North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM), "Integrity"

I had the most distinct pleasure of being with Friends from North Carolina YM-FUM this weekend in Black Mountain, NC. This was truly special for me, as I grew up in this yearly meeting. It was great to see old friends, meet new ones, and be able to fellowship with each other as we worshipped and took care of several business items.

Ron Bryan addresses the body on Sunday morning

The theme for the weekend was "Integrity". Beginning last year, this yearly meeting has been focusing on one testimony of Friends per year. Last year was the year of Peace and this year it was integrity. Ron Bryan, superintendent of Iowa YM was the invited speaker. Specifically, he challenged us to study early Friends, and their devotion to this testimony of integrity. he encouraged us to compare ourselves to those first Quakers who were ready to be thrown into jail, or even be killed simply for living their beliefs. His proposition was that integrity is the alignment of three elements in our life; what we say/think, what we believe/feel, and how we act/do. Ron finally left us with the famous qoutation which is placed over the big fire place at that "other" Quaker institution that says,

"... the ministers of Christ were not idle, but went forth and gathered sticks, and kindled a fire, and left it burning..."

We were challenged to not only live our lives so that a fire may be built, but that it may continue to burn when we move on.

Friends sharing fellowship.

There was much business to be done , not the least of which was approving the reccomendation of the Nominating Committee for a new Superintendent. Judy Ritter, Presiding Clerk, skillfully navigated the vast body of business that needed to be covered. The name of Randy Quate, pastor at Poplar Ridge, was offered by the committee to fill the position of Superintendent. After a time of questioning, the body approved of this nomination, and it was decided that Randy Quate would follow John Porter as the next Superintendent of North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM). Other items of business included the recording of new ministers Jennifer York, Sarah Vestal, Georgianne Satterfield and Richard Wilcox. All spoke eloquently about their call to ministry.

The weekend ended with an inter-generational worship that featured presentations by the Young Adults, Junior Yearly Meeting, SOUL leaders, and Serentiy, the yearly meeting youth choir. We were then challenged by Georgianne Satterfield to confront the lies that we believe about ourselves. She challenged us to see ourselves as "good enough" for whatever task God has for us, and to not get too caught up in believeing tht we are not "accomplished" enough, or "successful" enough to do the work we are called to.

All in all, the weekend was full of life-giving encouragement to "let our lives preach". It was so good to see old friends and to meet new ones. Thanks to those at the Yearly Meeting office for all the hard work that was put into planning this. A fire was certainly left burning in me.