Gary Locklear, the North Carolina Conference lay leader, has been elected the President of the Southeastern Jurisdiction Annual Conference Lay Leaders Association effective July 17. He will serve as President for two years, ending at Annual Conference 2020.
Locklear is a native of Robeson County and lives in Pembroke with his wife, Panthia. They have three adult children and four grandchildren.
After a career in Human Resources, Gary was called into mission ministry as a Church and Community Worker/Home Missioner with The General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. Gary’s work has included leadership development and mission outreach through hosting work teams from across the US and working with and for the poor of Robeson and adjoining counties doing home repairs, food ministries, teaching and leading small groups in a variety of studies. Gary’s most recent work has been with coordinating Hurricane Matthew recovery efforts with the NC Conference Disaster Recovery Office and United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) UMCOR.
Gary is a life-long member of Sandy Plains United Methodist Church where he has taught Bible Study and Sunday school for over 46 years and has served in almost every leadership role. He was the recipient of the Harry Denman Award for the NC Conference in 2006 and is now the conference Lay Leader where he chairs the Board of Laity and Conference Connectional Table and is a member of the Conference leadership team.