Rev. Dr. David S. Melton

MarketPlace - August 20, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:10:00 +0000

Five years ago, when our church was asked to commit to help make first rate leadership training available to both members of our congregation and the whole of our region by hosting a satellite event called the Leadership Summit, I was excited, but a bit skeptical. My questions were: “Could we do it well; and if we did, would people come?”

Fast forward five years. On August 7 and 8 we celebrated our fifth year of hosting the Leadership Summit. A number of people felt that it was perhaps the best event they’d ever attended. As a matter of fact, in the opinion of so many of our leaders, there’s nothing not to like about the Summit. During the event, over and over we’re reminded why we’re here; and recall that the Church is the hope of the world. Couple that with the opportunity for our own church leaders to be fed and grow, with the realization that people from all over our region are in our beautiful facility and feel the warmth of so many of our volunteers - and you begin to see why it is worth every bit of our prayer and effort.

This year’s Summit faculty wasn’t as well-known as in years past, but did not disappoint. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a more effective presentation than the one made by Gary Haugen, CEO of International Justice Mission. Haugen’s faith has led him to establish an international human rights agency that rescues victims from violent forms of oppression, including slavery and sexual exploitation.

Among the other highlights for me were the presentations made by Wendy Kopp, founder and CEO of Teach for America, an organization dedicated to eliminating educational inequity in our country by enlisting the most promising future leaders in the effort; and Catherine Rohr, founder and CEO of Prisoner Entrepreneurship Program, which with the help of more than 1,000 business executives and 400 MBA students from 24 programs (including Harvard and Stanford) seeks to redirect inmates’ talents by equipping them with values-based entrepreneurial training so that they might be able to have a productive re-entry to society. When graduates of Rohr’s program were introduced and presented, the presence of God was strong and powerful. There was not a dry eye or heart in the building. We were reminded that one single leader with a Goddirected vision can make an eternal difference.

In my opinion the reason we are able to host the Summit so well is because of the fact that our Operations Team is made up of a group of incredibly high-quality leaders. Wynn Pope served as our Promotional Strategist; Steve and Judy James served as our Conference Information coordinators; Jack Upton served as our Facility Coordinator; Bob Ball served as Food Coordinator; Danny Barden served as Head Usher; Til Tillery and Amy DeBruyker served as Prayer Coordinators; Beth Tracey served as Registration Coordinator; Ethel and Trish Glenn served as Resource Coordinators; Kay Harmon served as Volunteer Coordinator, Harold McLeod served as Transportation Coordinator; Rob Hutchinson served as the Summit’s Producer; and Joe Wood served as Technical Director. That’s no doubt the best Operations Team in the country. Our Scott Nowlan served again as our Onsite Event Manager. It is Scott’s passion for the event and commitment to detail that have allowed us to make the whole of the high quality event available to almost 1,500 individual leaders over the past five years.

I have told you often that I need the infusion of values-based leadership training and inspiration that I get from the Summit every year. Frankly it makes me a better leader, and even more committed to sharing the Gospel with a world that God so powerfully loves. Thank you for being a part of another incredible event, through your service, thoughts and prayers. May God continue to bless West Market and the community it serves as we move forward.

MarketPlace - August 6, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:10:00 +0000

What a summer it’s been at West Market!

This past Sunday we all thoroughly enjoyed being led by our children into a new understanding of the story of the faith of Daniel.

This week, we’re off on a new experience. When you get this newsletter, there will be between 250 and 300 leaders gathered in our Sanctuary because they believe the church is the hope of the world; faithful leadership of the church is incredibly important; and, the gift of leadership among God’s disciples must be enhanced. The event we will be hosting, the Leadership Summit 2008, is the finest event of its kind in the world. And, for the fifth year in a row, West Market gets to be a part of it. Some of you have never been around our church during the Summit. Swing by for a few minutes sometime this week just to get a flavor of what’s going on. You will be inspired.

The lasting impression I will have of the summer of 2008 comes from our mission experience to Bulgaria. I have shared (on a number of occasions) the path our church has followed to come into relationship with churches there. God actually planted the seed in my heart for ministry in Bulgaria during the spring of 2006 while at the World Methodist Conference meeting in Seoul, South Korea. The vision for that ministry quickly resonated in the hearts of our leaders here, who began to put names and locations on our outreach map.

A four-person exploratory group went to Bulgaria last summer to see whether or not we were truly called to serve there. The answer was a resounding “yes.”

