Q & A with Rev. Shane Green, Columbus District Superintendent
Written: 8/18/2009
This is the third in a five-part series from the South Georgia Advocate that will introduce the new District Superintendents.
ADVOCATE: You’re from Columbus, right? So this is like coming home for you?
REV. GREEN: It is; my wife and I are both from Columbus. All of our family is pretty much here. I was born and raised here, and so was she. My first appointment was as an associate pastor at St. Mark United Methodist Church in Columbus for a few years.
ADVOCATE: What’s your faith journey? Did you grow up in the church?
REV. GREEN: For the most part; it was spotty at times. My grandmother, on my mother’s side, was the greatest living saint I’ve ever known. Even when we had spotty attendance at church she still made sure we knew the assets of the faith. We grew up in the Baptist church, and my entry into the United Methodist Church was in my late teenage years. My family joined a Methodist church when I was in middle school, but it was nothing of importance to me, for the most part, until my senior year of high school. That’s when my life really changed.
ADVOCATE: What was that turning point?
REV. GREEN: I was attending St. Mark’s UMC on an Easter Sunday; I had not been thinking about Christ, or anything like that, and really wasn’t paying attention to the sermon, but somewhere in the middle of all that I literally had an encounter with Jesus. I couldn’t wait to talk to the minister. After the service was over I basically pushed people out of the way to talk to him. For about the next six to nine months I really pestered him because I wasn’t convinced that faith was enough for salvation. I’ve always been kind of a works righteous type person. I would show up on Sunday afternoons, would meet him at the gym … he had to literally walk me through an understanding that it’s simply justification by faith, that it’s a gift of grace from God. Romans 8:1 finally made it down into my soul. And then, of course, I wasn’t thinking about ministry; for the most part I wanted to be a lawyer. I was working at a local bank in Columbus, and had thought about staying there with their management program, but about my junior year of college I really felt this call to pastoral ministry and began working as a youth director in a Nazarene church, and little by little surrendered to that.
ADVOCATE: Tell me about your family.
REV. GREEN: My wife Brooke and I met in college. We actually had a number of mutual friends growing up, and probably swam at the same neighborhood pool and played at the same playground, but really didn’t know each other until college. She worked at the same bank that I did. We have a nine-year-old son named Connor and a seven-year-old daughter named Caroline.
ADVOCATE: What was your reaction when you got the call from Bishop King?
REV. GREEN: Shock is an understatement! Even the other day, Brooke and I were riding down the road and she said, “I can’t believe we’re back in Columbus.” She said that in a very positive way. There is a deep sense of humility; I don’t even know how to describe how I felt when he called. I still remember that it was the day it snowed. I thought it was simply to say hello or something along those lines, but of course we had a conversation about coming onto the Cabinet. I had some reservations that he understood, and we talked about what his expectations were and what my expectations were. We are very excited; for me, there’s an opportunity to learn so much; I feel like I have the most to learn, and I see God’s hand in that, and I look forward to what the next eight years hold and bring, not just for me personally, but for my family, and for our Conference. I’m excited about the direction of our Conference; I’m excited about the future of the United Methodist Church. This office gives me a wider view of the church, and I’m excited about that.
ADVOCATE: How has the transition been so far, from serving at the local church to being the District Superintendent for the Columbus District?
REV. GREEN: Personally, the Columbus District has been overwhelmingly generous. The pastors, the members of the churches – it has been amazing how they have warmly received us. We still get calls from people just to say welcome and to ask if there is anything we need. It has been a very, very enriching blessing with the way the people of the District have been so loving and so generous.
As for me, personally, I’ll quote my wife. On Sundays, she said that she can see my anxiety, and how fidgety I am, because the schedule is different. In the local church, Sunday is the day, and most of the church week revolves around that, preparing for that, getting ready for the service, teaching and preaching, and things of that nature. And to be in a different role, it’s just been too soon for me to get used to that. So, on Sunday mornings I still get a little anxious because I’m doing something now that doesn’t require me to preach every week. I’m learning the rhythm of the job that takes months and months, but the people of Columbus have made it as easy as possible for the transition.
ADVOCATE: What are your visions and goals for the district?
REV. GREEN: I’m in the process of forming them. I’m in the middle of some listening sessions with the clergy here in Columbus. Part of what they’re doing after we get to know each other is they are going to fill out some information for me, telling me the needs of the District and the vision they have for the District.
I am intrigued by the population increase that’s going to be coming to Fort Benning and through some of the additions in companies – the Kia plant and other companies who’ve announced that they’re going to be in the greater Columbus area. So there’s going to be an influx of people in general in Columbus. One of my goals is to make sure that the United Methodist Church is on the cutting edge of reaching those people. That’s every church. I have some very ambitious goals for starting new churches. We’re in the process of starting one, and I think that a number of folks have responded very well with Jimmy McIlrath. What I would love to see in the Columbus District is the pronoun “we.” That “we” the Columbus District are starting churches, and this first one just happens to be where Rev. Jimmy McIlrath is going to be the minister, yet it belongs to all the Columbus Methodists; that we together are going to be starting churches.
