I am honored to be the first one to write for the newly created Blog for our church, First United Methodist Church in Springdale. I will admit that when I was asked to write this, I was excited, but as the deadline drew near, I found myself asking a question that I often ask, “What should I write about?” The question is akin to the question preachers often ask, “What shall I preach in this next series of sermons?”
Many ideas came to mind, but I thought that I would write a little bit about me and my journey to come to this church. I was born in Jackson, Tennessee. My dad worked at a United Methodist College, whose name was Lambuth College. He also worked at my home church, First United Methodist Church in Jackson as the Music Director. My home church was everything that I hoped that it would be. It was a good place, a safe place. It was a place where people took interest in me and my siblings by teaching Sunday school lessons, leading youth group meetings, and leading worship services. When I was sixteen, I started feeling a nudge to the ministry. God definitely was doing something in my life, and I sensed it.
I like to say that I’ve only really had two jobs in my lifetime. I have mowed yards for people in my neighborhood, and I have worked for the church. Our church was one of the first churches in our town to build a family life center, complete with basketball courts, pool tables, a youth lounge, a kitchen, and roller skates that could be used on the gym floor. When I was sixteen, Olive Ann Greenwood, who was managing the building for the church, asked me if I would be interested in working in the Family Life Center after school and on weekends. It seemed like the dream job to me. I got paid to be a church presence in that building for community ministries and church activities, and when there were few around, I had my own personal basketball arena! It was a win-win for me. To make a long story a little shorter, I kept that job through high school and into my early college years. When there was a need for someone to step in and do youth ministry for a season, I was willing to do that.
I knew that God was doing something in my life. I thought it was a call to be in youth ministry and recreational ministry (yes, that was a thing for a while!). God had a deeper plan and a purpose for me and soon I found the love of my life in my wife, Susie, and a calling to go to seminary in Dallas. God gave me the opportunity to be asked to be the summer youth director at First United Methodist in Camden. Following that summer, I fulfilled a seminary requirement of an internship at First United Methodist Church in Fordyce, Arkansas, and my Arkansas roots began to grow deeper. (My parents were born and raised in Arkansas. Their parents, my grandparents, were born and raised in Arkansas). Soon I found myself feeling called to live out my pastoral life in Arkansas. A story that I like to tell is that just after our wedding, on our way to finish my final year of seminary in Dallas, as we crossed the Mississippi River bridge which separates Tennessee and Arkansas, I said to my new wife, “I hear God calling us to serve in Arkansas and not Tennessee.” Susie looked at me and said, “That’s funny. I don’t hear anything.”
When we finished seminary, we did move to Arkansas. And thus, our lives as an itinerant United Methodist Pastoral family began. It is said that in his earliest days, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, moved his pastors yearly. His idea was that if you stayed in one place too long, you became complacent. That is the basis for the appointment system for churches and pastors.
I believe that in every church that I have been appointed to serve, I have found great friends and great churches. I also believe that every church I served prepared me for the next one. I learned lessons when I served the Harmony Grove and Lakeside Churches in my first venture in pastoral ministry. I learned how big churches operate when I was appointed as the Associate Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Little Rock. What a blessing it was to serve with Rev. Jeanie Burton for those four years. Our next appointment was at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Little Rock. To date, that appointment has been our longest. We were there for seven years. I took the lesson from the small church and the large church to this medium-sized church. For the first time, I had staff that I oversaw. While we were at St. Paul, we welcomed our second child, Julie. And it was there that I turned 40.
Our next venture was to First United Methodist Church in Sheridan. We loved our four years in Sheridan. Some of our deepest relationships (to this date) were made in Sheridan. In those four years, we saw the church grow. I grew as a pastor. And we completed a Sanctuary renovation project.
I was not ready to move when the call came, but the chance to become the next pastor at First United Methodist Church in Paragould was offered. An interim pastor was serving there at the time. The Senior Pastor had died while serving there. The church needed a good interim pastor, which they received in Rev. Don Nolley. And they needed healing. During our time there, we were able to add to the facilities, and we were sad when our six years were up there.
Our next stop was to be a District Superintendent. In essence, I was an administrator. I helped pastors and churches live up to their potential. I was a pastor, in essence, without a church. It was a tough tenure for a number of reasons, including Covid 19 and the possibility of churches disaffiliating from the denomination.
I missed the church terribly. I missed the daily work of the church. I missed preparing weekly sermons. I missed discipleship opportunities. I was in my car more than I was at home and I longed to serve the church again.
That has all led me here, to First United Methodist Church in Springdale. We love it here. I feel that I am back where I belong. I feel that all my pastoral roles have prepared me to be one of the pastors here. I look forward to many years here (I’m hoping to break my personal record of seven years in a pastoral appointment!). I asked God for a church to serve again. I asked my Bishop, Gary Mueller, to consider me for a church. I am glad that God has put us together for this important time in the life of our church.
More later!
John Fleming
