Conference News & Views

Gettel, Ensminger, West receive special honors as part of graduation festivities

PULASKI, Tenn. — The Campus Green filled with family, friends, and well-wishers on Saturday morning, May 6, as 122 seniors earned baccalaureate degrees during Martin Methodist College's 135th commencement.

President Ted Brown and Chairman of the Board Michael Barton offered congratulations and challenges for the Class of 2006 to make the most of the degrees they have earned. In addition to the 122 seniors who received 129 bachelor of arts or science degrees, 28 undergraduates also earned associate of arts degree.


Sharing the President's Award for the top academic average among the graduating seniors were Joseph Ensminger of Nashville and Lela Gettel of Pulaski.

Sharing honors for the President's Award, presented to the graduating senior with the highest academic grade point average, were Lela A. Gettel of Pulaski and Randall Joseph Ensminger Jr. of Nashville. Both students received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, with Ms. Gettel also earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business.

Also recognized was Dr. Steve West, professor of English, who received the Fred E. Ford Exemplary Teaching Award. West, who has been a member of the faculty for 21 years, received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Central Arkansas and his doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi. Along with his teaching excellence, West is a much published writer and poet, with more than 40 publications and presentations to his credit.

The commencement ceremonies began on Friday afternoon with the baccalaureate worship service at First United Methodist Church in Pulaski. Delivering the sermon was Dr. Joe Pennel Jr., retired bishop of The United Methodist Church and currently the professor of the Practice of Leadership at the Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville.



Ken Pinkston of Nashville (right), a 1962 graduate of Martin Methodist College and a member of Crievewood UMC, is inducted into the Hall of Distinction by President Ted Brown.

On Friday evening, two active members of the Tennessee Annual Conference were honored during the annual Jubilee and President’s Society Banquet. Kenneth Pinkston of Nashville, a 1962 graduate who serves on the college’s Board of Trustees and is a member of Crievewood United Methodist Church, was inducted into Martin Methodist College’s Hall of Distinction, and Elizabeth “Lib” McLean of Shelbyville, a member of First United Methodist Church of Shelbyville, received the President’s Medallion for her service as a member of the Board of Trustees from 1993 to 2005.



Elizabeth “Lib” McLean, a member of Shelbyville First UMC, receives the President’s Medallion from Martin Methodist College President Ted Brown during commencement weekend festivities.

Bryant tells Martin Methodist audience to take time and listen for God


Dr. Stephen Bryant, world editor of The Upper Room, was the guest speaker for Martin Methodist College’s two-night Festival of Faith in April.

PULASKI, Tenn. — The world editor and publisher of The Upper Room ministries told audience members at Martin Methodist College’s annual Festival of Faith that the search for an authentic Christian spirituality requires a keen awareness of God’s world and each person’s place within it.

Dr. Stephen Bryant, who oversees The Upper Room and also serves as Associate General Secretary of the General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church, offered his insights during one-hour evening programs on April 24-25. His topic was “In Search of an Authentic Christian Spirituality.”

“What is it we’re seeking?” Bryant asked the faculty, staff, students, and visitors from the community gathered in Martin Hall. “I think we’re seeking a deeper, abiding awareness of who we are together in God, from which all the rest flows.”

He said that individuals possessing an authentic Christian spirituality had an obvious impact throughout history.

“The world is a difference place, a better place, a brighter place because these people walked among us,” he said, noting such examples as Mother Teresa, John Wesley, and Thomas Merton.
The search for an authentic Christian spirituality begins, he said, wherever a person finds himself. He pointed to the Old Testament saga of Jacob, who had been cast out by his family and was roaming the wilderness in despair. He then had a dream in which God spoke to him.

“Now Jacob was always looking for a ladder, a way to get a foot up, always looking for a better option,” Bryant said, “but in this case, he is not waking up and saying, ‘I’ve got to climb that ladder and get out of this place.’ Instead, he awoke and saw the desolate place where he was as a gateway to heaven. His search began right where he was in his life.”

