Don’t Be Late!

One of the big money incentives in professional golf today is the accumulation of points from several tournaments that help you qualify for the FedEx Cup which pays about $10 million. You don’t win the money in one tournament, but over the course of several tournaments.

Jim Furyk is an exceptional professional golfer. He was doing well in accumulating points and was in 3rd place in August, but he made a terrible mistake.

The pros are expected to play in the Pro-Am events at major tournaments. If you are late for the Pro-Am tee-off, you are disqualified from the Pro-Am event and from the tournament. Jim Furyk overslept and was five minutes late for his tee time at the Barclays. He was disqualified for both events. The PGA Tour says he could drop from 3rd place to as low as 19th place.

We don’t know how he would have done in the tournament, or how he will fare in the upcoming tournaments. Some people have figured that it would cost him about $5 million for being five minutes late!

Two football players for the University of Kentucky were a few minutes late to a team meeting last week. Because of this free safety Winston Guy and defensive end DeQuin Evans were taken out of the starting lineup for the Kentucky Wildcats. Evans was a captain, and was not allowed to represent the team for the coin toss before the game.

Time is the most precious commodity that we have. Running late infringes on the time of people who are expecting you. .

My dad told me that he began his ministry “running late.” My mother helped him understand the importance of time. He changed. He became a punctual person.

He helped me understand the importance of being on time. I remember one time I was running a little late. We were going to a sporting event that I really wanted to see. When I was late, my dad and the others just left at the appointed time. It was an important lesson to me that I’ll never forget.

I always wondered if the reason the lay people at Frazer loved our Television and Radio Ministry so much was because it meant I had to start on time and end on time! Television and Radio do not recognize excuses about “running late.” Neither does Delta!

Occasionally an excuse for running late may be legitimate, such as an auto accident on the Interstate. I’d rather be referred to as “John Ed Mathison a little late” than “the late John Ed Mathison!”

God’s timing is always perfect. God is never late. God never forgets about anything. He is an on time God.

I doubt that Jim Furyk will ever be a minute late to another Pro-Am event. I expect that Winston Guy and DeQuin Evans will be the first people present at the next team meeting.

The most important place to be on time is when God has given us an opportunity. He places people in our paths. Being tardy to meeting opportunities that God gives could carry far greater consequences than missing a golf tournament or a football game.

It is time for me to post this blog. I don’t want to be late! I also want to learn from it and practice what I learn.

Laborers Together

There is a legend that tells how one day the Carpenter’s tools had a conference. Brother Hammer was in the chair. The meeting had informed him that he must leave, because he was too noisy. He said, “If I am to leave this shop, Brother Gimlet must go too; he is so insignificant that he makes a very little impression.”

Little Brother Gimlet arose and said, “All right, but Brother Screw must go also; you have to turn him around and around to get him anywhere.” Brother Screw then said, “If you wish, I will go, but Brother Plane must leave also; all his work in on the surface. There is no depth to it.”

Brother Plane replied, “Well Brother Rule will have to withdraw if I do, for he is always measuring other folks as though he were the only one who is right.”

Brother Rule then complained against Brother Sandpaper and said, “I just don’t care, for he is rougher than he ought to be. He is always rubbing people the wrong way.”

In the midst of all this discussion, the Carpenter of Nazareth walked in. He had come to do His day’s work. He put on His apron, and went to the bench to make a pulpit. He employed the screw, the gimlet, the sandpaper, the saw, the hammer, the plane, and all the other tools. After the day’s work was over and the pulpit was finished, Brother Saw arose and said, “Brethren, I perceive that all of us are laborers together with God.”

Labor is not done in isolation, but in harmony with those with whom we work. We are “laborers together for God.” Labor takes on a new dimension of meaning when I sense that I am a part of a team, my labor is important to accomplishing the task of that team, and my labor is in keeping with God’s overall purpose for my life.

This will be Labor Day weekend. Spend some time thanking God for your talents and for your employment. Reflect also on ways your work can become an avenue for your witness, and your contribution to the team can increase.

