In this season in which The Fount is seeking to disaffiliate (leave) The United Methodist Church, due to the unwillingness of parts of the church, including many of its episcopal and clergy leaders, to uphold its own rules, it can be very trying to trust God. Because there are so...
This Wednesday, September 6th, I will be meeting one-on-one with Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank at her Pasadena office at 1:00 PM. The purpose of this meeting is for me to express to her the impossibility of the disaffiliation policy of this annual conference for those churches wishing to disaffiliate from the...
Pastor Glen was interviewed for a National Public Radio (NPR) story that aired this morning. You can listen to and/or read the story by clicking here: Congregations leave United Methodist Church over defiance of LGBTQ bans : NPR Keep praying. All of this publicity is bringing out supporters as well as...
The Church Council, at its meeting on July 16th, approved a proposal to grant me two consecutive days off each week. Many may not be aware that pastors are typically only given one day off a week. Contrary to the popular “belief” that pastors only work one day a week!...
Last week was a really busy week with a lot of press coverage of our disaffiliation plight and follow-up contacts. This week, I’m hoping things will quiet down somewhat. It is good to have publicity and perhaps add some pressure to our annual conference to negotiate an exit route that...
In our disaffiliation from the UMC journey, we have run up against a LOT of institutional mindsets, mindsets that regard the life of the institution (in this case, the annual conference) as of primary importance, even over against the life of the congregations seeking disaffiliation. There are 22 churches in...
Pastor Glen was asked to write the article for this week’s Outlook, the weekly newsletter of the Wesleyan Covenant Association. This publication reaches 19,000 subscribers worldwide! The topic is the difficult process of disaffiliation in the California-Pacific Annual Conference. You can read the article here: Vicarious Joy, Actual Distress – Wesleyan...
I write this in the aftermath of the meeting of the California-Pacific Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, meeting in Los Angels June 14-17, 2023. During the session, attempts were made by myself and your Lay Leader, Ted Smith, to ask the bishop and the conference trustees to reconsider...
As The Fount continues its quest to disaffiliate (leave) The United Methodist Church (UMC) denomination, the one major sticking point is what is called the “trust clause.” This clause is (purportedly) inserted into every property deed that local United Methodist churches hold. It says, in essence, that the real property...
I wanted to bring The Fount Family up to date on our efforts to disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church. This process began officially when the Church Conference voted unanimously to disaffiliate back on October 19, 2022. It is now April, 2023, and the property appraisal has been done. But...