St. John's Methodist Church
Amersham, Buckinghamshire

Ministerial Exchange

MINISTERIAL EXCHANGE PROGRAM BY THE WORLD METHODIST COUNCIL
Chesham & St John's with the United Methodist Church in Sacramento, California
From last week of July to end of August 2008

The World Methodist Council,representing Methodism in 132 countries of the world, designed the Ministerial Exchange Program in 1947 to develop ties between Methodist clergy and churches in the United States and England.
The Ministerial Exchange Program provides an exciting opportunity for a minister from one country to exchange his / her pulpit and the ministry with a clergy from another country.
It allows a local congregation to joyfully share with its people and community the pastoral gifts of a Methodist Clergy from another culture. Further, it provides a fantastic demonstration of the oneness and unity of world wide Methodist fellowship, as well as the universality of the redemptive message of Jesus Christ.

It emphasizes the international nature of the Methodist movement, provides inter cultural understanding, builds friendships and advances the Christian movement in the world.

We are pleased that the World Methodist Council have paired our minister David Jebb with Revd John McCorkell from United Methodist Church in Sacramento, California.
John, his wife Martha and their daughter Mary will be here to share their ministry at Chesham and St John's from end of July to end of August.

This ministerial exchange involves the whole family of our minister David Jebb. So, David, Jenet, Derrina and Deronee will be leaving us for a month in end of July to engage in this exciting Pastorates Exchange programme in USA. We wish the McCorkells and the Jebbs all the success in their forthcoming exchange program.

A group will be formed to support this exchange programme in the summer.

The Revd. John McCorkell writes:-

I have been told that I was baptized by Bishop James C. Baker. While I do not specifically remember that, I do remember that living the Christian life was always important to my parents; that they did, to the best of their ability, try to live before me a life that became the Gospel.

At the age of 12, I took a confirmation class and was confirmed a full member of Christ’s holy church. While I did not have a complete understanding of what it meant, I did know that it meant putting God first in my life. I began tithing at that time out of my allowance and earnings from part-time jobs.

While in high school, I was active in MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship) at the local and district levels and was a member of various commissions and the Administrative Board in the local church. From the summer before my senior year of high school and on through college I was a church camp counselor.

It was at a summer camp that I felt my first call to the ministry. I also served as a Sunday school teacher and Junior High MYF leader during my college years.

After completing college I was assigned to serve as a student local pastor, and entered what became the Master of Divinity program at Pacific School of Religion. It was during this time that I married Martha Ellen McConnell, whom I had met in the church where my father was pastor.

When I graduated from seminary, I began serving United Methodist pastorates, first in California and later in Iowa. Our son David was born in Greenville, California, and our daughter Mary Rose was born in Iowa City, Iowa.

In 1981 I took computer science courses, and a year later I became an application computer programmer. During this time our family lived in Byron, California and we were active members of Byron United Methodist Church. I also spent a little over 8 years as a member of the Byron Elementary School Board.

In 1996 I spent a year In Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico learning Spanish and helping with English language ministry at the local Iglesia Metodista (Methodist Church). During this time, Martha received a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from San José State University. After Martha graduated, we moved to Sacramento where she got a job as a youth services librarian for Sacramento Public Library, and she has worked there ever since. She is a good speaker of Spanish and uses it to help Spanish speaking patrons. She likes Scottish and English Country dancing as well as many other kinds of international dancing, origami, reading (or listening to books on CD), hiking, watching birds and identifying wildflowers.

In the fall of 1999 I returned to serving United Methodist pastorates. I currently serve in Meridian and Knights Landing United Methodist Churches.

This February the Knight’s Templar (one of the Masonic groups to which I belong) sent me on a ten-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It was quite exciting to see where Jesus walked.

Mary Rose works for Pride Industries in Sacramento, California. When she was in high school she raised dairy goats and showed them at the county fair where she won several ribbons and two trophies. She likes to read, play games, do jigsaw puzzles, logic puzzles and Sudoku, watch videos (mostly anime), sing, go camping, go on picnics and dance.