Let’s labor together to create a pulpit that shares God’s Good News to a hurting world!

August 2010 Recap

Below is a brief recap of ministry opportunities during August 2010.

- August 1-4 – Served as principal resource speaker for Church Business Administrators of the Southeast at Lake Junaluska, NC. I spoke at 8 sessions on stewardship.

- August 7 – Spoke at the Senior Adult Celebration at Trinity on the Hill in Augusta, GA. We 20 different churches participating for that Saturday celebration.

- August 8 – Preached at the morning worship services at Trinity on the Hill in Augusta, GA. The worship services were held in their gymnasium as the sanctuary is being renovated. I spoke at their rally last October at which time they pledged several million dollars for this sanctuary renovation. They are now projecting more building to accommodate the growth. Dan Brown, the Senior Minister, is a super leader.

- August 15 – Served as the worship leader in the three traditional worship services at Frazer on Sunday morning. Preached at the evening worship service. A group of lay people approached the staff at Frazer requesting an evening worship service and pledging to give leadership. Tim Thompson, Patrick Quinn, and the staff gave an enthusiastic endorsement of this idea. This was the third worship service and they are having an average of over 300 people each Sunday night.

- August 19 – Attended the Methodist Homes meeting in Birmingham, AL, and gave the devotional. I have served as a trustee of this board for several years.

- August 21-23 – Spent three days at First United Methodist Church Dothan with Dr. Jim Sanders. This was a part of their emphasis called Deeper 2010- Expanding Your Influence. On Sunday I preached at 3 morning worship services, taught Sunday School for all of the men of the church in the Fellowship Hall during the Sunday School hour, spoke to about 40 of the leaders at lunch (these leaders will be serving in their Stewardship Campaign studying Treasures of the Transformed Life), preached Sunday night.

- August 23 – Spoke at a noon session at Dothan First United Methodist Church regarding witness to people in the community who are not currently being reached by thechurch. Spent time in the afternoon with the staff. Monday evening spoke at asession on leadership to about 250 leaders.

- August 25 – Attended luncheon for retired persons from Southern Guaranty Insurance. For some 30 years I spoke at a devotional each Wednesday morning for all of the employees of Southern Guaranty.

- August 28 – Officiated at the wedding for Melinda Morrow.

- August 29 – Preached at a rally at the Bluff Park United Methodist Church in Birmingham as a kick-off to their Fall ministry opportunities. Dr. Reid Crotty is the pastor.

During August I had the opportunity to meet with several pastors in one-on-one conferences. I am finding this to be very productive. I also met with leaders from two different churches who were seeking opinions, directions, etc. on how to make their local church vital.

Please pray for me and for the Board of the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries. Our Board gives me great encouragement, support, and accountability.

Selective Deafness

Whenever some plane crash is reported, one of the first parts of the conversation centers around trying to retrieve the black box. This black box contains both instrument readings and the pilots’ conversation just before the plane crashed. It is very, very important.

The inventor of the black box, David Warren, died recently. Much has come to light about his discovery of this very useful instrument in air travel.

David Warren’s parents were missionaries on an island off northeastern Australia. His father died in an air disaster. The last gift he gave his son was a ham radio. That whetted his appetite for this great discovery.

He had to work against all kinds of skepticism and ridicule to create his device. He was from Australia, and after receiving his Ph.D. in chemistry, he went to work for the Australian Defense Department doing aeronautical research. The department lent him to a panel investigating civilian air crashes.

When he volunteered to work on developing a flight-recording system, he was immediately put down. Mr. Warren remembered his boss saying, “If I find you talking to anyone, including me, about this matter, I will have to sack you.”

Warren faced immense opposition. He was told that if it would be a helpful invention, the Americans would have already made it. The Australian civilian aviation authorities said it had “no immediate significance.” The military said it would yield “more expletives than explanations.” The pilots’ union called it a sinister way to spy on them.

