Dianne Burnett: Hello and welcome to today's episode of Across the Globe, the podcast. I am Diane Burnett, the executive director of communications for the Global Methodist Church, and we are excited to have you back today. And I would like to introduce Jason Nix. Jason, would you like to tell them a little bit about yourself?

Jason Nix: Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Jason Nix. I'm an ordained deacon in the Global Methodist Church. currently pastor a church in Arlington, Texas called Resurrection and I'm part of the Mid-Texas Conference. Excited to be a part of this ⁓ wonderful move of a podcast in this medium for our denomination, As we prepare for the general conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, coming up in 2026, much of our content is going to be focused in on the general conference and everything that goes along with it. Beauty of holiness is obviously the theme. And so that's what we're going to call these conversations. But we know that these conversations are so much more than just legislative or boring kind of legalistic stuff. We know that these conversations are formative. and transformational for the life of our church. And so we want you guys to tune in and follow along with us as we dive into the nitty gritty of all these things. And so I can't think of a better conversation or person to have on than our guest today. Diane, who are we speaking with?

Dianne Burnett: Yes, I am so excited. We have the honor of having Chris Ritter join us today and he serves as the chair of our global episcopacy committee. And that has been a buzzword in our world the past few months and a lot of that is focused around our Episcopal nominations that will occur in Johannesburg. And yes, there's a lot that goes into that. They have put endless hours and discernment and dedication into what that process looks like for our connection. However, that's not the only work that they have done. They have ⁓ just hit the ground running since we left Costa Rica in 2024 and have done amazing things. And so I wanted to spend some time today hearing directly from Chair Chris Ritter as to what they have done and just let us know a little bit about who is this committee, the work that they have ⁓ done that has really led us into their thought process and the discernment for the Episcopacy ⁓ nomination. So Chris, would you mind just starting off by sharing who you are with the group.

Chris Ritter: I would love to do that. Thank you, Diane. Thank you, Jason, for the opportunity to visit with you today. I am a pastor in Illinois and I live ⁓ pretty close to where they make John Deere tractors, just as a point of reference, not far from Iowa, about three hours west of Chicago. And I've been in ministry in this church, Kingswood Church, for 17 years. And it's a multi-generational church. We live in a kind of a little ⁓ bedroom community off the Quad Cities, but Geneseo is its own thing. And it's a wonderful congregation to serve. really into prayer. We're really into the gospel. And we just took on that named Kingswood Church last year. That was the place where the revival started under the ministry of John Wesley and George Whitefield, a little coal mining community near Bristol where the Holy Spirit fell. And we wanted... got to do something in our generation like he did back then. So that's kind of the heartbeat ⁓ of our church. We have four services on a weekend and lots of stuff going on. I'm teaching confirmation right now to 18 eighth graders and just, you know, so that's my day job as a pastor, definitely. And I've got a wife named Becky and we've been married 38 years and we have four adult children. We've got a dog named Dottie and ⁓

Dianne Burnett: So that's kind of the heart beat of our church. We have four services on the field. Lots of stuff going on. I'm doing confirmation right now. 18th graders, and this and that. So that's my day job as a pastor, definitely. And I've got a wife named Becky. We've been married 38 years. We 40 old children. We've become naughty. And so life is good.

Jason Nix: Thank you.

Chris Ritter: And so life is good, lot of family stuff going on. And I'm go to Liberia this week to be part of the Grain Coast Conference there. I get to be the preacher for the ordination service. I'm super excited about that. So yeah, that's some of the stuff that's going on outside of episcopacy right now.

Dianne Burnett: ⁓ I love that. Right? There is? I love it. I love it. So besides, you know,

Jason Nix: There's a whole other world outside of a Pitskivesee committee. I love it. ⁓

Dianne Burnett: And how did a pastor then from Illinois end up as the chair of our global episcopacy committee?

Chris Ritter: I ask myself that question a lot. ⁓ so, ⁓ you know, for some reason, I have been part of every conversation about the episcopacy going back to 2018. ⁓ Back then, we were just kind of dreaming of maybe someday there would be a new denomination. It was before the Global Methodist Church was there reformed. And what do we want to be different? What do we want to be the same? Those were the kind of conversations. I think all those conversations were chaired by now Bishop Greenway, and I was in the room somewhere working on some of these issues. And so it's ⁓ just been a door that God has opened to think through an area where I think a lot of us in the Global Methodist Church had experienced in the same previous denomination, not all of us, but a lot of us did. And there was a sense that something went wrong along the way. Something was not quite what it should have been. We lost something along the way that really we needed. And maybe there's some new challenges that we hadn't really addressed yet in previous movements. So it was a big topic of conversation. I got to be in the room for some of those. And then at general conference, you just get nominated for things and you get elected. And in Costa Rica,

Jason Nix: There's challenges.

Chris Ritter: so I was humbled and then ⁓ ⁓ were told to ⁓ elect our own officers. I voted for Jason Burnham, ⁓ be honest with you, and he voted for me. ⁓ so.

Dianne Burnett: So you canceled each other out is what happened.

Jason Nix: We cancelled each other out somehow, not that full of effort.

