CALLED OUT – Bishop’s Day 2010
Get ready for Bishop’s Day on Evangelism March 2010. “Creating New Places for New Faces” is our theme. Six regional planning teams are bursting with excitement and inspiration. So am I. I shall join most of you by DVD, SKYPE or PRESENCE. Look for me. With God’s help, shared ideas and images, a gaggle of tools and methodologies, theologians and practitioners, workshops and worship moments will bear fruit. We will address the visionary needs of local churches and strengthen their leaders. We will know the nudge of an expectant Christ. His sons and daughters in the Michigan Area will join the prophet Ezekiel in the belief that our “dry bones can live.” When the final Bishop’s Day Regional Event concludes in the UP, well over three thousand United Methodists will be strengthened in their ability and commitment to grow the church.
For that to happen, I need your help. First and foremost, pray for a bountiful harvest. Second, send a team from your church to the Regional Training Event.
· March 6, 2010 – Bishop’s Day for Detroit East and West Districts
· March 13, 2010 – Bishop’s Day for Albion, Ann Arbor and Lansing Districts; for Flint and Port Huron Districts; for Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo Districts, and for Saginaw Bay, Heartland and Grand Traverse Districts
· March 27, 2010 – Bishop’s Day on the Marquette District.
Third, check your Conference and District website for specific information. Periodic updates will appear. Fourth, tell others about it and come yourself. If the reader can image two stories from South Dakota as parables for Bishop’s Day 2010, a glimpse of what I believe can happen in Michigan comes into focus.
When the North Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops visited the Chief Crazy Horse memorial in South Dakota this September, I learned several things. First, the Chief Crazy Horse Memorial is the largest mountain carving in the world. It “honors the culture, tradition and living heritage of North American Indians.” Second, in 1939, Chief Henry Standing Bear asked a famous New England sculptor and non-Indian to accept the job and mission of creating the Memorial. Called out by Chief Henry Standing Bear, Korczak Ziolkowski accepted. He began the project June 3, 1948. Until his death on October 20, 1982, Korczak worked on the Memorial. Twenty seven years later, it’s still not finished. But seven of Ziolkowski’s ten children, five girls and five boys, and their mother have continued to work on the memorial year-round. Called out to help a husband and a father fulfill the mission given him by Chief Standing Bear 708 years ago, the Ziolkowski family has dedicated their lives to the creation of the Chief Crazy Horse Memorial. Today, more than a million visitors come and see the Memorial annually.
A brochure on the famous Wall Drug Store mentioned the following, “Up to twenty thousand people stream through Wall Drug Store on a good day in the summer.” Eastern transplants, the late Dorothy and Ted Hustead, bought that pharmacy in 1931. Then, Wall, South Dakota, had a population of 326 people. Located on Route 16A; cars passed by Wall Drug Store constantly. It was bothersome. But the constant traffic would have been less bothersome had their business not continued to grow at a snail’s pace. Things changed in 1936. Dorothy changed her perception. Instead of seeing daily traffic as bothersome, she realized that opportunity had been knocking at their door.
Back then, air conditioned cars were not widespread. So driving in the summer always meant travelers needed to stop for water, food and bathroom breaks. Seizing the opportunity to serve needy travelers, Dorothy came up with a FREE ICE WATER idea. And, she advertised. Free ice water signs were posted along the highway for miles around. Cars began stopping at Wall Drug Store for free water, other drinks, directions and bathroom breaks. Soon, Wall Drug Store and the town were transformed. Wall Drug became a new place for new faces. In essence, the offer of free ice water turned the town upside down. Or, Wall Drug Store and the town were turned right side up.
The late Dorothy Hustead described the new day profoundly. “Free ice water,” said Dorothy to her husband, “brought us Husteads a long way and it taught me my greatest lesson, and that’ that there is absolutely no place on God’s earth that’s Godforsaken. No matter where you live, you can succeed, because wherever you are, you can reach out to other people with something that they need.” Ain’t that the truth!
Serving others called out the Ziolkowski and Hustead families and transformed their lives. The Ziolkowski’s dedicated their lives to the creation of the Chief Crazy Horse Memorial. And the Husteads changed their perception of folk driving through the neighborhood. Folk were invited to stop in and they did. And the rest was history. We have a rich history of growth before us if we dare to be Called Out by the Holy One!
By: Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton On 11/1/2009
Topics:
Column