Key points:
- The ravages of glaucoma compelled United Methodist Bishop Frank J. Beard to step aside from leading the Illinois Great Rivers Conference.
- However, the bishop and his wife, Melissa, still have plans to serve the church with new evangelistic ministry.
- They plan to use their love of fishing to help churchgoers become better fishers of people.
Anybody can fish, Bishop Frank J. Beard likes to say.
“Catching,” he is quick to add, “Now that’s another matter.”
As the veteran angler describes it, United Methodists often struggle to follow the biblical call to be “fishers of people” because they don’t catch like Jesus.
“I believe that Jesus can catch fish anywhere,” he said. “And if we would follow the example of Jesus, we would catch fish as well.”
At 68, the longtime pastor and bishop knows quite a bit about getting fish to bite and drawing people to Christ. However, a particularly acute form of glaucoma forced Beard to step aside last year from his work as an active bishop overseeing the Illinois Great Rivers Conference — a role he had held since his election in 2016. Now, he is on long-term disability leave as he adjusts to living with only partial eyesight in one eye.
While legally blind, Beard still has an unclouded vision for how he can serve the church.
Instead of simply hanging up a sign that says, “Gone Fishing,” the bishop and his wife, Melissa, are embarking on a new ministry to help the church get catching.
In September, the Beards officially launched “Catching Like Jesus Ministries” — an evangelistic effort that combines the couple’s mutual enjoyment of fishing with their passion for reeling in people with the Gospel message.
The two are hoping to help The United Methodist Church revitalize after a season that saw losses because of both a global pandemic and church disaffiliations.
As the bishop likes to point out, Jesus was a carpenter by trade. But he still knew exactly where the professional fishermen Peter, Andrew, James and John should cast their nests for the best catch. Similarly, Jesus also knew where and how to land new Christian disciples.
That’s the example the Beards hope United Methodists will emulate.
“There’s no place in the Bible where the world is commanded to go to the church,” Bishop Beard said. “But the church is commanded to go into all the world.”
For the bishop, fishing has always been part of his ministry, even at rest. In fact, he named his previous fishing boat “Prayer,” so that when he was out fishing, his staff could say he was “in Prayer.”
Eventually, the Beards expect they will be able to help Christians learn how to be better fishers of people while fishing on the open water. For now, Bishop Beard’s ministry is indoors and involves using fishing metaphors from Jesus’ ministry to help United Methodists think about evangelism in a new way.
The Beards have set up Catching Like Jesus Ministries as a nonprofit under a board’s oversight. They plan to share guidance for evangelism through workshops, consulting and preaching.
As ministry co-founder, Melissa Beard has taken charge of administrative duties. “This is also a passion of mine as well,” she said.
Bishop Beard is quick to point out that his wife brings her own gifts to the ministry as a former clinician and hospice worker who has a master’s degree in social work.
“She is the empathic person who knows how to deal with people in crisis — people dealing with issues of suicide, depression and anxiety disorders,” he said. “She’s really compassionate and caring.”
Together, the couple hopes to equip churches and individuals to carry out Jesus’ Great Commission through evangelism, discipleship and prayer renewal.
“Evangelism brings people in and introduces them to Christ,” the bishop said. “Discipleship is the pathway to spiritual maturity and growth, and that could take all sorts of forms. The bottom line is: Are people growing and developing as Christians and becoming more Christ-like?”
Leaders across The United Methodist Church and broader Methodism are excited to see where the Beards’ new ministry leads.
The bishop already has led a workshop for leaders in the Minnesota and Dakotas conferences. The Beards also have an invitation to potentially bring their ministry to the Mississippi Conference, and they are starting to book events next year.
“Bishop Beard has always had an evangelistic heart,” Mississippi Conference Bishop Sharma Lewis Logan said. “God has placed this new initiative in his spirit, and when he shared with me, I told him that I would like to further explore. I’ve always had an evangelistic heart for souls, and I thought this could be a great idea to explore and partner.”
Bishop Lanette Plambeck, who leads the Dakotas and Minnesota conferences, said what strikes her most about the new ministry is Bishop Beard’s deep trust in God’s call.
“At a moment when many might understandably step back, Bishop Beard has chosen to step forward,” she said. “His willingness to adapt and keep serving when life has changed so dramatically is a profound witness. This new ministry reminds us all that our call as disciples never ends. ...We have kingdom work to do.”
She added that the bishop’s practical teaching immediately informed how conference leaders are coaching pastors and laity in both the Dakotas and Minnesota.
“Bishop Beard brought joy and hope into the room,” she said. “Evangelism can sometimes feel heavy or transactional; his presence made it feel like an adventure — hopeful, relational and Spirit-driven. That spirit of joy is contagious and much needed in the church today.”
The Beards launched their ministry with a homecoming of sorts. They returned Sept. 7 to Elkhart Faith United Methodist Church in Goshen, Indiana —the congregation where the bishop both hooked new Christian disciples as a pastor and where he still has connections to the people who first hooked him for Christ.
