In a recent God Talks video conversation, Executive Conference Minister the Rev. Darrell Goodwin spoke with Senior Area Conference Minister the Rev. Dr. Michael Ciba about his work as an ACM, influences on his work, and his wife’s impact on his call to ordained ministry.

Rev. Goodwin began by asking Rev. Ciba how someone close would describe him. Rev. Ciba shared that is wife Diane would describe him as methodical, faithful and fun. He said that she would also say he is “nothing like her brothers in law.”

“That was a criteria for selecting someone for a romantic partner,” said Ciba. “So I met that test.”

Later in the video, the two talked about working as Conference staff and how networking becomes critical to this work. Rev. Ciba shared that his early work as a church pastor helped shape how he approaches work in conference ministry and relationship building.

“A lot of the culture of the UCC really is about showing up. By showing up at different events and for different things, I began to develop those collegial relationships, those friendships, and the opportunity to share ideas and difficult circumstances and joys and ministry. That really nourished me along the way.”

Rev. Goodwin asked if Rev. Ciba felt that people who leave local church ministry to work at the conference level feel like they lose some of the sense of being on the ground in their work. Rev. Ciba responded that this never happened to him. He said he keeps the mindset of a pastor, just not the pastor of a church.

“Our fundamental call is to ministry and what we do on Conference staff needs to be a ministry,” said Ciba.

You can watch the full video of Rev. Goodwin’s interview with Rev. Ciba below.