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Our Last Newsletter
I’m sitting at my desk with a blank sheet of paper in front of me and a pencil in my hand. I’ve always cherished this moment because it challenges me to be creative in writing these newsletters to you. But today feels different, because I know this will be our last one.
I’ve been writing to you since 1979 – that’s 210 quarterly newsletters over the past 47 years. My hope is that along the way, I’ve shared words that have touched, moved, inspired, and challenged you to hear God’s Call to be the Church.
I won’t miss the deadlines, but I will miss the opportunity to write to you. I’ll miss imagining you receiving our newsletter, The Call, settling into your easy chair, and reading my messages and hearing about the ministry experiences Pam and I shared while traveling among your churches. It has always encouraged me to know you wanted to stay connected through these newsletters.
I often think back to the day my bishop, Jack Tuell, said to me, “Kimball, there is no appointment for an evangelist in our conference. Will you go and live out God’s call on your life for the Church and then show us how to do it?” He not only challenged me, but supported me, because he believed evangelism is greatly needed in the Church. That day marked the beginning of a close friendship. His wife, Margie, became Pam’s prayer partner.
I am not retiring from ministry. I will continue to preach as I am invited. I will keep writing songs that share the Gospel, and I will remain available to encourage and mentor young pastors, sharing what I’ve learned over the past 60 years. The only change is that I will no longer be leading our usual three-day events.
Your prayerful and financial support has made this outreach so successful. Because of you, we’ve been able to reach thousands of people through more than 600 evangelism events across 13 states. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your belief in evangelism, and for trusting me to serve as a messenger for God. Please know how much I love and appreciate you. I remain available if you’d ever like to connect by phone or email.
In closing, I want to say I will always remember that genuine joyful look on your face as you responded to God’s Call to stand at the altar, joining hands with your fellow church men and women, singing, and boldly proclaiming that you are God’s Church.
Now, allow me to leave you with the words which I began our evangelism events:
“The Call to be the Church is the greatest and most loving challenge in the World”
And the words I ended with:
“Go into the World,
Living to Love,
Daring to Dream,
and Running to Reach the Highest”
The Prophetic Spirit, Now
Today, we live in a nation that is dangerously losing its sense of identity and purpose. Our political leaders often seem disconnected from the vision our founding fathers had for America. We are drifting further from the biblical call to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
The prophets spoke to the people of their day when they faced difficult times. They warned the people what could happen if they continued what they were doing. They also encouraged the people to change and follow God’s ways. As Eugene Peterson writes, “The biblical prophets continue to be the most powerful and effective voices ever heard on the earth for keeping religion honest, humble, and compassionate.”
When we understand what the prophets were doing—both in their words and their actions—we can be inspired to do the same. We, the people, can speak truth to power. As Christians, this is what Jesus preached and taught us to live by.
As we reflect on the prophets, do we see any parallels in today’s world? We live in a democracy, a system that grants each of us a vote. However, when the politicians are not honest in their speeches, our votes are being won fraudulently. We must be wary of politicians who hold up Bibles pretending to be religious, while lacking the values it teaches. Why are we so impressed with rich people? Do we assume they are smarter? Do they know more about running the country? Too often, their concern lies more with profit than with people’s needs, hurts, pain, and poverty.
As brave and courageous as the prophets were, they first made excuses as to why they couldn’t speak for God. Moses claimed he couldn’t speak well. Isaiah felt unworthy. Jeremiah said he was too young. I identify with them. At 85, I sometimes feel too old. But God did not accept their excuses, and God won’t accept ours either.
Just as the prophets warned the people in their day, we are called to warn our people of what could happen if we keep moving in the direction we are headed. We are the Body of Christ. We are the arms, legs, and heart of the prophetic spirit. Our country needs us now to speak and to act.
Finally United
Throughout my entire life, I have been involved in the Methodist Church. In April of 1968, we became the United Methodist Church. But just a decade earlier, churches like the one I grew up in were segregated and did not welcome the black community. It took the Civil Rights Movement to eventually unite us.
