by Steve Beard | May 8, 2016 | Uncategorized
“The United Methodist Church is at a crossroads,” Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa told the more than 500 assembled for the African Worship Service on Pentecost Sunday at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. Nhiwatiwa welcomed the international congregation and made it...
by Steve Beard | May 7, 2016 | Uncategorized
This was my seventh United Methodist General Conference and I had a sneaking suspicion that it would be like trying to ride a tornado. There are, after all, 162 marijuana dispensaries in metro Portland and one of the top tourist destinations is Voodoo Donuts. Dropping...
by Steve Beard | Mar 8, 2016 | Uncategorized
“We begin, not with business and legislation — as important as these are — but with a fresh emphasis on Jesus Christ for all our living,” said Bishop James S. Thomas as he launched into the Episcopal Address of the 1976 General Conference of The United Methodist...
by Steve Beard | Mar 7, 2016 | Uncategorized
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27). United Methodists of all political stripes should be able to agree on ministry...
by Steve Beard | Jan 7, 2016 | Uncategorized
It is one thing to listen to John Coltrane’s album A Love Supreme – and it is completely another event to hear the art behind the notes. Jazz is like that. It’s an acquired taste. With no shame, I readily admit that it took many, many listens before I actually heard...
by Steve Beard | Nov 7, 2015 | Uncategorized
“Joy is the most infallible sign of the existence of God.” That was the message on a note taped to the computer of Stephen Colbert, the new host of The Late Show. There is something seemingly subversive about a late night comedian who teaches Sunday school and...
