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© 2019 Middletown United Methodist Church. All rights reserved.
Christmas Eve at Middletown United Methodist Church is always a special time of year. The decorations are out, the music is flowing and the people are smiling. It's time to welcome our newborn King! We hope to see your smiling face at our Eastwood Campus. Everyone is welcome, no matter your background or what you've been through, there is a place for you!
Leslie grew up in Danville, KY and moved to Louisville after college. She has lived here over twenty years, mostly in Oldham County. Leslie found her love for God and God's love for her at Aldersgate Camp and in youth group growing up. Her call to ministry began in college and she has served as a youth minister and pastoral care minister. She was a teacher for many years before becoming a local pastor and returning to seminary to complete her Masters in Divinity.
The greatest desire in Leslie's ministry to to help people discover God's deep love for them and the unique gifts God has given them to help serve the church and the world. Leslie's greatest passion as a minister is helping people know and understand God's infinite, amazing, healing love for them and helping them to understand and materialize this love. Her personal passion is being a mother to her daughters, Ella and Carrie. She says being their mom is her greatest joy.
When Leslie is not working you can likely find her hanging out with her daughters, hiking, camping, being outdoors, and enjoying nature or cheering on her girls at a horse show. If you want to stay on Leslie's good side you better remember to refill the ice cube tray! It's her #1 pet peeve! She says, "It seems obsolete now of days, but not with my cheap refrigerator! Nothing like going for a nice cold glass of tea and finding no ice cubes! If you love someone, fill up the ice trays after you use them!"
August 4 – Promotion Sunday 11 – 12:00pm MUMC Youth Ministry Parents Meeting 11 – 3:00pm Lou City Game 25- Youth Families to KY State Fair (Bus leaves at 1:30pm, Gate opens at 2:30pm, Concert begins at 4pm)
September 8 – Youth Group Kick-Off 5:30-7:30pm 15 – Discussion Night 5:30-7:30pm 22 – Mobile Medical Truck Sock-Hop (Mission Night) 5:00-8:00pm 29 – Discussion Night
6 – Open Gym 12-2pm 13 – Discussion Night 5:30-7:30pm 18 – Lock-In 8pm-8am 20 – No Youth Group 27 – Trunk or Treat (Mission Night) 5:00-6:30pm
November 3 – Discussion Night 5:30-7:30pm 10 – Mission Night 5:30-7:30pm 17 – Progressive Thanksgiving Dinner Night 5:30-? 24 – No Youth Group—Happy Thanksgiving
December 1 – Discussion Night 5:30-7:30pm 8 – Youth Group Mission Night 5:30-7:30 15 – Youth Group Christmas Party 22 – No Youth Group 29 – No Youth Group
Dates for Winter/Spring 2020 December 26-January 2: Holy Land Trip January 17-19 Winter Blitz February 9-March 22: Confirmation Class (Sunday afternoon 4-5:30pm) March 20-22 Spring Retreat
January 5 – No Youth Group 12 – Discussion Night 5:30-7:30pm 17-19: Winter Blitz 19 – No Youth Group 26 – Youth Group Outing
February: 2 – Open Gym 12-2:00pm 9 – Confirmation 4-5:30pm 9 – Mission Night 5:30-7:30pm 16 – Confirmation 4-5:30pm 16 – Discussion Night 5:30-7:30pm 23 – Confirmation 4-5:30pm 23 – Game Night 5:30-7:30pm
March 1 -Confirmation 4-5:30pm 1 – Discussion Night 5:30-7:30pm 8 – Confirmation 4-5:30pm 8 – Mission Night 5:30-7:30pm 15 – Confirmation 4-5:30pm 15 – Discussion Night 5:30-7:30pm 20-22 Spring Retreat 22 – Confirmation 4-5:30pm 22 – No Youth Group 29 – Open Gym 12-2:00pm
April 5 – Mission Night 5:30-7:30pm 12 – No Youth Group—Easter 19- TBD 26 – Discussion Night 5:30-7:30pm
May 3 – Game Night 5:30-7:30 10 – No Youth Group—Mother's Day 17 – Last Youth Group! 5:30-?
Gary grew up on a dairy farm near Edmonton, Kentucky. He entered the pastoral ministry from Beaumont UMC. He graduated from Western Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Psychology and Religious Studies. Gary has a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt University.
God's call on Gary's life led him to pursue ordination in The United Methodist church. Gary took his first appointment in 1984 and has served a variety of congregations; rural, urban, and suburban. His congregations include Scottsville Circuit UMC in Scottsville, KY; State Street UMC (Associate) in Bowling Green, Ky; Epiphany UMC in Louisville, KY; Florence First UMC in Florence, Ky; St. Paul UMC in Louisville, Ky; and DS of the Heartland District.
Gary is most passionate about the church being open to everyone regardless of their station in life. His passion also extends to accepting people where they are and being patient with them as they discover Christ. The church's job is not to push or pull people, but rather journey with them at their pace.
When Gary isn't working, you're likely to find him spending time with his family; his wife Tammy, their two sons Kyle and Caleb, and their two grandchildren Ryder and Anastasia. If he is not with family, he will be playing golf or attending a sporting event. Please don't ever try to get on an elevator when Gary is trying to get off, this is his greatest pet peeve.
Rick Smith was born and raised in Louisville's west end. He is married to Donna F. Smith whom he dearly loves. He found his way to MUMC from his life long friend Charles Shepherd, the head custodian.
Most of his life he has spent working with the public. From being a delivery driver, to working with mentally disabled adults, to working in an assembly line machine shop, to shipping/receiving. Rick has always loved his jobs and loves working here at MUMC.
Personally, Rick is passionate about his two grandchildren – whom him and his wife take care of. He is a christian and was raised to love one another and to treat people fairly.
Kevin Vest is originally from New Market, Tennessee, a small town between Knoxville and Gatlinburg. After graduating college, he moved to Louisville to attend the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Kevin grew up in a small Southern Baptist Church and was always fascinated by music, especially the piano. He received a piano for Christmas when he was 12 years old and started lessons – eventually leading him to play at his church. In his high school days his family changed churches – one that was short an organist. The Director of Music asked if he wanted to give it a shot and he has been playing organ in churches ever since.
Professionally, Kevin's greatest passion is helping people. Whether it is through leading the organ during worship, helping someone with a personal problem, or figuring out a technical solution to an issue at his day job. Personally, his greatest passions are his kids, Matthew and Michaela. He loves watching them grow into loving, Christ-filled teenagers that are eager to serve and help others.
