Annual Conference Devo for June 12, 2026

Do you know someone who may be called to become a Certified Lay Minister (CLM) in the Global Methodist Church? Enrollment is now open for 2026 CLM courses. We encourage you to share this opportunity with potential CLMs in your congregation or district and invite them to explore this next step in ministry. How to Register: Click the link below to view the full list of Fall 2026 courses and registration information. To reserve your spot, complete your registration no later than two weeks before the start date of your selected class. Important Dates: Registration Deadline: Two weeks before each class begins. After the registration deadline, instructors will contact registered students with course details and additional information. If a class reaches capacity, a waitlist will be available. Participants on the waitlist will be notified if a space becomes available.

The Great Lakes Annual Conference is growing, and we're excited to invite passionate, Kingdom-minded individuals to join our team! We are currently seeking a part-time IT Specialist and a full-time Administrative Assistant. These are two important roles that will help strengthen the daily ministry and operations of the conference. If you have a heart for serving others, enjoy working collaboratively, and want to use your gifts to support the mission of the Church (or someone who does), we'd love to hear from you. Explore the opportunities below to learn more. Two New Roles: 1. Administrative Assistant (Full-Time, Remote or In-Person) The Great Lakes Annual Conference is seeking a warm, organized, and service-oriented Administrative Assistant to support the Conference Superintendent and serve as a welcoming point of contact for the conference. This full-time, hybrid position includes managing schedules and communications, coordinating meetings and events, answering inquiries, and providing administrative support to help the conference operate efficiently. The ideal candidate is highly organized, communicates with professionalism and hospitality, handles confidential information with discretion, and enjoys serving others in a ministry-focused environment. Key Responsibilities: Provide administrative and scheduling support to the Conference Superintendent. Manage calendars, meetings, and event requests. Serve as the first point of contact by answering phones and responding to general inquiries. Coordinate conference communications and route requests to the appropriate staff. Maintain accurate conference calendars and assist with office operations. Provide exceptional hospitality while handling confidential information with discretion. Full Administrative Assistant Job Description 2. IT Specialist (Part-Time, Remote) Help keep the Great Lakes Annual Conference connected and running smoothly! We're seeking a service-minded IT Support Specialist to provide technical support, manage our digital platforms, maintain our website and databases, administer Google Workspace, and create training resources that empower staff and church leaders to use technology with confidence. This hybrid, part-time position (approximately 25 hours per week) is ideal for someone with strong troubleshooting skills, experience with cloud-based tools, and a passion for serving others through technology. Key Responsibilities: Maintain conference databases, online forms, and digital platforms. Administer Google Workspace and support Microsoft Office users. Update and maintain the conference website and mobile app. Provide friendly technical support and troubleshoot IT issues. Create training videos, guides, and other technology resources. Support conference communication tools and secure file sharing. We are excited to share these two new opportunities to join the Great Lakes Annual Conference team. If you are passionate about serving others, strengthening ministry, and supporting the work of the church through your skills, we invite you to explore these roles and consider applying using the link below. In addition to the application, a leadership discovery assessment is required to complete your submission. Full IT Specialist Job Description DEADLINE TO APPLY IS FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2026, AT NOON ET. Questions? Contact us at info@greatlakesgmc.org or (463) 202-6032.

Our brothers and sisters in Venezuela are reeling. On June 24, a powerful pair of earthquakes — a magnitude 7.2 foreshock followed seconds later by a 7.5 mainshock — struck the country, collapsing buildings and leaving hundreds dead and thousands injured. The need is immediate, and many in our churches are asking the same question: how can we help? If your church already has a trusted avenue for giving, wonderful — please use it. But if you're looking for a way to come alongside this relief effort, we want to point you to Venezuela Now, Inc., an approved Global Methodist Church partner headquartered in North Georgia that has served in Venezuela for years. They are working hand in hand with GM Church leadership on the ground, and they are already moving to get help into the hardest-hit areas. We can verify their work and trust their stewardship. Sometimes we want to help and simply don't know where to start. This is a resource you can lean on with confidence. To give, visit VenezuelaNow.org and designate your gift "EARTHQUAKE" so it goes directly to this response. Would you join us in praying for the people of Venezuela, and in supporting those who are walking alongside them? Together we can bring hope and help — and be the hands and feet of Jesus. 

