Michael Davison Blog

What gifts do you possess that will enable you to be an effective Regional Minister in our setting?

One colleague generously describes me as a “strategic thinker.” I like to say I think about the “big picture” and manage the trip details.  My time as Associate Regional Minister has sharpened my “event planner” and “project manager” skills.  I turn my attention to the areas that need it most and structure my time based on different levels of attention that people, tasks, programs, or ideas require during a day, week, or month.  I appreciate and learn from history and tradition without being held captive by it.  I’m curious.  I like meeting people and learning how they are being good news.  I can be an early adopter of technology and adapt well to changing circumstances.   Initially, I’m better at remembering a person’s story than their name.  Mediation training helped me become a better listener, and I continue to hone my interpersonal, writing, and digital communication skills.  I think I am a good “talent scout,” which is how I classify the Search and Call process, but it is also how I approach work with committees, commissions, and teams.  I lead by example, and my leadership style focuses on putting people together and creating the best possible environment for them to flourish and learn from challenges.  I bring a youth minister’s eye for community, group dynamics, and leadership to Regional ministry.  My skill set, perspective, and experience could be a bridge to what our Region can become for the next generation of congregations, lay and clergy leaders.

Thank you for claiming and participating in the covenant we share as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma with your time, talents, gifts for ministry, vision, and financial support.

Disciples, you are a blessing.

Based on your reading of our Region’s profile, what approach would you take during your first three years to help us achieve our stated goals?

The Region’s current vision remains relevant: connect, equip, and empower to love and serve like Jesus.  It’s a compass for the mission of unity, not uniformity.  It’s a compass for the service and work of the Region and all Oklahoma disciples to be a movement of wholeness.  My approach would draw from a model created by George Bullard, asking the Region and congregations to consider what is faithful, effective, and innovative about our diverse ministries.  How can we identify and support innovative, effective, and faithful ministries in a connection and attention economy as we proclaim the good news of God? 

I don’t think this can be accomplished without humble hospitality, collaboration, storytelling, and data analysis.  I will collaborate in charting a course for the Region, taking the information from the listening sessions on the road to determine where clergy and laity are willing to engage and participate in creating a future aligned with the Region’s vision and mission.  There is abundant skill, experience, leadership, and dollars in our Region. The gifts for being the Christian Church in Oklahoma are among us and represented in the Regional Minister Search Committee. We have to build, in some cases rebuild, relationships and communication that can listen for the Spirit of God among us, pointing toward a future that presents ministry to do and gospel to be locally and through the covenant relationship between congregations, clergy, and the Region.

There is ministry to do and gospel to be in your community that only you and your congregation can do, and only you and your congregation can be.  That is true for our Region and this covenant we share. 

Thank you for claiming and participating in the covenant we share as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma with your time, talents, gifts for ministry, vision, and financial support.

Disciples, you are a blessing.

“May we all forgive” was tattooed on his arm
Like a sign from God or a hit and run
He handed me my coffee he just poured
May we all find the mercy we’ve been longing for

There’s a big wide sky filled with stars
That feels so close but feels so far
I’m tired of all the rage tired of all the worry
I’m ready for a great wild mercy
A great wild mercy

Carrie Newcomer, “A Great Wild Mercy.” (Light Records) 2023.

Describe your church in 3 words.

That’s what I’ve been asking clergy and laity as I’ve traveled the Region and corresponded with people.  How would you answer?
Email me your 3 words.

Last month, two congregations celebrated the installation of a new minister.    With liturgy and prayer, we celebrate their leadership, reaffirm their ordination or commissioning, and affirm their service.  First Christian Church in Pond Creek and Southern Hills Christian Church welcomed their ministers.  On October 12th, First Christian Church in Moore will install their new minister, Rev. Matthew Ricks.  Please put Regional Assembly, March 6-7, 2026, on your calendar and plan to attend my installation on the afternoon of March 7th.

The Northwest Area and the Northeast Area sponsor clergy retreats each year.  The Northeast Area’s retreat is typically held the Sunday after Easter, and the Northwest Area’s is in mid-September (just returned).  These retreats are for active clergy in the area, and when space is available, they invite colleagues beyond the area.  The retreats include continuing education, a completely free afternoon, vespers, and conversations with persons who share a call to ministry.   The Northwest Area retreat focused on clergy mental health.