Chris Ritter: We canceled each other out. Somehow Jason ⁓ dodged that bullet. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. What an honor to serve though. And we've got a great team. I say what can I, I'm afraid that I'm going to do this whole thing and not mention the team that I serve with. Can I get that out of the way right now? Okay. I don't want to. Okay.

Jason Nix: Please, yes.

Dianne Burnett: Absolutely. That was my next question, so you're good. You're good.

Chris Ritter: very good. ⁓ We actually met this morning. ⁓ tend to meet early morning because around the world, it's not so early. ⁓ instance, this morning when we met, ⁓ Kigai ⁓ opened our meeting with a devotion and just an update on his ministry. And so he's in Moscow. And then we've got members in other parts of the world. ⁓ Joanne Valenzuela is in... ⁓ It's in Philippines, it's 8 p.m. for her when it's time for us to meet in the morning. So we have Aaron Yankee, who is a pastor in the Grain Coast Conference of ⁓ Liberia and Guinea. And ⁓ he pastors Gabanga ⁓ Global Methodist Church. We have Don Borland. By the way, this is equally lay and clergy ⁓ division in our committee. Don is an attorney ⁓ at a Christ Church.

Dianne Burnett: So we have Aaron Yanke who is the pastor in the Rangos Conference of Liberia at the beginning. the pastors who run the governmental church. have Don Corley. By the way, this is a new religion lay in front of the division. God is an attorney in country of Christ Church in Memphis and he has been a tremendous asset to us. is being committed and is rightfully working on some of those things. I'll say this is one of the things that we have to do because it's been a very difficult process.

Chris Ritter: in Memphis and he has been a tremendous ⁓ asset to us with his legal mind and he's right, he's working on some legislative process. He's worked with, know, one thing we do ⁓ is think through complaint processes, that kind of thing. He's been very, very helpful. We have Greg Benefield. He works in the corporate world. It brings that mind as a lay person. I mentioned Jason Burnham. He's in the Trinity Conference, Conference Superintendent. ⁓ he would be my choice for chair, and I voted for him, but ⁓ vice chair ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ so much wisdom and energy to that role. ⁓ Hargroves is, ⁓ she is in North Georgia ⁓ she ⁓ a ⁓ a counselor, and that's been useful too. She's our secretary, so she does a great job with our minutes and things, but she also brings that ⁓ piece. has been really, really helpful. ⁓ have Jean-Jacques ⁓ Mbuyu-Masingo, who is a lawyer from the DRC, ⁓ Republic of the Congo. And he's a French speaker and has been very patient with us who are not French speakers. So ⁓ appreciate him. I mentioned Joanne Valenzuela from the Philippines, ⁓ Lloyd from the West Plains Conference. has done tremendous work. He's actually led all our evaluation process for our bishops. And I know we're gonna talk about that in a little bit. We got Sarah Walters Mayer, who is from Ohio, and she does ministry all around the world, especially Kenya and Cuba. And so she kind of leads an organization that does a lot of organization and mission. So she has a definite heart for that and prayer ministry as well. Tyson Hines, he's a He's a nuclear engineer by day, but has a tremendous output for a lot of the election materials and things. ⁓ He has been the one to do a lot of that work. And we also have William Floyd, who's an attorney. So we got three attorneys on our committee, which has been great to learn from them as well. So we were all elected. Most of us were elected at Costa Rica. And then some others can be added by the... ⁓ Some others can be added by the Connectional Council to make sure the world is represented. So our African members came in that route and we just lost a member who was actually nominated to be a bishop. So you can't be a nominee to be a bishop and be on the Episcopal Committee. So we just lost a great clergywoman because she's on the journey of discerning whether God might be calling her to be bishop. that's our team and and we were elected to this role. And you know, it's been kind of, you know, it's kind of random, you know, I don't think ⁓ anybody could have said, okay, this committee needs this particular gift set. But I saw how the Holy Spirit worked in that. Borland and his attorney mind has been crucial in certain areas. Lyndall Lloyd just happened to be like this, have this amazing passion for ⁓ effective evaluation processes. He took that whole thing and ran with it. And the model that he developed is being used outside of our Episcopal committee for ⁓ our other, you know, our presiding elders in some conferences and conference superintendents. So that work has has gone other places as well. So so it's just like the pieces that were there for us ⁓ was really a Holy Spirit thing, I think. ⁓ because we would have been toast. could name five people on this list that if they weren't on this committee, it would have fallen apart, you know, but the Holy Spirit just kind of took care of us ⁓ in that. So really, really blessed. spent a couple hours with them this morning and really blessed to serve with this team.

Dianne Burnett: because we wouldn't have been touched. thank five people on this, because a minute later on this committee, people have all heard about the Holy Spirit, kind of two-part goodness in that. So, really blessed to spend a hours on this morning. I really blessed to see the people this team.

Jason Nix: I really enjoyed spending a couple hours with you. That's great. Chris, how many, just as you were listing those names off, how many total members make up this committee?

Chris Ritter: You know, I think we started with 12 and we gained two and lost one. you know, somewhere in there, I don't have these numbered here, but somewhere along in that, in that.

Dianne Burnett: Right. Yeah. And I love when you list out just the professions and just the different ways that

Jason Nix: Okay. That's beautiful, absolutely.

