wfn.org | UMNS# 05070-Modern circuit rider uses pickup truck, Palm Pilot

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Modern circuit rider uses pickup truck, Palm Pilot

Jan. 31, 2005	 News media contact:   Matt  Carlisle * (615) 742-5470*
Nashville {05070}

NOTE: Related resources are available online at http://www.umc.org.

A UMC.org Feature
By Tamie Ross*

The Rev. Randy Beeler sometimes feels like a throwback to the preacher
on horseback with a Bible in his saddlebag.

Especially when he jumps into his aging Toyota Tacoma pickup and drives
25 miles or so to preach for an audience of 50 at Wesley United
Methodist Church in Bryan, Texas - then gets back in the truck to drive
eight miles to preach to 38 worshipers awaiting him at his second
church, Alexander United Methodist.

Pastors in small, underserved rural communities still minister to more
than one congregation, often traveling miles to preach at different
churches. Those churches don't garner the same level of attention as
their large-membership counterparts in the city, Beeler says.

"But the United Methodist presence in these small communities is vital,"
he says. "I like to tell people to think of Bethlehem, where Jesus was
born. It was sort of a backwater place, don't you think?"

Beeler has served what is known as a multipoint charge for the Texas
Annual (regional) Conference since 1999. His wife, the Rev. Pam
Rose-Beeler, leads the Cooks Point United Methodist near Caldwell,
Texas. The couple's three children hear their mother preach most Sundays
and tell their father about her sermon at dinnertime.

"We were called to this - not just to ministry, but to a rural setting,"
Pam Rose-Beeler says of the family's work in Texas. "It's an important
place to be."

Though Randy Beeler essentially has three offices - one at each church,
plus one at home - he says his single-cab, bronze-colored pickup is his
primary workplace.

He points to a charging cell phone, a briefcase and supply of snacks as
evidence. On the floor, Beeler's iPod, laptop computer case and a Palm
Pilot stand ready for use between in-home appointments, nursing home
visits and hospital stops.

The cowboy preacher really could have used those, Beeler jokes, noting
that he recently downloaded the Johnny Cash song, "I've Been
Everywhere," to serenade him on his long drives through east Texas
towns.

Two churches just eight miles apart may seem like one too many to some.
While a merger may sound attractive from a business standpoint, it isn't
always an option, Beeler says.

"These churches are eight miles apart geographically speaking, but
they're many more miles apart otherwise," he says. "Every now and then
they'll share events, and they support each other's endeavors, but
they're proud of their autonomy and their own personalities.

Mary Beth Morrison says that sense of pride is important to small, rural
congregations. As the lead consultant in charge of congregational
vitalization in central Pennsylvania, Morrison works with multicharge
pastors and their churches.

Defining goals and creating a vision for their work is her main
objective. But her main directive for the pastors who lead these
congregations is to develop trust with the membership.

"That's a very important thing to rural churchgoers," Morrison says. "If
you can build trust and relationships in a rural charge, you can do
phenomenal ministry in this type setting."

Morrison says she constantly battles misperceptions - mostly in heavily
populated areas with several large congregations - that a church isn't a
church if it only has 40 members.

"Of course, financial viability is an issue, but the idea of building
partnerships among these churches has been a good one for us," she says.

Attracting those willing to serve a multipoint charge long term - not
just as a stepping stone to a larger congregation - is also a priority.
Julia Wallace, director of ministries with small-membership churches for
the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, says candidates come from
both seminaries and the License for Pastoral Ministry Program.

The annual conference confers the license to probationary members
seeking ordination as elders and local pastors appointed to perform the
duties of a pastor in a church.

Beeler and Rose-Beeler say the drive to adequately staff and appreciate
churches like theirs will continue to be an issue, as more young
retirees - 55 and up - leave the work force and the city. The pastors'
primary area is around the Brazos River, an attractive locale for those
interested in recreational living.

"Of course, there are unique challenges to our work, but there are also
unique rewards," Pam Rose-Beeler says. "Imagine going into a church and
everyone knowing your name, and that's not only true of the pastor but
all the membership."

*Ross is a freelance journalist based in Dallas.

News media contact: Matt Carlisle, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5153 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service
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