Please take a moment to watch the Conference UMVIM Report. If you have any questions, contact the Conference UMVIM Coordinator, Miles Baker Hunt, at umvim@nccumc.org.
Watch the report here.
Announcements
Are You Moving? Getting a New Pastor? 10 Resources for Church Transitions
The appointments have been fixed. Are you moving to a new appointment? Is your church getting a new pastor? Use these resources to help make a successful transition for you, your church, and your family.
The Right Start: Beginning Ministry in a New Setting
This video-based training resource is for clergy preparing to begin ministry in a new setting; the Pastor’s Version is designed for individual use and self-study. The current version has been revised and enhanced with new material on the relational aspect of transition, such as how to handle social media and issues of concern to single clergy and associate pastors.
Your Best Move: Effective Leadership Transition for the Local Church by Robert Kaylor
Whether you are the pastor making the move or part of a congregation receiving a new pastor, this book will help pastors and congregations develop an intentional transition plan for those first critical months of ministry together.
Leadership Directions from Moses: On the Way to a Promised Land by Olu Brown
United Methodist Pastor Olu Brown offers this helpful perspective on what to do when members and church leaders depart your congregation. Using principles from the story of Moses, Brown helps leaders keep their focus on where God is leading no matter what happens.
Good Moves: Seven Questions for Clergy to Ask Upon Leaving and Entering Positions of Leadership: A Systems Perspective by Phillip S. Washburn
Clergy contemplating or facing a move face three “how to” issues: first, how to assess a potential new congregation to which they feel called; second, how to disengage from their current position once a new one has been found; and third, how to engage the new setting.
Next: Surviving a Leadership Transition by Marvin Anthony Moss
United Methodist Pastor Marvin Anthony Moss helped transform a small, dying congregation, and later transitioned into leadership at a nationally recognized, historic congregation. He draws from these experiences and biblical examples to focus on practical principles, empowering the new leader to build a solid foundation.
Almost There: Searching for Home in a Life on the Move by Bekah DiFelice
DiFelice is a military wife who invites us to build a home that resides in the privacy of our hearts and to put roots down in a God who is unchangeable. United Methodist families can relate to this unpredictability of life.
After the Boxes Are Unpacked: Moving On After Moving In by Susan Miller
Miller helps recent movers focus on letting go of their past, starting over, and moving ahead while discerning God’s will for their family. This evergreen book has been a staple for movers for 20 years and has been extensively refreshed with additional content for today’s movers.
Part-Time is Plenty: Thriving without Full-Time Clergy by G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Is your church moving from a full-time to a part-time pastor? Are you moving to a part-time appointment? Learn to stop viewing part-time as a problem to be eradicated and to instead embrace it as a divine gift that facilitates a higher level of lay engagement, responsibility, playfulness, and creativity.
Leading from the Second Chair: Serving Your Church, Fulfilling Your Role, and Realizing Your Dreams by Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson
Are you moving to an associate or other subordinate position? This book raises awareness of the need for strong leaders in secondary positions. It will describe the value they can bring to their church and to primary leaders when they are serving at their full potential. It will reshape the way they view their role, with an emphasis on their own responsibility as leaders.
Nothing is Permanent Except Change: Learning to Manage Transition in Your Life by James E. Miller
This beautiful video uses evocative photography of autumn, winter and spring to illustrate the concept that all human transitions naturally go through a three-phase process. Specific suggestions are included for negotiating one’s way through each phase.
Online Resources
The Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary offers many helpful articles, podcasts, and resources for Pastoral Transitions.
Resource UMC offers a A guide to pastoral transitions for pastors and When you have a new pastor … for congregations.
Additional Resources
For more resources to help you begin your new appointment effectively, view our Effective Leadership pathfinder. It includes books and DVDs on leadership in general, church leadership specifically, and lay leadership within churches.
Featured Photo by Karolina Grabowska: https://www.pexels.com/photo/carton-boxes-and-stacked-books-on-table-4498124/
2023-2024 Youth Leadership Application Now Open
Applications are open for all youth leadership positions for the upcoming year. The election and selection process will take place at Breakaway (June 26-July 1)
Elections will be held for 11 positions (5 officers, 2 Freshman Representatives, and 4 Junior High Representatives). Youth can also apply to serve on the Conference Youth Committee (CYC).
The deadline for applications is June 27. Part of the application process is requesting a recommendation from a pastor, so please make sure to submit your application in enough time for the pastor’s recommendation to be submitted by the deadline.