Dianne Burnett: The representatives of our connection just in that committee alone, those are just the little moments that I just, I love to reflect and think how neat it is that they get to use their giftings ⁓ in all different aspects of our church. So that's pretty neat. So, okay. ⁓ go ahead, Jason.

Jason Nix: No, you go ahead, take it.

Dianne Burnett: No, I was just going to ask, you you guys were given a big task, right? In Costa Rica, you've been elected to this committee. But what exactly does that mean? Could you maybe explain to us at a high level what you guys were interested with when you left Costa Rica?

Chris Ritter: Yeah, ⁓ well, I the first thing I'd say is that there's never quite been a committee like this before in our predecessor denominations. I think that's one good thing to say. ⁓ So in some sister denominations and our predecessor denominations, if there's a complaint or a concern about a bishop, those are lodged with the bishops themselves. So maybe that. like a college of bishops or a council of bishops of some sort would receive those complaints and decide what to do with them. you ⁓ know, we're a reform movement and the episcopacy is one area that I think there was a pretty large consensus that there needed to be some reform and reshaping. And so we are the first that I know of in our history of different denominations that go back to John Wesley.

Dianne Burnett: So, yeah. ⁓ And the efficiency is one area that I think is pretty large consensus that we need to place reform in the future. And so we are the first that I know of in our history of different foundations that John Wesley, that has an independent, specific opinion to really stand alongside our issues, not to judge them or...

Chris Ritter: that has an independent ⁓ Episcopal committee to really stand alongside our bishops, not to judge them or be harsh with them, but to just, you know, ⁓ hold one another accountable and in love and to foster a healthy relationship. I think a lot of our global Methodist members know that there's a... ⁓ Staff Parish Relations Committee or a Pastor Parish Relations Committee in the local church. And that group is there to foster a healthy relationship. You want the pastor to do well, right? You're there because you want them to succeed. You're also there in case things are not going well. Sometimes there's things that a Staff Parish Relations Committee has to deal with that you wouldn't want aired out in front of the whole congregation on a Sunday morning. but they need to be addressed and talked about and talked through. And so I kind of understand our committee as ⁓ having a similar function. It's a committee that deals with personnel in any committee, any denomination or group that deals with personnel or workplace. There's gonna be a part of it that's a bit confidential because you're talking about people. And we love people. We treat people with care, you know, so we don't want to expose, ⁓ you know, anything to ⁓ public scrutiny, you know, that we wouldn't want exposed in our own life. So it's not a secret committee, but it is a committee that deals with the things we're entrusted to deal with, with hard matters if they come up. And we've got, I'm glad to report we have nine amazing bishops that serve our church.

Dianne Burnett: So it's not a secret committee. It is a committee that we trust to be with the department. And we've got a lot of people from about nine nations in Zimbabwe church. And we have a conversation membership. The is a hospital and he's assigned also to the emergency.

Chris Ritter: and they're doing great things and we're always just humbled. This morning, we had a conversation from Bishop ⁓ Kigai who lives in Moscow and he's assigned also to the emerging area of Pakistan. And so he was telling us about his adventures in Pakistan, if you can just imagine, you know, and the harrowing things that have happened to him there and ⁓ the challenges of the travel.

Dianne Burnett: you

Chris Ritter: ⁓ You know, we Methodists, we originally under, you know, the Asbury era of, Francis Asbury era of us forming as first as the denomination and not just a movement under the ministry of John Wesley. The vision was, let's restore the apostolic focus of the church. Let's have bishops who are really living into that apostolic calling. So rather than having residential bishops, let's have bishops that are general superintendents of the whole church. ⁓ Let's have them traveling throughout our connection ⁓ to teach and to preach and to encourage and to superintend. And so we, our job is to stand alongside them in that role and to ⁓ You know, be the Aaron and her that lift up the arms of Moses sometimes, you know, to use a biblical analogy and also to play a role in evaluating, you know, if you look at sister denominations, there's not that ⁓ annual review in all of them of how a leader is performing. wanted to restore that. We had a role in assigning the bishops to their Episcopal areas, so that was humbling. to think, what group of annual conferences should this particular bishop serve? And so we created some principles that would guide us and then we did that work prayerfully. So that was a humbling thing. There's always a sense that we're operating way above our pay grade when we do this work because we're just hoping that the Holy Spirit is guiding us as we do that.

Jason Nix: operating way above our pay grade to this work because, know, it's hoping that the Holy Spirit

Chris Ritter: the election process that we are overseeing as new bishops are elected. ⁓ So there's that role. And also we hear from our bishops. ⁓ So usually when we meet, we have one of our bishops that visits with us ⁓ tells us about their ministry and leads us in a devotion. ⁓ it was Bishop Keighigh, ⁓ was a blessing. ⁓ so we like to know what's going on with our bishops and their health and their families, and we're praying for them. ⁓ you know, supporting them in any way that we can. And so, yeah, that's kind of the nature of our work. We're all volunteers. We're not paid. We're doing this work out of love for Jesus and the church. And we hold this office for a short time, and then it will be somebody else's turn. We understand with humility that this is something that we're called to do for a season, and then it will be other people's turn to... to take that baton and do that work.