KINGDOM ADVANCEMENT TRAINING COMING TO GREAT LAKES CONFERENCE - SEPT 22-24, 2026 PATHFINDER CHURCH – PORTAGE, MI Equip your churches to carry out the mission of Jesus. ENGAGE is a two-day interactive training in the best practices for Acts 1:8 local & global missions. Sponsored by the GMC Kingdom Advancement Commission, ENGAGE provides a unique opportunity to equip, connect, and empower local churches, and strengthen our collective witness. Through ENGAGE, local churches and annual conference leadership will be equipped in the foundations of effective missional outreach as we pursue our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ and spread Scriptural holiness across the globe. Registration $25.00 (Includes dinner Tuesday and lunch Wednesday and snacks) Schedule: Tuesday: 4pm - Welcome; 5pm - Dinner, followed by opening worship Wednesday: 9am - 5:30pm Thursday: 9am- noon Hotel suggestions : Delta Hotels, 711 Washington Ave., Kalamazoo, MI Staybridge Suites, 9575 South 27th Street, Kalamazoo, MI This training is for: Conference Superintendents Connectional Officers and Presiding Elders AC Mission Committee leaders & members Pastors and local church mission leaders What does ENGAGE include? An introduction to “GMC Missions”: Identifying Biblical Foundations of Missions Equipping participants to share God’s Story, and their own ‘Rescue Story’ Structuring for Mission Mobilization Building Healthy Partnerships Understanding the roles of annual conference and local church mission leaders There will be opportunities to discuss how churches and conferences are engaging in mission, discuss challenges, and share best practices. We will come together in praise, worship, and intercessory prayer. Additional tools and resources: Learn about the process of becoming an Acts 1:8 church Access the GMC Kingdom Advancement portal for tools to equip leaders in evangelism, disciple-making, missional engagement, and prayer for the nations; discover how your churches can connect with proven Strategic Partners and the GMC online multi-language Resource Library. The Engage event provides a ‘train-the-trainer’ experience for participants. Participant-leaders, “take back” what you learn; share it within your annual conference, districts, and local congregations.

The theme that echoed all week — multiplying disciples — ran straight through the last business session of the Great Lakes Annual Conference. After opening in heartfelt, bilingual worship and prayer, the body turned to the work of forming leaders, stewarding resources, and caring for one another, all with an eye toward multiplication. Rev. Shane Frederick, Board of Ministry Chair, was the first to present with their vision for raising up the next generation of clergy. As the Conference has grown — adding new churches and new candidates at a remarkable pace — the question, leaders explained, is no longer simply how to process candidates, but how to form healthy, faithful, Spirit-led leaders for the long haul. Their answer rests on three convictions: regionalized mentoring, where calling is discovered locally and nurtured in relationship; centralized formation, where candidates learn alongside peers under shared, high expectations; and a common mission across the Conference. The board announced its first-ever ordination retreat in early 2027 and named the heart of the work plainly: healthy churches depend on healthy leaders, and healthy leaders are rarely formed alone. Bishop Webb then gathered those preparing for ordination to answer John Wesley's historic questions — "Are you going on to perfection? Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?" — reminding the body that these questions, first written for laity in the class meeting, are meant to be asked of one another again and again. The Conference also paused to honor Aaron Kesson, who recently returned from serving overseas for eight months. Kesson serves in the Army Reserves as a chaplain and GMC pastor. Bishop Webb expressed gratitude for Aaron and his leadership and presented him with a Great Lakes challenge coin in recognition of his service to our country's fellow military chaplains and service members. Generosity and transparency marked the Finance and Administration reports, brought by chair Don Wolfgang, who opened with Malachi 3:10 and a word of gratitude for the conference's faithful giving. With reserves having grown to roughly $973,000 — well beyond what the fiance policy intends — the committee proposed lowering the connectional asking rate from 3 percent to 2.5 percent, introducing a sliding scale that adjusts the rate automatically as reserves rise or fall, and drawing down reserves to fund ministry now rather than letting them sit idle. The 2026–27 budget, built for the first time on three years of real data, projects about $1.9 million in income, including the drawdown of reserves. "We've heard all week about multiplication and church planting," Wolfgang said, "so we want to put our money where our mouth is" — and the budget did just that, nearly doubling church-planting support from $55,000 to $80,000, strengthening conference staff, and expanding clergy development. Members also adopted a new clergy moving policy built on a shared "sandwich" model among the receiving church, the incoming pastor, and the Conference. The nominations report turned the focus back to gifts and people. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 12, leaders invited members to turn to a neighbor and say, "You are a gift," then thanked the many who serve on boards, committees, and teams, and introduced a new leadership discovery tool to help connect people to conference service. Even the leftover books became a lesson in multiplication, as members were invited to carry extra copies home and become "multipliers" in their own ministries. Looking ahead, the Conference will return to Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana, next year.

