I grew up a United Methodist. Many of my friends and family are United Methodist. Many of the most influential churches in my life are United Methodist Churches.

I am a Global Methodist.

A year and a half ago, sitting on a Zoom call with my United Methodist bishop, I told him that I was having second thoughts about being commissioned as a provisional elder in the UMC. Frankly, I had been for a while. But I tried to be faithful to God’s call on my life, continuing through the infamous “Process” for nearly a decade, each year getting closer and closer to the dreaded Board of Ordained Ministry papers and interviews.

And yet here I was, finally approved by the Board of Ordained Ministry and yet having second thoughts about being commissioned.

Truthfully, I had been having second thoughts since 2019. As I neared seminary graduation, a few Global Methodist Churches had approached me about being their pastor and some of them seemed like very real possibilities. But with no job offers on the table, I was forthcoming with my bishop and shared my trepidation.

A week later, a job offer from a Global Methodist Church came in that I was thrilled about (so thrilled, in fact, that I accepted it a couple days later). And yet, though I knew it was the right decision, I was hesitant to leave the denomination I had called home my entire life.

But then a question popped into my mind, a question very similar to what God invites me to ask in some of the biggest moments of my life:

“What denomination do you want your grandchildren raised in?”

That question took on new meaning. Two weeks before, my wife and I found out she was pregnant. And now God was asking what denomination I wanted my poppy-seed-sized daughter’s children to be raised in.

The answer was clear to me. I chose the young, risky, “building the plane as we fly it” Global Methodist Church.

And I haven’t looked back since.

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As I write this on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, I have a big smile on my face. It’s Day 6 of the Global Methodist Church’s Convening Conference. Yesterday, the denomination I get to call home adopted its first ever constitution. Today, for the first time, we elected new bishops.

I’ve been livestreaming much of this Convening Conference. I like watching the history of it. I like seeing many of my friends and colleagues on camera. I even like following the legislative proceedings.

Today I came home for lunch with it streaming on my phone screen. When I walked in the house, my nearly 12-month-old daughter (“a cradle Global Methodist,” as one friend called her) peered over to look at my phone. I held her as we watched an African brother speak at the microphone. I asked my wife to take a picture.

Less than three hours later, my denomination elected the first three bishops to be elected in the Global Methodist Church: Two women and an African.

I thought back to the picture taken earlier. I teared up as I realized what God had just done. For years now, I’ve heard critics say, “The GMC is just an old white man’s convention.” “They won’t ordain women.” “Africans will be treated as less than.”

I knew that wasn’t true. I know many of the leaders of the GMC. If those were true, we wouldn’t be a part of this denomination. But those lies lingered in my ear, like a mosquito you hear but can’t ever smack.

But this week, the highest and most representative body of Global Methodists the world has ever seen elected six bishops and adopted legislation. And through all of it, they worshipped passionately, loved extravagantly, and witnessed boldly to the the never-ending truth that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Today, I wept tears knowing that this denomination was a denomination for my children to be raised in. And if the Lord keeps blessing the Global Methodist Church with leaders like the ones we’ve had the first two years of our infancy, it will be a denomination for my grandchildren to be raised in.

This week, I’ve witnessed a denomination where my daughter can lead and, if called by God, preach. A denomination where all of God’s people—Black, white, young, old, Asian, European, Swahili-speaking, Korean-speaking—are represented in every level of leadership. A denomination where discipleship, worship, and mission are emphasized.

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On the Zoom call with my former United Methodist bishop, he blessed me in all of my future endeavors. He showed me love and grace as we parted. One of the last things he said to me was, “In 10 years, we will be two very different denominations.” We’re only a year and a half into those 10 years but I think he’s right. The United Methodist Church and Global Methodist Church are already two very different denominations. This week confirmed that.

As we enter into our toddler years as a denomination (what I’ll be calling our “Terrific Twos”), we totter towards all that God has called us to. We will stumble along the way. We will fall. I will weep tears of frustration and sadness, just as I’ve weeped tears of joy and relief today. But as we go there, I beam with pride as I continue to pray for what God is doing in this thing called the Global Methodist Church.

And, Lord willing, my grandchildren will join me in those prayers for the Global Methodist Church.

May it be so, Lord.

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