Two weeks ago, 18 persons from our church left Greensboro for Bulgaria. Actually for most of us (including me), it was a venture into the unknown. But I believe everyone on the trip felt that God had prepared an incredible experience for us.

What an understatement! Ministry abounded there, in both directions. There was a Vacation Bible School ministry that our people shared with children in the community of Misjia and at an orphanage in Lavetch. There was sharing of our Prayer Shawl Ministry model with ladies in churches in Misjia, Voyvovodo and Pleven. There was teaching ministry with lay members of two of the churches, and with Methodist pastors from all over Bulgaria who gathered for a seminar in Pleven. (One pastor and his wife drove 300 kilometers in order to attend that seminar that the district superintendent of all of Bulgaria said was “priceless”.) There was incredible Music Ministry provided in and through our five-person mini-orchestra ensemble.

There was inspiring worship and preaching, including the opportunity to worship in a Methodist church building in Pleven that had not been open for worship since Communists took the building over just after World War II. There was the opportunity to see the beautiful Bulgarian countryside, experience the cosmopolitan city of Pleven, and unlock Bulgarian history through a visit to Bulgaria’s most significant Orthodox monastery. More than anything else, even though most of us had never even known where Bulgaria was before we left, while we were there, we were filled with an unmistakable feeling of “family reunion.”

It shouldn’t have surprised us. The truth is, we are brothers and sisters in the same family with the people of Bulgaria. God loves us all and smiles when we reach out to one another.

There was an incredible amount of reaching out from both sides of our Bulgarian mission experience. It’s what we’re made for really: relationship in Christ. May God lead you to a new understanding of the dream He has for you.

MarketPlace - July 23, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:22:00 +0000

Are you satisfied with your life? Really satisfied?

It’s often said that followers/disciples of Christ have every reason in the world to be optimistic. Actually the Scriptures say that God has a special love for those who follow Him.

According to Romans 8:28, God promises that, in the final analysis, things will work for our good because we love Him.

And yet, in our heart of hearts, we know life to be an incredible challenge. The fact is that there still seems (even in the lives of Christ followers) to be more drudgery and boredom than excitement and adventure.

Have you ever been there, thirsting for more? At times I have been… Are you there now?

I’m excited to tell you about the exciting news we’ve all been waiting for. A little over a month from now, our church family is going to embark on a forty-day study that can change the way we feel about prayer, church attendance, acts of service, and even financial giving.

By the time it’s all said and done, you will see your whole relationship with God in a new way – and understand how to “live all the days of your life”, as the Irish blessing puts it.

So, what is your part in all this? First, think about your life. Are you getting all the enjoyment and fulfillment that you think God might have in store for you? Second, commit to giving God forty days to change it. Third, dedicate six Sundays: from September 7 (the week after Labor Day) until the second Sunday in October, to being in church. And fourth, read a simple book with me called Treasures of the Transformed Life. That book can be picked up at any time in the church office.

That forty-day process will help you identify what it is that you are thirsty for, and will point you in the direction of satisfying that thirst. You’ll be given the opportunity to discuss what you’re learning during weekly Sunday School/small group meetings. And you will hear inspiring messages each week that will tie it all together.

At the end, we will try to answer the “So what?” question, and talk about putting our faith into action.

I believe this could be the most important forty days this church has ever experienced. Plan now for the stretching of your spirit and growth of your faith and security.

And know that the transformed life that results will be your very own!

May you remain aware of God’s love for you and all.

Dave Melton

MarketPlace - July 9, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:16:00 +0000

I’m writing this article on the morning of July the 4th. Hardly a day goes by when I’m not aware of two things: that I am privileged to live in the most wonderful country the world has ever known, and that I am grateful for those who have given their time, their energy and their lives to protect it.

I’m also thankful for a church that has taken its responsibility for caring for others so very seriously. At the meeting of our Annual Conference at Lake Junaluska in early June, our Outreach co-chair Elizabeth Montgomery received the Harry Denman Laity Award for Evangelism. The award is given to the one person in the annual conference each year who has done the most to bring people to Jesus Christ. This year’s presentation represented the fact that West Market has become our annual conference’s (and I would say the southeast’s) leading outreach congregation.

Just look at the facts. Last night my wife Lynne and I were at West Market at 2:30 a.m. to greet our daughter Mary Katherine and the 17 other West Marketers (14 youth and four counselors) who were returning from their mission experience in Costa Rica. And though everyone in our downtown parking lot was tired (and many, including me, bleary eyed) there was an incredible electric excitement related to what had just happened. The fact is that lives were changed and relationships built among the body of Christ.