Warren always insisted that he did not invent the black box – for the simple reason that he painted it red. Today’s black boxes remain red or orange to make them easier to find in wreckage. It doesn’t matter what color it is – the flight box does what it was created to do!

Today’s black boxes are indestructible. I have a friend who has always wondered why they don’t build the whole airplane out of the same material they use to build the black box!

I am sure glad David Warren was persistent. It reminds me that many of the great inventions of the world came about because folks refused to listen to naysayers who said it couldn’t be done. I am discovering that great leaders are people who can practice “selective deafness.” They don’t listen to negative, discouraging, project-stopping opinions.

Read Nehemiah 6. As Nehemiah’s success at rebuilding the wall was becoming evident, the naysayers organized. Sanballet, Tobiah and Geshem came to him five times to stop him. They had used intimidation, misinformation, accusations, etc., but Nehemiah refused to stop. He said, “I am doing a great work and can’t come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (v. 3) And remember – he finished the wall in 52 days. (v. 15)

When God calls you to do something, practice “selective deafness” to those who would try to discourage and stop you, and persistently proceed with “mono audio” to God’s voice!

Jesus Loves Me

One of the great joys of my ministry at Frazer was working with Reverend Earl Andrews for 19 years. While he had a tremendous ministry at Frazer in Congregational Care, he made a huge contribution to our nation and Christendom when he was persistent about giving historical significance to Anna Warner who wrote “Jesus Loves Me.”

Anna and Susan Bartlett Warner lived on a little island, now called Constitution Island, jutting out into the Hudson River just across from the United States Military Academy at West Point. For a number of years the Warner sisters taught Sunday School classes for the young Cadets.

They made their living by writing books and they were very successful as writers. Over the years developers in New York City tried to buy their island, but it was the wish of Anna and Susan Warner that, at their death, Constitution Island would be given to the United States Government to become a permanent part of the United States Military Academy.

Susan died in 1885. Anna, who actually wrote the words to “Jesus Loves Me”, lived until 1915. She made final arrangements for the transfer of this valuable, historic and strategic piece of property, a gift that inspired a personal letter of thanks from President Theodore Roosevelt. In accepting the property, President Roosevelt decreed that the sisters would be buried, with military honors, in the West Point cemetery at a place overlooking Constitution Island.

This was a special tribute to these two Christian ladies because of their influence and the spiritual growth of the cadets and the generous gift of their island. It is even more special because West Point regulations stipulate that only West Point graduates, or those who are not graduates but who die while assigned to the faculty and staff, can be buried there.

So today, buried among the military warriors of our nation, are two gentle Christian ladies who gave to Christendom one of its most beloved songs, “Jesus Loves Me.”

In 1974 Chaplain J. Earl Andrews was assigned to the Military Academy as the Senior Military Chaplain. He was there for five years. He was Senior Chaplain when Bobby Knight was the basketball coach and Mike Krzyzewski was his assistant.

During his tenure at West Point he visited the gravesite of the two ladies many, many times. Only people who were most intimately associated with the Academy knew the location of the graves. There was nothing on the granite markers that pointed out the enormous contribution of the Warner sister to West Point and Christendom.

General Andrew Goodpaster was Superintendent of the Academy during that time. He served as Supreme Commander of NATO, as Military Assistant to President Eisenhower and retired as a four star general. He was called back on active duty during the academic and ethics turbulence of 1977-78 for the purpose of getting the Academy back on a steady course.

Chaplain Earl Andrews felt that something must be done to point out prominently the contributions and gravesites of the Warner sisters. He discussed this with General Goodpaster. He proposed that a marker be placed at the graves indicating the sisters’ contribution to Christendom. The General agreed, and three weeks before Chaplain Andrews left for his next assignment in Germany a marker was put on the grave that read:

Anna B. Warner

Author of Words to hymn, Jesus Loves Me
“Jesus Love Me this I know

For the Bible tells me so

Little ones to him belong

They are weak, but He is strong.”

