Clergy Appointments: aka Fruit Basket Turnover

Some folks out there will remember the old game Fruit Basket Turnover. Chairs are set up in a circle, the player in the middle calls out a fruit and those players assigned that fruit jump up and try to get a free seat. At any point, the middle person can call out “fruit basket turnover!” and all players have to find a vacant seat. In some ways that game resembles the appointment process as clergy wave mercifully at every U-Haul they pass in the week following annual conference thinking, “That could be one of us.”

Along with this process, there is the cherished hobby of many clergy – appointment speculation! With that in mind, I really like what the Kansas East Annual Conference has done announcing the appointments as they are made official on their website (h/t Amy Forbus on the MethoBlog). It seems like this satisfies the “curiosity” of folks and makes the process even more transparent, which I believe is a great thing. Nice idea Kansas East!

Evangelicals Condemn Torture

The Washington Post has an article describing the National Association of Evangelicals’ condemnation of torture. Richard Cizik is one of the co-authors of this piece, and I really appreciate the ways he has tried to broaden the “evangelical” agenda to include things like this and the environment. But, I still wonder what good proclamations like this do. Sometimes, it seems that our churches still feel like we’re in a “Constantinian” sort of setting where the government listens to our moral proclamations. Of course, perhaps it doesn’t matter if they listen as long as we present an authentic Christian witness.