• A clergy lectionary group continues to meet on Monday mornings to study scripture and share sermon ideas.
• The Commission on Clergy meets this month with candidates Incare on the journey to ordination or commissioning.  It’s exciting to have 7 people Incare (under the care of the Comm on Clergy).  The Commission will also hold an ordination council.
• The Executive Committee will meet to finalize the Region’s 2026 budget and present it to the Regional Board on November 1st.  At the fall Board meeting, our Commissions report on their 2025 work and plans for 2026. 
• The fall appeal for the Annual Fund was mailed.  Your financial gifts support the work and ministry of the Region.  The three income sources for the Region are the Disciples Mission Fund, the Annual Fund, and Endowment investments.  Through this funding, we respond to the needs of clergy and congregations, organize volunteers to offer camps, retreats, intergenerational education, or mission opportunities, and perform the administrative work of our Region on behalf of the denomination.  Thank you for your gift to the annual fund.

I trust that God will continue to bless us with gospel to be and ministry to do in our congregations and through this covenant we claim and share: the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma.  Thank you for reading.

Disciples, you are a blessing.

I’ve discerned the encouragement of colleagues, peers, mentors, and friends to pursue this position as the “still small voice” of God.  One of the strengths of our denomination is the intentional balancing of autonomy and community.  When I refer to the “community of faith,” the ideal I embrace is that we are friends, colleagues, and neighbors on a journey in faith who are accountable to each other, learn from each other, practice acceptance, and give voice to the good news of God we have experienced in Jesus, whom we call Christ.  

My experience as an Associate Regional Minister (Pastor) has influenced me. I’ve served in Oklahoma for fourteen (fifteen now) years and on the Kentucky Regional staff for nine years.  My portfolio in both Regions, as well as my time in congregational ministry, has focused on ministry with Children, Youth, Young Adults, Church Camp, and Christian Education.  My time in ordained ministry is characterized as a generalist with a specific set of skills and focus.  Continuing education has increased my skill set and competency in other areas in service to the Church.  Assisting congregations and ministers in the Search and Call process has been humbling and instructive.  It has helped me appreciate this vital role of the Region.  Offering pastoral care and support affirms the need to create space for community among ministers, laity, youth workers, and our congregations.  I’ve managed budgets, staff, volunteers, and pulled both Regions toward incorporating technology in telling congregational stories and, thus, the Region’s and denomination’s story.

Oklahoma Disciples, I’m thankful you and your congregation participate in the covenant we share as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma with your time, talents, gifts for ministry, vision, and financial support.  You will hear me say this or read this often: there is ministry to do and gospel to be in your community that only you and your congregation can do and only you and your congregation can be.  That is true for our Region and this covenant we share. 

Disciples, you are a blessing.

There’s a gathering of spirits
There’s a festival of friends
And we’ll take up where we left off
When we all meet again.

Carrie Newcomer, “A Gathering of Spirits.” 2002.

Hello, Oklahoma Disciples.  I trust you are well.  Our Exec. Committee and Regional Board offer me a “Regional Minister’s Moment” at the meetings.  An edited version of my August words are below.  My September calendar is at the end of this post.

Each morning, I receive a pithy thought from a marketing guy named Seth Godin.  He’s been in the business a long, long time.  On August 6th, I received this thought.

The index is the search bar, the random access to the facts we can look up.
The table of contents, though, that’s a point of view. It’s a taxonomy of how to understand a complicated idea.
It’s the skeleton of the narrative and the pedagogy for learning.
We’re at risk of becoming all index.
The world could probably benefit from your table of contents.

If we imagine the Region as a little book, the title would be: Oklahoma Disciples Love and Serve Like Jesus.  The table of contents: Connect, Equip, Empower.  The index is full of lessons.  There are more chapters to write about the relationships, mission, and ministry of our congregations and the Region as we live into a future that we trust to God’s knowledge and care, who in kind, trusts us with the message and ways of Jesus in our fragmented world.  It won’t be easy, but the one we claim as Christ never said it would be.  We won’t always get it right, but Jesus never said we would.

