Joomla! site syndication http://www.umsource.net Fri, 09 May 2008 14:25:37 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.umsource.net/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.umsource.net Joomla! site syndication http://www.umsource.net/latest/an-update-personal With General Conference breathing down our necks one would think there would be more updates on this site right? Well, I would think so. The reason why there aren't updates is because the past few months have been so busy I haven't had the chance to get caught up! However, I have been blogging over at http://fuzzythinking.davidmullens.com (my personal blog). I have some thoughts on Wesley and other things. There are also a couple of new articles on the M3 site. I am getting caught up so I hope to add some more content here. Thanks for your patience, understanding and continued reading! - Dave. News - Latest Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:41:47 +0100 http://www.umsource.net/umc/united-methodist-churchs-focus-and-future-1 My bishop sent an email out on our conference email list updating us about the Convocation of Extended Cabinets. According to the UM News Service (http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=lwL4KnN1LtH b=2072525 ct=4644277) the Convocation of Extended Cabinets met for the first time in 40 years. Out of this convocation came, in some ways, a fresh and renewing vision for the UMC. Using the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,7 (I have no idea where 6 went), they stated: One mission statement.Two breathing lessons.Three simple rules for living as United Methodists.Four focus areas for our United Methodist Church in the next quadrennium.Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.Seven Vision Pathways to the FutureAfter reading through these directions, I was surprised. Not only did I feel they were quite good, I started experiencing something else; hope. Hope is something, as a UM, I've found elusive for quite a while. So, I want to take some time to reflect on these six (There's number 6! glad to have it in the mix) directions or focuses. Articles - UMC Sun, 18 Nov 2007 19:15:38 +0100 http://www.umsource.net/spiritual-formation/under-pressure-part-1 If Psalm 46:10 says to be still and know that I am God, why do I feel so pressured? If God is in control, then why am I so stressed? What causes me to continued to live a frantic pressured activity- I have discovered my pressured life coming from at least three sources: Arrogance, lack of trust and fear. Yes, arrogance is a source of my pressured life. I'm pretty thick headed, so it has taken me a while to see this. It basically works like this: I am so busy because I believe the more I do, the more gets done. So, I take on more and more activities. I believe that I make a difference and the more that I do the more difference I can make. This approach seems to make sense, it seems to work, and it seems like a wonderful attitude to have. Yet as I add more and more activities to my life, I tend not experience this stillness the Psalmist refers to. Articles - Spiritual Formation Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:04:11 +0100 http://www.umsource.net/umc/review-pocket-of-light Working again with Ross King for his third studio album, Pocket of Light, Darrell Smith gets help from former Audio Adrenaline guitarist Barry Blair and Dove Award Nominee Ayiesha Woods. Each CD Darrell comes out with is better than the one before and this one is his best to date. Everything from the artwork to the beautifully crafted songs is, well, professional. From the catchy upbeat opening song Feed Your Fire, to the more reflective songs Smith shows wisdom, grace and courage in his songwriting. Even the vocals are stronger than previous albums. As I listened to the album I was reminded of the more reflective side of the band Something Like Silas. Don't be mistaken, Darrell's music is worship music, but if you are looking for Christian clichés and niceties repeated over and over you won't find any in Darrell's music. However, if you are looking for honest songs about the life of faith, Darrell's music will not disappoint. If you liked Darrell's other offerings you will love this one. If you have no idea who Darrell is, or what his ministry is all about, check him out at DarrellSmithMusic.com (http://www.darrellsmithmusic.com/) . You will be glad you did! As in the past, all proceeds from the project go to helping ministries, however now he has created a new ministry called Chapter Three Ministries which goal is to support churches, charities, community events and ministry groups through evangelism, prayer support, worship leadership and instruction, resource and leadership development and worship/performance events. It is refreshing in this day and age to discover an artist who is about discovering ways to serve his King. Articles - UMC Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:23:36 +0100 http://www.umsource.net/missional/missional-methodists This article is announcing a new website called the Missional Methodist Movement. You can find it at http://www.MissionalMethodistMovement.com (http://www.MissionalMethodistMovement.com) . The purpose is to help connect Methodists who feel called to a missional mindset or ministry. The vision is it will be a place where missional minded Methodists can come, be encouraged, challenged and inspired to continue the journey God has called them to. It is in the beginning stages now, so come, sign up and join in the conversation. Articles - Missional Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:29:45 +0100