Susan Agel and Eric Logan
In addition to serving as the chair of the FMCUSA Board of Administration and a member of the Mid-America Conference MEG Board, Susan Agel recently retired as the CEO of Positive Tomorrows, a nonprofit serving children and families experiencing homelessness. She also serves on the boards of the Central Christian College of Kansas Foundation and Epic Charter School, and she chairs the Homeless Children and Youth Steering Committee for the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth.
In addition to serving as the vice chair of the FMCUSA Board of Administration, Eric Logan recently retired from work as an IT manager for the city of Rochester, New York. He also serves as a trustee for Roberts Wesleyan University/Northeastern Seminary, a director of the Free Methodist Foundation, a member of the Genesis Conference MEG Board, and a member of his local church leadership council.
By Susan Agel and Eric Logan
General Conference is a wonderful time. To both of us, it seems like a big family reunion. We see former pastors and friends who have moved away. We meet fellow alumni at college reunions. We meet missionaries and others that we have just read about. Best of all, the worship times are amazing with energizing music and on-point preaching. Participants all scatter home at the end refreshed in the Spirit and ready to continue serving.
But beyond the fun, General Conference 2023 will also be serious and sobering. Much will be done.
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“We must get this right.”
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Serious topics will be discussed during business sessions. There will be changes to the Book of Discipline impacting the church for many years. Missionaries will tell of the Holy Spirit’s move around the world and seek encouragement and support. The Free Methodist Way will become even more deeply ingrained into our practices.
Delegates from other countries will undertake long trips to participate. Souls will find Christ, and others will recommit themselves anew.
With so many people in one place, things are bound to go wrong. There may be accidents or illnesses. Flights will get canceled. Plans will go awry.
But most importantly, our church will be selecting individuals to serve as bishops for the next four years. Their elections will set the stage for the Free Methodist Church USA and its work internationally for the next four years. We must get this right.
We need to pray.
In preparation for the election of our bishops at GC23, the work of the Bishops Search Committee has already begun and will shortly be receiving nominations from the church. For more information on the process, we would encourage you to listen to “The Light + Life Podcast” with Bishop Emeritus David Roller and Alex Soto, co-chairs of the Bishops Search Committee, as they talk about the bishop nomination process.
It is no secret that we live in challenging times. As Free Methodists, we are a unique expression of the body of Christ that is rediscovering and reigniting a movement for Christ. We agree and prayerfully seek that desire to elect and/or re-elect women and men with kairos characteristics — people who are spiritually aware and appropriate for this exciting, yet complicated, time in the life of the church.
We need to pray.
God has used a variety of ways to select leaders for His people. In Acts, the apostles determined the standard for who would take the place of Judas and then cast lots to decide between the remaining two candidates meeting the qualifications. In the Free Methodist Church, we do not cast lots, but we do pray for wisdom and discernment in identifying the desired characteristics, vetting the candidates, and electing our leaders.
We are blessed by having a godly and diverse Bishops Search Committee, and indeed we are thankful for the leaders of His church. We are not anxious about the outcome, but instead we heed Paul’s instructions to the church in Philippi when he wrote: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7).
We need to pray.
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“We need to pray that the nominees and incumbent bishops will experience and respond to the leading of the Spirit.”
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We are calling the church to prayer for and with the Bishops Search Committee; for the process, for the committee to hear the voice of the Spirit, for unity, for covering for the committee members carrying this important responsibility and covering for their families, and for the committee to exercise godly discernment. We need to pray that the nominees and incumbent bishops will experience and respond to the leading of the Spirit. We are not immune from the factionalism affecting our communities. Pray and fast for nominees who exhibit kairos characteristics and who draw from a deep well of biblical knowledge, spiritual discipline, relational competence, and prophetic voice.
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:11–16).
We need to pray. +
Susan Agel and Eric Logan
In addition to serving as the chair of the FMCUSA Board of Administration and a member of the Mid-America Conference MEG Board, Susan Agel recently retired as the CEO of Positive Tomorrows, a nonprofit serving children and families experiencing homelessness. She also serves on the boards of the Central Christian College of Kansas Foundation and Epic Charter School, and she chairs the Homeless Children and Youth Steering Committee for the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth.
In addition to serving as the vice chair of the FMCUSA Board of Administration, Eric Logan recently retired from work as an IT manager for the city of Rochester, New York. He also serves as a trustee for Roberts Wesleyan University/Northeastern Seminary, a director of the Free Methodist Foundation, a member of the Genesis Conference MEG Board, and a member of his local church leadership council.