Dave Ferguson is the founding pastor of Community Christian Church, a multi-expression missional community. Ferguson highlighted the importance of whole-person health. Every day, he assesses his relational, physical, spiritual, and mental health and suggests we practice the same. It is impossible for an unhealthy leader to produce healthy followers. However, healthy leaders will create a lasting impact on the lives of others. Ferguson made the point that every Christ follower is to be a disciple and multiplier for the Kingdom. I appreciated his definition of disciple as “someone who hears from God, then does what God told him to do.” I have never heard the term defined so simply and yet thoroughly. Further, a multiplier is “a healthy disciple-making leader who champions reproduction.” We multiply what we are and what we do. He emphasized that disciple-making happens through relationships. As you invest in people one-on-one or in small groups, they learn to invest in others. And eventually you will see your fruit growing on someone else’s trees. Most importantly, church multiplication is possible in any church, through any disciple, and in every context. We don’t need to have all the answers, a master’s degree, or a large budget; we just need to make ourselves available to God. We don’t even need to be good at math; God will do the multiplying for us. Bishop Mark Webb thanked Ferguson for his message, then added that a multiplying culture is so intertwined with the Great Lakes Annual Conference and Global Methodist Church that he has told churches, “If your church isn’t willing to MULTIPLY disciples and MULTIPLY churches, the Global Methodist Church probably isn’t for you.”

During the Wednesday evening worship session, Bishop Webb challenged conference attendees to move from focusing on what we don’t have to offering what we already have to Jesus. “The Kingdom of God advances not through abundance, but through our surrendered trust in the provision of God,” Webb said. “The concept of multiplication is nearly impossible when we remain more concerned about keeping our doors open and more concerned about keeping people with us rather than focusing how to make disciples and the sending those disciples to make more disciples.” John 6:1-15 recounts a multiplication story for the ages. When faced with feeding a large crowd and his disciples in a panic about lack of resources, Jesus already knew what he was going to do. After the vast crowd sat down, Jesus took what they had, gave thanks, he broke the bread and fish into pieces and instructed the disciples to distribute to those who were seated as much as they wanted. The scriptures go on….so the disciples filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. Webb enthusiastically reminded the assembled group; there was more left over than when they started. “The miracle began the moment the problem was surrendered,” he said. Multiplication happens when we move from focusing on what we lack and move to offering Jesus what we have and surrendering what we have to him. The same Jesus who fed 5,000 is still saving, still feeding and multiplying today. He is asking us to believe again, dream again and trust him.

