45 years and Counting!

Randy Wall-  1974

I will make a trip this week west to a place called Lake Junaluska as I attend the Western NC Annual Conference Session.    For those who are not of religious or United Methodist persuasion, Lake Junaluska is located about 30 miles west of Asheville near Waynesville.  United Methodists have a retreat center there by the Lake with the grandeur of the Great Smoky Mountains in the background.    Annual Conference is a unique combination of family reunion, business meeting, and camp meeting all rolled into one.  

This month marks an anniversary for me as I celebrate my 45^th anniversary as a local church pastor.     To give you an idea how long ago I started this journey, when I became a pastor Richard M. Nixon was President… gas was less than one dollar a gallon… and online was the place you placed your clothes to dry after you had washed them in the washing machine.   I was a young man and single when  I first became a pastor.   Now, I am married, semi-retired, and have four grown children and six grandchildren.   It is and has been quite a journey through joys and sorrows that were my own and that I had a chance to witness as I have served people and congregations across the Tar Heel state.     The greatest joy of all is to meet so many wonderful people whose faith and stories that have inspired me.   So often, I have been ministered unto instead of ministering.  

There will be times of reflection for me as I attend the Annual Conference Session this week.   As I see men and women began their journey in ministry, I will reflect and renew my vows to preach, teach, and share the good news of Christ in word and deed.   As I hear the names of those pastors who are retiring and pastors and their wives who have died in the past year,  I will give thanks for how many of them touched my life and mentored me.   As the Bishop reads the names of those appointed as pastor,  I will give thanks for the awesome privilege I have to serve as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ  with the good folk at Ann Street United Methodist Church in Concord.     Thanks be to God!   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

  

Prayer:   O God, thank you for the fact that you have called all of us to share the good news of Jesus Christ.   Thanks to those who serve through Word, Sacrament, and order as pastors.  Use them as your instruments;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.