It’s been a busy first month as I’ve learned the back-of-the-house functions and processes that the Regional Minister manages.  I’ve met with the Exec Committee, the Comm on Clergy Chair, the Regional Board, three congregations and their leaders imagining their future, and four of our five area minister groups.  I attended my first Regional Ministers Zoom, where I met new colleagues, some I’ve known along the way, and many I’ll get to know and benefit from their experience and faith.  Our General Minister and President, Rev. Terri Hord Owens, sends her “Hello and blessings.” to Oklahoma disciples.

All the things that I’ve observed over the years as an Associate when a new Regional Minister is called are happening.  Phone calls, emails, and mail from congregations, clergy, and the General church, oh my.  They are:

• Words of support and congratulations.
• Some are in personal or congregational distress and need to be heard, or are seeking prayer.
• Some are just curious if the new person will respond and how quickly.
• Invitations to fill the pulpit, to speak at a fellowship meal, visit the elders, or attend the next search committee meeting.

My time as Regional Minister begins with celebrations representing our congregations, denomination, and Christianity.  On August 24th, the Church celebrated the ordination of Patrick McKenzie into Christian ministry at New Vessels Christian Church in Oklahoma City.

There are three installations this fall.

• September 14th, First Christian Church in Pond Creek celebrates Rev. Diane Morgan. 
• September 28th, Southern Hills Christian Church in Edmond celebrates Rev. John Bain.
• October 12th, First Christian Church in Moore celebrates Rev. Matthew Ricks. 

Four congregations have ministry anniversaries that we know of this fall.

• I’ll worship with First Christian Church in El Reno on Sept 7th for their 135th anniversary of ministry.
• Waukomis Christian Church celebrates 128 years of ministry on Sept 21st.
• I’ll offer words of welcome and encouragement at In the Spirit Christian Church in Tulsa on October 5th for their 17th anniversary of ministry.
• I’ll worship with First Christian Church in Tahlequah on October 19th for their 110th anniversary of ministry.

Celebrations.  Did you see all the stories of ministry from this summer in the August Regional Roundup?  If not, subscribe today.  Some small changes are on the horizon for the Regional Roundup beginning in October.

The evening of October 5th, I’ll represent the Region at the inauguration of Rev. Dr. Douglas Powe as President of Phillips Theological Seminary.

The Oklahoma Disciples Foundation will celebrate 60 years of serving Oklahoma congregations on November 14th, and celebrate Rev. Kyle Maxwell for his years of service to the foundation and the Church.  I look forward to attending, celebrating ODF’s work, and the ministry Rev. Maxwell. Equipping is an investment.  The Oklahoma Disciples Foundation assists congregations and the Region with financial tools and endowment blessings from a cloud of witnesses committed to doing ministry and being gospel.

Equipping is an investment.  That’s what the Comm for Children, Youth, and Young Adults does through summer camp, retreats, and the Regional Youth Council.  The Comm on Laity is experimenting with digital continuing education this fall that will be offered “free of charge.” Learnings from this first step into digital continuing education will help plot a course for the Commission and for an Associate Regional Minister who will serve alongside the Commission on Laity and the CYYA to vision, create, and support intergenerational Christian education, life-long learning, and fellowship that empowers people to think, collaborate, dialogue, and act as followers of Jesus within the community of faith and as individuals beyond the walls or boundaries of the church.  This is a missional ministry.

All of this and more, from the priorities of our budget to our care for our neighbor, congregations, and clergy could/can empower disciples to love and serve like Jesus, because followers of Jesus do Jesus like things.  In our different contexts, I think that’s how we will recognize and measure goodness, mercy, and faithfulness, by what “we embrace, what we create, and who we include.” [Chocolat, (Miramax Films) 2000.]  

I trust that God will continue to bless us with gospel to be and ministry to do in our congregations and through this covenant we claim and share: the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma.  Thank you for reading.

Disciples, you are a blessing.

Hello, Oklahoma Disciples.  I trust you are well today.  I’m thankful you and your congregation participate in the covenant we share as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma with your time, talents, gifts for ministry, vision, and financial support.

