Luncheon honors retired clergy and combined 566 years of service
By Erik Alsgaard
It isn’t every year that a clergy person retires. It’s a significant marker in any person’s life: years of dedicated service, witness, teaching, preaching, and more, all being celebrated for the achievement that it is.
It is also not every year that a clergy person is ordained. It, too, is a significant marker in a life, signifying the outward and visible sign of an inward calling of God on that person’s life. It is a set-apart-ness moment; not an “I’m better than you” moment, nor a time for bragging or boasting. Celebrating? Yes. Of course.
And it may well be the only time in Baltimore-Washington Conference history that one person, the Rev. Gerald L. Elston, Sr., is both retiring and being ordained at the same Annual Conference Session.
That unusual and possibly historic fact was noted at the retirees’ luncheon on Wednesday, May 27. Together, 24 clergy with a combined 566 years of service were given gifts of appreciation and thanks, along with words from the bishop and district superintendents, offering praise and thanksgiving for their ministry.
“You carried hope in the hospital room,” Bishop LaTrelle Easterling said during her opening remarks to the retirees, spouses, and guests. “You remained faithful during moments of grief. And, you carried the living word of God into sanctuaries, classrooms, fellowship halls, and everyday conversations that changed lives.”
Ministry, the bishop said, is never easy, but this class of retirees has been through a lot.
“You made it through a pandemic, disaffiliation, internal and external desires, and more bishops than you care to remember,” she said. "That’s because," she added, "ministry is more than a profession; it’s a calling lived through sacrifice, presence, prayer, resilience, and love,” she said. “And you didn’t do any of it alone.”
With that, the bishop honored the clergy spouses and family members who also have been in ministry, “who shared you with the church, sustained you through long seasons, and partnered with you in this sacred vocation,” she said.
For Elston, who will retire effective June 30, this week is the culmination of a 20+ year journey. A lawyer by training, he practiced that profession for nearly 30 years. Then, in 2004, he felt the call.
Elston, who currently serves Good Hope Union UMC in Silver Spring, is retiring after 15 years of service. That’s because he’s 72 years old, the mandatory retirement age for United Methodist clergy according to the Book of Discipline.
“I didn’t really realize this until my district superintendent reminded me of this back in December,” he said. “So, I told my congregation back then.”
Elston has been in the ordination process for a while. He was certified as a candidate for ministry in 2010, graduated from Wesley in 2009, holds a law degree from Georgetown, and has had a career as a lawyer. "But God pushes you and nudges you, and it all came together in 2004 when my mom was about to go into surgery," he said, "I had a very stressful job as a lawyer for the government, and I asked God, ‘What do you want me to do?’”
Elston thought he knew the answer, and it was exactly the one he got. “I heard God tell me, ‘I want you to take care of your mom, but I want you to preach the gospel.’”
Elston said he is being “retired to be re-hired.” He’ll be serving a part-time appointment at Jerusalem-Mt. Pleasant UMC in Rockville.
“I’ve had some detours along the way,” he said, “especially with my parents dying within 60 days of each other a few years ago. But it all came together in God’s timing this year.”
2026 Class of Retirees and years of service:
Patricia Lynn Abell 15
Richard Wilson Baker 27
Melvin Tyrone Bond 15
Robert G. Brennan, Jr. 41
Kevin R. Brooks 13 Curtis Christian Ehrgott 25
Gerald L. Elston, Sr. 15
Duane L. Jensen 30
Angela Kittrell 10
Kyunglim Shin Lee 38
Seung-Woo Lee 40
Wade A. Martin 26
John C. McCauley 18
Mark Carroll Mooney 43
Linda Watkins Motter 15
Mary Kathryn Nippard Kanahan 19
Carol L. Pazdersky 24
Saundra Elizabeth Rector 21
Dawn R. Reidy 8
Denise Ryles-McKoy 2
Dawn R. Stewart 9
Malcolm R. Stranathan 31
Yvonne Wallace-Penn 33
Mark Condron Young 48