Jason Nix: Well, as you as you have ⁓ soldiered out into uncharted waters, because you even kind of said it like we're we're not doing things the way that everyone else does them or the way that we've done them in the past. There's echoes and definitely roots. I love that you've even the way you just kind of spelled that out. But in this new season, what's the what's the new wine skin if you want to if you want to take that reference? But what have been some of the biggest challenge challenges or learning curves? And that might be ⁓ a mile long, but maybe the top challenges.

Dianne Burnett: You

Jason Nix: and learning curves. And then maybe where have you seen kind of the biggest wins? What has been the most encouraging ⁓ moments for you guys, not just you, but maybe just for this committee in these last years?

Chris Ritter: Well, one of the challenges has been this is a growing movement and the landscape is always changing. you ⁓ know, the Conferences Commission deals with welcoming new conferences and forming new conferences. And so we get notices from them that, here's a new group that needs a bishop. And so we have to make assignments and sometimes things get reshuffled and reorganized.

Dianne Burnett: Well, one of challenges has been this is a growing movement and the land stream is not as clean as it before. So, you the conference is condition and you're as well involved with the conference as a whole.

Chris Ritter: Just keeping up with that has been a challenge, but I would call that a good challenge. That's exciting to be part of a movement that is growing all the time and going into new parts of the world. you know, we get to think about which bishops should shepherd that process. ⁓ You know, sometimes whole conferences come in. Sometimes ⁓ there's an area where there's several churches that need to form a TCAT and then see if... see what's happening ⁓ there. So we get to be part of those conversations. We had a couple of those today as a matter of fact, and so that's good. ⁓ I think that there have been groups in the Global Methodist Church, in conference areas, where they've never had anybody to complain to ever. know, there has never been a, the culture has been such that this is the way it is and deal with it. ⁓

Dianne Burnett: They've never had any money to complain to. You know, there's no way around. The culture is such that this is the way is. And so suddenly they have a new platform.

Chris Ritter: And so suddenly they have a group that will look into a concern. And so we've had some, maybe that would be in the challenge area too, we've had people that have brought concerns. They're not all, ⁓ we don't handle every concern in the Global Methodist Church. And so sometimes we have to redirect someone to another person. Hey, if you've got a issue with a conference superintendent, we don't take complaints against conference superintendents.

Dianne Burnett: we'll get to a concern. And so we've had some of that video and the challenge here is that we've been under-run concerns. We're not all in a lever of concern. Sometimes we have to redirect some of the personal issues of the conference room to the clients of the conference room because of the conditions.

Chris Ritter: only only bishops ⁓ So sometimes we have to direct traffic a little bit in a global church people are trying to figure out ⁓ Or maybe they've heard that we we handle the situation like well, let's bring our situation to them Well, that's a different little different situation that we don't handle but we can always direct them to who can so there's there's Everybody is under authority in the global Methodist Church. Everybody has someone It's watching over them in love. So there's always there's always a path, but there's been a little bit of a learning curve on what's our path. You know what? What things do we do we handle? And you know, if you can just imagine ⁓ we had two conferences ⁓ in a part of the world is now find themselves being one conference and then you know they're looking for maybe a referee or somebody to to, know, we try to obviously support our bishops in their.

Jason Nix: Mm.

Chris Ritter: leadership role. And you know, if a leader's waiting into a conflicted area, we don't have too many of these in the Global Methodist Church, thankfully, but obviously, if you've got a global movement, there's a lot of complexity there. ⁓ You know, sometimes the leader is the lightning rod for that. And so we get drawn in a little bit, but hey, is the bishop doing the right thing here? And we can give just an objective review. We can look at what's going on. We can look at our Booker Documents and Disciplines and ⁓ just ⁓ try to be a help in those kind of situations. those are some of the challenging things that sometimes we get drawn into, but it's been mostly very, very healthy. And I think that we've not had any ⁓ like a complaint against a bishop that hasn't been either withdrawn. ⁓ resolved by mutual agreement of all parties. ⁓ I'm thankful to ⁓ that. ⁓ like that, we've come to a just resolution or an amicable agreement about that. ⁓ So ⁓ don't deal with that all the time, but sometimes we do.

Jason Nix: Mm.

Dianne Burnett: So, you know, you have to the time that's needed. Right, well, and I think a key phrase that you used that I absolutely love is that you guys know that you are providing this guidance in love, right? It's coming from a good place. We're all on the same team. We want.

Jason Nix: Mm-hmm.

Dianne Burnett: our connection, our denomination, our world to ⁓ just be done for Christ. And with that, it's just these things are done in love. And so I'm very grateful for that, that we are remembering that in the foundation of the work that you guys do, especially in those hard conversations that ⁓ on paper does not sound like love, but truly it really is in love. And so, you know, with that, you mentioned about the evaluations and ⁓ having that for our bishops so that we can, I would say that's done in love, right? Here's the areas that you are shining and here's the areas we maybe need to shine off a little more for you. tell us a little bit maybe, why is it important for those? Like what is so important about an evaluation for our bishops that our people need to know?