Earl recognized a need, and was persistent to see that the need was met. This is just one of the little “behind the scenes ministries” that Earl performed both as a military Chaplain and as a Pastor at Frazer. Thank you, Earl!

Time – Problem or Possibility

A major emphasis of my ministry has always been the concept of volunteering. Part of the DNA of Frazer United Methodist Church is the fact that every member is expected to volunteer to serve someplace in the ministry of the church.

Many churches function on the process of recruitment. People are recruited to do certain things. I believe people serve more effectively when they volunteer rather than are recruited. The people who volunteer tend not to “burn out.” People who are recruited figure that they have some task to perform until they can get somebody else to replace them.

Let me share some current reports that show the importance of volunteering. The International Journal on Epidemiology reported an article that asserts that bored people die sooner than people who are excited about life. 7,500 were studied by a group from the University of London. Those who reported they were bored were 2.5 times more likely to die of a heart attack than those who were not bored.

The Bible is very clear that “If we try to save our life, we will lose it, but if we lose our lives in His service we will find life.” Read Matthew 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24, 25. The excitement and meaning to life comes when we invest our life in serving Christ. I believe that volunteering is the best vehicle for doing this.

This month the news services reported that the number of people volunteering is up in both the Montgomery area and the United States. 63.4 million Americans volunteered in 2009, rising by 1.6 million since 2008! This was also the largest increase in volunteering since 2003!

Ann e Hails of the Volunteer and Information Center, which serves Montgomery, Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes, and Macon counties said the number of volunteers referred to agencies rose 30 percent in the past year! She acknowledges that some of these were one-time projects, but feels that those volunteers would also be involved in ongoing opportunities.

The rise in volunteers also is being recognized statewide in Alabama. 24.6 percent of Alabamians volunteer! They give about 102.7 million hours of service. This equated to about $2.1 billion of service contributed. It is also good to acknowledge that more young people are volunteering.

Time is precious. It is the best commodity we have. Use it wisely. An unwise use of our time could put us in greater danger of heart problems. Good use of our time as we volunteer to serve in Christ name will create heart possibilities. When our hearts give out to other people, the size of our hearts increase – and an oversized heart is not a spiritual problem!

Volunteer to serve in some area where your volunteering will be an expression of your God-given gifts and the result of your volunteering will make a difference in the lives of people. You not only will live longer, but more abundantly!

July 2010 Recap – Bored?

Someone asked me if I got bored doing the same thing all the time in retirement. I certainly haven’t been bored and started thinking about that. I seldom do the same thing.

The month of July offered me a huge variety as I preached in a Camp Meeting for 8 days, preached at the July 4th Church in the Pines, filled in one Sunday at a Southern Baptist Church, preached in a four night revival sponsored by Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians, preached at a little church in Mobile I had served 42 years ago, spoke to all of the football coaches, compliance persons, university relations, etc. for the Athletic Department at Alabama State University, did some television and radio recordings, met with some individual churches for consultation, had one-on-one sessions with several ministers, and had some days in the office for study and preparation.

I think it would be hard to get bored with that kind of variety of ministry. The venues were both exciting and challenging.

July 4 – Church in the Pines. This is a unique worship experience 9:00 a.m. on Lake Martin at Kowaliga Bridge. The outdoor chapel seats more than 600 people, and more than twice that many sit under the trees outside. People come by boats, seadoos, and cars. I have preached there one Sunday during the summer for the last 35 years.

July 4 – I preached at the Tallassee United Methodist church at 11:00 as the appointment of their new minister wouldn’t take effect until August. Even though I have “surrounded Tallassee” by living in Notasulga, Wetumpka, Opelika and Montgomery, I had never preached there.

July 9-16 – Preached at the Salem Camp Meeting located on Salem Road about three miles south of I-20 between Conyers and Covington, Georgia. The campground is over 175 years old. I know of no experience in Alabama like the Camp Meeting experiences in Georgia.