It has been 26 days since I began as Regional Minister. Some people have asked how it is going. As I told the Regional Board during our meeting on August 16th, I am experiencing the same challenges and grace that new regional ministers typically encounter. In many ways, it has been a normal beginning.  My experience as an Associate Regional Minister provided excellent on-the-job training for this new role in the life of the church.

At the start of the search process for a local minister or regional minister, the search committee asks each candidate the same set of questions. During the fall, I will publish my answers to the initial questions to give you a glimpse of my experience and help you get to know me better as we chart a course for the future of what the region can be, probably will be, with help and prayers from you, our congregations, and our clergy.

You will hear me say this often: there is ministry to do and gospel to be in your community that only you and your congregation can do and only you and your congregation can be.  That is true for our Region and this covenant we share.  Disciples, you are a blessing.

What is the role of the Region in helping the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) fulfill its Mission?

When a Region connects people, engages culture in service and dialogue, offers quality education, and challenges congregations and ministers to be good news in their context, it is witnessing to the way of Jesus and encouraging persons to claim his way and his faith in God within the diversity of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  It’s welcoming as we were welcomed, which we trust can lead to an experience of wholeness in our fragmented world and, maybe, help bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice.(1)  The Region embraces covenant community, collaboration, and servant leadership.  In my experience, the Region’s role broadly includes:

• Pastoral presence for clergy.
• Interpreter between congregations, Regional ministries, and General Church ministries.
• Nurturer and gatekeeper of the Order of Ministry through the Commission on Clergy.
• Missional Ministry with children, youth, and adults.
• Spiritual Direction
• Content Curator or Creator
• Coordinator (project manager)
• Fundraiser
• Advocate
• Counselor
• Mediator
• Archivist

When a Region is engaged in these things, it is beginning to fulfill it’s role in the ministry and mission of our expression of faith, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Note
1. The phrase, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” was used by Martin Luther King Jr. in several speeches.  It is a paraphrase of a thought by the abolitionist Theodore Parker (1810-1860). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Parker

Where’s Michael?
August

And, we’re off.  On Monday, August 4th, I spent time with Randy Kuss (Interim Regional Minister for a bit longer) and began some training and onboarding.  Yes, I’ve been around Regional ministry for 23 years (15 here in Oklahoma), but there is still a lot to learn as I begin as the Regional Minister.  There is paperwork to complete during this two-week transition.  There are processes to learn. Randy will coach me with the Executive Committee and prep for the Regional Board.  With his help, our board leadership, and the help of our excellent support staff, I will have a good foundation for August 17th and beyond.  Randy will be with the Region through the middle of this month, completing his service at the Regional Board meeting on August 16th.  His experience and leadership with the Region provided steady, thoughtful guidance for the Region’s leadership.    If you see Randy around the Region these next two weeks, please offer him a word of thanks and a prayer of blessing.  We also give thanks for Deb Strock-Kuss, Randy’s partner in life and ministry.  Deb moved here with Randy and has been part of our Regional life together.  Randy is a personal friend, colleague, and mentor to me.  For his time and Deb’s with Oklahoma Disciples, I am grateful.

I’ll use this blog to connect you to my travels around the Region and share stories about the relevant and vital ministry our congregations do in Oklahoma and beyond.  I’ll connect you to my travels within the denomination as I gather with other Regional Ministers and meet General church staff along the way.

The Oklahoma Disciples Foundation rents the Region office space in Oklahoma City.  Carrie works from one of those offices.  My primary office remains at my home in Broken Arrow, but I’ll have a co-working space with an Associate there at the Region’s office space in the ODF building.  That’s what the office looks like now.  Yes, I’ll (we) will do some improvements.  I’m getting a handle on my fall calendar, so I can’t say for certain which days I’ll be in the Oklahoma City outpost, but I’ll post that in this space, the Region’s Facebook page, and the Region’s Instagram account.  Here is my August calendar as I know it today, August 6th.  Connect with me through the usual channels: email, text, or phone.  I appreciate your patience.  Thank you for claiming the covenant: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma.

