wfn.org | Aldersgate conference provides 'mountaintop' renewal experience

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 24, 1998        Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
{439}

NOTE: This story is accompanied by a photograph and a sidebar, UMNS
#440.

By Diane Huie Balay*

IRVING, Texas -- If one word could be used to describe United Methodists
in the church-related charismatic movement, it would be "passionate."

They are passionate about God, passionate about prayer, passionate about
Scripture and passionate about the power of God to change lives and heal
the hurting and sick.

And they are passionate in their preaching.

Their passion was evident at the Aldersgate Conference on the Holy
Spirit in Irving, July 15-19. A group without political agenda, they
were quick to stand, raise their hands in praise, cheer, dance, clap,
wave flags and sing.

They prayed at the drop of a hat, and they prayed for hours on end.

Exuberant worship is an Aldersgate trademark, with dancers, singers,
extraordinary banners, choirs and bands contributing to the worship and
praise.

The conference is sponsored annually by United Methodist-related
Aldersgate Renewal Ministries, which is affiliated with the General
Board of Discipleship in Nashville, Tenn. The Rev. Gary L. Moore is
executive director.

One of the largest annual events in the denomination, the Aldersgate
conference drew some 2,000 United Methodists from across the nation,
including about 300 mission-minded youths, to praise and worship the God
of the mountain and the valley.

They came to find a "mountaintop" experience of the presence of God,
which, many feel, will help them get through the valleys they must
travel at home. And they came to pray for the spiritual renewal of the
United Methodist Church.

About 30 United Methodist pastors and several lay participants had
reportedly said they had been so discouraged about political wrangling
in the United Methodist Church that they had intended to leave the
denomination. The conference helped change their minds, they said, and
they decided to stay.

The passion of the participants was more than reflected in the
emotion-packed preaching of the guest speakers, among them the Rev.
Scott McDermott, pastor of rapidly growing Washington Crossing (Pa.)
United Methodist Church.

McDermott told about a powerful "mountaintop experience" that led to a
spiritual renewal in his congregation.

"The God of the mountain is real," he said. "But you can't stay on the
mountain. . . . Is the God of the mountain also the God of the valley?
That's the question we have to know."

McDermott said he knows the valley from experience. Recently, his
18-year-old daughter found a lump in her breast, and tests revealed that
she had Hodgkin's disease.

When something like that happens, he said, the temptation is to say to
God, "Because I'm in this valley, because you allowed this to happen, I
will not trust you.

"But God will get you through your valley, don't you doubt it for a
moment. . . .

"The size of your faith is not the problem," McDermott said. "The
question is, what size is your God?

"Your God is bigger than cancer. Your God is bigger than any valley. . .
.

"I cry a lot more easily now," the pastor said. "Not out of sadness, but
because life is so meaningful."

His daughter underwent radiation therapy at Children's Hospital in
Philadelphia. When he arrived at the hospital to take her home, she met
him wearing a hat to conceal her hair loss.

Then he took off his own hat. He, too, had no hair. He had shaved his
head in sympathy with his daughter.

His daughter started to cry, he said. Then she put her arms around him
and said, "I love you, Daddy."

For more information about Aldersgate Renewal Ministries, contact Gary
L. Moore at (615) 851-9192.

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*

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(615)742-5470
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