Panama: The Purpose

The purpose of our trip was multi-fold: (1) for young clergy (plus Leisha) to get to know Bishop Willimon better, (2) for us to be trained as team leaders for future UVIM trips, (3) to find out more about what the North Alabama conference is doing in missions (particularly Panama), (4) and to keep Patsy Willimon from spending another birthday depressed because it falls so soon after Christmas.

On all counts, the trip was a success. We got to know the Bishop about as much as we wanted to. Really thoug, the greatest part was getting to know other young clergy (plus Leisha) better. Being in the Florence District, clergy in the 20-30 age range are few and far between (only one other elder, plus two student pastors). In addition, my age group is not only noticeably absent in churches, but also in the community. (Florence wants to be the state's premier retirement community.) As a result, direct interaction with peers can be quite limited for Laura and me. So, being able to spend a week with other young clergy was quite a refreshing time.

The time with the Bishop wasn't quite what I had expected. The trip was billed as a time to get to know the Bishop and be mentored by him. Turns out, he was more interested in using the time as a vacation and to test out ideas on us. Case in point, in one of his last email letters he writes about "Affinity Clusters," referring to the re-districting. Well, we heard his ideas on that during one of his many breaks from painting.

In college nor seminary, I was never one to seek out the professor after class just for the sake of he or she getting to know me. There were a few that I did get to know well, but I was never one of those "front row" people. So it was with our time on the trip. I got more than enough time for me to spend with him, but there were certainly others that sought out every minute they could with him, particularly "The Infector" who was our translator and is a lay person - not that he didn't have a right to talk to the Bishop.

As I said, I feel that the time I got to spend with the Bishop was more than adequate. My appointment for the coming year was not made or broken with the trip (at least I hope). Plus, he really does have a short attention span. Many times someone would be talking to him, would make a point, and he would say, "Hmm." and then walk away on to something else. Even our time at the Panama Canal was rushed because he didn't want to waste time waiting for the English version of the Canal video to be shown. But enough about that.


The other part of the trip, the information and training about UVIM (United Methodist Volunteers in Mission) was also good. I would definietly like to go back and lead a team to work longer than we were able to. There is going to be plenty of opportunity to work, especially with the plans to build a camp at the above location.