Jeff Finley
By Jeff Finley
Each year, Seedbed’s interdenominational New Room Conference includes a prayer for denominational overseers. During the 2023 gathering last month in Houston, Free Methodist participants saw one of their own leaders — recently elected Bishop Kenny Martin — honored and prayed for by New Room Senior Advisor David Thomas in front of thousands of people at the conference or watching online.
When asked what led to the moment, Bishop Martin told Light + Life that he thinks John Mark Richardson — the Wesleyan Holiness Connection’s executive director and a Church of God in Christ bishop — alerted New Room leaders about Martin becoming the Free Methodist Church’s first African American bishop.
“I wasn’t looking for it to happen,” Martin said about Thomas’ prayer. “That was my first time going to New Room.”
Martin has used Seedbed material for discipleship bands, and he was also drawn to New Room this year because of the opportunity to meet with Free Methodist college and university presidents who were attending. Martin and Richard were among the few African American leaders when dozens of denominational overseers were on the platform.
“It has to do with my calling of being cross-cultural,” Martin said. “Even though it’s a predominantly Caucasian setting, that’s what God has called me to, and so it was just amazing … the presence of the Lord in the place and them being so welcoming.”
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“It was really a time of a lot of prayer, and I knew God sent me there.” – Bishop Kenny Martin
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He and his wife, Pastor Estelle Martin, also connected at New Room with Bishop Keith and Pam Cowart.
“We sat together, prayed together. It was really a time of a lot of prayer, and I knew God sent me there,” Bishop Martin said. “We look forward to building relationships more with New Room, and their heart is to bring more diversity there.”
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“God’s people [were] at the altar praying for one another, and so it’s a healthy place for the body of Christ to come.” – Bishop Kenny Martin
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The Body Coming Together
Martin said he appreciated seeing “God’s people at the altar praying for one another, and so it’s a healthy place for the body of Christ to come. That’s the focus of this New Room — this awakening of the body coming together, praying together.”
He added that Free Methodists are called “to find likeminded churches and denominations to work together.” Along with New Room, Martin recently attended the Berean Leadership Conference hosted by a Church of God (Anderson) congregation in Ohio.
“I went from one extreme to the other,” said Martin comparing New Room with the Berean conference “that’s totally African American culture and worship — pretty much old school, the hymns and a little bit of high church.”
Martin wants to see Free Methodists increasingly present at different gatherings of likeminded Christians.
“We can come and have our diversity,” he said. “It doesn’t matter the color of your skin. ‘Here’s a conference that may be totally white.’ ‘Here’s a conference that’s totally black.’ Let’s go as Free Methodists to sit under those leaders also and as part of the body of Christ.”
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“Thank You, Lord, for his faithful life, for his leadership.” – David Thomas
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The Prayer
Here is what Thomas prayed for Martin and other denominational leaders:
“Father, we thank You so much for our brother Kenny. Thank You, Lord, for his faithful life, for his leadership. Thank You, Lord, for the trust that’s been given to him by his movement, by his family. We thank You, Lord, for the leadership gifts that You have deposited in him and that You’ve developed in him, and now that You’ve called him up to this new expression.
“And, Lord, we pray that You would bless him as he enters into these responsibilities, and, Lord, we pray for Kenny [as a] representative of every man and woman on this stage. Lord, we know to take up superintendency in the life of the church is a very heavy responsibility — the life of a bishop or a president. Oh, Lord, they’re just constantly carrying loads that are so heavy, no one can begin to know.
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“We’re all one team. Jesus, it’s all for You. We’re all for You.” – David Thomas
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“And, Lord, so much of their work is spent putting out fires, and we ask that You would cause all of these men and women to be those who start fires — start fires of Your love, start fires of Your awakening. Lord, we pray You would strengthen them. Lord, deeply speak into their hearts — their identity in You as the much loved sons and daughters of the Father — that no matter what critique, no matter what criticism comes against them, they are safely grounded and held in the love of their Father God. Remind them often with how loved they are in this family and that we’re all together in it. We’re all one team. Jesus, it’s all for You. We’re all for You.
“And so Lord, we thank You for Kenny and for every leader on this stage. We bless them. We thank You for them. We submit to their leadership and thank You more for what they are doing for all of us and pray You’d strengthen and encourage them. So, Lord, this is Yours. We offer to You, Lord, this moment as a symbol of our yearning, of our hope, of our trust in You, that You will forge and create a unity that cannot be broken such that You could pour Your presence right into it. We would be a vessel of unity strong enough to hold the glory and to stand against all that comes against it, and that we can carry forward in the way of awakening in our day. This is our prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
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Photos courtesy of Seedbed New Room Conference 2023, Pam Cowart, and Keystone Conference of the Free Methodist Church