Growing up he always wanted to be a medical doctor and was actually a pre-medicine major his first two years of college before changing his major to religion and psychology.
If there was one thing Kevin wished people understood about him, it is that he is off-the-chart introverted. Social situations are not his forte but if you get him chatting in close quarters he is nice as can be.
Vernon was born in Baltimore, Maryland and first came to Louisville to study piano performance and church music, earning a Masters degree in 1975. Almost 20 years later he returned to Louisville to finish his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1997.
He began to play for junior church when he was 10 years old, and has continued to serve as a church pianist for over 60 years. Along the way Vernon acquired a second Masters in education/administration. Later, he served as the headmaster for the Agape Christian School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he also taught kindergarten.
As a church pianist, it is his goal to present high quality music in worship and to draw congregations beyond music excitement to the spiritual truth of the text of each arrangement.
Karen Smith has two beautiful daughters, Amy and Carrie as well as three grandchildren – Peyton, Camryn and Rylee. All three grandchildren have attended the CDC where Karen is the Director.
Her passion is the education of children in a Christian environment and teaching in ways that prepare children for the future. She has always known God wanted her to teach children in a Christian setting and says God has opened doors for her and her family. When Karen was looking for a job in the Louisville area, she checked the local Sunday paper and the first ad that she saw was for the Lead Teacher at the Middletown United Methodist Child Development Center. Needless to say – she got the job and has ascended to the Director position.
For 18 years Karen has been the Director of the CDC and considers our school to be a ministry to her church, Middletown UMC. The CDC is providing a loving Christian foundation the children's future lives are built upon.
Her dream is to live happily ever after with her friends and family and to ALWAYS be close to God (hopefully in Naples, Florida someday). Karen's goal is to one day write a book about her amazing experiences with the children so that everyone would always appreciate the hope, joy and happiness that all the children bring to the world.
Kristen Clark graduated from the University of Louisville (Go Cards!) with a Bachelors Degree in Psychology. Later, she attended Campbellsville University where she received her Associates Degree in Child Development.
She has been married to her husband Chris for 21 years and they have three awesome children; Kylie, Cassidy and Alex. Kristen is involved with her children's sports and enjoy watching them play field hockey, lacrosse and soccer. She also loves and adores her dog Barkley!
Kristen has taught preschool for over 10 years and is now entering her fifth year as Preschool Director of MUMP. She knew after her first day of teaching here, that this is where she was supposed to be. She believes that God brought her here because he has a bigger plan for her.
Jane Ryan was born in Glasgow, Kentucky but has lived in Louisville for 70 plus years. She worked at UofL NROTC for many years before becoming a stay at home mother when her daughter was born.
In 1980 she was blessed when she desperately needed a job. The minister at her church, Aldersgate UMC, spoke to the Louisville Conference Treasurer who needed a new secretary – she was hired. Jane worked for the Louisville Conference for 16 years before it was merged with the Kentucky Conference and became the Kentucky Annual Conference in 1996. She worked in the Conference Treasurers Office for 30 years and retired in 2010. She worked with 6 Treasurers and 6 Bishops over the years and was given a chance for a part-time job at Middletown UMC doing financial work.
She says the opportunity to continue serving the Lord like he had prepared me to do for so many years seemed like a good opportunity. It is amazing how the Lord works. Her goal in life was to be an Airline Stewardess and travel the world. But the Lord had other ideas for Jane. She met a wonderful man, got married and has served the Lord in many capacities over the years.
Lynelle Flora was a "Navy Brat" and had the opportunity to move around quite a bit. She came to Kentucky by way of: Pittsburgh to Rhode Island to Cuba to Maine, and back to Pittsburgh after college. She finally landed in Kentucky in 2014 when her previous job in logistics relocated her to Eminence, Kentucky.
Her grandfather is a retired Methodist Pastor and her mother has been the Minister of Music in a Methodist Church as long as she can remember. She has grown up with church as the center of her life and very happy to be part of the work here at MUMC.
Professionally and personally, Lynelle is most passionate about the church. She sites "Hymn #558 – We Are The Church," and says if you have not sung/read this hymn, you should! She says God's people are absolutely amazing. She gets very emotional seeing individuals with their unique gifts and personalities coming together to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
Lynelle prefers to be outdoors – going on walks, riding bikes, kayaking, camping and taking road trips just about anywhere. Her german shepherd, Mable, goes on every adventure. If she could be any fictional character she would choose Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Polifax. Emily Polifax is an elderly lady who sought more meaning for her life and accidentally became a CIA spy. She is an unassuming and hilarious woman who is full of wonder and relishes in wacky adventures.
Jennie Pepoon's first home was in Centerfield, Kentucky in Oldham County. Her parents were serving at Mount Tabor United Methodist Church. From the beginning, the church has played a significant role in her life.
As the pastor's kid, Jennie was often asked to sit in committees and councils as the youth representative. So from early on, she learned about the United Methodist Church from the inside-knowledge that later would be a blessing in my career.
It didn't take long in college for her to figure out that the medical field was not for her. So, she switched to business and found a better fit. Just as she began to contribute to the working world, Jennie met her future husband, Dale, at a church potluck dinner.
Following graduation, Dale took an IT position in Florida where eventually their son, Josh, was born. Her next move took them to Indiana and she began working for their church as their financial secretary. That is when Jennie discovered her 'perfect fit'! All of the church knowledge that she had acquired through the years was an asset every day. In addition to Indiana, Jennie has served churches in Ohio and Virginia. Throughout her career, she has personally witnessed God's faithfulness. When she was offered the position at Middletown UMC, it was an answer to her prayer.
Andy Stearman is originally from Louisville (Go Cards!). He attended Eastern Kentucky University and graduated in 2014 with a degree in Broadcasting & Electronic Media. He never in a million years thought he would work for a church, much less the one he grew up attending. Rev. Nancy Tinnell officiated his wedding in 2017 and informed him of an opening – a few months later he started working at MUMC.
Professionally, Andy is most passionate about producing a quality product – whether that be graphics, videos, pictures, social media engagement, etc. Personally, he is most passionate about music and travel (16 countries and counting).
As a kid, Andy wanted to be a professional basketball player. That dream was short lived as he realized he was short and unathletic. When not working, you can most likely find Andy playing guitar and going to concerts with his wife Abbie. If he could have any superpower it would be the ability to turn invisible, but only when people aren't looking.
