Turner, Rev. Wilbert H. Jr., passed away December 9, 2014; beloved husband of Juanita; loving father of Wilbert Turner III and Renata Weaver; stepfather of Robert Williams and Toiya Washington; dear grandfather and brother. Funeral Saturday December 13th, 11 am at Aldersgate United Methodist Church 4069 Eastwood Lane where family will receive friends at 10:30 am. Public viewing Friday 12 Noon – 7 pm at funeral home.
Aldersgate UMC Shepherds
Dear Juanita, Turner & Weaver & Washington Families,
We know your loss is deep and your sorrow is great, but we want you to know that we share in your sorrow, but more importantly, we recognize that this loss is Heaven’s gain. We are praying for you and your family.
In Christian love, Aldersgate UMC Shepherds
Kimberly Dove Richardson & Girls
May God continue to ease the pain and sorry that you undoubtedly feel, while keeping strong your memories of Pastor Turner. You are in our thoughts and prayers.
In Him,
Kim & the Girls
ERICH KRUMHANSL
IAM SO SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS OF WILBERT. HE WAS MY
LAST CUSTODIAN I WORKED UNDER, AND HE ALWAYS HAD
A GOOD LAUGH AT THINGS AND A POSITVE OUTLOOK.HE
WILL BE MISSED FOR I HAVE FOUND MEMORIES OF HIM.
Alexandra
Thanks, Amy, for sharing your exerpience at Relevance X and offering us one more illustration of the great leadership your generation is already offering in our denomination and conference! I hope and trust it will be ok to engage in a bit of dialogue about a couple of the statements you made in your introduction.I find myself wondering about the claim that time and again young people are left out of the conversation of what the future church needs or wants to be. While I have no doubt there was a time when this was true, and that time is not long past, I will suggest it has, indeed, passed. We seem to keep banging that drum the one about how we the both the present and future of both our church and Church in general hangs on the shoulders of our young leaders, and therefore we must move them up the ranks more quickly than ever before, accepting that they are ready now to tackle every position, from senior pastor of multiple pastor churches to leading our most important boards and agencies. And perhaps this is so I am continually impressed and amazed by the maturity, grace and wisdom displayed by our young clergy and laypersons!At the same time, something in me feels we are following a typical human pattern by contenting ourselves with a change in the focus of an unhelpful, even oppressive pattern instead of abandoning the pattern entirely in this case, ageism. I suspect there would be a great hue and cry if we were publishing articles about the need to hold spots in our leadership for the elders among our Elders; heck, there may well be some pushback from even so gentle an objection as this to the you/we must be in leadership now message. I am not sure a church that is accepting of our late 20-early 30 s folks and who there are in this moment of their lives necessarily makes sure they are placed in every leadership position. That strikes me as being a bit like taking the best athletic prospects and dropping them immediately into the major leagues, which has often resulted in destroying the future theirs and the team’s in favor of putting on a good show in the moment.Again, I hope this might be a conversation we could have on a conference level. Thanks for opening that door through your work and writing!