Then as United Methodist, we claimed to be “a welcoming church”, but our Book of Discipleship stated that homosexuality was incompatible with Christian teaching. We would not ordain or marry gay people. We have been divided on this issue since the 1970’s.
At our General Conference in May of 2024, we revised the Social Principles in the Book of Discipline, removing the previous language that was harmful. What a celebration it was! Now, we can be called The United Methodist Church and be proud of it.
It’s a freeing experience to follow God’s plan to be the Church. We are finally united and can move ahead, growing and fully becoming God’s instrument of love for all.
WHO I AM
When I was young I would hear the teaching of being Christ-like. It sounded good, but I didn’t believe a person could be like Jesus; good like Jesus; serve like Jesus; faithful like Jesus.
As I grew and learned God sent Jesus in human form to teach us that we can be imperfect people and still be Christ-like. It is the Holy Spirit that fills us with the drive to do good, to serve, and to live by Faith. It doesn’t make us perfect, but it does give us that hunger for righteousness and discipleship.
I recently wrote a song entitled “Who I Am”. In my song, I express the feeling of wanting to be like Jesus. Not perfect, but living life the best I can. This is what God is calling us to do. This is understanding what it means to be the Church.
I just want to be like Him
Living life the best I can
I just want to walk the road
Helping others lift the load
I just want to spread the News
God is love and justice too
Chorus:
Trying to understand
Where I must stand
Knowing who I am
Who I am
Could I be just one small light
Shining in the cold, cold night
Could I help just one lost soul
Share the way to make them whole
Marching in the big brass band
Holding on to Jesus hand
Every morn I wake and pray
Asking God to show the way
And I feel the strength to be
What the Lord requires of me
Now I know God knows my name
Child of God is my claim
Firm and Loving
The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome,
“God is kind, but God is not soft. In kindness God takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life change.” (Romans 2:4 ~The Message)
We like going to church and hearing God is kind and God is love. It is comforting and soothing, but to hear God leads us into a radical life change is unsettling. Most people hear the word ‘radical’ and think of being an extremist or fanatic. Radical comes from the word “radix” which means rooted. Having a Christian radical lifestyle means being rooted in the teachings of Jesus. Teachings that are not always comforting but are challenging and call us to change our lifestyles.
All of us who are parents know that there are times when we must be firm as we discipline our children. We do this because we love them and want the best for them. God is our heavenly parent and offers to firmly take us by the hand and guide us.
My mother was a perfect woman to be a single parent of two boys. She loved us so much, yet she was strong and firm when we needed it. Although there were days she needed to be firm with us, at night she would let us get out of our beds and go down the hall to her room. We’d climb up on her bed and lay our heads on her as she sang and told us stories and taught us her favorite scriptures.
Not soft, but firm, and oh so loving.
Things We Agree On
I get tired of writing about and commenting on what divides our country. Jesus teaches understanding and unity, but it seems like we’re not listening. I’ve been thinking of things that we agree on. Things that brighten our lives and help us realize we do have common feelings, hopes, and dreams. Here’s my shortlist:
I would like to add God’s list to my list.
PEACE – HOPE – LOVE
Make your own list ~ then read it several times ~ it will lift your spirit!
What Will Bring Us Back
I think it is about time. It’s about time we start filling up our churches again. The pandemic has kept our churches only half full, and sometimes less. There are those who predict that this will be the way from now on. They’ve shown that many of us have grown accustomed to watching our worship services at home on demand.
As comfortable as it is worshipping in pajamas, it will never take the place of being in community with friends and singing the songs to live music. Even though many churches are still wearing masks and not touching each other with hugs, kisses, or even holding hands, there is an undeniable connection when we’re together in the sanctuary and worshipping with each other.
When Pam and I are leaving and fellowshipping in the narthex, we can’t help but share some hugs and shake a few hands. I know we probably shouldn’t be touching others, but we miss it so much and find it difficult to hold back. I’m not saying it’s the healthy thing to do. What I am saying is it shows how much we miss it.