Kristen Furches is originally from Upstate New York. She then lived in Virginia for 7 years after undergrad before God called her to full-time ministry, which led her to Belmont University in Nashville for a graduate degree and then on to Louisville and MUMC. In 6th grade, her piano teacher asked if she wanted to learn how to play the organ; a year later, she was hired as the organist at the Lutheran church down the street and has been a musician ever since.
Professionally, Kristen is most passionate about 'the singing church' and the deep roots the church has that can be found in our worship. Personally, Kristen loves to read and loves the peacefulness of being out in nature, even if it's just sitting on her front porch watching the sunset, or in the backyard around the firepit.
As a kid, Kristen always wanted to be a mathematician. In undergrad she took coursework on the side in math, philosophy and symbolic logic. If she had not been called to ministry she probably would have pursued degrees in philosophical logic or methodology and taught at a university.
When Kristen is not working she is exploring the adventure of her life with her fiancé and his son, fixing something around the house, gardening, or playing with the dogs.
Lee Twombly was born in Denver, CO, lived in Henderson, KY and Knoxville, TN before moving to Louisville the summer before entering the 7th grade.
He was raised in the church and some of his first memories are of participating in VBS and Christmas plays at First Methodist Church in Henderson. As an adult lay person, he served in essentially all the local church boards and committees and was trained as a Stephen Minister and Stephen Ministry Leader. His Stephen Ministry experience is what led him to finally answer the call to ordained ministry.
Professionally, Lee is most passionate about being present with those who need the assurance of God's love in order that they might have restored hope. Personally, he is most passionate about his faith and personal relationship with Jesus.
As a kid, Lee wanted to grow up to be a Commanding Office of a submarine. He served in the Navy for many years before beginning his career as a pastor. Don't show up late to an appointment with Lee, as his number 1 pet peeve is tardiness. That probably goes back to his days in the military. If Lee could be a fictional character he would choose Horatio Hornblower – a Napoleonic Wars era Royal Navy officer who is the protagonist of a series of novels by C.S. Forester.
Emily Allen is from Louisville – yes a Louisville native! And she proudly proclaims, Go Cards! She has always been involved in the church growing up in VBS and youth group. When she was in college she served as a Children's intern and felt her call to ministry during college.
Professionally, Emily is most passionate about seeing the "ah ha" moment in the life of young people – those moments where they see God acting in their loves and in the world. Personally, she is most passionate about her Chicago Cubs!
When Emily was growing up she wanted to be a chef – her youth minister in high school actually took her to see Emeril Lagasse cook on Good Morning America when he came to Louisville. When Emily is not working she is most likely at the Louisville Zoo with her 3 year old son William. And don't you dare go to Emily's house and leave dirty dishes in her sink, as that is her number one pet peeve!
God called Mona to serve in spiritual formation in the local church more than 38 years ago, however, God called her to lead, teach, and love children long before then! Mona is an ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church and has served churches in Iowa, Illinois, and Tennessee. She received her Master of Christian Education degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois. Her BA is in elementary education.
Mona and her husband, Ken, met at Wesley Foundation at the University of Northern Iowa, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and were married in 1979. They have grown daughters. Melissa, and her husband, Matt, live in western Washington State and have a daughter, Madelyn, and a son, Marcus. Kimberly and her husband, Joe, live south of Chicago with their son, Oliver, a daughter, Lily, and their cats, Gabby and Elphie. Mona and Ken currently have two cats, Penuche and Oreo.
She was born and raised on a farm in Iowa. Mona likes college football (Go, Hawkeyes!) and the Chicago Cubs. She and Ken enjoy exploring new places together, reading, spending time with their family, cooking, and playing card and board games. Mona's favorite Scriptures are Philippians 4:4-7 and John 14. It fills her heart and says it is comforting to know she may take anything to the Lord and that He is making sure she has a home with Him someday.
Trent is originally from northeast Indiana and got to Kentucky by way of Atlanta, GA. After graduating from college at Huntington University, he attended seminary at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. While in Atlanta he co-founded a new United Methodist Church called Eastside Church and spent 4 years as the Assistant Pastor of Worship and Discipleship. Trent met his wife Katie at the church plant, they worked together for two years and they joke that their first real argument was over Advent readings. Katie is also an ordained elder in the Kentucky Conference and in 2015 they moved to Kentucky to pastor churches here. Katie is serving as the head pastor of Buechel UMC.
Professionally, Trent is passionate about church being a welcoming and inclusive space, especially for young people. He gets excited when those who have felt disconnected or unwelcome in church find a place of welcome. Personally, he's passionate about his family, the Indianapolis Colts, running, and camping!
When Trent's not working, he enjoys spending time with Katie, running or hiking at the Parklands, exploring different parts of Louisville, playing piano, camping, gardening, or playing with their dog Wendell.
Nancy Tinnell is from Louisville, KY and grew up at Bethany United Methodist Church. In addition to Methodism, music was a constant in her life. Singing in the church led her to leading worship in church, which led to ordination and full time ministry.
The second half of her ministry has been spent serving in discipleship and spiritual formation ministries. She organizes our small group ministries and some of our missional efforts. Professionally, her passion is teaching the Bible and working with our Mobile Medical Ministry. Personally, she is most passionate about reading and reflecting. Someday she hopes to put those reflections on paper.
If Nancy was a fictional character, she would want to be Jane Eyre – the protagonist of the novel "Jane Eyre" by the English writer Charlotte Bronte. This character is described as passionate and strongly principled, values freedom and independence, has a strong conscience and is a determined Christian.
If Nancy could choose any superpower it would have to be the ability to time travel – just think about those vacations!
Phil Rowley and his family moved to Louisville from San Diego. They had been thinking for years that they should move out of California, and finally decided to take the plunge before his oldest daughter started high school. He bought a tiny vintage trailer and just set out across the country with no real destination. They looked at many different places, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma and just happened to land in Louisville on their way to somewhere else and immediately fell in love with the city.
His path into serving at churches started through music. Phil had been a professional musician for many years, playing with everyone from well known artist, to wedding bands, top 40 bands, jazz bands, musical theater, you name it. He was hired by a church in San Diego as they were starting a contemporary service. Over the next few years that contemporary service grew to where they were doing three services every week. He kept staying busy playing gigs around town as many as 8-10 per week, but found himself growing to be less and less satisfied doing those gigs. Phil started to realize that the church gig was his favorite part of the week. The worship leader noticed a change in him and started fostering his interest. She asked Phil to organize special events for the church and eventually asked him to fill in for her. Her and her husbands support lead to him to being a worship leader.