The tabernacle seats over 800 people. Visiting choirs from different churches come each night and each morning. There are about 30 cottages, some of which are over 75 years old. One cottage had 32 people staying in it.

I stayed at the hotel on the campground. Because I was going to be there for eight days and take all my meals in the dining hall, the dietician said to me, “Dr. Mathison we have visiting churches come in for each of the meals so we cook large meals three times a day. If feeding big three times a day would be hard on you I would be glad to fix you something lighter.”

I smiled and asked her to call me John Ed and the three big meals a day would be no problem for me. I would look forward to them! At the end of the week she said in the over 175 year history of the Camp Meeting I might be the pastor who enjoyed the food the most. I discovered that they fried over 1,200 pounds of chicken during the week. A lot of those chickens entered the ministry!

Go to the website, www.salemcampmeeting.org, and you will be fascinated by the pictures, history, schedule, etc.

July 18 – Preached at the Eastern Hills Baptist Church in Montgomery as Dr. Rick Marshall was taking a sabbatical for a few weeks. This church is very much alive. I had difficulty finding a parking place. It is exciting to visit a church in Montgomery on a summer Sunday and not be able to find a parking space.

July 25 – Preached at New Hope United Methodist Church at Fowl River, Alabama. The former church was called Fowl River Methodist and I served it for two years from 1968 to 1970 I was the pastor at South Brookley United Methodist Church and there was some concern about the future of this small church south of Mobile. I volunteered to preach there every Sunday morning at 9:00. It was a great experience for me. Today the church is strong and thriving under the leadership of a retired minister, Jessie Shackelford.

July 25-28 – Joe Pat Cox and I participated in a revival in Benton, Alabama, just this side of Selma. Each year the Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians go together for a community revival. Every third year the Methodists are responsible for the preacher and the song leader. I have been invited to preach every third year for the Methodists for the last 36 years. This was my twelfth time. They invite Joe Pat every year to lead the singing for the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians. Benton is a small area where so many of the young couples finish college and come back to Benton. It is great to be in a church like that that has many, many boys and girls and young people.

July 26 – I love being around coaches. I spent some time with the football coaches at Alabama State University. Coach Reggie Barlow and all of his coaches and the people in the University connected with football met at the Robert Trent Jones Center in Prattville for a day apart to kick off the football season. I enjoyed speaking to them.

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support. Every day is a great day for each of us to be alive and to serve our Lord.

Life should never be boring – I am discovering every morning the truth of God’s Word that says “Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day.” Lamentations 3:23

Just 1 Little Letter

Little things are extremely important. We tend to live in a world that is bent on bigness yet all the big things are made up of a lot of little things.

A little mistake can be costly. In the New Testament James writes about how a little match can set a whole forest on fire. A little rudder can misguide a huge ship. A little bit in a horse’s mouth determines which way the horse goes. Read James 3:3, 4.

Neil Alexander is the Publisher and President of the United Methodist Publishing House. He is a tremendous leader in the United Methodist Church. I am privileged to serve on that board.

Neil is a brilliant writer and speaker. He is an excellent businessman. He is an articulate theologian. He is extremely good at human relationships. But even the greatest people sometimes make a small mistake. Let me give you an example.

The United Methodist Publishing House is located in downtown Nashville. There is a lot of development in downtown Nashville and the property of the Publishing House could be prime property for some of that new development.

Recently at 9:58 a.m. the members of the board received an e-mail from Neil saying “In the win some/lose some category we have learned that our 201 8th Avenue headquarters is not out of the running in the race for the location for a new downtown hotel.”

That was exciting news. The Tower Investments was looking for property for Omni Hotels for a convention center hotel. They were expecting to pay about $20 million for 2.5 acres. What an opportunity!

In sending the e-mail, Neil got every word and every letter right except one. He accidently hit a “t” instead of a “w” in the word “now”. His e-mail said “our 201 8th Avenue headquarters is not out of the running.” It should have read “our 201 8th Avenue headquarters is now out of the running.” He went on to report that Omni was buying another piece of property nearby.