The Church is not an institution, a club, or an organization. The Church is the instrument of God. It’s the personal warmth and bond of faith that is the glue binding us together. We are a community of love that builds God’s Kingdom come, God’s Will be done. This is what will bring us back to Church.
Agape, Kimball, S.E.
I Just Want To Hug Somebody
This pandemic has put a hold on our ministry for two-and-a-half years. I miss being in your churches. I mostly miss the personal touch, I miss preaching to you, singing with you, and hugging you.
I realize why we had to stop hugging each other these past years, but I hope we never have to do it again in my lifetime. Being the Church is being in community, and being in community is a feeling you cannot have without the freedom of being together in worshipful dance, song, and touch.
Not only have we not hugged each other in church, we haven’t even held hands in a friendship circle. We haven’t been able to face each other without masks and joyfully lift our voices in song.
The scripture is true, “If we keep silent the stones will shout out” (Luke 19:40). I don’t believe for a minute this pandemic will stop the Church from being what she is called to be.
The Church is not a body that can be blown away by the winds of disease. We are built on a foundation of faith. We are filled with the Spirit of Christ that brings us together in a community of love, and nothing can stop us from hugging each other.
Agape, Kimball, S.E.
A Joyous Easter from the Coburn Family
We have experienced the joy of Easter in the city, the country, the desert, and the beach, but experiencing Easter in Mt. Baldy is one of our favorite memories. We lived there for eight years, and it quickly became a tradition for our five young grandchildren. They came up from the cities below and spent part of Holy Week with us preparing for Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter.
They helped Granddad build the cross from branches found on the forest floor our first year. They climbed the hill and planted it firmly. Stones were placed around it to keep it steady. Sometimes repairs were needed, but most of the time the cross seemed to withstand the forces of wind, rain, and snow.
Kimball draped the cross with a purple cloth. It stood humbly on the mountainside above his study that we called the Servant’s Quarters. The children would run up the hill and place fresh wildflowers that grew alongside the creek beneath the cross. We had our daily meditations during Holy Week in sight of the cross.
On Good Friday he removed that cloth and replaced it with a black one. The children’s flowers lay wilted and decaying ‘neath the cross, but when they joined us for this day of quiet, they surprisingly seemed to understand its significance.
On Easter morning just at daybreak, Kimball climbed the hill again and took the black cloth off the cross, and draped it with a white one. He buried the dead flowers and replaced them with Calla Lilies from our flower garden. Having done this, he began yelling to all of God’s creatures, “He’s alive! Christ Jesus has risen! He has risen indeed! Hallelujah! Thanks be to God!
Throughout the day our family would pause and look up to the cross and feel the love and sacrifice it represented. ~ May you, also feel the joy of Easter!
Agape, Pam Coburn
A Feeling I’ll Never Forget
It was 1968. I was sitting in the library of my college when I went into a dream state. I dreamed about the possibility of serving God in a way that would change the world. I felt it so deeply it brought a warm feeling of God’s presence in me. Tears welled up in my eyes and dropped on the page of a book on my desk. They startled me but I didn’t want to wake up and lose that feeling and the vision I was experiencing.
My tears were of sadness because we were losing 58,000 young men and women being killed in the Viet Nam War. Sadness because prejudice and discrimination were rampant throughout my southern homeland. They were also tears of joy that I could be a part of God’s plan to make a difference in our country and world. I had the privilege of preaching the confronting and challenging message of Christ in two little country churches on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky. They weren’t what you would label liberal, but they listened, and gradually over time, began to be changed by the teachings of Jesus.
That day was a feeling I’ll never forget. It was a feeling I don’t want to forget. It was a feeling I wanted to carry with me for the rest of my life. Those tears gave me the blessed assurance my decision to follow God’s call into ministry was my center and destiny.
My wish for you is to have a moment like mine when you feel God’s guidance to use your talents to change the world.
Agape, Kimball, S.E.
Kimball Boyd Coburn 