Jennifer grew up in Spencer County, KY and graduated from Spencer County High School in 1994 – GO Bears! "Once a Bear always a Bear". After graduation she took a job working with children in a child care center and began volunteering at her church helping with Sunday School classes and Vacation Bible School. Jennifer loves the Christian environment and that is how she was led to the Middletown United Methodist Child Development Center in 1999.
Jennifer is most passionate about helping children find their passions. She says that all of us are given gifts to use in ministering to others and not to keep these talents hidden as they greatly impact and benefit others.
When she is not at work you can find Jennifer spending time with her family. She has been married since October of 1994 and has two wonderful boys, Clay (2001) and Zack (2005). They love baseball! Her family attends Wakefield Baptist Church in Taylorsville, Kentucky where her husband is Deacon of the church.
"Do not neglect the gift that is in you." 1 Timothy 4:14
Dr. Sandra C. Gray is in her 12th year as Asbury University's president. She has faithfully served the institution for 30 years — as business professor, business department chair, provost and president. She is finishing her last academic year at the helm, currently leading the largest campaign ($63 million) in Asbury's history. Under her strategic leadership, Asbury has experienced significant growth and advancement.
Gray is a native Kentuckian and University of Kentucky alumna, where she earned her MBA and Ph.D. She served in banking and finance for many years before being called to Asbury. Gray and her husband, Ken (an architect), reside in Nicholasville, Ky., and are active members of Centenary United Methodist Church. With deep convictions of the importance of the local church, her involvements at Centenary have been extensive, from teaching Sunday school to serving in many leadership roles over the past 35 years.
A 35-year member of the United Methodist Church, Gray is thankful to the UMC for cultivating a heart for the things of God and a deep yearning for God's Truth to prevail in all circumstances. It was at her local UM church where she first encountered the power of His Word and presence of His Holy Spirit. She remains committed to orthodox teachings of the UMC and fully supports the connectional life of the UMC. The Book of Disciple has appropriately guided the UMC with faithfulness to historic Christian teachings while remaining relevant.
The intensity of cultural divides within today's nation and world, especially around issues of Truth and identity, are a clarion call for God's people to remain steadfast as His image bearers. This may very well be the most compelling opportunity for the UMC since John Wesley's day — if she remains faithful — to point others to the power of the cross.
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My name is Adam McCormick, I am 42 years old and have been a member of Cairo United Methodist Church my entire life and make the fourth generation United Methodist at Cairo.
Currently, I am blessed to serve as our Sunday School Superintendent, the Sunday school teacher for the high school students and serve on several boards at my church. God has blessed me beyond measure in my home life, as well with a church family that also models the Wesleyan tradition.
I have been married to the love of my life for 20 years and we have three beautiful daughters ages 18, 15, 12. Our oldest daughter is currently a freshman at Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro, KY.
I have always had a relationship with our Lord but in the past four or five years, I have experienced the renewal of the Holy Spirit in my life. This led me to a much closer personal relationship with God and also has me seeking ways to serve, thus here I am.
I believe that God's Word as revealed in the Holy Bible should be the main consideration in every decision we make that pertains to the future direction of the United Methodist Church. If chosen as a delegate to the General Conference 2020, I would use the scale of the Holy Bible by which I measure every decision brought before us; along with prayer and fellowship of every United Methodist member that I represent.
I have been a member of Coke Memorial United Methodist Church for over 27 years. I am married to Taft Thompson, Jr., a lifelong United Methodist. I earned a B.A. degree at Murray State University and a Master's degree from Western Kentucky University. I have done post graduate work at the University of Louisville and Western Kentucky University in Administration. I taught in the public school system for over 30 years. I currently serve at my local church as Administrative Council Chairman and Lay Leader and on the Episcopacy Committee and District Committee on Ordained Ministry. I was a recipient of the Ecumenism Award.
I would be honored to serve as delegate to the General and Jurisdictional Conferences in 2020. Having served as delegate in prior years, I am committed and strengthened to continue the mission of our denomination. As the focus of the 2019 special called General Conference was centered around the work of the Commission on the Way Forward and the vote on the Traditional Plan, One Church Plan and Connectional Plan, I saw the passion and commitment to our church from United Methodists all over the world. I believe that every individual is of sacred worth, loved by God and should be welcomed into our church.
Our denomination should reflect biblical teachings and stand on the Word of God. Our Book of Discipline has been our guide. The delegates at General Conference voted in favor of the Traditional Plan. As other legislation is sure to come before the body in 2020, as delegate, I would pray for discernment and the leading of the Holy Spirit in all of my deliberations and decisions on issues that come before us. Our denomination must come together in unity and be prepared to transition our church into the future.
I have been fortunate to experience Methodism across our Commonwealth in all sizes of churches and communities. I see the strength of our connectional system as it supports congregations, allowing them to make strong Christian statements as they minister to those near and far.
There will be much to be decided at General Conference 2020. Pension and Health Benefits, Social Principles, candidacy process for ministry, lay/minister partnerships, apportionments, budget, and ministering in a global world. I continue to believe our beloved United Methodist Church is one of Open Hearts, Open Minds, & Open Doors. Our People are making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the World.
I would be honored to represent the Kentucky United Methodist, during this time in the life of our denomination.
I have been a United Methodist since 1974 and a member of Christ United Methodist Church since 1978. I have been blessed to serve in several leadership roles within the church, including Church Council Chair, Finance Chair, Lay Leader and delegate to Annual Conference. I currently serve as the Chair of the South Central District Trustees and on the WKU Wesley Foundation board. I am a graduate of Western Kentucky University and retired from Fruit of the Loom after 37 years working in Information Technology. My wife and I have lived in the Plano community in Warren County for the past 40 years.
I present myself as a delegate to the 2020 General Conference for several reasons. I believe my life experience and my involvement in the church qualifies me to be a delegate. I believe the Kentucky Annual Conference delegation to General Conference should include delegates from all the districts in the conference.
I am generally conservative and consider myself to be orthodox with regard to scripture and church tradition. This, together with my Christian experience and understanding of the church and secular culture, leads me to believe the current language in the Discipline regarding human sexuality is the correct teaching.
I believe the connectional nature of our church requires that we agree on the major parts of our theology as well as how the church exists within society. Decisions must be made during the 2020 General Conference to ensure the Discipline is honored and its provisions enforced across the entire church.
As a delegate to General Conference I will be respectful to everyone and remain true to the way God leads me.