What is the value of just one letter in a long e-mail? You were really talking about $20 million, but one letter is the difference in being “in the running, or out of the running.”

A misplaced comma or the addition or omission of a letter or a word, can change the whole context of the message. It would be nice if the bank would add just an extra 0 to my account, or put a comma in the wrong place.

Even brilliant people make small mistakes. Even people, who are great writers and are in charge of publishing, can make a simple keyboard mistake.

I received another e-mail at 10:15 a.m. indicating the mistake. Neil apologized for the mistake and wrote “my fingers and mind were not in sync.”

Neil could have placed blame elsewhere – maybe the key on the computer temporarily changed, or the letters got switched in cyberspace, or he was distracted, or… He didn’t make excuses. He just admitted the mistake and corrected it. That’s the way to handle mistakes.

It made me feel better about myself to know that a man I admire so much could make a little mistake like that. It made me feel even better about him when I saw the way he handled it!

Giving and Receiving

Marvin Byrd is a middle school teacher at Lilburn Middle School in Lilburn, Georgia. He is 51-years-old.

A few years ago a 45-year-old teacher by the name of William Johnson visited the school on a job interview. It was Byrd that gave Johnson a tour of the school. They found out that they both had a lot in common. They were both second career teachers. Both of them had a yearning to help struggling students.

Byrd revealed that the school principal asked Byrd, “Do you want me to hire him?” He said, “Yes.” Byrd became something of a mentor to Johnson. He made every effort to provide him with the things he would need to be successful in teaching. He did an outstanding job.

Will Johnson learned something about Byrd recently when he discovered that Byrd needed a kidney transplant. Byrd had exhausted his list of potential family kidney donors. He had been posting on different organ sharing websites, but no person had stepped forward who was a match.

Byrd went around the world looking for a new kidney. It turned out that his donor was just down the hall in his school – the teacher he had help recommend for hiring.

Johnson was not a good candidate as he was extremely afraid of needles, afraid of surgery, and didn’t like hospitals – but he was needed. He gave Marvin Byrd a new kidney.

Recently Byrd and Johnson left Piedmont Hospital. They were wearing matching transplant T-shirts and they shared a lot of tears together before checking out of their rooms. They were now “new best friends.”

This current example of selfless love and compassion reminds me that oftentimes we go around the world looking for something, then discover it is really right down the hall. Most of our long searches in life end when what we really are looking for is pretty close to our fingertips.

This also reminds me that there are a lot of people around us who need something. Initially Johnson was not even aware of the need that Byrd had. When he discovered the need, he acted on it.

How many people around us today have a tremendous need to know the saving grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the love and compassion that God wants to express through us, and the hope that we can offer to people? Look around. The needs all around us are great. We need to step up to the plate and offer what we have.

I wonder what would have happened if Byrd had not recommended Johnson for the teaching job? What would have happened if he had not been nice and positive and encouraging to a second career teacher? I am in no way suggesting that we do things for others in order to have some future payoff – but the investment that he initially made in the life of Johnson came back to him in a way that literally saved his life.

Maybe there is somebody that has done something extremely good for us that we need to “pay back.” The Bible teaches us that we are able to love only because we have first been loved by God. We need to pay that love back by reaching out to God’s children.

We also need to be organ donors. I have personally seen the results of that wonderful program. There is a huge organ shortage today for both kidneys and for livers.

One day Will Johnson called Marvin Byrd on his cell phone and left him a message saying that he had been tested, his kidney was a match and he would give it to his friend. Byrd said, “I still have that message on my phone. We were all screaming with joy.”

Good news is something we want to keep – and share. What good news and selfless act of love can we show to somebody today who has a tremendous need? We might be scared, and uncomfortable, but we just might need to take the risk of stepping out and donating something precious that we have that can mean the difference in this life and eternity for somebody else.

