CINCINNATI — Stones memorialize words, people, moments, movements. Brian Blount, president of Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, looked to how Jesus regarded stones while he preached the closing worship sermon of the NEXT Church annual gathering that met in Cincinnati March 2-4. In addition to the conference text of Joshua 4:1-9, which tells the story of the Israelites setting stones in the Jordan River to remember what the Lord had done, Blount encouraged a side-by-side reading of Luke 19:29-40, as Jesus entered Jerusalem.  The Pharisees asked Jesus to tell his disciples to stop praising God.  But Jesus said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” The stones in Joshua are “living reminders that the slaves were now free … the homeless were now home,” Blount said.  But when Jesus walked into Jerusalem, he walked into trouble. Entering the land of power was nothing “short of a declaration of religious righteous revolution.” In fact, … [Read more...]

CINCINNATI – For years, Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis ran a tutoring program – and pastor Mike Mather worked hard to recruit volunteers from congregations and organizations all over town. “You know who I never asked for volunteers from?” Mather asked. “Our neighbors.” Why didn’t he ask? “These people are poor” – so he assumed they needed help, not that they could help. He saw brokenness and scarcity, not abundance and gifts. What he didn’t know is what De’Amon Harges learned from walking around the neighborhood on the northwest side of Indianapolis, talking to people who live there. A few blocks away, a woman named Maya was doing tutoring out of her house – working at night and then helping children during the day. “I cover everything from phonics to Sophocles,” she told Mather when he finally bothered to ask. Every Friday, she’d throw a barbecue, and invite the parents to come over and see what the children were learning. Here’s what Mather learned … [Read more...]

CINCINNATI — How is the Spirit at work in Cincinnati?  How are people of faith responding to God’s call and serving others?  These are questions NEXT Church asked local leaders, as part of NEXT’s national gathering in the Queen City March 2-4. The national gathering set aside time to hear from those doing the nitty-gritty local work at the conference’s location – a way of casting a vision of what might be possible in other places as well. Those providing these “testimonies” shared the stories of their ministries, telling where they have seen God at work and describing the stones (drawing on the conference theme from the 4th chapter of Joshua) that serve as reminders of where they’ve been and what their future hope looks like. Community economic development In Scripture, the exile was described to the people as 400 years when they would be in a land not their own. And now, 401 years after slavery started in the United States, African Americans have endured not only slavery, … [Read more...]

CINCINNATI — It was 1975.  There was an 11-year-old girl. And she wanted a Pet Rock. That youngster was Floretta Barbee-Watkins, who grew up to become a Presbyterian pastor and Deputy Wing chaplain in the U.S. Air National Guard, and is now a social-emotional intelligence coach in North Carolina. Barbee-Watkins preached at the NEXT Church National Gathering on Mar. 3, continuing the question of “What do these stones mean?” from Joshua 4:1-10. As a girl, Barbee-Watkins wanted that Pet Rock that came in a box with straw and air holes — just as though it was a live pet.  She tried to convince her mother. “It would teach me discipline and responsibility,” she pleaded. Her mother said no. “I would not be denied,” Barbee-Watkins remembered.  She would get her own — but without spending her own money.  As they left the store, she noticed stones at the base of a small sapling, and picked one up and put it in her pocket. After that, she said she sought out rock siblings for her pet … [Read more...]