General Conference 2012, 2016, 2019 Jurisdictional Conference 2008, 2012, 2016 Association of Annual Conference Lay Leaders SEJ Lay Leaders Association UMVIM team leader to Central America, South America and East Africa UMVIM projects on the local, state, national and international levels. Ruggles Methodist Camp, Walk to Emmaus, Chrysalis, Boy Scouts Senior Citizen ministries, Recovery Ministries Previously served SEJ Committee on Coordination and Accountability Previous Chair of Maysville Community & Technical College Foundation Board Northeastern KY ReEntry Council, Jail Ministry "Inside Out Dads"
I am a youth Sunday school teacher, for over thirty years and coached youth football for over twenty years. Our family is blessed to be active in United Methodist Churches in Kentucky, Ohio and Alabama. The Special General Conference has revived the Denham family and our church families to honor our faith and grow our faith to answer God's call to reach others for Christ. I am thankful that our children and future generations are seeking deeper connection in the church and a deep desire to become disciples. If elected as your lay delegate, I will prayerfully and thoughtfully consider all petitions and support the principles and beliefs of the United Methodist Church.
I am a "cradle Methodist", nurtured in the Wesleyan faith since infancy. During my formative years, God's grace led me to profess my faith and be baptized into the Methodist church. The hymn "Great is Thy Faithfulness" describes the God I worship and praise, who has not changed or wavered in compassion, mercy and grace during the ups and downs of my life.
I graduated from Kentucky Wesleyan College and Western Kentucky University with majors in elementary education and school administration. My 34-year career as teacher and school principal taught me to identify persons' strengths, help meet their needs, and appreciate individual differences. While working with a variety of students, families, faculty and staff, I learned to listen carefully and try to understand others before seeking to be understood. I believe all persons are of sacred worth and should be treated with respect. Sometimes that requires speaking difficult truth with love.
God has blessed me with many opportunities to serve in the United Methodist Church. My husband and I attend Morgantown United Methodist Church, where I teach Sunday school, lead music, serve on several committees and on the Morgantown Mission board of directors. I am a United Methodist Women local president and district secretary. As Owensboro District Lay Leader, I serve on the district Committee on Ordained Ministry and Owensboro Operational Team. I am a Lay Speaker, help facilitate district L.A.C.E. classes, serve on the conference Board of Lay Ministry and have attended numerous annual conferences as a delegate. I completed Lombard Peace Center's Mediation Skills Training Institute for Church Leaders.
I hold a traditional view of scripture as described in the Book of Discipline and feel called to serve as a GC2020 delegate. If selected, I will prayerfully consider the work and always seek God's guidance.
I was raised at Settle Memorial United Methodist Church in Owensboro where I participated in the choirs and youth groups. Upon graduation from Memphis University I served for six years as an education and youth director in Texas and Tennessee at two United Methodist churches. I have been married for 39 years to Michael Canada, a retired elder in the Kentucky Conference; we have three grown children and two grandchildren. We have lived in Kentucky since 1969 serving at churches in Burkesville, Maysville, Hawesville, and presently we are at Mt. Lebanon UMC in Nicholasville. I helped co-dean a Jr. High camp for 10 years at Loucon.
I am active in my local United Methodist Women's unit and I am serving as the Spiritual Growth coordinator for the Lexington District UMW. I have written, illustrated, and published a children's book. Also I have several published articles.
I would consider it a privilege to participate as a delegate to the General and Jurisdictional Conferences. These are critical times for the United Methodist church to move ahead. We need to focus on our relationship with our creator God and how we can reach the world through the power of His love. I support the Traditional Plan. My prayer is that our denomination will continue to stand for truth, righteousness, and justice. My life scripture comes from Hosea 10:12: "Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you."
My name is Maggie Mae Hoffman. I am a 20 year old math education major at WKU. I was born and raised in the United Methodist Church and have been blessed to be a part of churches all across the Kentucky Conference. Currently, I am a member of Hindman UMC and an associate member of Faith UMC in Bowling Green. In addition, I serve on the Leadership Team at the WKU Wesley Foundation. I have served as a delegate to Annual Conference several times. For six years I served at Hindman UMC on the Administrative Council as the youth representative. For the past two summers, I was a Counselor at Camp Loucon. This summer, I am very excited to be interning with the Isaiah Project. It would be an honor to serve the Kentucky Conference as a delegate to General Conference.
The United Methodist Church has largely shaped who I am. I love our Church. As the future of our Church is uncertain I want to help shape the way forward. During the Special General Conference my generation was reduced to one voice. We do not speak with one voice and are not of one mind on the issue of human sexuality. I am a traditionalist because though I have searched, I have found no convincing explanation of the scriptures to the contrary. I believe the Bible is also clear that we are to love everyone and our current church battles are not loving. It broke my heart to watch the special General Conference. This issue has consumed our time, money, and resources to bring us only more uncertainty. If elected, I would support a mutually prepared amicable separation. It is time we all move forward to focus on loving God and loving people.
I am a proud United Methodist who was raised in the United Methodist Church. I will be graduating from Lindsey Wilson College in May 2019. I have been active in the church since I was a young child helping with children's church and have continued to be active through my college years. I currently lead a young adult group at Alexandria UMC and am very involved with the Lindsey Wilson College Christian Ministries program on campus. One day, I am hoping to become a medical missionary, bringing healthcare to those who need it most while sharing about the Ultimate Physician.
One thing, I love about the United Methodist Church is the connection we have all across the world. This partnership allowed me to serve for two months in Nicaragua as a Global Justice Volunteer, an opportunity out of the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. I believe the connectional life of the church allows us to truly live out the call in Matthew to go into all nations. This connection also permits us to be in communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ across the globe. We are able to spur each other on, celebrate in our successes, and support each other in our weaknesses.
I believe the church is called to welcome people from all walks of life while holding true to biblical orthodoxy. As a denomination, our discipline should continue to hold up the Gospel in its entirety. Together, we form a family of believers. A group united by a belief in a common mission, share a vision, and hold similar core values. As a denomination, we are then a part of an even larger family, the body of Christ, which crosses denominational lines.
I was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. I am a graduate of Asbury College with a BA in History, Secondary Education and a minor in accounting and have a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Kentucky. My business background includes 20 years in the banking industry in banks ranging from a small community bank to a large, super regional bank. I served as the treasurer and director of administrative services for nearly ten year for the Kentucky Annual Conference. I am currently serving the St. Matthews United Methodist Church as its administrator and financial secretary.
I have been a lifelong Methodist and am currently a member of the Shelbyville Centenary UMC. I was also a member of Lawrenceburg UMC, St. Luke UMC, and Lexington Aldersgate UMC and served in various positions including chair of the church council, chair of the finance committee, lay leader, board of trustees, treasurer, and staff parish relations committee.
