"Hey, it's good to be back home again."
When John Denver sang those words, he had a different spot in mind, but he couldn't have spoken more clearly what I am feeling as I begin serving the Heartland North District. As strange as it may sound, I have spent a significant portion of my life in the Heartland North District, but I have never served in it. You can chalk that up, I suppose, to the frequent changes in district names over the years.
However, my history in the area begins long before I was born. In the early 1800's a family of Linvilles moved to an area that would now be west of Richmond. The parents, four sons, and their families all came together. Some of them helped establish Todd's Chapel up on a hill just a bit north of the Missouri River. One branch headed over to the Norborne area and married into the Glaize family. The Glaize's had been among the early settlers of Carroll County, helping with the first cabin and moving into the second one built in the area. They also helped establish a Methodist church that has long since been closed.
In the 1840's, the Michael and Moad families moved into southeast Caldwell County and helped build Black Oak Methodist Church. One story says both branches of Methodists met in the building, but these families favored the northern branch. Dan Michael moved into Cowgill after the railroad came through and helped start the church there, and then he moved to Braymer and helped get it started.
It took a few generations, but I eventually turned up as the fruit of all these families. I suspect my first time in church was when I was 10 days old, and it was at the Cowgill Methodist Church where I could witness the three generations in front of me live out their faith. I headed off to Polo for my high school years, which meant participating in sports against Braymer, Norborne, Hardin, Orrick, Lawson, Kearney, Lathrop, and Breckenridge. Every once in awhile we showed up in tournaments with Hale, Stet, Tina-Avalon, or Bogard. Some of my extended family was in the Waverly/Grand Pass area, and there were others in Liberty and Norborne.
As an adult, I have served three of the churches now in the district (Grain Valley, Oakland, and First: Blue Springs). I left my daughter and her family in the Blue Springs church, and my mom now participates in the Excelsior Springs congregation.
All of that is to say that I have tracks all over the district. More importantly, though, it tells you that this is not just another appointment over a long career. I have a great cloud of witnesses watching over me as we begin this endeavor. Several of them were among those who first put up "The Methodists are here" signs in the teriitory. They did so, I am sure, because they dreamed of a great and exciting future for their communities, as well as their churches. I am also sure that they are expecting me to offer the same hopes and dreams as we begin the second decade of the 21st Century. If I fail that, I will have to hide my face when they greet me at the great reunion.
On the other hand, I am quite certain that they, and the others who set the foundations for the first Methodist churches in the area, are cheering us on. They know more about isolated populations than do we. They know more about difficult times than do we. So, our DNA is good, and we have much to be done. I am looking foward to it, and I hope you are ready to get at it.
Hey, it's good to be back home again!
