Retired pastor to help UMs tell faith stories




By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
The Rev. Sue White remembers lying as a young child in the soft grass of southern Indiana, gazing through oak tree branches at patches of blue sky and thinking about God.
She remembers feeling fear when, at 7 years old, she thought she might love God more than she loved her mother, then relief when she realized it was a different kind of love.
She remembers growing up as a youth in church, singing, teaching, preaching and dedicating her life to
Christian service during a youth camp at 15.
“It was like a covenant that was sealed in heaven,” White said. “I was 51 when I made good on it.
I spent 36 years trying to figure out what was going on.”
After 17 years as a pastor in the Southwest Texas Conference, White retired this year.
But she is working with the conference staff in a yearlong position as conference evangelism consultant.
“I retired two years early to do this job because I believe that God called me,” White said. “I believe this was the vision.”
White is to work one-on-one with pastors and leading laypeople to train local churches to evangelize the gospel and gain measurable results. The pilot project is funded by Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas and Advance Special No. 2011.
White said she is to support two initiatives adopted by the Southwest Texas Annual Conference session in June to help transform congregations:
> Become more evangelistic in faith sharing.
> Strengthen evangelistic presence in the community.
“This is an immediate response by the conference addressing the first two initiatives that the annual conference adopted,” said the Rev. Austin Frederick Jr., assistant to the episcopal office. “What I hope for her to do is be an active
presence in the life and ministry of Texas.
“The gospel of Jesus Christ is alive and well in Sue White—to the point of it being contagious. When you’re with her, she also has the gifts and graces to help you recognize your contagious faith as well as equip you to share that with other people. She helps create a comfort zone and, at the same time, a sense of urgency about sharing that faith.”
Frederick said the Council on Ministries’ goal for White was to consult with 25 congregations.
White already has scheduled consultations with 16.
She is also the keynote speaker for September in the Hills, a senior Christian retreat Sept. 18-20 at Mount Wesley Conference Center, Kerrville. Her topic is to be “Wade Into the Water.” It is based on Psalm 42.
White, originally an organist/teacher/pianist, began her undergraduate studies at 54 and graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary with a master’s degree in religious studies in 2000. In 2003, she was ordained an elder in full connection.
Her first pastoral appointment was Charlotte UMC in 1991. The congregation grew from 17 members to more than
72 members by the time she left in 1996.
White served Parker Lane UMC, Austin, from 1996 to 2002. The congregation increased from 80 in worship to 170.
During those six years, White said, Parker Lane produced seven candidates for the ministry who were younger than 32. She still remembers where all of them ended up.
White moved to University UMC, San Antonio, in 2002. She served as the congregational care pastor for five years.
White said she hopes that congregations will become excited about sharing faith.
“I’d like to see the churches of the conference become enlivened with the Great Commission to seek the least, the last and the lost and bring the hurting world to Jesus Christ,” White said. “I hope in this year that we will see great strides in that effort, measurable by increased membership and active followers of Christ.
“I tell people all the time, if you know Jesus Christ, if you really know him, you gotta tell somebody.”