Bishop advises PT Interns 'find spirit of life'
Spontaneous celebration broke out among Project Transformation staff and interns following the communion service led by Bishop Bledsoe.
Bishop Bledsoe joined PT executive director Eric Lindh, right, and 100 Summer interns in a hymn preceding his address to the group.
BY JOHN A. LOVELACE
Special Correspondent
For a while it felt like the praise service that wouldn’t end. The bishop’s benediction didn’t do it; neither did a “You are God!” praise song with words on a center screen igniting joyful singing, arms waving, hands and fingers pointing upward.
But 90 minutes after it began on July 7, the Tuesday evening weekly worship service for nearly 100 Project Transformation (PT) interns and staff did wind down inside SMU’s Perkins Chapel. Bits of it flowed out into the warmish evening as interns chattered and sang while walking to their dorms on campus.
“They have lots of energy,” PT Executive Director Eric Lindh said, smiling proudly.
Earlier, in a “Call for Transformation” message clearly tailored toward young, energized listeners, Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe advised, “As you learn to sacrifice for others you find the spirit of life.” He followed that with a question: “Are you finding God at work in what you are doing? If not, why are you doing it?”
As linkage to his young audience he told of a time during his college-age years when he had a little extra money and over-indulged on an entire box of fried shrimp as family members looked on. He not only made himself sick but killed his appetite for fried shrimp for years. Moreover, he said, “I learned to share anything I have, any time.”
He reinforced the importance of “little things that you do daily” by closing with this observation: “I believe that God is calling the church today to help transform the world with these kids you serve one by one.”
Following the bishop’s address, five PT women interns dressed in white presented a liturgical dance to recorded music.
The bishop, assisted by three PT interns, then presided over a communion service. He acknowledged that not all PT interns are United Methodists and assured them that they were welcome “because this is not a United Methodist table or the bishop’s table or a Project Transformation table. It is the Lord’s table.”
Project Transformation began in the North Texas Conference in 1998. In its 11th year, the conference has interns in Dallas and Sherman. In addition to the Tuesday evening worship services, interns are expected to stay in close touch with their assigned “home” church.
According to the online encyclopedia, “Wikipedia,” programs based on the NTC model are active in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Kansas City and Charlottesville, VA.
