Dr. Jennifer Wilson speaks to the National Association of Conference Presidents in Nashville.

It may be time to move on, says Illinois pastor

NASHVILLE, Tenn. The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Wilson, senior pastor at Wheatland Salem UMC in Naperville, Ill., told conference presidents of UM Men that “there will come a time when you need to pick up and move on in your ministry.”

Addressing the men at a time when leaders of UM Men are moving to new positions, Wilson said, “This (moving to a new post) may be the hardest thing you do, because you may follow someone you truly loved as a leader.” However, she said “The legacy left for you is to carry on –– take your leadership inheritance and move on to the next level.”

She recalled how Terah, Abram’s father, took Abram, Sarai, and his grandson, Lot, on a trip from homeland in Ur to their intended destination in Canaan. Instead, when they got to Harran, they settled there until Terah died.

“Three generations leave their comfortable homeland,” she said. “Abram may have had more than one sleepless night. He was stripped of his identity as he journeyed to unknown places.”

But, Abram receives something during this painful process. “God gives him a new identity, ‘Abraham’ and new land people and an extended family.

“Every leader has a back story,” she said and noted that some back stories include failures. “But if we fail, we are learning.”

“Every leader has a God who is with you and will take you places you never dreamed you would go,” she said.