Chris Ritter: Well, I think it's true of any leader that we need to know how we're doing. You know, we need to know what our job is and then we need to pause from time to time and say, how am I doing? And to be open to ⁓ some voices all around us to speak into that, because none of us have arrived yet. You know, we use the language of going on to perfection in the Methodist tribe, and we are all going on to perfection. None of us have achieved that yet. So ⁓ you know, a leader always has to do that. You know, I do that in my own local church. ⁓ have local evaluations of the pastor and all of our staff members. ⁓ It's just part of being a leader is being intentional about pausing ⁓ and getting feedback about how it's going and what could be done better. know, some of it is refined. We got gold there. We just need to refine it, need to grow. So, said earlier, you know, the Holy Spirit provided Linda Lloyd, who led a team. He had a passion for this ⁓ idea of effective evaluations. ⁓ he developed a 360 ⁓ evaluation process. And so when I say 360, that means you got the leader that's being evaluated and you got people that work beside them. You got people that work ⁓ in supervision of them, involved in the conversation, the people that they supervise. And so it's all around, voices from all around the leader collected ⁓ so that they can get a composite picture ⁓ of how they're doing. And also the bishop evaluates themselves. And that gives you a comparison. Here's how I see myself and here's how my colleagues are seeing me. Here's how the people that I supervise are seeing me.

Dianne Burnett: you

Chris Ritter: This is how the Global Episcopal Committee is seeing me. And if there's a gap, you know, between how I see myself and how others see me, that's a topic for conversation, right? Oftentimes with our bishops, they were more humble ⁓ in their own evaluation than other people. Actually, the gap was ⁓ more often, you know, the bishop rating themselves lower than everybody else rated them. ⁓ But there are some times where you think you're doing maybe a little better than what other people think you're doing in a particular area. So the categories for evaluation really are right out of our book of doctors and disciplines about the role of our bishops. know, they're to be teachers. How are you doing on your teaching? They're to be administrators. How are you doing on your administrating? And so ⁓ one thing that ⁓ was a new wrinkle that I think was really healthy is our bishops evaluated one another.

Jason Nix: It's a new record that I think is really helping in our missions. Evaluate this one level. They all filled out and evaluated.

Chris Ritter: They all filled out an evaluation for each other. so ⁓ this is another piece of how we're doing things differently in the global Methodist Church. ⁓ In previous iterations of that some of us were part of, ⁓ there, like the council of bishops or the group of where all the bishops come together, there was no mutual accountability role. They were just coming together and evaluations happened elsewhere. But we really have told our bishops through our book of Doctors and Disciplines, we want them to hold one another accountable and love. We want them to talk to one another and be ⁓ like an accountability group for one another. And so they all did that. They evaluated one another and that was part of that 360 ⁓ evaluation. So, you know, this all goes into, these numbers get fed into a composite picture. And that becomes the conversation point. So we have now had all nine conversations with our bishops, different teams from our committee. And we've gone through the composite information, where the gaps were, you know, looking toward the future. What are some things to work on? So, ⁓ you know, the system that Lindell and his team designed worked very, well, I think. ⁓ in revealing some things that were useful. We had some outcomes that were, you I think we got to talk about the important things with our bishops. So I think the church would be proud if they saw that process. think you, I think that global Methodists around the world would look at that and say, yeah, that needed to happen and that I'm glad it happened that way. ⁓ It was, ⁓ you know, an opportunity for truth telling, for transparency. And I think one thing I took away from that process is our bishops leaned into that. You know, there were some bishops that had never been evaluated in this way before. It was a brand new process. They'd never set for anything like that. Others, they'd done that, you know, in other settings, they had done similar type things. So they had a frame of reference, but all of them ⁓ welcomed it. I think they leaned into it.

Jason Nix: evaluated in this way before it's even ready.

Chris Ritter: you didn't get any resistance. In fact, that's been my general experience. ⁓ You know, we, you know, we've had some bishops that were bishops in other settings and, you know, you kind of wonder how you're going to be received now that you're a group that is coming alongside them. the attitude going to be, well, who are you to tell me? You know, there's been none of that. It's been an openness, a welcoming for the input. ⁓ So I think that's that's a sign of healthy leadership there. we're seeing. ⁓

Jason Nix: Yeah, and I'm curious, just because we know as this thing has been formed, and again, ⁓ with the Holy Spirit guiding and directing, ⁓ we know that the launch of the Global Methodist Church ⁓ was very U.S.-centric, but that quickly we have seen, and you've already talked about ⁓ how around the world there are ⁓ conferences and churches that are coming into the fold. So how are these evaluations, how are the voices from across the church being included and what steps are y'all taking ⁓ to kind of step, not just operate in like a US-centric mindset, but just really for all of our brothers and sisters from every tribe, nation, and tongue, how does that look on your end?

Chris Ritter: great question. You know, right now we have ⁓ Bishop John Pena Ota and his wife are in Russia right now. ⁓ Bishop John Pena Ota's spouse is seeing snow for the very first time there. And ⁓ she's teaching people how to dance when they worship. ⁓

Jason Nix: Awesome.

Chris Ritter: That's ⁓ just a beautiful image ⁓ of, So, yeah, that's just a little picture of our church, you know, that's really, really beautiful. So, you know, ⁓ for instance, Bishop Webb, you know, ⁓ so he has the most annual conferences of any bishop right now. ⁓ Some of our bishops were

Jason Nix: That's huge.

Dianne Burnett: Shout out to TT for that. Shout out to TT. I love TTs. That's amazing.

