Thanks For the Memories: The Close of Ministry Conference
By: Ginny Proctor, Manager, Lifelong Learning
Since 1945 the seminary has enjoyed hosting the annual Ministers’ Conference, known in later years as Ministry Conference. With the exception of a three-year hiatus, it is considered to be the longest-running annual conference in the history of Asbury Seminary. The week-long commencement celebrations of President H. C. Morrison were the inspiration for President J. C. McPheeters’ design for the annual event consisting of 
worship, celebration, fundraising, and religious revival[1]. It was during Ministers’ Conference in February 1948 that the H. C. Morrison Administration Building was dedicated—most assuredly a highlight of that conference.
Ministry Conference continued through the years with hundreds of beloved speakers, most of whom were seminary faculty who served as keynotes and workshop leaders. The conference always included times of worship in Estes Chapel and McKenna Chapel. In the early years when the Wilmore campus lay dormant in January and early February, it played host to nearly one thousand Ministry Conference participants, many of whom were alumni, forcing the large worship gatherings into the gymnasium—the only building with that capacity. As the years passed, the attendance at Ministry Conference depleted; and by the turn of the century, the conference began its struggle to hold its numbers. Despite the efforts of the conference design team, the light of the Ministry Conference was dimming and we knew it was going to be difficult to keep it 
alive.
Big, bright, and beautiful clergy events began popping up all over the world, turning many their way, but the quiet placement of Asbury Seminary’s Ministry Conference continued to attract those whose never-dying love of their alma mater enticed an annual pilgrimage to Wilmore, where they knew their souls would be refreshed and renewed as they walked the sacred grounds of the campus that held the knowledge they sought to fulfill God’s call into ministry. And it is for those that Ministry Conference continued until 2016 when the light dimmed completely and it was decided the conference would no longer take place. It was a difficult, but necessary, decision.
The Lifelong Learning team is grateful for your support over the years, and we have enjoyed serving you in this way. Ministry Conference now holds a place in the Asbury Seminary archive, but that is far from the end of continuing education opportunities. In the coming year, the Lifelong Learning Design Team will be introducing exciting new initiatives such as learning opportunities through Seedbed, Wilmore and Orlando campus seminars, certificate opportunities, institutes, and conferences. Our goal is to serve our alum by meeting their spiritual and pastoral needs, in answer to President Stanger’s quest in 1973 that, “Training for the ministry is a lifelong endeavor.”[2] We fully intend to continue Dr. Stanger’s vision. You have our permission to hold us to that promise.
[1] Kinghorn, Kenneth C. The Story of Asbury Theological Seminary. Lexington: Emeth, 2010. Print.
[2] Ibid, 249.
I have been privileged to attend many of these events as a UM pastor and now a Disciples of Christ pastor. The solid food and stretching of the mind and spirit has helped me be a more effective servant of Christ. Thanks for the memories; bur know that I am looking forward to other opportunities to return home for a few days!
When I first came to a Conference shortly after graduating from the Seminary (’89), I quickly realized how much the trip back was bread to an empty soul. I enjoyed serving as a pastor–but the Conference was a real chance to “receive” when all I seemed to be doing was giving. Every single time the Conference was a lift–it saddens me that it has come to a close but praying God will open other doors. Thanks for these times!
Wish you still had it.