August

3: Preach @ FCC Broken Arrow

4: Michael @ OKC Office

6: Staff Mtg @ OKC Office

7: Exec Comm (Zoom)

11: Comm on Laity Mtg (Zoom)
2026 Budget Planning (Zoom)

12: NEA Council Mtg (Zoom)
Central Area Clergy @ Crown Heights CC, OKC
Afternoon: OKC Office

13: Regional Ministers Mtg (Zoom)

14: NWA Clergy Mtg (Enid)

16: Regional Board (Zoom)

17: Preach @ FCC Duncan

18: RA26 Planning Mtg (Zoom)

24: Ordination of Patrick McKenzie into Christian Ministry @ New Vessels CC OKC

25: SW Area Clergy Mtg (FCC Chickasha)

28: Christian Church Commission Mtg

31: Worship @ Wildewood CC OKC
Oklahoma Convocation Worship

Regional Staff Meet on Wednesday from 10-11:00 am.
Michael works Search and Call on Monday mornings.

At our Called Regional Assembly, June 28, 2025, I was invited by the Search Committee and Board to offer a word before the business meeting.  Below is the text of my words.

Hello, Oklahoma Disciples.  It’s good to see you again.

Have you heard the saying, “That wasn’t on my bingo card.” Well, becoming the Regional Minister was not on mine.  I’ve been the youth guy, the camp guy, and a consigliere.  Through the encouragement of colleagues, friends, and people I’ve met along my journey in faith, blended with prayer and silence, I’ve listened and discerned a call to serve.

As an Associate Regional Minister in two different regions, I’ve learned that no matter which bingo card you’re playing or how many, the free space says, “Disciples, you are a blessing.”  When I think back over the years, a few words bubble up that describe what I’ve witnessed and what I’ve experienced about us:
Believe. Inspire. Generous. Nuance. Open-Minded.

From May to December in 1831, Alexander Campbell, one of the founders of our little movement, wrote in The Millennial Harbenger on the theme of cooperation among congregations.  His words, “A church can do what an individual disciple cannot, and so can a district of churches do what a single congregation cannot.”(1)

The world is different from what it was then, but I want to believe Campbell’s words are true today.  We are stronger together.  We need one another for this unique call to connect, equip, and empower Disciples to love and serve like Jesus in our fragmented world.

Randy Kuss, thank you for serving as our Interim Regional Minister.
Susan and members of the search committee, thank you for your work and service.
Madam Moderator, Executive Committee, and Regional Board, thank you for your work and service.

Siblings in faith, thank you for gathering today, both here and in the digital sanctuary via Zoom and YouTube.   Thank you for being a voice of gospel from your corner of Oklahoma into the world.  Look at the person sitting next to you. Turn and look at the people in front and behind you. If you are on Zoom today, look at the people in the squares on the screen next to yours.  If you are participating via YouTube, look closely and pick out someone you recognize.  I am grateful and we are grateful for how you live out the covenant of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma—through your participation, including your time, talents, and financial support.  Your voice is part of a chorus that echoes the mystery of gospel in our time through this ministry covenant we claim and we share.

Jesus of Nazareth met people where they were:
the poor and the rich,
the powerful and the powerless,
the healthy and sick,
the in-group, the outcast, the uncertain, or unaffiliated.
Jesus summarized his understanding of his faith and offered it as a teaching that his followers embraced as commandments.
“Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.” And, “love your neighbor as yourself.”(2)

That’s a mysterious gospel to which all followers of Jesus are ambassadors, inspiring neighbors through our service, and inviting them to a life of discipleship and faith in Jesus as Christ.  That’s one of the implicit messages at church camp because your age doesn’t matter.

Disciples remember that God’s grace and peace are not abstract concepts. God’s grace, peace, and God’s very image are present in this world through your faith and your actions. Your individual choices and collective efforts as a congregation have the power to transform the world around you, even if it is just for a moment, and I still believe a moment might be, can be enough.
It’s the way you tend to your neighbors.
It’s the way you tend to one another.
It’s the way you tend to your pastor.
Sometimes, you can sense it.
Sometimes, you can see it.