Later this month I will accompany 17 other West Marketers to Bulgaria, where the Christian community is begging for aid. New reports over the past years have detailed the fact that Bulgaria presently has no religious heart, and that countries in the Middle East (including Saudi Arabia) are pumping billions of dollars into the country seeking to establish radical Islam as the predominate religion.

At the World Methodist Conference meeting in Seoul, Korea, two years ago, Lynne and I heard passionate appeals from Bulgarian Methodists for aid and assistance. That led to our adoption of three Bulgarian Methodist churches last year. The hope is that we might play a small role in giving Christians in that country a fighting chance to share the message of Christ and fend off a hostile takeover from religious fanatics seeking to spread oppressive forms of religion.

Early next year a couple of us will make a trip to Kenya seeking to build relationships with Africans who are presently struggling with an HIV/AIDS epidemic that has left millions of homes and communities broken and children parentless. I believe God will call us to adopt/partner with a village (and local Methodist church) there in order to provide educational assistance, clean water, medical care, and construction and housing expertise. I believe God will also call us to provide Christian fellowship and inspiration to those of His children who are experiencing unimaginable pain and suffering there.

Not that West Market has forgotten our own citizens… Our members have just returned from even another mission trip to Mississippi where they participated in the continuing rebuilding effort necessitated by the ravages inflicted by Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

And on July 20 (at 5 p.m.) we will dedicate the Habitat House we have built (with assistance from another local congregation) that will provide a home for a deserving Greensboro family.

Oh my, how God is working through us! I must tell you it makes me proud —- to be an American, a follower of Christ, a United Methodist and a leader at West Market, which I believe just happens to be the finest community of faith in the world.

Your gifts of time, energy and finances to God through our church are saving lives, spreading the Gospel and encouraging the lost. If you’re not involved, now is the time to help change the world! May God lead us to renewed passion for it all.

Dave Melton

MarketPlace - June 25, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:21:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

Wow, how time flies! Memorial Day seems only a few days in the past, and it’s almost Fourth of July!

That means we are about six weeks away from one of the most powerful events in West Market’s annual schedule – the Leadership Summit. 2008 will be our fifth year of hosting the pre-eminent event. Each year, countless hours are spent locating a world-class faculty that will sharpen, inspire, and motivate us as leaders — leading right where we are: at West Market, in the business world, in our homes and communities.

That's why, this year, Wendy Kopp, CEO and Founder of Teach for America was invited to present. This spring Wendy was named one of the world's top 100 influential people by Time. Her vision and commitment to providing every child with an equal chance to excellent education will inspire you in relentlessly pursuing your own leadership challenges and dreams for the sake of Christ's Kingdom.

That's just the beginning. In addition to Summit host and Founder, Bill Hybels, other 2008 speakers will include:

Brad Anderson, Vice-Chair and CEO of Best Buy - a business that has experienced remarkable growth by listening to its employees;

Bill George, Harvard Professor and former CEO of Medtronics, whose best-selling books on authentic leadership will inspire every values-based leader;

Innovative pastors, Craig Groeschel, John Burke, and Efrem Smith - who are leading their congregations in reaching out into our post-modern, multi-ethnic culture in Christ's name

Chuck Colson, Chairman and Founder of Prison Fellowship\Ministries, whose intelligent and thoughtful approach to the Gospel has helped millions know what they believe, and how to live and defend it;

Catherine Rohr, the young CEO and Founder of Prison Entrepreneurship Program, whose efforts are shifting the lives of prisoners toward productive pursuits;

Gary Haugen, President and Founder of International Justice Mission, an inspiration to every believer through his courageous fight against the evils of our world.;

What a line-up! And we get it at West Market, August 7 – 8, at an incredible bargain — $75. (After June 30, the cost will be $105.00.) Visiting leaders will pay much more than that. I often say I would walk many, many miles to be able to sit at the feet of such seasoned, accomplished leaders. I always benefit from the Summit. You will too.

I can’t speak more highly of the event! So sign up today, either by visiting our website, or by calling my Administrative Assistant Cheryl Moore (275-45867 vm. 23).

Your leadership gift is priceless. Isn't it worth developing? Let’s do the Summit together this year.

Blessings on you.

Dave Melton