Jason Nix: Yeah.

Chris Ritter: part time, although there's really no such thing as a part time bishop, but they're categorized that way. So you might have a bishop with four five annual conferences. You might have a bishop with 12 or 14 annual conferences. ⁓ And so each of those areas, whether it be North Africa or the Congo or, ⁓ you know, ⁓ Great Lakes Conference, ⁓ They each have inputs into that evaluation process. So every annual conference around the globe feeds into the evaluation process because every area a bishop serves ⁓ speaks into that with and responds. So ⁓ there's not a place in the globe where we operate where there was not a ⁓ request to evaluate your bishop. you know, by the officers that are, you know, duly, you know, that represent those section, not every global Methodist, but every, those officers and those positions in every conference around the globe fed into that. So most of our bishops, all of our bishops are international bishops. And so they're all getting international feedback, which is good for learning because just because what you do in one place is working doesn't mean it's working.

Dianne Burnett: the officers that represent that section. agree with that. Those officers that are in are the officers that are in field. So most of our missions, all of our missions are in nation of the teachers. And so they're all in the nation of the teachers.

Jason Nix: Yeah. Yeah. learning because what we do in one place is working with this.

Chris Ritter: in a place you just are getting to know. so leadership looks different in different parts of the world. So that's especially important in a church like ours to get that feedback and to ask how it's going.

Jason Nix: Hmm. ⁓ I love how the solution was already baked in, in that when we knew we didn't want residential bishops and that we wanted bishops to not just serve one section of the globe, but to be connected to annual conferences from multiple points. It's already kind of baked in without somebody having to say, make sure that this group gets to evaluate this. It's just a...

Dianne Burnett: Absolutely.

Jason Nix: I like how the Lord works. It's just fun to look at every now and again.

Dianne Burnett: Yeah, absolutely. So as we made the joke, there's really not ⁓ such thing as a part-time bishop, and I believe that's absolutely correct. But we are going to make that official come this fall in Johannesburg when we elect eight full-time bishops to serve our connection. And so could you maybe share a little bit what makes that so historic? Why is that such a big deal for our church?

Jason Nix: You

Chris Ritter: Well, it is a big deal. When we got to Costa Rica, most of the interim stuff went away. We had that transitional book of doctrines and disciplines and transitional this, transitional that, and most of the transitional stuff went away. ⁓ Episcopacy, we left ⁓ with some transitional features ⁓ because we did realize we're such a fast growing movement and new parts of the world are coming in. So we wanted to kind of hold the door open for the rest of the world. We didn't want to say, okay, this is what it is. So we allowed some extra space. So right now we have nine bishops. Almost all of them are part-time in some way or another. I think technically only Bishop Webb is full-time, even Bishop Jones, who's almost full-time. I think he's like 90 some percent because he also does some teaching outside of his Episcopal office.

Dianne Burnett: Thank you.

Chris Ritter: in seminary settings. ⁓ So some are more part-time than others. Some are more like two-thirds. Some are more closer to less than half time, depending on how many conferences they were assigned. So that goes away this year. ⁓ And we're going to have full-time bishops that ⁓ This is all that they do. So right now we have bishops that are conference superintendents and bishops, pastors and bishops. So they're juggling lots of different things. It's really unfair what we're asking of them. It's really ⁓ unsustainable, but they don't have to sustain it that long. ⁓ At the end of this year, we will be served by eight full-time bishops. So our committee ⁓ is charged in the book of doctrines and disciplines with determining the number of bishops. under the guideline of one bishop for six to eight annual conferences. So, you know, we may show up to Johannesburg with 51, 52 conferences, maybe. And so you divide that by six, divide that by eight. That kind of gives you the range. We wanted to allow a little room to grow. And so because these bishops are going to serve, presumably for the next six years, ⁓ tonight,

Dianne Burnett: So, um, that's these missions are going to a huge part of the project. So, um, so they made this a number of and so that really starts a good shot. We have the experience of working with them.

Chris Ritter: to 2032. So eight is the number. And so that really starts a new chapter. So we haven't experienced normal yet. The new normal is gonna start this year with our episcopacy. We've had a lot of bishops just doing tremendous stretching. And that all is going to disappear this year as we welcome

Jason Nix: Eight is the number. And so that really starts a new chapter. We haven't experienced normal yet.

Chris Ritter: eight bishops. So bishops can be re-elected. New bishops will be elected this year. And so the process is well underway already to make sure that goes well.

Dianne Burnett: and the officials will be elected. This should be process as well.

Jason Nix: I'm curious, ⁓ just as we're seeing new bishops nominated and brought into the process, you mentioned that you lost a member of your team because the discernment process is beginning. ⁓ If you have, ⁓ if the committee kind of has a wish list, like what kind of leaders are y'all praying are brought forward for discernment ⁓ in the process we're in right now?

Chris Ritter: That's a great question. So, you know, the duties of a bishop are listed in our Book of Doctors and Disciplines. It's a whole section. It's a 600s. And beyond that, we just have a feeling of the kind of bishops we want.

Dianne Burnett: ⁓ We are man.

