 Hi, my name is Tim Morrison and I am Chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry for the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Thank you for your time in this brief video. It's a great honor and privilege to address you, the Staff Parish Relations Committees of the North Texas Conference. Your committee and mine, the Board and the SPRC, we share a very important partnership and it is the partnership of the path to ordination in the United Methodist Church. You're the first committee, you're the first group of people that a candidate comes to that articulates their calling and what kind of the end of the process. But we have some hopes and dreams about what we're hoping might happen around your table and your congregation. So today we want to talk to you about two things. And first of all, I'm going to talk to you about what I'm going to call creating a culture of call. I probably need to define that a little bit so that you and I are on the same page and using the same language game. But it's providing an atmosphere where people are asked, do you feel called to ministry? It's as simple as that. But what does it look like? The obvious thing is like that cliche that's probably in your head, I'm kids sitting around a campfire and they're just so consumed with how much the God loves them and they're reflecting on it that they feel God saying, you know, wouldn't you like to be a part of articulating this love for the rest of your life and ministry and this kid feels so consumed by that in that moment? Is someone standing up and naming it and saying, is there someone here who's feeling called by God? And would you let me know so that I can talk to you about it? But that can take place in many, many different ways. It can happen at your VBS in the summer, among your teachers and among the youth that are involved in that as well as the adults. It can happen on any mission trip that your church takes where someone finds himself standing at a soup kitchen line and God may be tongueing on their hearts saying, I need you to feed my people for a long time yet to come. Is anyone asking, do you feel like God is calling you? Creating this culture of call. And the reason why the board wants to speak to you, the SPRC, is because you're in charge of the staffing for your church. To be sure that in all of these opportunities that this culture is alive and well among your congregation, that you're asking this of your leadership and also asking it of yourself. To create a moment where the spiritual reflection is made available. You feel God's love. Are you ready to be a part of God's love forever in an occupation? But a culture of call is not just a matter of asking the question. It's also providing the opportunity. It's where all of the sudden you find that you're offering someone the opportunity to preach who wouldn't normally have that. And then all of a sudden, here's a person standing up feeling God's love and then they're the ones articulating God's love. And even as they hear the words pass over their tongue, they realize that God is calling them to continue to articulate God's love. And it never would have happened if no one would have given them a chance to preach the young and the old alike, to give them the chance to teach, to go along with clergy on a pastoral care call or a hospital call, to be involved in mission. Are we just providing moments of experience to reflect on God's grace and God's calling, but are we also given the opportunity to practice it and to live in it and to provide it? Now, creature of call is more than just creating a spiritual environment. It's more than just creating a spiritual opportunity. It's also naming. Do not be afraid of prophecy and do not shy away from your prophetic word. I know in my own life there was a sweet little lady on the third row who stood up and said boldly to me as a young man, Tim, God's put a calling on your life. And sometime, someday, you're going to hear it. And for that moment, I hadn't even considered the reality of that. And that naming of a calling in someone is part of this whole culture of finding the brightest and the best and claiming for them. God can use you and your gifts and your talents to have an incredible impact on God's kingdom and to share that with them. So the board would like to know that across all of North Texas and all of our places of worship or gathering and all of our communities that we are creating a culture of calling where the question is asked, is God calling you? Where there are opportunities to be living out God's calling so we can experience it and where we are naming calling and those who inspire us and show love magnified that impress us. Now on the SPRC, you have opportunities in your congregation to make this a priority. And we the board, we're hoping that you do it because this is what I'm afraid is happening. I'm afraid the United Methodist Church may be losing its passion about creating this culture of call, giving it up to other sources. And if you and I don't pick it up, the secular world will do it for us. And they will claim for all of these young people what they should do and where they should go and who they should be. And we need to stand up for God in the Word and help articulate the opportunities that God has for them in serving through Christ. Then what do we do? What happens when someone says, I feel God's call on my life, what is the next step? What happens in this great moment? Because my fear is that there are many of us who name that at the age of 14 and by 15 we have moved on. What can we do for that 14-year-old? Well, first of all, I'd like you to consider contact in Kelly Carpenter. She's on the board of ordained ministry with me and she and I are gonna be collecting the names across the conference so we can get them together and continue to inspire them and not let that flame go out and stick with them and offer them opportunities through project transformation or camp counseling at Bridgeport or great opportunities for preaching for young preachers. And not only that, but there are opportunities for serving and mission work across the conference. And we wanna help keep them plugged in and involved in God's ministry. Then comes the moment