This is more of a story than a bullet point. Yesterday, St Luke's United Methodist Church (where my wife is the pastor and our student Emmy Gimple is Director of Children, Youth, and Media Ministries) held a joint service with Epworth United Methodist Church (where our student Annie Walker is the pastor). Bishop Kennetha Bigham-Tsai (Bishop of the Iowa Annual Conference) came and preached.
For the children's sermon, the Bishop joined the children, along with Emmy, Annie, and Stephanie. The children's sermon (led by Emmy) was about leadership. And it introduced the children to all of these wonderful church leaders. They talked about what leaders do and how we need leaders in our walk with God.
Afterwards, the bishop asked me for resources on Psalm 137 for a Bible study she's leading Tuesday night. I shared a chapter of one of my books that discusses that Psalm, as well as my lecture notes for a class on that psalm in my African American Biblical Interpretation class. The bishop asked me if I would join the Bible study via Zoom.
I thought it was a great example of what we're all about. The bishop got to see firsthand how we're engaged in frontline ministry. Her gifts were celebrated alongside our gifts. We all supported each other.
Here's a link to Emmy's children's sermon if you want to see it: https://www.youtube.com/live/Lnv27zhcUSs?feature=shared&t=989