I'm not Maxie Dunnam.

I've never served as your Senior Minister.

I've never been the president of Asbury Seminary.

I've never been all over the world. In fact, I hardly get off Poplar Avenue!

I've never been the editor of the Upper Room, but I’ve had a few Upper Room encounters in my life. Only the Lord knows how desperately I've needed His touch and presence.

I thankfully and humbly testify to these experiences because the Holy Spirit is responsible for any fruitful ministry I've ever had or done. I have no power of my own. In Acts 1:8, Jesus told His disciples before He was taken into heaven: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses.”

I'm not Maxie Dunnam, but I'm Chris Carter, and I want to be a witness. My greatest desire is to love God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit wholeheartedly. My second greatest desire is to love everyone like Jesus has loved me in my brokenness and imperfection.

It has been one of the greatest privileges of my life to serve on the pastoral team of Christ Church for the past eleven years. I believe several things have kept me here:

God's call
The warmth and love of this congregation
Christ Church's strong commitment to the authority of Scripture
Christ Church's unapologetic conviction to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ

I am thankful for the opportunity to share my perspective on the upcoming disaffiliation vote and why I believe it is necessary. Let me start with a little of my history.

Grateful For the Treasure of My Methodist Roots

Let me tell you how I became a Methodist. It all began in 1967 during the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War.

News of this war evoked paralyzing fear in my mother's heart. She was afraid that the world's end was coming, and she wasn't prepared to meet the Lord. Under great conviction, my mother went to the only quiet place she could find in a small house with three little boys – the bathroom.

Under great conviction, she closed the door, got on her knees, and cried out in prayer using the commode as an altar. It became a throne of grace!

Desperate for help, she scoured the phone book and called the first church her finger landed on. It was a Methodist church. She dialed the number and said she needed a pastor. Within 30-minutes, the pastor of that church was at our home, and he led my mother to Jesus. We became a part of that local church.

We moved several years later, and mom's top priority was to find a Methodist church. So Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, became our church home.

At that church, we met our beloved pastor, preacher, and friend, Elton Jones. Pastor Jones had turned down a full football scholarship to the University of Alabama to attend John Fletcher Bible College in middle-of-nowhere Iowa to pursue a call to ministry where he had a sanctifying experience that defined his life and ministry.

The Doctrine of holiness or sanctification has been a real distinction in the Methodist movement since its beginning. Pastor Jones walked with a power and purity that dripped from his life. His love for God, and others, always seemed in full bloom, and he was our family's first exposure to the treasure of holiness of heart and life.

Pastor Jones lived and preached restoration and redemption. He not only taught but lived a gospel of transformation, of a people, called to holiness who dwell in the presence of God and order their lives according to God's Word and will.

This pillar of fiery love I called "Pastor" preached 67 consecutive Easter Sundays in the pulpit. He baptized me, went to all my graduations (high school, college, seminary), officiated our wedding, and laid hands on me at my ordination. I officiated his funeral.

So, What’s the Problem?

Let me tell you: Holiness of heart and life have become the lost treasure of Methodism.

For Wesley and the early Methodists, holiness – scriptural holiness – was the burning focus, the driving force of the Methodist movement. It was promoted in every life sphere– the individual, the church, society, and the world.

When Wesley was asked what Methodism was and why God had raised it up, his answer always revolved around one thing: the holiness of heart and life. Methodists were sure about their identity and mission.

Consider these statements from Wesley's Works:

"By Methodists, I mean a people who profess to pursue holiness of heart and life, inward and outward conformity in all things to the revealed will of God." (Vol. 8, p. 352)
"The Methodists set out upon two principles: 1) None can go to heaven without holiness of heart and life; 2) whoever follows after this is my brother and sister and mother. And we have not swerved a hair's breadth from either one or the other to this day." (Vol. 6, p. 61)

I wonder if our Bishops in the United Methodist Church still remember our Methodist roots and what made Methodism a change agent in North America. Not even the exponential attrition in the United Methodist Church seems to get the attention of our leadership.

I recently sat through a clergy meeting where I listened to a large church pastor share the discernment process her congregation used to decide to remain United Methodist. Unfortunately, the Bible, God's Word, was missing from the lengthy list of criteria the committee members set for their discernment process.

How can this be?

How can what God has already spoken to His Church be left out of a discerning process?

On the issues of human sexuality and marriage, God has already spoken. The committee was more concerned about letting the members voice their opinions about sexuality and marriage.

I read a sign recently that said it best: "It's hard to hear God's voice when you've already decided what you want Him to say."

This is precisely where the United Methodist Church is. It has become an institution that caters to culture over clear Scriptural teachings. We have stopped calling people to repentance and have become a church more concerned about accommodation than transformation. We've lost our identity, mission, and our power.

Listen to the words I read on one of my first days as a seminary student at Asbury:

"It is no secret: the United Methodist Church is a denomination that lacks a clear consensus of who we are and what we are supposed to be doing. Although we are involved in a wide range of worthwhile concerns…a disjointedness about our church life exists at every level. We are like a bicycle wheel that has many spokes but no hub. We lack a unifying center, something that binds all we do together and is connected to a source of power which can move us forward." Dr. Stephen Seamands, Professor of Christian Doctrine

The identity crisis described above has worsened in the past 30-years.

Grief Over the Lost Treasure

I don't think my gratitude for my Methodist roots comes even close to the grief of the Holy Spirit over the current condition of the United Methodist Church. The institution's lack of accountability, open defiance to our covenant, catering to cultural preferences, and silence over some of its churches' support of satanic priests and drag queen shows in the church is an abomination.