Are you interested in serving on a Conference committee?
You still have time to express your interest! The nomination deadline has been extended until March 8. Visit our Nominations page to learn more and complete the interest form.
Effective Leaders
Harbor District: Basic Course
The Harbor District Lay Servant Ministries team presents the Basic Course in Lay Servant Ministries with Sandy Core and Ernest Leatherman.
@
(includes lunch)
Course scholarships are available to those in need of financial assistance. Scholarships reduce the cost of a course to $5. Please contact your district director or cle@nccumc.org.
About the Course: This is an overview course that provides helpful background for all laypersons in service in the church and community. It is also required for all who pursue recognition in Lay Servant Ministries. The Lay Servant Ministries Basic Course is a foundational course designed to equip new church leaders and renew current leaders in The United Methodist Church. It explores:
- personal spiritual gifts;
- servant leadership;
- each leader’s role in developing future leaders;
- the importance of consistent spiritual practices;
- the core ministries of Leading, Caring, and Communicating.
All participants are expected to read the Lay Servant Ministries Basic Course Participant’s Book, by Sandy Jackson and Brian Jackson, prior to taking this course.
For questions about the course, please contact district director Sandy Core (score@nccumc.org)
Thank you for your interest. Registration for this course has closed. If you believe you have time to order and read the book prior to class and would like to request an exception to register late, please contact cle@nccumc.org. The book is available on Kindle if you are open to reading electronically.
About the Facilitators:
Sandy Core, through her love and dedication to the Lord, has been a part of a variety of ministries, including church pianist, choir director, home Bible study leader, Sunday school teacher, and prayer ministry coordinator. After retiring from her careers as a teacher and social worker, she now works part-time as a data manager for First Fruit Ministries, a homeless ministry in Wilmington. Sandy attends Ocean View UMC and answered the call to be a lay speaker in 2016. She also serves as the Harbor district director of Lay Servant Ministries.
Ernest Leatherman has been lay speaking in churches since 2009 and earned his certification in 2014. He likes to draw on his extensive travels and personal experiences to highlight the love of Jesus Christ. He is a member of Ocean View UMC in Oak Island and has served in most capacities within the local church.
Prayer for Appointment-Making Season: Cross-Cultural Understanding
As we are in appointment-making season, Bishop Shelton has encouraged all of us to pray for the Cabinet, clergy and their families, and congregations. We will be sharing prayers over the next few weeks and encourage you to share them with your church.
Read the next prayer in the series written by Rev. Glenn Stallsmith.
Almighty God, you have made yourself known through the teaching of the apostles and the breaking of the bread. Today you are still calling and sending disciples to preach the good news, to feed your children, and to build up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12).
Each one of us in the body have received a unique measure of Christ’s gift (Ephesians 4:7). Each congregation in our connection is beautifully constituted of saints who are joined and knit together, to each other and to him who is our head (Ephesians 4:15-16).
Grant wisdom, therefore, to those in our connection who are set apart for this special work of discerning appointments. We pray that pastors may be sent to communities and congregations where they will be effective. Where differences in language and culture threaten to separate, we ask that your Spirit will intercede and break down dividing walls (Ephesians 2:14). Where differences in worldview tear at the unity of the church, send pastors who will proclaim one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:4-5).
Through him is our shepherd: Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Nominations Open – Harry Denman Evangelism Awards
Have you seen your pastor reaching outside your church membership to form connections with your neighbors? Is there a youth in your church who consistently invites and welcomes new people into youth group? Do you have a lay person who finds ways to lead others to a deeper connection with Christ? If so, nominate them for a Denman Award.
The Evangelism and Discipleship Team seeks nominees who develop deep and authentic connections with people who do not know the love of Christ. Let’s celebrate the good work that is happening around us—and the people whose faith and ministries are making a positive impact for Christ. The deadline for online submissions is March 14.
Thank you for your partnership in helping us identify pastors, youth, and lay persons with exceptional evangelism ministries and efforts. We look forward to honoring the 2024 recipients in their local churches. If you have any questions, reach out to us at cle@nccumc.org.
Since 1990, the NC Conference has honored over 50 youth, clergy, and laity for their work in evangelism. View past Denman award recipients.
~ NC Conference Evangelism & Discipleship Team and the Center for Leadership Excellence
Prayer for Appointment-Making Season: Disruption for the Clergy’s Children
As we are in appointment-making season, Bishop Shelton has encouraged all of us to pray for the Cabinet, clergy and their families, and congregations. We will be sharing prayers over the next few weeks and encourage you to share them with your church.
Read the first prayer in the series written by Rev. Laura Wyant Wittman.
In this appointment-making season, we pray for our Cabinet and the leadership of our conference. We pray for their discernment and their wisdom, and we give thanks for the ways that they represent the clergy and their families as they make difficult decisions. We especially, pray for the children of our clergy. We know that for many children, the process of moving means leaving behind friends, transitioning schools, and adapting to new ways of life. We acknowledge that the children of our clergy have to face being part of new children’s ministries, new youth groups, new confirmation classes, and Sunday school classes, all while finding safe space to be vulnerable and have their needs heard.
So often, our children live in that proverbial glass bowl where so much of what they experience may be watched and commented on by people who may not always see the full picture. We pray for protection and for a safe space to be heard. We pray for their mental well-being and for the connectedness and shelter they find within their families.
As appointments are made and set, we pray for peace of mind, strength, and understanding. We give thanks for their ability to go and be sent to the places where their parents are being commissioned for service. Finally, we ask that as a fellowship of believers, we may all do our best to remember our connectionalism. Remind us to reach out to those clergy children that we know are struggling. May we serve as extra parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and cousins, doing our best to make them feel at home wherever they land. We ask all this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Partnership with New Faith Communities and Center for Leadership Excellence
The Office of New Faith Communities partnered with Center for Leadership Excellence for a Common Learning Day with Rev. Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean presenting at Hayes Barton UMC. The day and a half event was filled with learning and conversation about holistic mission, Christian social innovation, and nontraditional ways to engage in ministry – both inside and outside of the church.
On day one, the gathered church planters participated in activities and games that invited them to grow in creative imagination as they lead, particularly when it comes to utilizing existing resources and thinking outside of the traditional church model.
Day two included, New Faith Communities planters, Leadership Fellows, and other Center for Leadership Excellence attendees. Around 150 people began the day by examining Paul’s story of shipwreck on Malta (Acts 27). Kenda Creasy Dean challenged us to flip our interpretation of the story and the devastation. Might Paul’s shipwreck, with broken boards of the boat strewn through the seas, actually be what he needed to be saved?
In the same way that Paul’s shipwreck saved him, are challenging times in churches a chance to look at shipwreck and an ‘unfamiliar shore of Malta’ as an opportunity rather than devastation? Creasy Dean urged the group to consider if their churches should ‘throw something overboard’ to stay afloat, acknowledging that when societal change is front and center, churches may need to prune ministries that do not fit. She challenged the clergy and laity to take the lessons learned on Malta to make sense of the unfamiliar territory that many of our churches are in right now.
Throughout the Day of Learning, Creasy Dean’s experiential activities and times for reflection meant that ideas were birthed, some were fine-tuned, and others reached that critical point of inflection where they will move from idea to reality.