Chris Ritter: kind of the heartbeat of the global Methodist Church. ⁓ ⁓ one thing we wanted to do ⁓ restore the teaching office of bishop. ⁓ are to teach the faith as a primary ⁓ role ⁓ to ⁓ reinforce ⁓ and to support and to celebrate our doctrine as a church and to ⁓ that to us in our daily lives to ⁓ teach the faith. So ⁓ want bishops that are apt to teach, as the Bible says, ⁓ have a ⁓ grasp and are able to teach others as well. ⁓ We ⁓ are looking for bishops with the heart of a servant. We don't want bishops that lord it over or that are there for grandiose titles or trappings of office. We want bishops with their feet on the ground, that know how to wash feet, ⁓ that ⁓ know how to model the servanthood of Jesus to those that they lead. ⁓ And we want our bishops to ooze servant leadership in all that they... and all that they do. ⁓ We're looking for ⁓ bishops that are ⁓ more concerned about the health of the church and their own popularity. want bishops that ⁓ want to see the church do well and are willing to have tough conversations ⁓ when needed. We're looking for bishops that are collaborative with the other bishops that ⁓

Jason Nix: Mm.

Chris Ritter: Don't say, this is my domain and that's your domain over there, but really look at the whole and say, we're general superintendents of the whole church. And so let's lead together. Let's be an apostolic team that really leads and guides the global Methodist church. We want bishops that are growing in their global aptitude ⁓ in the different

Dianne Burnett: and we'll be happy to, from cultural settings, introduce this, we're coming up with the idea to put it out in bunch of different settings. And we'll always, probably most importantly, our culture of origin, we'll be able to stay there, to stretch out, we won't have to this, we'll able show people the places. We also want missions to connect us, you know, out of that.

Chris Ritter: cultural settings that our church exists. We want them to be able to move in and out of those different settings, knowing that we'll always be probably most comfortable in our culture of origin, but we don't want to stay there. We want to stretch out and learn how to do ministry and leadership in new places. And we also want bishops to connect us. Out of that, we want them to help us be one church. and not just be pockets of global Methodists around the world, but really be one movement. So we want bishops that are filled with the Holy Spirit. We want bishops that sing loud, worship passionately, witness boldly, know how to communicate the faith. So...

Jason Nix: You

Chris Ritter: You know, we want bishops to who we look at, they're not going to be perfect because they're human beings, right? But when we look at our bishops, we want to see, they model what we aspire to be as global Methodist Christians.

Jason Nix: Mm. Yeah, don't have to be perfect, just being perfected. ⁓

Dianne Burnett: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Chris, I have so enjoyed just this conversation with you today. I am so appreciative as not only a member of the Global Operations team, but just as a member of the Gola Methodist Church for the work of you and your committee and just the discernment and thought and love that all the work that you have done. And so thank you so much for just sharing what all you guys have. and gals have done since Costa Rica. I am continued to be, I would say, encouraged by all of that work and hopeful as we lead into general conference and just that we are continuing to just move forward as a denomination. And I think the work that you guys do is just definitely a testament to that. Jason, do you have anything to add?

Jason Nix: Yeah, just as we move in, as we look forward to Johannesburg, we know that the process of election for these bishops is going to be different and new, and I'm so glad we didn't go into the weeds of that here. But it is a lot, but just I hope in hearing Chris and hearing kind of just the formation of what God has done through this committee, that we can walk into that with trust already in hand. And then as we learn, Okay, this is how we're doing it. And this is how it's going to look. And all right, here's the steps we need to take. I think if I had one final question, it would just be this. Anytime you're walking into unknown, there is a tendency and I'm just I'll just point to me. So if it's no one else, that's fine. But there's a tendency for fear to sometimes kind of creep in and begin to kind of steer us in directions that aren't always beneficial. as we move through these months, if you were Chris, if you were just sitting across

Dianne Burnett: Yeah

Jason Nix: the table from ⁓ just a laity member from anywhere, you know, global Earth, global Methodist church. What would you say, like, if they were like, how do I get information about, you know, these Episcopal leaders and nominees? Where would you point them? And then if they had a concern or some insight, how would you direct them to kind of share that ⁓ in a healthy way? And the subtext of all this is not on Twitter or Facebook, but ⁓ just how would you direct ⁓ just our church members to be a part of this process and not feel outside of it?

Dianne Burnett: you

Chris Ritter: Yeah, absolutely. Well, ⁓ as far as part of the process, know, we're one way we are all are part of the process is praying, you know, lest the Lord builds a house, they who build it labor in vain. Jesus did say, I will build my church, the gates of hell will not prevail against it. He say build our church. He said he built his church and our job is to make sure that we are fully his. So that's that's certainly part of that, you know, part of that answer.

Jason Nix: Yeah. Come on. Come on.

Dianne Burnett: that's so important that we want them to be as far as we're finding information. There is an additional election in the interim, and we're getting this website, which is general conference website, where we're posting stuff there. So basically, this is a very good, we have an input process, we're doing an input process where every delegation is being invited to participate.

Chris Ritter: As far as where to find information, there is an Episcopal election page on the Beauty of Holiness website, which is our general conference website. We're posting stuff there. So basically, this is a very collaborative, high-input process. We're not going to get into the weeds of the process, but every delegation is feeding into that by March 15th. And so after March 15th, we're going to be able to share more information.

