NC Conference

• The October Monthly Resource Flyer focused on resources for Pastor Appreciation Month. 
•  View upcoming grant, scholarship, and loan opportunities.
• Bishop Shelton encouraged churches to respond to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene with love, compassion, and action. Learn how you can help support relief efforts.
• Bishop Shelton honored Hispanic-Latinx leaders in the NC Conference and the work of Hispanic-Latinx Ministries.
• Bishop Shelton announced a Cabinet transition beginning in January 2025. Read the full announcement.
• Bishop Shelton celebrated clergy in honor of Clergy Appreciation Month and encouraged clergy to prioritize their mental, physical, and spiritual health.
• Clergy from across the Conference shared brief prayers for peace, understanding, and guidance.

Center for Leadership Excellence

• View “A Letter to My Pastor: If My Mind Should Start to Slip, What to Do with Me in Worship,” a resource in the dementia resource series by Duke Divinity Professor Lester Ruth. The Center for Leadership Excellence also hosted two webinars in this series.
• Registration opened for “Ways to Give: Getting Started with Digital Stewardship,” a new webinar in the Leadership and Church Administration series.
• The Center for Leadership Excellence hosted two webinars in the Leadership and Church Administration series focused on Mastering Meeting Dynamics and The Ministry in Administration.
• Hosted “Fresh Expressions, Garden Day,” a day of learning workshop that explored biblical frameworks, blended ecology, current stories, and methodologies of the Fresh Expressions movement, to help teams cultivate inclusive, accessible, transformative, and connectional forms of church.
  

Christian Formation

• Partners in Ministry, Benson Memorial UMC, and Duke Memorial UMC received the 2024 Jack and Kay Crum Award.

Connectional Ministries

• Rev. Ismael Ruiz-Millán, Executive Director of Connectional Ministries, and John Hall, Conference Lay Leader, shared a recap highlighting key points from the 2024 Quadrennial Orientation. 
• Rev. Ismael Ruiz-Millán shared resources on promoting unity.

District Office

• The Cabinet shared a new opportunity for this year’s Christmas Offering. 

Media Center

• View resources for weathering storms.
• View clergy care resources.

Outreach Ministry

• Hear how laypeople and pastors across the Conference came together to build cleaning kits to assist the people of Western NC. 
• Bart Ramsey and Univeristy UMC traveled to Western NC to help feed hope through a mobile kitchen after Hurricane Helene.
• Disaster Ministries announced the opening of a recovery center in Columbus County to help families who are still in need of disaster relief from Hurricane Florence. 
• MERCI hosted UMCOR kit-packing events in October to support Hurricane Helene relief efforts. Thanks to your help, 2,604 hygiene kits, 1,437 cleaning kits, 1,567 menstrual hygiene kits, and 1,865 school kits were delivered to Western NC.
• 130 people attended Early Response Team training. View upcoming courses or schedule a training at your church.

Race Equity & Justice Ministries

• The first training session was held for the third H.E.A.R.T. cohort.

Treasurer’s Office

• View resources from Wespath supporting people affected by disasters. 
• The process for filing out-of-network behavioral health claims for 2023 and 2024 was shared during a HealthFlex webinar. 
• The Commission on Equitable Compensation Committee held an orientation on October 7. 
• Wespath hosted a series of webinars in preparation for the Annual Election period that began on October 30.