I would love to see, over the next eight years, multiple churches started, and I think that is a very tangible goal, a realistic goal. I would expect for us to achieve that. In eight years, not just that all the churches have grown, but there be one, two, three churches that weren’t in existence that are thriving.
The premiere goal for me is to grow the kingdom of God by making disciples for Jesus Christ.
ADVOCATE: What’s one challenge you see facing the Conference or District?
REV. GREEN: The clergy here have a young DS and there’s so much I have to learn; that might be a handicap! With anything, change takes time, change takes a great level of courage, and change sometimes is very difficult. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth seeking after. Human nature is that we all love our comfort zones and what we can touch and what we can easily do. To go out beyond that, in whatever form or fashion we choose to do that, it’s scary; I know that. But sometimes following God and seeking to be obedient to His will requires a level of courage. Making disciples for Jesus Christ is not for the faint of heart. It is for people who want to latch on to God and go where He leads. So I would expect that as churches grow and change and evolve with different ministries, with that comes loss and friction, but in the end it’s worth it because we become closer to God and lives are transformed.
ADVOCATE: What’s one thing that most excites you about the Columbus District or the South Georgia Conference?
REV. GREEN: I’ve been excited for a number of years about the number of new churches we’re starting. I think that starting churches – beginning new churches that have new ministries that try different ways to reach people in the culture – it raises the tide of all churches. What it ultimately does is it makes all of our churches better. It’s kind of weird the way that happens, but it’s almost like a business principle, where if you’re not keeping up with the people who are around you, if you’re not sensitive to what’s going on around you, you fall behind. I think starting churches is the greatest thing that we have done in the last five, seven, 10 years in our Conference, and that excites me, and I see the future as extremely positive. And I firmly believe that we are bound by nothing, and that the United Methodist Church is in a unique position. I think the United Methodist Church really does represent the concept of the universal church maybe better than any other denomination. I love its stance on grace. I love its stance on accountability, and the importance of the power of the Holy Spirit involved in that with ministry. Our connectionalism, the way it’s set up, I think that it gives us opportunities to reach people that other denominations don’t have the structure to do it.
ADVOCATE: What do you like best about serving in the South Georgia Conference?
REV. GREEN: Probably the fact that you can pretty much know everyone in the Conference. It’s almost like being a part of a large family, and I think that’s unique, because I don’t think every Conference has the ability to do that. In South Georgia, most of the clergy, if not all, really do have the chance to get to know each intimately, and that’s a source of strength to me, that people aren’t just names, that you really can get to know people and to some extent their families. It’s a level of comfort knowing that you’re a part of a close-knit group.
ADVOCATE: How do you, in the midst of your busy schedule and your traveling, make time for your quiet time, prayer, and Bible study?
REV. GREEN: I’m an early riser. Like 4 a.m. early. I have a number of devotional books I use, and over the last few years I have been trying to increase my quietness and stillness and contemplative prayer. That has been very reflective and beneficial for me. There’s been a lot of personal growth with that. And it’s also quiet in my house! I’ll be up for three or four hours before my family really gets up, so it really allows me to spend a fair amount of time in prayer. I’m an avid reader; I love to read books on theology. I love to read books about the saints of the church, so I incorporate those as part of my discipline as well as studying scripture. I like to do inductive-type Bible studies as well. I do journal, but my journaling is a little different in that I journal in the form of letters to my children and my wife. They don’t get them now; maybe one day they will, but it’s where I write my personal thoughts and reflections with God and my life with them. I like to keep rest time. We take adequate vacations at different times of the year. We have some customs that we’ve done in our family and it would pretty much take the earth to stop rotating for us to not go on them. All of those have helped me to stay fairly grounded and they work well with helping me stay connected with God.
ADVOCATE: What do you like to do in your free time? What are your hobbies and interests?
REV. GREEN: I love to play golf; I love to bird hunt and look forward to doing that – I’m an outdoorsy type of guy. We have a river house in my family and I like to go up there and I like to goof off with my kids. I love to spend time with close friends around long dinners. I’m involved with a group of seven other pastors where we meet three or four times a year and we go off and spend time together; we play golf, we eat together, we sit on the back porch and laugh and cut up. Anything that has to do with being connected with other folks – I really enjoy that.
ADVOCATE: Do you have any favorite sports teams/movies/books?
REV. GREEN: I’m glad that, being in Columbus, we’ll be able to take advantage of season tickets to Auburn University! I’m really excited about that. My wife and I are avid movie-goers. One of my favorite books, that I go back and read from time to time, is “The Logic of Evangelism” by Bill Abraham.