but stories from fear frequently popped up. We heard how growing up in the church had been an experience of fear; several heads nodded in agreement. We heard an outraged straight man tell of friends being beaten down by clergy and other church leaders. A seminary student, sitting next to his wife who was holding their newly born baby, worried about the influence of those churches in which they would have to raise their son—would they be reconciling congregations? What seeds would they sow? We heard a story of one man who had come to know gay and lesbian folks finding himself standing up in a church meeting to tell his pastor that his hateful speech about gay folks was a lie.

Afterward some of us old-timers reflected together. One, who has been a leader in reconciling activity for many years admitted that even now when he goes to church or a denominational gathering he has a set of defensive tools all shined up and ready to use. He is keenly aware that some resent his opinions, the fact that he has a voice in church and denominational affairs, and even his presence.

Another old-timer spoke of having to go elsewhere for spiritual strength and solace because he could no longer find those things in the church. His many years of fighting had resulted in his coming to see the church as just another social institution producing negative social values and, therefore, in need of change. He could fight those battles in any institution but remained in the church because that is where he learned to fight them; but his spiritual health comes from elsewhere.

When I got home I pondered where I stood in all of this. Being an old-timer myself, I share some of the feelings of those two old-timers described above. But I also feel something far more disconcerting. I have dealt with the fear, the rejection, the negative attitudes, and sometimes outright hatred as a pastor and preacher. That meant I had to face all of that in the context of biblical and theological understanding. In doing so I have come to realize the vacuity, self-centeredness, and institutional defensiveness that is at the center of so much of our practice, policy, and even our creedal declarations.

I am frequently reminded of the early churches recollection of Jesus’ attitude toward religious institutions: You religious leaders, you impostors! Damn you! You slam the door of Heaven’s domain in people’s faces. You yourselves don’t enter, and you block the way of those trying to enter. (Matthew 23:13with a slight modification to the translation by Funk, Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar.)

*BWARM=Baltimore Washington Area Reconciling United Methodists.

---

Peter is a second career pastor who has served in several churches in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Prior to his ordination, he was a secondary-school teacher, a university lecturer in Government, an Associate in a government related professional association, CEO of a national financial institution. Peter was involved in Mid-Atlantic Affirmation, served on the National Council of Affirmation, and sat on the Board of the Reconciling Congregations Program, the predecessor name for RMN and has worked with BWARM (Baltimore-Washington Reconciling United Methodists).

New Year's Revolutions

by Leland Spencer

A few years ago, I had a conversation with a great friend. I love talking with this friend because he always challenges me, yet he does so in a polite, civilized, respectful manner, and he actually does it for the sake of dialogue, not for the opportunity to prove me wrong or something like that. He really values what I have to say in response to his challenges, and that’s why he does it; it’s definitely refreshing to talk with him. We were talking about faith this particular day, and he said something I’ll never forget: “The problem with Christianity is that it has lost its revolutionary feel.”  The problem with Christianity is that it has lost its revolutionary feel.

My friends, Jesus was a revolutionary. The early Christian movement was revolutionary. Throughout history, Christianity has often been revolutionary. Can we say the same about the body of Christ today? Can we say the same about our own faith and the way we live it out, individually and collectively? Am I revolutionary? Are you revolutionary? Is the congregation you attend revolutionary? Is our denomination revolutionary? Is the body of Christ revolutionary in this twenty-first century? Is my friend right; has the church lost its revolutionary feel? I’m challenged by these questions, in part because, at least in some cases, I see such a striking difference between what the answers are and what the answers ought to be. We’re called to be revolutionary.

I've never been good at keeping New Year's resolutions, so instead of a New Year's resolution, how can we work on having a New Year's revolution?

---

Leland G. Spencer IV, a lifelong United Methodist, is a PhD student in the department of speech communication at the University of Georgia, where he researches religious rhetoric as it intersects with gender and sexuality. Leland holds an M.A. in Communication from the University of Cincinnati (2009). While in Cincinnati, Leland served as the worship intern at the Wesley Foundation. Leland served as a part-time local pastor at Mapleton United Methodist Church in the East Ohio Conference from 2005 until 2007 when Leland withdrew from the candidacy process because of the United Methodist Church's exclusive position about the ordination of LGBT persons.

Once More Into the Battle!

Reported by Peter L. DeGroote

Dean Snyder, Senior Pastor at Foundry UMC in Washington, DC has been a supporter of reconciling ministries since before there was any organized reconciling effort. During his State of the Church sermon this year he included a statement of three personal goals, one of which is focused on changing the UMC Book of Discipline. Below is that portion of the sermon with only minor editing, reproduced with his permission. You can see the entire sermon at:  http://www.foundryumc.org/sermons/11_15_09.htm.

From Dean Snyder's Sermon:

The claim that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching” was put into the UMC Book of Discipline in 1972, the year I graduated from seminary and served my first full-time appointment. It happened on my watch and I intend to do everything possible to fix it on my watch.

The way ahead is not clear. We have worked so hard for so long to change the United Methodist Church and the progress doesn’t feel anywhere commensurate with the effort.

I’ll be honest. I can’t see the way anymore. I can’t see how we will get to where we need to go.

I can’t see it but I do believe this: if we continue to work, if we continue to educate, to legislate, to agitate, to protest, to dialogue, to love… a breakthrough will come. I think it is going to be a breakthrough that will surprise us and I am believing it will happen during the next five years. 

I don’t know what it will be but I believe it will happen.

Did you know that Rosa Parks was not the first African-American to get arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in the South to a white person?  Irene Morgan was arrested in 1946; Sarah Louise Keys in 1955. Nine months before Rosa Parks 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to move from her seat on the same Montgomery, Alabama bus system.

Rosa Parks was not the first, but, for reasons no one completely understands, when she did it there was a breakthrough. No one could have known it in advance.

In 1964 African-American Methodists had been working for 24 years to end the central jurisdiction—the structure of segregation in the Methodist Church. They had educated, they had dialogued, they had organized, they had legislated, they had protested. Then during the 1964 annual conference Methodists were voting on a resolution to merge with the Evangelical United Brethren Church. A young reserve delegate from west Texas got up to the microphone and offered an amendment to the merger resolution saying that the Methodist Church should not take the structures of segregation into the merged church, and the resolution won. It was a breakthrough. No one would have ever predicted it would happen. By the way, the young reserve delegate who made that resolution was William Astor Kirk, our own Bill Kirk.

(Many did not know this about Bill. In attendance at the 11:00am service, the congregation rose as one in a long and grateful ovation.)

There is a story in the book of Judges in which God sent the Israelites into battle against the Benjaminites. The Israelites lost; twenty-two thousand Israelites died in that battle—in a battle God sent them into. The Israelites mourned and wept that night.  

The next day God sent the Israelites to fight against the Benjaminites again. The Israelites wept before the Lord and they inquired of the Lord, “Must we go up against the Benjaminites again?” The Lord told them to go into battle again. They lost again. 18,000 Israelites died.

The Israelites wept and mourned and asked the Lord not to send them into battle again. The Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands (Judges 20: 19-48).”

Sometimes God sends us into battles we will lose. Sometimes we lose the battle again and again. There are casualties. We weep and mourn and ask God to not send us into battle anymore. I don’t know why God sends us into battles we will lose.

But then God says, “Go up one more time, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.”

There will be a breakthrough. I know we are tired. We are grieved, but tomorrow God will give them into our hands.

It is because of this kind of commitment that I am both glad and proud to regard Rev. Dean Snyder as a leader, a co-worker, and a friend.