Rev. Dr. Scott Pattison spoke Wednesday morning during opening worship, encouraging the assembled members to live into our Great Lakes Annual Conference Culture Statement. He began by sharing where we came from and where we are now. In four years, the Great Lakes Annual Conference grew from humble beginnings with 4 churches and 6 pastors in Indiana to 313 churches across four states and 532 clergy. He reminded us to continue our growth; it will be necessary to live in a culture of experiments and failures. It requires a vision of churches as life-saving stations. Further, Pattison emphasized the need for our churches to be multiplying churches. He says, “Our primary job is to try to see where and how God has been working and to partner with him in bringing people to redemption in Jesus.” In the past, our priorities have been to fill pews and to keep our doors open. But that is not the commission we were given by Christ. As a young movement, the Global Methodist Church can change how we’ve done things in the past and to see a future filled with multiplying congregations and a healthy culture. In this new era of Methodism, Pattison promised accountability in shared ministry, asking us to watch over one another in love and work hard at building trust in our personal and professional relationships. By developing a culture of multiplication in the local church, the Great Lakes Annual Conference will continue to grow even faster than it has over the last four years and will keep its focus on living in God’s Kingdom through the Local Church.

One conviction ran through every report and recognition at this year's first business session of the 2026 Great Lakes Annual Conference: we are called to multiply disciples. From the strategic plan to new ministry endowments to a gift from across the world, members saw how God is using this connection to raise up new disciples, leaders, and churches. The Strategy Team set that tone with its "Forming for the Future" highlight report ( REP-05 ). Drawing from Isaiah 64:8 (NLT) — "We all are formed by Your hand" — team members Rev. Ben Palmer, Rev. Patricia Tristan, Ellen Harbin, and Rev. Tyler Best reintroduced the plan's simple architecture: five formation areas (Cultural, Discipleship, Leadership, Local Church, and Missional), twenty-five concrete goals, and a three-year horizon, all resting on the Conference's culture statement. Forming disciples and leaders, Palmer reminded the body, is exactly how a movement multiplies — and the Annual Conference exists to strengthen the local church where that multiplication actually happens, not the other way around. Patricia Tristan then celebrated early fruit. Chief among the wins was Mission Match — "You were made for more than a pew" — a tool created with goal champion Mark Schroeder and team member Todd Hartnell of Asbury Church in Madison that connects disciples eager to serve with congregations already living the Great Commission. She also highlighted the Conference's two missional partnerships with the Ethiopia and Oasis conferences, inviting members to Q&A sessions with Dan Miller and Anbessu Feyissa. The whole body stood to affirm the strategy team and goal champions, and members were invited to join the work at strategyteam@greatlakesgmc.org . Multiplying disciples requires raising up those who will lead them, and that was the heart of a moving "Formed and Sent" campaign presentation on ministerial education. Rev. Bob Phillips, a senior status elder and retired Navy chaplain, framed the challenge around Jesus' own words — the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few — then shared a remarkable blessing: the Lilly Endowment has granted the Conference $250,000 to establish a fund helping certified candidates with the cost of their education, with a second $150,000 offered as a dollar-for-dollar match. Every dollar pledged over the next three years will be matched up to $400,000, doubling the impact to $1.2 million. Before the session even began, one church and two individuals had already pledged $30,000. Click here to contribute to this new campaign today! Rev. Arthur Collins, Discipleship Team Lead, highlighted the many ways it resources congregations to make disciples: accountable discipleship, Christian education, stewardship ministries, camping, and the School of Lay Ministry, whose fall 2026 schedule will be available in early August. The team also brought updated guidelines for protecting children, youth, and vulnerable adults ( PET 03 ), including the Conference's MinistrySafe partnership and sample policies churches can adapt. After a thoughtful, good-humored debate, members refined the language on recording devices in private spaces before approving the report. On the practical side, Interim Dean of Cabinet Rev. Stan Pegram presented updated clergy compensation guidelines ( REP-06 ), anchoring 2027 in a full-time minimum of $46,700 — an 11.2 percent cumulative cost-of-living increase since 2024 — under the banner "healthy clergy, healthy churches." Members also joyfully received Grace Global Methodist Church of New Albin, in the far northeast corner of Iowa, a visible sign of a movement still growing. The sessions closed with a gift from beyond our borders. Brothers and sisters from the Grain Coast Conference, which includes Liberia and Guinea, presented a handmade map as a token of friendship — a reminder that the call to multiply disciples reaches across the globe, and that God is at work far beyond our own.