Bryant also discussed what he termed “spiritual narcolepsy,” where one’s awareness and sensitivity to God’s presence in all things can drift into dullness.

“Sometimes I’ve had to wonder if I’m awake, if I haven’t drifted off to sleep and lost awareness of who I am with God,” he said in talking about his own spiritual life. “That’s when we’re reminded, no matter how dry our desert might be at the moment, that ‘surely God is in this place.’”

However, the speed and distraction of the world around us, he added, can make it difficult to divine God’s presence with us and can contribute to that “spiritual narcolepsy.”

“Where do we build Sabbath time?” he asked. “It’s when we stop our doing and be aware of God’s doing. The authentic Christian spirituality is two-fold: contemplative and active, and it’s the contemplative aspect for which we often have to make time.”

He told of a woman who spent each visit with her pastoral counselor by endlessly talking about all the problems surrounding her life. Eventually, he told her to stop talking, go to her room, and just listen. When she returned for her next visit, she was a changed person, now talking about the wonders of God’s world all around her that she had never taken time to notice.

“She started by mentioning the potted plant in her room,” Bryant said. “She told her counselor that she had never noticed how breathtakingly beautiful the plant truly was. Then she talked of all the other wondrous aspects of God’s presence that she noticed.

“It’s from our listening that our social justice comes from,” he went on to say. “If we have an inner emptiness, then we have an empty activism. But as I have read the Bible, the heart of listening is to be found in the Hebrew word ‘xxx,’ meaning ‘here am I.’”

Bryant was elected to his post with The Upper Room in 1997. The Upper Room is an international, interdenominational ministry focused on the practices needed to strengthen personal and congregational spirituality. While its devotional guides are printed at The United Methodist General Board of Discipleship, the resources are used to encourage the life of Christian disciples in various denominations through 82 editions and 44 languages. The Upper Room is also known for its prayer ministries, the Walk to Emmaus movement, and in its response to recent natural disasters, such as the tsunami and hurricanes.

Three years ago the Annual Conference passed a resolution to help maintain the Conference Scouting Ministry by each church contributing $50.00 to $80.00 annually (usually in February and March). We are counting on your support. All our Local Unit, District and Conference Scouting Coordinators are volunteers. And though we are all devoted to the cause we simply cannot finance program plans, printing, postage, transportation and training materials. So please follow through with the commitment. We are most grateful for any amount your church can afford.

Send checks to Tennessee Conference UMM Scouting Coordinator at 6710 Greeley Drive, Nashville, TN 37205 or 2876 Sugartree Road, Nashville, TN 37215.

Many of you are probably wondering what happened to the God, Country and Me (Ten Commandments) hike. The hike failed when major churches either backed out or failed to respond. Our own Board of Discipleship would not provide personnel on Saturdays to staff The Upper Room. They insisted on us providing extra liability insurance for use of their already insured property. We were denied parking on their lots because they had agreements with the local restaurants. We had already spent close to $1,500.00 when the foregoing became evident some 90 days prior to the hike dates. We had no alternative but to cancel. The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts had already mailed most of the units’ packets. We might try this hike plan again – but we will not invite those denominations or organizations which caused us to have to cancel last years. We need to find 10 to 12 churches in any community outside Nashville that would constitute about a 5 mile hike.

Again thank you for helping us serve not only our Methodist young people but the community at large.

James A. Hardin
Conference Scouting Coordinator

The first annual Cedar Crest Camp reunion will be held July 1, At Cedar Crest Camp in Lyles TN

We will be doing some work projects starting at 8:00am until 3pm,

At 3:00 We will gather around the dinning hall to remember the old days, play games and eat a real Texas Bar-b-q planned by a REAL Texan

Come meet the new Executive Director and his Family and see what God is doing

Bring your old photos, t-shirts, memorabilia and your camp stories.

A donation of $25 per family is suggested to cover food cost


James Ralston, Executive Director
Cedar Crest United Methodist Camp
& Spiritual Retreat Center
8384 Barren Fork Bridge Rd.
Lyles, TN 37098
UMcamp@bellsouth.net