when they sit around your table in an official capacity and they have declared their intent to enter into candidacy. And at this point, we'd like to share the second point we have today beyond the culture of call. And that's this interview. Reverend Billy Eptles Richter is chair of preparations and qualifications for the board of ordained ministry. And he has some really awesome ideas about the kinds of questions that you might be asking to help ensure that the people that are coming to you, yes, they are called by God, but are they equipped with the gifts and talents to be ordained in the United Methodist Church? Too many times in the past, we have sent favor to children onto the process and they haven't had the talents and gifts and we've wasted their time and their money. And we need to be sure at your stage that we're asking the kind of questions that be sure we find out who is called to ordination and Billy has some great words to reflect on that. And I offer him to you now to share his wisdom on what can happen around your table when a candidate comes before you. Hello, I'm Billy Eptles Richter. I'm chair of the preparation and qualifications committee of the board of ordained ministry of the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. You're preparing now for an interview with someone who is coming and considering their calling to ordained ministry in our church. I hope that you'll begin this process in a prayerful way because when we surround this process with prayer we invite God into a substantial place of how we do this work. Now the person that's about to come before you is probably somebody that you know very well and probably somebody that you love in your ministry setting. And that's really important in this process to acknowledge that. But I want you to love them enough in the next few moments to recognize how important it is that this interview be done thoroughly and properly. As much as you love them, it's possible that the most loving thing you may do when this interview is over is invite them to consider a different calling and not necessarily the calling into ordained ministry. This interview is beginning to determine if they are fit for ordained ministry within the United Methodist Church. To do that I want to give you a couple of references in the Book of Discipline that I think that you would find helpful. The first is paragraph 304 and the second is paragraph 310. I hope you'll review those two paragraphs in the Book of Discipline because they give some very specific information about what we are looking for in candidates for ordained ministry. In particular in paragraph 310 we find these wonderful historic questions from John Wesley when he was looking for candidates for ministry. He asked the questions, do they know a pardoning God? Have they faith in Christ? Secondly, he would ask his candidates, do they have the gifts and the graces for ministry? And finally, he would ask the question, will they be able to bear fruit in the mission field of ministry? So as you go into this interview now, I want to tell you that there are some characteristics that we look for in every candidate for ordained ministry. And as you go through the process of assessing these candidates, I'd like for you to remember this acronym. The acronym is Spark. S stands for spiritual. Are they spiritual? Do they have those qualities of leading people in faith in the church? And do they demonstrate an active and authentic faith in Jesus Christ? Secondly, are they professional? Are they dependable? Are they reliable? Will they work well within the covenant of ministry? Can they collaborate and be a valued colleague in the orders of ordained ministry? Then are they adaptable? Adaptability is so important in this world that we're living in because not only is the world changing constantly, but we know now that the church is ever changing as well as the mission fields that we are attempting to serve. We need people who are flexible and can work in an ever-changing environment. And then fourth, are they relational? We need people to understand that this is a relationship business. We may have different personality styles and go about it in different ways, but the ability to have and grow and thrive in interpersonal relationships is so crucial to the way in which we practice ministry. And then finally, are they knowledgeable? We aren't just looking for smart people here, for people who have a lot of knowledge, but we're looking for resourceful people, people who know how to find the things that are necessary and helpful for themselves to do ministry and to equip others to do ministry as well. We're looking for people with spark, spiritual people, professional people, adaptable people, relational people and knowledgeable people. If you'll keep that in mind while you're doing this interview, then I think you will find this to be a very helpful thing as you assess this person and as you discern their capabilities and their fitness for being credentialed as ordained ministers in the United Methodist Church. Thank you so much for your partnership in this work. God bless you. Thank you very, very much for your time. Both Billy and I respect your time and respect the awesome challenge that is before you. The agenda for SPRCs is a wide and vast array. And we don't mean to add to it, we just mean to be in dialogue about this partnership that we share together, this partnership for ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. It's a partnership that we take, of course, incredibly seriously. And so if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. My name is Tim Morrison, our contact Billy Eccles Richter. We're available to answer any of your questions or hear your advice or your concerns. And don't forget if you have a young person before they enter the process that's articulated their calling, don't forget the name Kelly Carpenter. And now she can be a great resource. Of course, we are interested in all, no matter what age, what race, or what gender, who want to come before us to live out their lives in calling to ministry. And we're just thankful that you're in the process with us as we equip wonderful people for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you.