The bishop preached at the church’s two Sunday worship services. Even with his limited vision, the bishop said he was touched to see so many people at both services who had helped shape his life and ministry.
“I just want to say how grateful and thankful I am for this church that you allowed me to come back and to be one of your pastors,” he preached during the second service. “And it’s a reminder to be careful who you send in ministry, because you might get them back.”
Elkhart Faith formed in 1995 as a merger of four United Methodist congregations — Castle, Good Shepherd, Simpson and Grace. The future bishop was the church’s first associate pastor that helped get the newly united congregation off the ground. The predecessor congregation Grace in downtown Elkhart also was where he first connected with The United Methodist Church.
For an 11-year-old Beard, the bait was the Kool-Aid and cookies served at the church’s vacation Bible school. The church’s United Methodist Women and Men groups then provided scholarships so he could attend church camp.
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It was at that church camp, he told the United Methodist podcast “Get Your Spirit in Shape,” that “I gave my heart to Jesus for the first time.”
Later, as a teen on a church mission trip to Haiti, he heard God’s call to go into Christian service. The Grace congregation supported his call, raising funds for him to attend Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.
George Bennett III, the son of the man who first invited Beard to vacation Bible school, drove nearly an hour from his home in Noble County, Indiana, to see his old friend preach. The younger Bennett and Beard had participated in youth group together at Grace and eventually were college roommates for a time at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.
“For me, this is additionally meaningful,” Bennett said. “Through this, I can feel a continued connection because my dad’s been gone 40 years. But through Frank’s ministry and Melissa’s ministry, it’s like that continues.”
Tim Lockhart, one of the bishop’s longtime friends who also helped with the formation of Elkhart Faith, introduced Beard to the wider congregation. Lockhart attended the bishop’s first sermon outside Grace as well as his consecration as bishop.
“Frank is just so gifted,” Lockhart told UM News. “He helped us come together, the family feel, getting us wanting to witness to others, to share our faith, to be willing to disciple others. That’s his gift. I’m excited about his new ministry.”
Sally Dailey, who like Lockhart and Beard grew up at Grace, shared a similar sentiment.
She said she and other longtime friends in Indiana have been praying for the Beards’ new ministry. “I think it’s something our churches need,” she said.
At the end of each service, the bishop invited worshippers to come to the altar and rededicate themselves to Christ and Christ’s mission.
Among the first to come to the altar was Mosun Oshogwemoh, a retired nurse who credited the bishop with catching her and her family for Christian discipleship. She first met Beard 30 years ago when he was still a pastor and he was visiting one of her patients at the local hospital. He asked if she had a church.
Start catching
Through Catching Like Jesus Ministries, Bishop Frank and Melissa Beard hope to equip disciples, transform communities and spread the good news of Christ.
People can learn more about the ministry and how to support and pray for it at this website.
“I had just moved into town from California, and I told him I hadn’t found a church I liked,” she recalled. “He said, ‘You haven’t been to my church.’ So, I packed my three kids and we went there. And my kids asked, ‘When can we go back?’”
Because of his invitation, she said she has been a member of Elkhart Faith ever since.
Today, the Beards live in Augusta, Georgia, where they attend Wesley United Methodist Church in nearby Evans. There, the bishop has on occasion preached at worship and spoken at the men’s ministry.
Now, the congregation is sponsoring Catching Like Jesus Ministries. The new ministry is in line with Wesley’s history as a ministry incubator, said the Rev. Greg Porterfield, its senior pastor.
That church has a track record of growing new ministries into successful nonprofits, including one that has provided more than 1,500 beds and bedding to needy families, and another ministry that rehabilitates old cars for donation to mostly single mothers.
Porterfield said the bishop’s goal to practice evangelism where people are is “a very Wesleyan tradition.”
“His love of fishing combines a personal passion with a heartfelt desire,” Porterfield said. “I look forward to its expression here at Wesley and throughout the general church.”
Also excited to see the bishop take on this challenge is the Foundation for Evangelism, an organization based in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, that makes grants that support evangelism across the Wesleyan-tradition movements.
“The Foundation for Evangelism welcomes the efforts of all Wesleyan-tradition Christians to reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ,” said the Rev. Jack Jackson, the foundation’s president.
“We’re encouraged to hear of Bishop Frank Beard’s new evangelism ministry and applaud his leadership to make evangelism a priority for every Christian and local church!”
Plambeck has high hopes for what the Beards’ ministry can accomplish in a deeply divisive time in the United States and wider world.
“When we look back to seasons of awakening and the living hope of Christ that the Methodist movement has carried through the ages, we know the moment is right to lean in with renewed passion for evangelism and discipleship,” she said. “We dare to believe that following Jesus in the Wesleyan way provides a firm foundation for lives to be changed and the world to be transformed.”
All Christians have a responsibility to bear witness to the Gospel in whatever way they can, Bishop Beard stresses.
“It is the corporate job of the church to be the hands, feet, arms and legs of Jesus Christ in as many places as we can be,” he preached. “I say it like this: ‘You just may be the only Jesus some folks will ever see.’”
Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 of newsdesk@umcom.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
