My first two weeks in ministry at MPUMC! There is something wonderfully humbling about being the "new" pastor. Every day begins with good intentions: learn a few more names, answer a few more emails, figure out one more computer system, and remember where I put the book I need to plan advent. Every day also reminds me just how much there is to learn. A new appointment means new faces, new stories, and new relationships. It also means new passwords, new calendars, new software

If you're new here—or if it's simply been a while—welcome! I thought it was time to introduce myself again and share the story behind this little corner of the internet. I'm Rev. Laura Beville, and I recently began serving as pastor of Mill Plain United Methodist Church in Vancouver, Washington. New appointments are always a season of beginnings. There are new names to learn, new stories to hear, and new ways of discovering how God is already at work in a community. It's exci

There are moments in ministry when you know, before the words even leave your mouth, that people may not stay to hear the end of the sermon. I have lived that moment. Years ago, while serving on the Southern Oregon Coast, the movement for Black Lives Matter was growing in visibility across the country. Conversations about race, justice, policing, and history were becoming louder, more public, and more divisive. Many churches avoided the topic entirely. It feels safer that way

People keep asking me the same question whenever they hear I'm moving to a new appointment: "So... is the next church bigger?" It's a fair question, I suppose. We live in a world that assumes every move is a promotion. Bigger office. Bigger budget. Bigger staff. Bigger influence. Bigger is better. Except that's not really how the United Methodist Church works. Today marks twenty years since my ordination. Twenty years. That feels like an odd anniversary. I worked so hard to g