Dianne Burnett: And so after March we will be able to share information. So if you could give us a few words, okay, here we go. This is okay to your name and that will come all over the world, coming our direction. So we're gonna be able to share synonyms, conditions that we've seen in the last year.

Chris Ritter: ⁓ it take us a few give us a few weeks okay because we got ⁓ is a major data dump from all over the world coming our direction so we're going to be able to share the nominees ⁓ the bishops that are seeking re-election ⁓ going to be able to ⁓ share information on the Episcopal areas that are being proposed ⁓ so all that is going to show up in that election section of the Beauty of Holiness ⁓ website. And if someone maybe doesn't know what's going on or not sure they like what's going on or has questions, ⁓ I would ⁓ refer them. ⁓ One way they could speak into this process is through their delegation. Every annual conference has elected lay and clergy folks to represent them at general conference and to be their eyes and ears and voice. at general conference. And so those are local people that you've already elected from your annual conference that are there to answer questions. They might have inputs that you don't have or information that you don't have because they're meeting together actively and they're going through a lot of a lot of the proposed legislation soon they'll be doing that. They've been working through the election process materials already. So they would be a great voice. You can always reach out to me.

Dianne Burnett: Thank

Chris Ritter: and I'd be happy to answer any questions. ⁓ And you know, your bishops are there to direct traffic, your GMC staff is there. There's a lot of folks that you can reach out to and we all kind of, if that's not the person you should be talking to, move you along to the person that can be most helpful. So ⁓ let us serve you in that way and I'm sure any of us would love to do that.

Dianne Burnett: you Yeah.

Jason Nix: Thank you so much, man. It's beautiful thing to kind of get to see God at work across a long timeline. And so that's encouragement for the future.

Dianne Burnett: Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I have one fun question for you, Chris, before I pivot to Jason and have him pray over you and the committee ⁓ to wrap up our conversation today. But one of the things that we are, ⁓ we can't forget as part of the Global Methodist Church and one of our foundational pieces is just how important the local church is. And so I want to ask you this question today, Chris Ritter, is what is something in your local church that is exciting you?

Chris Ritter: Oh my goodness, there's so much. Kingswood is an amazing church family. we are, like I said, I'm meeting with 18 eighth graders right now, teaching them the faith. We just had a little trip to St. Louis. That's been awesome.

Jason Nix: Yeah.

Chris Ritter: We have a couple new staff members, a new worship director, a new tech director. My tech director is going with me to Liberia. He's going to take some video of lot of our mission work there and churches we've tried to build and projects we've done. ⁓ Getting ready to teach a New Testament survey class. I love to teach and I haven't been able to do that in a while, so that's exciting. We're doing a series for Lent ⁓ called Jesus Asking, which comes out of SeatBed.

Jason Nix: Mm.

Chris Ritter: so a couple people from our church are actually kicking off that new series. It's really unusual for the pastor not to kick off the new message series, but ⁓ got some great leaders. So Justin is up this weekend and he preached for the first time last year and knocked it out of the park. mean, ⁓ have been ⁓ to have him back. He'll be such a breath of fresh air because I've been preaching through Ecclesiastes all year ⁓ far. I think they've ⁓

Dianne Burnett: So far.

Chris Ritter: They're all in a catatonic state from depression after several weeks of several weeks of of ecclesiastes. I'm just kidding there. It's been a good. It's been a good study. You know, our so there's been so much good. You know, this is kind of a bad thing, but I want to share what God's doing in it on Christmas Eve. Our youth director tragically passed away and. ⁓ ⁓ assistant director of student ministries and our whole team has been stepping up so big. ⁓ one thing that defined the life of Jeff, ⁓ ⁓ director of student ministries that passed away was joy. Joy was just his life. And we're just trying to live into joy in his honor and in his ⁓ just ⁓ as we move into the coming year, ⁓ year ⁓ our students. ⁓ We got a lot of children, a lot of youth in our church, which is really a beautiful thing. And ⁓ so we're trying to model what he taught us, ⁓ is joy, no matter what life throws at us. So that's kind of what our current chapter's about.

Dianne Burnett: Well, I love that and I love how much you lit up when I asked that question and you got to speak about your church and so I think the joy is definitely there and evident. So to close us out today and really Jason, will you just cover ⁓ Chris and his local church and his committee and all the work and prayer for us today.

Jason Nix: Yeah. Yeah, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Gracious and heavenly Father, we love you. We proclaim our love for you loudly, even boldly, because you first loved us. Father, I thank you for my brother, Chris. I thank you for everything that you have instilled in him and through him and every member of the committee on which he serves. Father, I thank you for everything that you have instilled in Kingswood and even in this season of loss and of grief. Father, we pray that your presence of peace and of joy would just be more and more abundant as we walk forward in the reality of life and trusting in your goodness, your faithfulness, your sovereignty. Father, as we as a church step forward into these next months, as we look forward to dates on the calendar and different steps that will be taken, we just stand right now in the silence of this moment and the calm of this moment and just say we trust you. We trust that you are good and that you will lead your people, that you will guide us and direct us in the way that you have ordained. And so in that we rest and in that we just yield all things to you. And so thank you for this conversation. Continue to shape us and form us into the image of Jesus. We pray this in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.