Welcome to Season Two of Bar of the Conference - a podcast about the stories shaping the future of the United Methodist Church. Today's episode is with Rev. Dr. Jean Hauxhurst. Jean is an ordained elder in the Kentucky Annual Conference and currently serves as an ecumenical staff officer for the United Methodist Council of Bishops.

Jean is passionate about Christian unity and believes that ecumenical relationships are core to what it means to be a follower of Jesus and a United Methodist. In this interview, she shares her journey of being a cradle United Methodist who made her way from a local congregation in the Baltimore-Washington Conference to discovering her call to ministry and serving in Kentucky. Jean helps us understand how we in the UMC engage our ecumenical relationships and the impact the last few years has had on those connections. This conversation was too short, but inspiring nonetheless. Enjoy!

Welcome to Season Two of Bar of the Conference - a podcast about the stories shaping the future of the United Methodist Church. Today's episode is with Rev. Jeff Campbell. Jeff is the General Secretary and CEO of Discipleship Ministries, an agency of the UMC. He is an ordained elder from the NJ Annual Conference. Jeff has seen and heard a lot, and yet he remains steady, focused and open to what might be next for his work and our worldwide connection. In this interview, we talk about his journey into ministry in the UMC, as well as the legacy of the late Junuis Dotson. Jeff is the kind of leader we need in the continuing and emerging United Methodist Church.

Welcome to Season Two of Bar of the Conference - a podcast about the stories shaping the future of the United Methodist Church. Today's episode is with Filipe Maia. Filipe is the Assistant Professor of Theology at Boston University School of Theology. Raised in the Methodist Church in Brazil, Filipe’s theological education brought him to the US. He has authored several publications including Trading Futures: A Theological Critique of Financialized Capitalism and the forthcoming book Methodism and American Empire: Reflections on Decolonizing the Church which he co-edited with Dr. David W. Scott of Global Ministries.

This conversation matched the theological depth and philosophical range that Filipe brings to his scholarship. We talked about economics and eschatology,  decolonization and regionalization in the UMC. Filipe’s grounding in his native experience and local community makes his brilliance accessible. He reminds us that we are called to be committed to hope and the prophetic tradition of transforming communities.  This is a must listen! Enjoy!

Welcome to Season Two of Bar of the Conference - a podcast about the stories shaping the future of the United Methodist Church. Today's episode comes to us from the UMCNEXT podcast which launched in November 2023. Co-hosted and curated by Katie Dawson and Derrick Scott III, this podcast is series of inspiring messages that point to the future of the UMC. We’re sharing the first episode which features a message from Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth. He gave this message we’ve called “143” at a Sunday morning worship service that was a part of Reconciling Ministries Network’s Convocation in October 2023. While different from other BOTC interviews, messages like this from UMC Bishops are helping shape the future of our denomination. 

Check out the UMCNEXT podcast at umcnext.com and on Spotify, Apple and Amazon platforms.

Welcome to Season Two of Bar of the Conference - a podcast about the stories shaping the future of the United Methodist Church. Today's episode is with Christine Flick. Christine is the conference lay leader in the Germany South Annual Conference. She lives near Stuttgart, Germany and has served on various committees and boards at multiple levels of the denomination. Christine helps is understand the perspectives of United Methodists in Germany. She speaks with clarity about her desire for us to be a worldwide Church that listens to each other and honors the unique challenges within our regional contexts. This episode has lessons for all of us who want to do the work of holy conferencing in the continuing and emerging UMC. Enjoy!

Welcome to Season Two of Bar of the Conference - a podcast about the stories shaping the future of the United Methodist Church. Today's episode is with Rev. Caleb S. G. Dormah. Caleb is an ordained elder in the Liberia Annual Conference, where he serves as the conference director of ministry to at-risk youth. He also serves as the West Central Conference Regional Coordinator for the United Methodist Africa Forum. In this interview, Caleb shares about the ways his unique family structure has shaped how he thinks about church and community. You will also hear his heart for the UMC and why he believes regionalization is our best next step in keeping our denomination united on the African continent and worldwide. There is some background noise every now and then, but this was an incredibly helpful and powerful conversation. Enjoy!