Bob Hoshibata

Well, my bags are not yet packed and I am not yet ready ... One of the things left on my “to-do-list" is to share my gratitude ...

I share thoughts and a prayer in the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado

Bishop Hoshibata shares some thought about General Conference 2012.

On a recent visit to the Martin Luther King, jr. statue in Washington D.C. I was moved by the monumental sculpture and the profound meaning of the words carved into the stone that commemorated this man and his life.

As the season of advent comes to an end, our hearts and minds are appropriately fixed on Jesus! The advent calendar is filling up. The count-down to Christmas is in its last stage. I hope most of us have completed our shopping, sent out the Christmas cards, trimmed the tree and egged the nog. Soon many of us will bundle up against the winter cold, trundle off to church, sing “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” light candles and celebrate the birthday of Jesus.

 In both Oregon and Idaho, Death Row inmates are scheduled to be executed soon. This gives us an opportunity to speak up and voice our faithful conviction that the death penalty should be abolished in the name of Jesus Christ!

I know that there are strong and compelling arguments ... but my faith compels me to speak against the scheduled execution of Gary Haugen.

Some have been raising questions about how much we will save if we move to 4 districts. Well...

Several persons have asked for specific details about the assignment of churches to 4 districts if the vote is positive to go to 4 districts.  Some want to have the list publicized before the vote is taken.  I am sharing my thoughts about this questions in this blog posting.

For the past two years, the leaders of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference have been diligently and faithfully working on the Vital Church Project.  I would like to share some of the excitement of the "unveiling" of our Vital Church Project.  It may well be the key to our successful achieving of a vision of congregations led by lay and clergy who are growing healthy vital congregations that change lives and transform communities!

We are shocked and saddened by the terrorist attack in Norway.  This kind of tragedy is contrary to God's plan for the created world.  As people of faith, we are called to renew our commitment to peace in our communities and world.  And we are called to pray for strength for our United Methodist sisters and brothers in Norway as well as the whole nation, for comfort and strength.

525,600 minutes from now, what difference will it make in our churches and in our communities because of our Annual Conference's time together?

Having just returned from a meeting of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church, I share some of my thoughts and experiences.  My sense is that the Council is working diligently to offer leadership to our denomination with the hope that our efforts will bring a refocus to our desire to "make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world" so that these words will not just be empty words, but truly an expression of our faithful response to God's grace.

A message at Easter to remind us that Easter is not just a one day event!

Sharing some of my thoughts and prayers as I welcome a new and a first grandbaby

Sharing thoughts about my Lenten walk

How faithful Christians respond to disasters such as earthquake and tsunami.

Our Annual Conference efforts to support and resource you as you grow healthy vital congregations continues with the coming of Mike Slaughter to our Annual Conference session in June.

Let me share with you why I am excited about his coming!