By John W. Coleman–Adapted from a sermon on Mark 5:1-20, preached July 1, 2018, at Servants of Christ UMC Philadelphia. The demon-possessed man languishing among the dark tombs in Gerasenes ran to Jesus…  Read more

“Rise Up and Pray!” Do you remember that imperative call of our recent Annual Conference, to lift our heads, hands and hearts in prayer to our almighty, all-loving God? What about Draw the Circle: The 40-Day Prayer Challenge, the Rev. Mark Batterson’s…  Read more

There is little if anything new under the sun, a saying that’s true about the church and discipleship.  We constantly go back to the Church of Acts…  Read more

A number of years ago there was a book titled All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. It highlighted some of the basic life lessons many of us learned as children, such as: share everything; play fair…  Read more

Every year I’ve attended Annual Conference, there have been a small but faithful group of people who hold vigil right before the ordination service.  Those passing are sometimes confused about why… Read more

What is happening in growing new churches and redeveloping existing churches? A lot! I remember when I went to Annual Conference…  Read more

Primary Focus The mission of The United Methodist Church is to “make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”  This is based on the Great Commission of… Read more

Remember the old axiom about the three most important considerations for buying real estate? It’s “Location! Location! Location!” As Coordinator of Congregational Development…  Read more

(Jesus) cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth…. Read more

Reflection by The Rev. Jeffrey Raffauf: The NE Jurisdictional Conference was a unique experience for me. I understood going in the importance of this body…  Read more