UMPP.010: The Bishops Speak Series “The Pallbearers Can Stand Down” A Conversation with Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer, West Ohio Area UMC. The purpose of the United Methodist People Podcast is strenghtening the connection in the United Methodist Church through conversation and commentary as a means to accomplish the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The UMPP is published weekly by Rev. Dr. Brad Miller a long-time elder in the Indiana Conference UMC. In Episode 010 of the UMPP Brad offer a summary of the 93 page report from the Commission on A Way forward outlining the key points of the One Church Plan the Connectional Conference Plan and the Traditionalist Plan. Brad then has a in depth interview with West Ohio Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer. Bishop Palmer shares with Brad his call to ministry under the influence of his parents and Sunday school teachers in the churches he grew up in. His father is a retired United Methodist Pastor. He talked about the role of the Bishop and Annual Conference in supporting the local church focusing on three areas: Leadership Formation Accountability to the mission of the church Facilitating how the the church can be and do some things better together than individually. In response the question about how well is the church accomplishing our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world Bishop Palmer admitted that “we are not kicking the ball out the park” but that there are many encouraging signs as well. Bishop Palmer spoke about how the church is working well in West Ohio in innovative ministries in developing new faith communities and ministry to incarcerated persons. The key according to Palmer is to not get stuck in nostalgia which tend to lead to churches becoming so institutionalized that they see ministry is for the benefit of themselves. Palmer, promotes the missional church which exists not for self but to serve others. He shared that the best resource for many churches that struggle it to look to successful innovative churches. Bishop Palmer served on the commission for a way forward spoke about the compassion, diversity and intensity of the experience and how faithful the team was to taking on the task of helping our church find a way forward through our impasse on matters of human sexuality. He spoke about how the impasse is draining energy away from the primary mission of the church to make disciples of Jesus Christ. His hope is that the 2019 General Conference might bend us back more so toward the mission and find a way to maximize the mission of the UMC in more places rather than than fewer places. Bishop Palmer does not believe that matters of human sexuality does not have to lead to church division. He has hope and yearning and reason to believe that the UMC will find a path which will create more space for more people to say I am UMC instead of a place where you can’t be a UMC because of many personal matters. His hope is drawn from his experience in working with young leaders in the church who are still singing on to serve and are passionate about making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Bishop Palmer concluded his comments by declaring “the pallbearers need to stand down” as the church is far from dead. Enjoy and be edified by Episode 010 of the United Methodist People Podcast with Rev. Dr. Brad Miller. August 2018