ST. LOUIS (Feb. 23) — Rev. Kim Goddard, delegation leader, describes the items that are resting on Holston’s tables as the first day of General Conference gets underway: “The net from Convocation; a prayer shawl from the Holston Conference UMW mission team; and a cross from Kodak UMC that every person held (even the children in Sunday school) and prayed over last Sunday.”
ST. LOUIS (Feb. 23) — Several congregations in Holston Conference are joining the rest of the denomination in organized prayer over the weekend.
“Our hope is to frame this as when things are tough and we don’t understand it, we stop the normal and turn to prayer,” said the Rev. Knox Wimberly, pastor at Auburn United Methodist Church, Riner, Virginia. Read The Call’s story.
Friday, February 22, 8:30 pm.
The United Methodist Association of Communicators held their annual gathering February 21-22. Following tradition, the event closed with their awards celebration. Holston’s very own Annette Spence, editor of The Call, took home awards for three of her articles:
April 7 – Family of employee detained during raid waits for answers
April 9 – Community outcry: United Methodist respond after ICE raid
October 22 – His struggle made him who he is: ‘God wastes nothing’
All articles won awards in the “Writing Publication” category. In addition to these publication awards, Spence’s “God Wastes Nothing” article also won the Donn Doten Award of Excellence, the highest writing publication award given.
After receiving the reward, Spence shared how she was grateful to be able to tell the story of God’s amazing grace in a young man’s life.
Later that evening, Bishop David Graves gave a shout out to Spence and complimented her on her hard work, dedication and helping him as he ran for bishop.
ST. LOUIS (5:15 p.m. CST, Feb. 22) — Rev. Tim Jones and Annette Spence have spent the day learning and preparing with other United Methodist communicators. Several communicators mentioned this United Methodist News Service article as particularly interesting:
“The United Methodist Church is not the first Christian body to deal with the potentially church-splintering debate over homosexuality and biblical interpretation …” Read UMNS story.
ST. LOUIS (8:15 a.m. CST, Feb. 22) — Our delegates are on the way to St. Louis!
ST. LOUIS (9:20 a.m. CST, Feb. 21) — General Conference is complicated for everyone, from spectators right up to the delegates and the bishops. Here’s a great chart, provided by United Methodist Communications, comparing the proposed plans and how they would affect local churches, clergy, bishops, finances, etc. See the chart.
If you want to go a lot deeper, visit this page of ongoing coverage and videos provided by United Methodist News Service. See UMNS coverage.
Here’s a great General Conference resources page, too.
ST. LOUIS (9 a.m. CST, Feb. 21) — Yesterday, we posted a video and photo of prayers lifted up for our Holston delegation during Ministers Convocation in Pigeon Forge. Here’s an excerpt from the Rev. Kim Goddard’s response as she accepted the prayer scarf from clergy:
“Can I just say that in my years of ministry I have never felt as supported and prayed for as I have over the last several months … This is what the power of community looks like. I’m not going to be looking at these individual strands and saying, ‘Is that a prayer for the One Church Plan, or the Modified Traditional Plan, or the Connectional Conference Plan, or the Simple Plan, or the gracious exit?’ I’m just going to be knowing these are the prayers for your church and your delegation, and I’m not sure we can ask for anything better than that.”
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (4:15 p.m., Feb. 20) — Delegates attending Convocation were presented with a “prayer scarf” and lifted up with more prayers yesterday at Music Road Convention Center.
The gift represented the prayers shared by clergy, who had tied threads into the netted scarf while praying on Monday during the Feb. 18-20 annual continuing education event.
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (6 p.m., Feb. 19) — Each morning before the General Conference session begins in St. Louis, the Holston delegation will meet for prayer. The Rev. Kim Goddard, delegation leader, invites Holston members who are in St. Louis Feb. 23-26 to join this prayer time. For meeting times and location, please send your name and cell phone number to kimgoddard@holston.org.
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (4:30 p.m., Feb. 19) — Holston pastors are meeting here in Pigeon Forge Feb. 18-20 for “Convocation,” an annual continuing-education event provided by the Wesley Leadership Institute. This morning, Holston delegates in attendance were lifted up in prayer, which we’ll tell you more about shortly.
In the meantime, here’s a video that was shown prior to the prayer. It’s called, “Holston is My Home.”
ALCOA, Tenn. (12:30 p.m., Feb. 17) — Today is a good day to pause and pray for our Holston Conference delegates.
Top row, left to right: Emily Ballard, Wil Cantrell, Mark Flynn, Randy Frye. Middle row: Kim Goddard, Becky Hall, Del Holley, Sandra Johnson. Bottom row: Bob Lockaby, John Tate, Carol Wilson, Karen Wright.
Not pictured are our four alternates, who will also travel to St. Louis Feb. 23-26: Joyce Moore, John Eldridge, Paul Seay, and Jerry Russell.
If you would like to write a prayer for our delegates or for General Conference, please email to Annette Spence.
ALCOA, Tenn. (3:30 p.m., Feb. 16) — Take a deep breath and read this commentary from our own Rev. Will Shelton, pastor at First United Methodist Church in Pulaski, Virginia:
“If you’re looking for what’s going to happen when our church holds meetings on human sexuality this month, you’ll need someone smarter than me. What I do know is what it’s like to be the pastor of a group of people who don’t all think, speak, or love alike. And far more often than not, it’s been a gift.” Read the blog.
ALCOA, Tenn. (3:15 p.m., Feb. 16) — Several churches — including First-Centenary UMC, First Bristol UMC, and Fountain City UMC — have scheduled prayer time while General Conference is in progress Feb. 23-26. If your church is also planning activities related to #UMCGC, send an email to Annette Spence.
ALCOA, Tenn. (9:30 a.m., Feb. 15) — St. Louis seems so far away, and we can feel helpless as others make decisions about the church we love. This United Methodist Communications article offers suggestions for what you can do to stay connected as we prepare for General Conference. Read the article.
Remember that there will be a live stream available from St. Louis, too.
ALCOA, Tenn. (9:20 a.m., Feb. 15) — Here’s the most recent local-media story featuring Holston delegates. The Rev. Carol Wilson and the Rev. Randy Frye were interviewed by the Kingsport Times-News in this Feb. 14 story.
The Rev. Wil Cantrell also appears in this Feb. 13 story published in the Lenoir City News-Herald.
GC News / Holston Conference 