It would be an honor to serve the Kentucky Annual Conference as a delegate to the general and jurisdictional conferences. I believe that holding the general and jurisdictional conferences to be fiscally responsible is a high priority. There will be matters coming to General Conference that will have tremendous financial implications for years to come and I believe that I have the understanding in these issues to be a strong resource for the delegates to the conferences. These matters will affect the ministry of the conference and of local churches. As a member of the board of the United Methodist Publishing House, I can also support both the board and the annual conference in matters relating to the discipleship at the general conference.
I was raised in a Christian family where my grandfather was pastor, my aunt played the organ and my uncle was choir director. The rest of my family either sang in the choir or taught Sunday school. I met my wife at her home church and was introduced to the Wesleyan theology of prevenient, justifying and sanctifying grace. Everything about John Wesley and the formation of the Methodist movement strongly resonated with me. My family joined the United Methodist Church in 1978 and have been United Methodists ever since.
In regards to my faith, I believe that God's grace and love are available to all. I believe we are called to love God and love others in all we do. I believe we are all called to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. As a delegate, I covenant with you: 1) to uphold the discipline that is aligned with scripture and binds us together as United Methodists; 2) to seek to listen and understand as opposed to be understood; 3) to speak with love and carefully choose my words to be respectful of all; 4) to listen to the Holy Spirit's leading through reason, scripture and tradition; and 5) to represent the Kentucky Annual Conference with dignity, grace and respect as a steward of your trust.
My family tree is full of Evangelical, EUB, UMC and Mennonite pastors; also family members fiercely in defense of both sides of the current debate on human sexuality. The future of our denomination is therefore of profound concern to me. Thus I'm asking for your support to be a 2020 General Conference Lay Delegate.
I am so grateful and proud to be part of a global denomination that invested the time and resources necessary to bring our UMC brothers and sisters from around the world together in St. Louis to meet, discuss, pray and decide what's best in regards to human sexuality going forward. Now that the decision is made the time has come for those on both sides of the debate to make peace with one another and a clean break from one another (if and where necessary) with genuine mutual expressions of God's love, good will and best wishes for each other's future.
I fully support the global decision of the recent special General Conference to remain a Traditional Church; and I fully support the most gracious and generous exit plan possible for those who do not agree. Both sides must now make the appropriate concessions and provisions to make this dignified dual vision a reality. And the sooner the better so as not to destroy further what credible witness of God's love both sides have sincerely tried to offer our lost and dying world so desperate to know our Savior!
It is my honor to be a part of the Kentucky Annual Conference and serve as an ordained elder in the many ministries of our conference. I currently serve as the Assistant Vice President for Intercultural Affairs at Asbury University, Wilmore, KY. As a lifelong Methodist I am committed to help the church do the hard work of living a life of faith in the market place, resulting in making disciples of Jesus Christ.
Our denomination faces pragmatic challenges and opportunities that need us to think biblically and respond culturally. The complex issues before us impact individual lives, and our denomination as a body of believers and as a religious organization. In its current form the Social Principles are consistent with biblical understandings. They help inform the work of the church in our society and in the world. If given the opportunity to represent the Kentucky Annual Conference, I will work to cultivate and develop a culturally competent Christ centered mission.
My name is Michael Sweeney, and I currently serve as the pastor of Cairo UMC in Henderson, KY. I graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in Finance and from Asbury Theological Seminary with a Masters of Divinity. I have had the honor and the privilege to serve in many different ministries throughout the conference including: Ida Spence Mission, Micah Mission, Owensboro District Operational Team, Winter Blitz and Aldersgate Camp. Currently, I serve on the Camp and Retreat Ministries Team, Henderson Methodist Hospital Board as the secretary of the board, Aldersgate Camp Committee, and I co-lead the Winter Blitz Team.
I have been a lifelong Methodist, and I received my call to ministry at Aldersgate Camp. I am honored to have been ordained in this conference, where I have covenanted to serve with my sisters and brothers through the ministries of Word, Order, Sacrament, and Service. I believe in the primacy and the authority of God's Holy Word, and I also believe that the Book of Discipline is in line with scripture.
If I am elected as a delegate, I plan to prayerfully represent the Kentucky Conference and honor the covenants that we have made together. There is a lot of uncertainty around the future of the United Methodist Church, but I know that God is not done with the church yet because the Triune God has already secured the future.
My name is Matt Seel and I have served as an ordained Elder since 2011. I am currently serving as the Pastor of Petrie Memorial UMC in the Pennyrile District. I have served on the Conference ANOW Team since 2013 and am currently serving as the chair. I served as the Conference Outreach Chair from 2016 to 2018. At the District level I have served on the District Operational Teams in both the Lexington and Pennyrile Districts. I also served on the Lexington dCOM from 2012-2016.
I have covenanted to serve alongside my fellow clergy through Word, Sacrament, Order and Service. To that end, I believe and teach that the Bible is God's Word and the primary way the Holy Spirit speaks to humanity. I believe the Word is best understood through the lens of tradition, experience and reason, with Scripture being our primary authority. I believe and uphold the sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism as means of God's grace open to all persons. I believe the Book of Discipline to be in harmony with the Scriptures and I will continue to uphold that as I covenanted with you to do upon my ordination. I believe our service in the church stems from our love of God and neighbor as we seek to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
As a delegate my goals would be to continue to uphold the covenant that connects us all as United Methodists. I will seek to understand rather than to be understood and I will continue to listen to God's leading as he reveals himself through Scripture, tradition, reason and experience. I will seek to represent the Kentucky Annual Conference graciously as a steward of your trust.
Although I was raised by Christian parents and professed faith myself at a young age, I did not become part of the UMC until I was well into adulthood. I was drawn by Wesleyan theology, with its emphasis on grace, the fullness of salvation, and the call to holy living.
I enjoyed two careers (nursing and business) before entering seminary at Louisville Presbyterian, where I graduated in 2005. I was subsequently commissioned a provisional elder in 2006 and fully ordained in 2009. My first appointment (2006-2014) was as Associate Pastor to Christ Church in Louisville. Since 2014 I have been serving Harned/Horsley Chapel in Breckinridge County.
What can I offer as a potential delegate to GC2020? The years of nursing taught me to relate to a wide variety of people, to be observant of what was happening around me, to make accurate assessments, and to maintain a calm and non-anxious demeanor in the middle of very stressful situations. Running the family business following the untimely death of my father meant not only taking charge of day to day operations, but also managing a staff of about 20, some of whom had worked for our family since I was a preschooler. In both situations I learned the importance of both listening and making the tough decisions. The years of seminary and ministry have sharpened my theological thinking, and I have maintained (even grown!) a love for Scripture.
