Various Thoughts From Dennis Shaw

Our Podcast is with Danish UM Pastor, Thomas Risager.   Thomas is the Pastor at Odense UMC in Denmark.  He also doubles as the District Superintendent for all UM Churches in Denmark.   Thomas has a Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary in 2012.   Thomas is living what I suspect is similar to what we as North Americans might be living in 30 or 50 years time.   Any thoughts -- dennis at mantuan dot org -- written that way to confound the bots out there.  

This episode explores John Wesley and our perceptions of him.  Wesley was the founder of Methodism and we have a perception of him as a man of action.  Our guest, Ted Campbell, noted student of Wesley at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, offers a more nuanced view that speaks to us in our 21st Century busyness.   The Methodist Review article mentioned in the Podcast is HERE.  (You will need to register to see article.  The site is free). The Susan Cain book on Quiet and Introverts is HERE (and I used ubiquitous Amazon, you can always get somewhere else.)     A quick summary of Dr. Campbell's credentials (from the Methodist Review article) are:   "Ted A Campbell is the Albert C. Outler Professor of Wesley Studies at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. A United Methodist elder in the Texas Annual Conference, Campbell has authored many works in Methodist history and ecumenical studies. His book, Encoding Methodism: Telling and Retelling Narrative

Our guest for this podcast is the Reverend Ken Brown who is currently at Denver Trinity United Methodist Church.  Our discussion centers on Diversity Equity and Inclusivity.  I expect to talk to Ken again on a future day again.   Ken has been in Colorado for right at 20 years.  Before he was appointed to Trinity, he was at Broomfield (Colorado) United Methodist.  Ken's LinkedIn page is HERE. During the discussion I mention two articles I had read on Ken during his time at Trinity.  Both are quite helpful to understanding Ken.  The two articles are are: The Westword article --HERE. The 5280 -- HERE. My email is dennis at mantuan dot org (written that way to discourage the search bots) if you need any help getting this Podcast properly registered on your Podcast Application.   This episode was recorded on September 7, 2023 and was published on September 18, 2023.  

Our guest today is Annie Arnoldy, Superintendent for Vitality and Connectional Ministry at the Mountain Sky Conference of the United Methodist Church.   I have known Annie since her student days at Colorado State University when we collaborated a little on Youth Ministry.  In addition to her studies at CSU, Annie holds a Master in Divinity from the Iliff School of Theology and a Masters Certificate in Organizational Leadership from Denver University.  Annie is a Mountain Sky Conference Elder and she entered ministry from Hope UMC in Greenwood Village, CO.   Her local church experience includes Grand Junction First UMC and Highlands Ranch Saint Andrews UMC.   I consider this part 1 of what I expect to be a continuing conversation on the direction of the Mountain Sky Conference in the area of Leadership Development.   If you are having trouble getting Mindful Leader into your podcast app, send me a note at dennis at mantuan dot org (spelled that way to confound the bots.)   This podcast was released on Septembe

The topic is urgency and anxiety. Our guest is the Reverend Doctor Sarah Calvert, Northern Virginia District Superintendent for the Virginia Conference.  Sarah and I were colleagues in the Wesley Theological Seminary Doctor of Ministry Program where both of us also got our Master of Divinity.  She also holds degrees from Mary Washington in Virginia and George Mason (Scalia School of Law).   Sarah's LinkedIn is HERE and HERE is a bio used at Northern Virginia welcoming.   Some links from the Podcast follow:   Linsky and Heifetz:  Leadership on the Line.  Excellent book.  We discussed it briefly.  Very briefly.  Will probably come back to it another day. Paragraph 2553 of our UM Book of Discipline is HERE. This was passed in order in 2019 in order to provide an avenue for churches unhappy with the current wording in our polity the means to leave the UMC.  Ironically, the intended user in 2019 is not using the provision, rather, it is by and large the forces that developed the policy.     Enneagram is HERE.  Oth