McCormicks commissioned as missionaries during GC2016
May 16, 2016
On May 19, along with 27 others, David and Elizabeth McCormick from Louisiana were commissioned as missionaries by the United Methodist Church during the denomination’s 2016 General Conference, its legislature that meets every four years.
Family, friends and the Louisiana Annual Conference will also watch as David and Elizabeth are recognized as new missionaries of The United Methodist Church during AC2016. Those gathered in the Gold Dome will pray for the McCormicks on Thursday, June 9 in the afternoon.
The husband and wife team—who are members of Grace Community UMC in Shreveport—have been assigned to Mozambique at the Chicuque Rural Hospital. David will serve as administrator for the hospital and Elizabeth will serve as pharmacist for the medical facility.
Elizabeth remembers the first time she felt “stirrings” about serving as a missionary. “As a young teen, I heard a missionary who came to our church, speaking about her work in Africa. I was usually that child that slept in church. But listening to the missionary, I found myself awake in body and in spirit,” she said.
Life went on for Elizabeth. She attended Centenary College for four years, during which time thoughts of the missionary life ran through her mind once more. “But I decided for more education, attending and completing pharmacy school. I married David and started working to pay off college loans. We started our family. We got comfortable with our life, going to work, raising children, doing what we wanted with our money.”
McCormick began to think that “those doors” leading to missionary life were closed. But something began to stir, and both Elizabeth and David began to feel “uncomfortable.” They began to ask themselves, “Is this really how we are called to be as Christians?”
With the help of a small accountability group, the couple began a season of prayer and discernment. The two intentionally fasted and sought God’s guidance in their next steps.
David, a lifelong United Methodist, shared that his call to the missionary life “intertwined” with Elizabeth’s call. “As a cradle Methodist, I had always had opportunities to serve in similar ways. But I began to feel the Spirit stir, seeing the Holy Spirit in the eyes of other people. The veil is thin between heaven and earth, and Elizabeth and I began to more clearly see our part in God’s mission. Soon, the door was wide open, and we were ready for anything.”
The McCormicks have been married for eight years. Their daughters are Eva, 4, and Annie, 2.
“Eva has been telling her classmates that we are moving to Africa. She keeps asking, ‘Can we go to Africa tomorrow?,” said Elizabeth. They admit that moving so far away from family and friends will be challenging in light of the fact that the McCormicks will only travel back to Louisiana every three years on furlough. “It is hard, but our families have come to recognize that this is what we have been called to do,” said David.
The first missionary society in the United Methodist tradition was organized in 1819, and today Global Ministries has personnel projects, and partners in more than 125 countries.
Family, friends and the Louisiana Annual Conference will also watch as David and Elizabeth are recognized as new missionaries of The United Methodist Church during AC2016. Those gathered in the Gold Dome will pray for the McCormicks on Thursday, June 9 in the afternoon.
The husband and wife team—who are members of Grace Community UMC in Shreveport—have been assigned to Mozambique at the Chicuque Rural Hospital. David will serve as administrator for the hospital and Elizabeth will serve as pharmacist for the medical facility.
Elizabeth remembers the first time she felt “stirrings” about serving as a missionary. “As a young teen, I heard a missionary who came to our church, speaking about her work in Africa. I was usually that child that slept in church. But listening to the missionary, I found myself awake in body and in spirit,” she said.
Life went on for Elizabeth. She attended Centenary College for four years, during which time thoughts of the missionary life ran through her mind once more. “But I decided for more education, attending and completing pharmacy school. I married David and started working to pay off college loans. We started our family. We got comfortable with our life, going to work, raising children, doing what we wanted with our money.”
McCormick began to think that “those doors” leading to missionary life were closed. But something began to stir, and both Elizabeth and David began to feel “uncomfortable.” They began to ask themselves, “Is this really how we are called to be as Christians?”
With the help of a small accountability group, the couple began a season of prayer and discernment. The two intentionally fasted and sought God’s guidance in their next steps.
David, a lifelong United Methodist, shared that his call to the missionary life “intertwined” with Elizabeth’s call. “As a cradle Methodist, I had always had opportunities to serve in similar ways. But I began to feel the Spirit stir, seeing the Holy Spirit in the eyes of other people. The veil is thin between heaven and earth, and Elizabeth and I began to more clearly see our part in God’s mission. Soon, the door was wide open, and we were ready for anything.”
The McCormicks have been married for eight years. Their daughters are Eva, 4, and Annie, 2.
“Eva has been telling her classmates that we are moving to Africa. She keeps asking, ‘Can we go to Africa tomorrow?,” said Elizabeth. They admit that moving so far away from family and friends will be challenging in light of the fact that the McCormicks will only travel back to Louisiana every three years on furlough. “It is hard, but our families have come to recognize that this is what we have been called to do,” said David.
The first missionary society in the United Methodist tradition was organized in 1819, and today Global Ministries has personnel projects, and partners in more than 125 countries.