Investments

Investments today demand more personal attention than most anytime in recent years. People are keeping close tabs on their investments.

You have invested in the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries. You have made investments in prayer and financial resources. I want to give you a snapshot of your investment during the first six months of 2010.

Through your prayers God has opened some huge doors for this ministry. Those doors continue to open. I am learning everyday to pray more expectantly and be ready to walk through doors where I did not even know that doors existed.

Your financial investment is extremely important. One of the best things we have done this year was to be approved by the ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability). This is one of the most stringent groups of which a non-profit religious organization can join. It took one whole year for us to complete all the necessary documents, track record, etc. There are seven different areas in which a non-profit group must comply. Our ministry was accepted in the first half of this year.

To show you the importance of ECFA, many people in groups will not give to a ministry unless it has been approved by the ECFA. When I served as Senior Pastor at Frazer, if a request came for financial giving and the organization was a part of ECFA, we knew that we did not have to spend any time “investigating” the financial accountability of that organization. Very seldom would groups who were not a part of ECFA be accepted for mission giving.

ECFA has an excellent website which is listed as www.ECFA.org.

My goal is to provide more and more training for pastors who can not afford registration, fees, expenses, etc. During the first six months of this year I have been able to participate in training for over 2,000 pastors who had to pay nothing for the training event.

These funds come from your financial contributions. They also come from honorariums where I speak to other groups. All honorariums go to the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries.

Here is a brief summary of how your investments of prayer and finances have been used.

           – Pastors’ Conferences conducted:

             Pastors’ Conferences in Buenos Aires and Cordoba, Argentina

             Congress on Evangelism – New Orleans, Louisiana

             Billion Soul Interdenominational Conference – Orlando, Florida

             Guntersville, Alabama District Ministers Conference

             Elizabeth City North Carolina District Ministers

             Montgomery, Alabama District Ministers

             St. Louis, Missouri District Ministers

             Danville, Virginia District Ministers

             60 Pastors in Alabama –West Florida and North Alabama Conferences invited to participate July 2010 – June 2011, in “next level           ministry” training experience.

           - Preached 41 times.

           – Ministered in 23 different cities – 10 different states.

           – Preached at the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference Memorial Service.

           – Preached at Renewal Group Banquet at Northern Illinois Conference in Chicago.

           – Had daily radio devotional on WLWI.

           – Wrote a weekly blog.

           – Conducted 4 funerals and 5 weddings.

           – Spoke at the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce meeting and River Region Hotel Hospitality meeting.

           – Served as Chairman of the Investment Committee for the United Methodist Publishing House.

           – Served as Chairman of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy.

           – Served on the Board of Directors of the Confessing Movement.

           – Had new book Transformed Living in Tough Times available in January.

           – Working on new book Transformed Living in Tough Times – 60 Devotionals.

I have received so many letters and comments from pastors about the difference that the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries is making in their ministry. God is blessing. I ask you to please pray for discernment in where He leads for more effective ministry. My challenge is to pick the areas in which I can spend my time most effectively.

We have a great Board of Directors who meet regularly and give accountability and direction to the ministry. Here is our Board. You can go to our website www.johnedmathison.org to see a full resume of each of our Directors.

        Mr. Mike Henig – President, Henig Furs

        Mr. Mike Hutson – Retired President, Burford Equipment Company

        Dr. Gaeton Lorino – Partner, Montgomery Pulmonary Consultants

        Ms. Lucinda Samford Cannon – President, Cannon Ventures

        Mr. Harold Faulkner – Retired President, Faulkner Insurance Agency

        Mr. Craig Coblentz – President, Equipment & Parts Specialty Company

        Dr. Stephen Davidson – Partner, Montgomery Cancer Center

        Mr. Wilbur Hufham – Retired President, Regions Bank

        Mr. Ken Love – Certified Public Accountant &  Chair, Audit Committee, Federal Land Bank

I wanted to give you a 6 months report on your investments and I hope you feel they are paying good dividends.