Visit the CYC Leadership Application to read more and to fill out the application.
Ordering of Ministry Service
The North Carolina Conference ended our time of worshipful work with the Ordering of Ministry service. The Annual Conference, special guests, friends, mentors, and family members surrounded those to be ordained, commissioned, or licensed for pastoral and lay ministry. The Conference is grateful to the Lord for each person’s gifts and commitment to serve.
The Conference was excited to welcome retired Bishop Hope Morgan Ward to join us for worship. She invited the body to give generously to an offering for Professors in Methodism, an endowed fund supporting theological education in Africa, Europe, and the Philippines, along with salary support for teaching positions in Methodist history, theology, and polity across 30+ United Methodist-affiliated theological schools worldwide.
In the sermon, Bishop Shelton focused on the story in the Gospel of John where Jesus asks a Samaritan woman to give him a drink. The Bishop reminded us that this is a beautiful story about a woman going to the well in the middle of the day to draw water because she was tired of “The Look.”
She continued, “You know the look. “The look” that says ‘we know your past. You don’t belong here.’ “The look” that says ‘your family’s problems make you a problem.’ “The Look” that says ‘your skin color disqualifies you for entrance’ or ‘your identity is confusing to me so you can’t be part.’ “The Look” that says ‘you don’t speak my language.’ ‘I can’t even understand you.’ or ‘you’re not smart enough’ or ‘you are not enough’ or ‘you don’t belong.’ or ‘you are not welcome.’”
Bishop Shelton appealed to the certified lay ministers, licensed local pastors, provisional deacons, provisional elders, and ordinands to read scripture in context, for it gives a window into what we cannot fully understand from our perspective.
The Bishop acknowledged Jesus’ presence during the service and asked everyone, “how will you create a culture of welcome, and graceful hospitality, and compassion for people who get “the look”?
Bishop Shelton wrapped up her sermon in tears as she shared about a time when the Holy Spirit convicted her to “stop playing church and start being church.”
She continued, “Sisters and brothers, this is a significant, historic day in our life as church where we say that God sees, loves, and calls everyone, especially those who show up at the well in the middle of the day to avoid the look. Church, are we willing to join Jesus?”
The service ended with Bishop Connie Mitchell Shelton and Bishop Hope Morgan Ward praying for each candidate for ministry and ordaining the elders and deacons by the laying on of hands.
Certified Lay Ministers
Vicki Ambrose
Patricia Dickens
Janet Groberski
Deborah Horton
Julie Melson
Darren Poe
Larry Vacek
License for Pastoral Ministry
Catherine Clyburn
Katie Distefano
David Edington
Schylar Ferguson
Layne Harpine
Daeho Kang
Samantha Kiley
Joseph Dawson Lane
Gregory Major
Avanti Mitchell
Marsena Mungin
Michael Sciascia
Jonathan Sobel
Commissioning as Deacon
Zachary Tucker Moser
Commissioning as Elder
Thomas Adam Benson
Rebecca Marie Bradley
Grayson Hicks Dye
Matthew Ray Hayes
Rhonda Lei Grant Jordan
Eunsoo Kang
Kimberly Dawn Lail
Tyler Houston Moore
Heidi Elizabeth Reddy
Anna Christine Thornburg
Ordination as Deacon
Kimberley Rexrode Houff
Joy Kathleen Van Staalduinen
Ordination as Elder
Charles Crew Daly
Kristen Lynn Hanna
Julia Crone Hayes
Johnny Henry Llerena Zegarra
Amanda Lee Rigby
William Edward Sabiston
Special Called Session in October 2023 and Annual Conference 2024 Scheduled
Special Called Session in October 2023
A Special Called Session of Annual Conference will be on October 7, 2023. The session is planned to be held virtually.
Annual Conference 2024
Bishop Shelton announced Annual Conference 2024 will be held June 12-15, 2024, in Greenville, NC.
Postponed 2020 General Conference in Charlotte
Emily Innes and Rev. Trish Archer shared that North Carolina and Western North Carolina Conferences will be co-hosting The United Methodist Church General Conference in Charlotte from April 23 to May 3, 2024.
Opportunities to volunteer for 4.5-hour shifts for registration, hotel hospitality, and airport hospitality starting in mid-April 2024 will be available soon. Volunteers will be needed on additional days on either side of the General Conference dates. This is an opportunity for North Carolina United Methodists to offer gracious hospitality to delegates from all over the world, so please consider if you’re able to help. Hundreds of volunteers will be needed.