My approach to Scripture and social issues is quite orthodox. GC2020 will doubtless offer challenges and items for decision that are yet unknown. If I have the honor of serving as a delegate, I aim to approach those matters humbly, prayerfully, and on the foundation of our historic Wesleyan way.
Since I became a Christian in college, the UMC has been my beloved spiritual home. I've served in pastoral ministry for 33 years – 26 years in Kentucky. I'm a graduate of Duke Divinity School (M.Div) and Asbury Seminary (D. Min).
I prefer to work in the local church, however, the current crisis compels me to attempt to serve as a GC delegate to try to help if possible. I support our Discipline's current positions on human sexuality, marriage, and ordination. While still imperfect, they balance grace and truth and offer a welcome to all persons without affirming behaviors or beliefs contrary to Scripture. However, maintaining these positions will not create unity because our crisis is more complex. This presenting issue reveals deeper divisions on issues such as: the authority and interpretation of Scripture; the validity of basic Christian doctrines; the authority of our Book of Discipline and General Conference governance; and respect for our global church. I sadly conclude that the progressive and conservative wings of our church can no longer coexist within the same denomination as it now exists. Many of our differences are deeply held moral convictions and further concession would require a compromise of conscience or a kind of rebellion against our view of God's will. Our "big tent" cannot be stretched any further without collapsing or becoming a ridiculous parody of church unity.
I don't wish to see a future where one side destroys the other (or both perish) or where people are forced to scatter or resort to lawsuits. I believe it is time to carefully consider ways to live in peace on very different paths. See Acts 5:38-39. I hope amicable separation will become a viable option, however, short of that I will work to maintain our current position if elected.
It is my honor and joy to be in ministry in the Kentucky Annual Conference. As a pastor and now as the District Superintendent of the Pennyrile District I have been privileged to be in ministry on the local church, district, and conference levels. I have a great love for the United Methodist Church, the people called Methodist, its mission "to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world," and the Lord our church serves.
Following the traumatic experience of the 2019 General Conference, it is now time for the UMC to focus. We must first focus on our theological heritage found in the doctrinal standards of the church and the sermons of John Wesley. What should hold the church together is a shared theology and a shared mission and not shared institutionalism. I believe our theological heritage supports the church's current position on human sexuality. Also, I think that it will help us to be loving and compassionate as we all move on to perfection. Commitment to our theological heritage will also help us to live faithfully into the covenant and promises that we make both individually and collectively.
We also need to focus on the mission of the church, shifting away from being an institution towards being a movement. This means shifting resources towards those most effectively living out the mission of the church. It also means a change in thinking away from being U.S. centric to being a movement that has a global impact.
I would be honored to represent the United Methodists of Kentucky at the 2020 General and Jurisdictional Conferences as we work to live into the mission of our church to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
My name is Andrew Singh and I am currently serving at Erlanger United Methodist Church in Erlanger, Kentucky since June of 2018. I grew up in India and attended Methodist Churches where my parents served as Pastors for over 20 years. I consider myself a product of American Methodist Missionaries who came to India many generations ago to sow the seeds of the Gospel. I am a fruit of their labor. God brought me to the United States at the age of sixteen to pursue my senior year of high school in a small town of Neodesha, Kansas. Rev. Carl and Sandra Ellis who were serving as Pastors of Neodesha United Methodist Church at that time opened their hearts, home and saw in me the call to ministry. They discipled and helped me to explore my call at Southwestern College, a United Methodist College in Winfield, Kansas. After graduating from Southwestern, I attended Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. At Southwestern College and Asbury Seminary, God expanded my vision and love for the Global church though meeting and developing friendships with Christians from all over the world.
I have served as a pastor in the Kentucky Annual Conference for almost 15 years serving as a Pastor at Wesley Meadows UMC (2004-2011) and Levelwoods UMC (2009-2011) charge and as an associate pastor at Georgetown First UMC (2011-2018) in Bluegrass District. I would love the opportunity to serve as a delegate from the Kentucky Annual Conference because I greatly believe in the mission, vision and future of our United Methodist Church. My humble prayer as a young adult Clergy person is to be an instrument of revival and continue to be in covenant with my Kentucky Conference family in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
After much prayer and discernment, I respectfully submit my name for consideration as a delegate to the 2020 General and Jurisdictional Conferences. This is indeed a time of great stress upon the life and ministry of our church. We can only pray that God is leading us through this time of uncertainty.
Having been a delegate to the 2016 General Conference as well as to the Special Session in 2019, I am well-positioned to continue the dialogue that marked those two conferences. In many ways, the 2020 General Conference will be an extension of both. If elected, you can count on me to faithfully and prayerfully dispatch the duties of a delegate. I will keep a level head, an open heart, and a listening ear, all the while operating from a more orthodox base. I will also seek to lend my experience as a delegate to the past seven General Conferences to the new delegation that will soon form.
Aside from the many things we face regarding human sexuality, I feel that my 38 years as a pastor of local churches positions me well to better understand those things dealing with local church ministry. Through the years I have consistently voted with local church ministry in mind.
Being the Chairperson of our Board of Pensions and Health Benefits fits me well to consider the upcoming pension legislation recommended by Wespath. Having been Chairperson of our Board of Ordained Ministry fits me well to consider any ministry issues that might arise.
My experience as Chairperson of the Kentucky Wesleyan College Board of Trustees fits me well to consider any issues related to higher education. Thank you for your prayerful consideration of me and others who might be called upon to serve in this way.
I am passionate about the United Methodist Church being vital and true to the Great Commission. Our vision, "Make Disciples for Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World" is right and good. Because this is one of the tensest times in the history of our denomination, our focus needs to be recaptured. One of the ways this can happen is by supporting the decision of our 2019 General Conference to hold to scriptural authority on human sexuality. I do not support redefining marriage and the ordination of practicing LGBTQ+ clergy. This would further plunge our church into decline.
I will represent Kentucky by praying, listening, holding to orthodoxy and voting in alignment with our current Book of Discipline and our Wesleyan theology and doctrine. My time as a pastor and DS with small, medium and large congregations has helped me to grow in my desire to see vitality in the local church. I also have experience with districts and Annual Conferences beyond Kentucky and an understanding and appreciation of the issues facing the UMC across our connection.
