In May, I was ordained an elder in the Global Methodist Church. Each clergyperson ordained in a Methodist denomination has had to answer 19 historical questions asked by bishops going back to John Wesley’s (the founder of the Methodist movement) time. I thought I might share my responses to these questions in hopes of sharing a bit more about myself and about Methodism. I hope it blesses you!

To read my other responses to the questions, check them out here:

1. Have you faith in Christ?
2. Are you going on to perfection?
3. Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?
4. Are you earnestly striving after perfection in love?
5. Are you resolved to devote yourself wholly to God and to God’s work?
6. Do you know the General Rules of our Church?
7. Will you keep the General Rules of our Church?
8. Have you studied the doctrines of the Global Methodist Church?
9. After full consideration do you believe that our doctrines are in harmony with the Holy Scriptures?

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1. Have you faith in Christ?

I grew up in a loving Christian home with a mother, father, and older sister who taught me about God’s love for me through their own love for me. The older I get and the more I have the privilege of meeting others, the more I realize the gift it was to never have had a day in my life where I wasn’t being taught that God loved me.

For multiple generations, Shalimar United Methodist Church was the church that discipled my family in the way of Jesus. In both the kids and youth ministries of Shalimar UMC and at my elementary school, Cinco Baptist School, I learned about who the Triune God is and of His love for me. Each day at Cinco, we had Bible lesson time, which cultivated within me a love for experiencing God through Scripture. Often throughout my time at Cinco Baptist School, we were invited to pray “the sinner’s prayer” and accept Jesus into our hearts as our Savior and our Lord. Several times I prayed that prayer, but in third grade, I specifically remember having the realization that the Son of God willfully chose to endure unimaginable pain for me, a broken sinner. This time, when I prayed to accept Jesus into my heart as my Savior and Lord, I knew that I could call myself a child of God. Having now been exposed to Wesleyan teaching in seminary, I am much better able to explicate the ecumenical unity Methodists share with other traditions through the commonality we share in the Christian faith, as well as acknowledge the ways in which my understanding of God and Scripture and my spiritual experiences align more closely with Methodism. Even now, I look back with much gratitude for my education and spiritual formation at Cinco Baptist School.

In sixth grade, at a youth camp at Blue Lake, at the end of a time of worship, I felt the immense love of God overwhelm me. Up until this point, I had internalized that the Christian journey was about doing the “right things” to please God. However, this experience at Blue Lake felt like an invitation from God to enter into a relationship with God. I no longer wanted to simply know about God, I wanted to know God. This led me into exploring spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Scripture reading, worship, and discipleship groups as a way of knowing God and experiencing His love for me. Since that experience, these disciplines, which I now know as means of grace, have played a central role in my life as I have sought to know Christ and know myself as a child of God.

When I was in the ninth grade, I attended a Youth Leadership Team retreat with Shalimar UMC at Camp Timpoochee in Niceville, Florida. After a particularly challenging day, when I felt like my presence was unwanted by most of my peers, I wrote in my journal, asking some of the big questions in life and why I wasn’t feeling like I was receiving any answers from God. I ended my journal entry with: “[I’ve been advised] to pray a lot of times, but I can’t hear God speak. I read His word, but I don’t hear Him speak. I spend quiet time, but I don’t hear Him speak. Speak, God! If You want, You can even yell, for crying out loud!”

Later that night, I was sitting on the front porch of the cabin by myself when my youth pastor, Wayne Walker, sat down with me. We talked about various topics and he asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I confidently proclaimed that I would be a lawyer or sports agent. Despite not having talked about pastoral ministry in our conversation, he responded with, “Some of the greatest ministers I know never step foot behind a pulpit.” Immediately, I felt a strange sensation within the depths of my soul and felt God say, “Wayne’s right. But that’s not what I’ve called you to.”

For several months, I practiced my perceived future lawyer skills by trying to negotiate with God, hoping that he would accept any of my proposals about how I could fulfill this new-found calling without having to completely surrender my own personal aspirations. Finally, after months of failed negotiations, I prayed, “Are you calling me to full-time pastoral ministry?” and immediately felt a peace I had been lacking for months. I submitted myself to God and His calling and, though I knew nothing about the journey towards pastoral ministry, committed myself to following that path.

Growing up as a United Methodist, I anticipated that Methodism was the theological tradition in which I would live out my calling. However, I wanted to approach this new-found call on my life with an openness to God and His leading, so I began learning more about Methodism throughout high school and college. As I did so, one of the doctrines that particularly resonated with me and my knowledge of Scripture was the doctrine of entire sanctification. In looking back at the ways God had already worked in my life, I recognized that the reason my encounter with God at Blue Lake in sixth grade was so profound was because I had spent the last couple years at my Baptist elementary school wondering what was next after I had prayed the sinner’s prayer (or, as Wesley would call it, being justified by God’s grace). Methodism spoke to that wondering in ways my Baptist schooling could not.

I am able to confidently say that I have faith in Christ and have been saved by grace through faith. As one who continues along the path towards entire sanctification, I have been saved, am being saved, and will be saved, allowing the Holy Spirit to do His sanctifying work in my life to transform my thoughts, actions, and attitudes to reflect the faith I have in Jesus Christ. One of the joys I find in Methodism is that my conversion is not yet complete; I still have many more areas of my life in which I am seeking the transforming power of Christ to transform my own brokenness. But, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work [in me] will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

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Thanks for reading! If you’re interested in getting the other responses to the 19 questions delivered to your inbox, subscribe to my blog below!

This blog is a hobby for me, but it does cost some money to maintain. If you’d like to support this blog, you can purchase any of the books I’ve mentioned in this post using the links on this blog, or you can “buy me a coffee.” Thanks!

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Also, to read my book review of GMC Bishop Carolyn Moore’s book The 19: Questions to Kindle a Wesleyan Spirit, check it out here.

You might also be interested in some of my other blog posts about the Global Methodist Church. If so, they’re below:

“The Two Preachers We Need”
“My Grandchildren’s Denomination”
“Why Do We Ordain?”
“Learning to Trust: From Calling to Ordination”