Usually, you don’t know how kindness, grace, or a supportive word or action can alter the trajectory of a person’s day, week, or their life.  And, it may take some time to realize how that moment affected you.

If called as Oklahoma’s Regional minister, I’ll continue to walk alongside you and your congregation.  I’ll do my best to connect you with Disciples who are doing what I call radically ordinary things: like feeding people—through volunteering or partnering with a food bank, providing a weekly or monthly meal in their building, distributing backpacks of food or school supplies for kids, or stocking non-perishable items in a blessing box on their property.

Last year, one of our congregations used part of a gift from an estate to buy medical debt in their county and forgive it.(3)

Radically ordinary things.  

Like speaking up and acting on behalf of the outcast, the vulnerable, and the marginalized. Like mission trips—to lend a hand, to learn, or simply to be present. Like welcoming as you’ve been welcomed at the table.

Radically ordinary things.  It’s that old old saying attributed to several people, “Preach the gospel at all times.  When necessary, use words.”

There was a time when we wouldn’t have considered any of that radical. We would have just called it being the church.  Similar to a church camp experience, being the church involves a blend of play (fellowship), prayer, study, worship, and service.  It’s the invitation to a journey in faith.  It happens in covenant within your congregation, the Region, and the General Church. 

Community and consistency aren’t easy.  You have to want it and work for it.  That’s why I think that, regardless of how people articulate their faith in Jesus as Christ and their faith in God, the standard is that followers of Jesus do Jesus-like things.  That’s happening in our congregations all around Oklahoma.  We trust in God that it is happening in and through our denomination.

Followers of Jesus do Jesus-like things.  That’s our reminder, our mirror, and our evaluation tool for times like these to manage the essentials of unity, the liberty of non-essentials, and the charity; perhaps ‘grace’ or ‘graciousness’ are better words for what we extend to our neighbors and one another.  That consistency isn’t easy.  The one we claim as Christ never promised it would be.  We won’t always get it right, but Jesus never said we would.  He asked us to love one another and set for us an example.  On this side of eternity, the rest is up to us with the help of God.

Rev. Dr Peter Gomes said it like this at our 2003 General Assembly in Charlotte:

Maybe what it means to be a disciple of Christ is to be reasonable in an unreasonable world.
To be faithful in a faithless world.
To be loving in a hateful world.
To be peace-like in a war-filled world.
Maybe that’s what Paul means when he says this is our reasonable service. To be living sacrifices in a world where nobody is prepared to give up anything for anybody.(4)

We can worry ourselves about being the best-kept secret in town, in the State, in Christendom, or how to hang on.  Or we can decide what kind of ancestors(5) we want to be right now and go be them.(6)  There is ministry to do and gospel to be that only we can do and only we can be in our communities, in our Region, and through the denomination.  I’ve seen it.  I’ve experienced it.  My guess is you have too.

I’m humbled and energized by the opportunity to serve as Regional Minister.  I’m curious about what the future holds for our little movement.  To borrow from the late Pope Francis, “I’ll pray for you.  I ask you to pray for me.”

Disciples, you are a blessing.

Notes
1. Lester G. McAllister and William E. Tucker, Journey in Faith (St. Louis: CBP, 1989), 169. Quote taken from The Millennial Harbenger, 1831, p. 237.

2. Matthew 22:37-39

3. First Christian Church in Claremore worked with Undue Medical Debt (https://unduemedicaldebt.org) to purchase medical debt in Rogers Co. and forgave it for pennies on the dollar.)

4. Rev. Dr. Peter Gomes, speaking to the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Charlotte, NC., October 17-21, 2003.Listen to Dr. Gomes’ complete keynote here.

5. “What kind of ancestors?”  During the 2023 Northeast Area Clergy Retreat, Rev. Cameron Trimble asked the gathering to imagine the world in fifty years.  She asked, “Where does the church fit in that world? What will the church (Christianity) be like in fifty years?”  After some discussion, she asked, “What kind of ancestors do we need to be now for that church (Christianity) to exist?

6. A phrase adapted from The Avett Brothers’ song, “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise.” It appears on their album I and Love and You (2009).  The original lyric, “Decide what to be and go be it.”