As a lifelong UMC member I have a deep commitment to the church. I am blessed to have served as a local pastor, a DS, and as a General Conference delegate twice. I am committed to the current statements on human sexuality, marriage and ordination in the Discipline, because I believe they are compassionate and biblically sustainable. As the proud father of a gay son, I am deeply moved by the emotions of this issue. I am absolutely convinced the church must welcome all persons. I am also convinced that the truths our Discipline upholds were true long before either my son or I arrived and will be true long after both of us are gone.
I am also committed to our UMC being a global church, not only in financial assistance and deed but in heart-felt trust and respect. The voice of the international church must never be taken for granted nor quieted. To discount it, or ask it to abstain, is to desecrate the graves of countless missionaries, our forebears, who went at great cost and sacrifice to share the Gospel message.
I believe it is only right to allow a local church to separate itself from the denomination, upon showing conscientious objection with the Discipline and meeting appropriate financial responsibilities in terms of retirement and perhaps other responsibilities, with their assets and properties intact. Finding a way to do that that is amicable and respectful, may be our greatest witness of love to the world for years to come. Forced love is not love. Forced unity is not unity.
As a delegate from Kentucky, I will faithfully represent the Annual Conference in matters of legislation at the General Conference and in election of bishops at the Jurisdictional Conference.
The Kentucky Annual Conference has demonstrated an open heart to people from all nations. I can testify to this fact as I was elected as one of our five Elder delegates to General Conference 2016 and 2019. Today, I come before you once again asking for your vote to represent us during the next General Conference in 2020. The issues at hand are more pressing than ever. The challenges we are facing in relation to human sexuality require special attention and decisive action to provide intentional healing for all. We will continue loving all people as persons of sacred worth, but also as a covenant person I will continue living out the uncompromising Word of God, and upholding the Book of Discipline to honor our church order of life and ministry.
As a person elected by you I will bear the responsibility not only as a delegate, but also as a leader who will walk side by side with you in our local churches, creating spaces for healing and hope. Regardless of which decisions come from General Conference, my role as an ordained Elder is to invest myself in bringing spiritual leadership to our church for the sake of people inside and outside of the UMC, for the sake of my family and for the sake of you. If elected, I promise to give myself to the duties of my election and finish the work God began in me for our church.
The United Methodist church has shaped my life since I was five years old. My call into ministry began at LaGrange College (a UM school) through leadership opportunities and a summer ministry project (similar to the Isaiah project). After graduating from Asbury Theological Seminary, I was ordained an elder in the South Georgia Conference in 2000 where it was my honor to serve for ten years as an Associate Pastor, at Warner Robins First and Albany First. My family moved to Kentucky in 2008 and I pastored South Shore First for four years and also served as District Staff, which included planning and implementing LACE for the Ashland District. For the past seven years, it has been my privilege to serve this Conference as the Associate Director of Connectional Ministries where I have worked to strengthen the ministries of Higher Education, Vital Congregations, ANOW (Advocacy, Nurture, Outreach, Worship), Safe Sanctuaries, Boundaries training, ELCC, Coaching and Board of Laity (LACE).
My ministry and leadership values include experiencing the extravagant love of Jesus and the call to love all people as God does. I value maintaining Scripture as a plumb line that speaks to people where they are. I value our Wesleyan distinctives of grace, Christian conferencing, and holiness that flows from the heart into everyday life. I value the beautiful tapestry of our denomination where ministries thrive because of our connection. I value the gift of harmony where people who believe differently hold space to find the common ground we share. I value the discerning work of the Holy Spirit in and through our church. I value the United Methodist church and prayerfully seek its witness in the world for this season.
At the 2016 General Conference, I was elected to serve as chair of the Faith & Order Legislative Committee. I also sponsored legislation to clarify and strengthen our statement on the primacy of Scripture in the quadrilateral. That petition was referred to the 2020 General Conference. If elected to return, I will continue to focus on revising "Our Theological Task" (BOD, 105) in order to refine the statement on Scripture as it relates to reason, tradition, and experience. I will also support the effort to include the Nicene Creed in our Doctrinal Standards (BOD, 104), an effort that was defeated in 2016.
As of this writing (March 2019), I am convinced we must avoid a repeat of the dynamics at work in the Saint Louis General Conference. I will support efforts to empower the two main coalitions in the current UMC to minister in the freedom of their principles independently of each other, and without recrimination or denigration of each other's convictions.
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We welcome and encourage children to get started with music at a young age. Throughout the year the kids are invited to perform in front of the congregation during our services. We offer children's chimes and children's choir. The kids always enjoy both of these activities so consider signing up for either today! Contact our Children's Minister, Mona Walker, if you are interested.
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Friday Fellowship is designed for 3rd-5th graders and their families to meet together two to four times a year for fun fellowship opportunities! For more information about dates and activities, please contact our Children's Minister, Mona Walker.
Our way of keeping children connected and engaged through fun and educational activities. Begin the night with Children's Hand Chimes from 6:30 to 7:10pm for rhythm, music, and fun. This is a great way to get children involved in music at an early age through an instrument that is fun and easy to learn. This is open to children in grades 1 through 8. From 7:10pm to 8:00pm is spiritual formation time where kids have the opportunity to learn real stories and lessons from the Bible. Contact our Children's Minister, Mona Walker, for more information.
The Worship Choir leads every week in the 8:30am and 11am sanctuary worship services and for special seasonal worship services. They also prepare a programmatic concert each Christmas to share the story of the birth of Christ with the church and the community. They rehearse on Wednesday nights from 6:30 – 8:00pm in the Choir Room, located in the lower level. No experience is necessary, only a love of music and a love of Jesus, and the desire to share both with the church!


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When should you be making love to have the greatest chance of conceiving?
How to get pregnant When should you have sex? 3
Couples who have sex 2-3 times a week are usually able to conceive within six months. Then there is no need to have sex at a particular time or to calculate when ovulation takes place. If you do not make love that often, it is useful to know when your ovulation occurs.
Time of sexual intercourse:
5 days before ovulation › 1 in 10 chances.
Time of sexual intercourse:
On the day of ovulation › 1 in 3 chances.
If you have sex regularly and you are still not pregnant after 6 months, it may be useful to track your ovulation. When you make love 1-3 days before ovulation, the sperm alive from that intercourse has a chance to fertilize the egg. Sperm survives about 72 hours; however the egg survives only 36 hours and is only fertile for 12 hours. Of the millions of sperm resulting from ejaculation, no more than one hundred reaches its objective. And in the end, only one will win the race and merge with the egg. It does not matter if the sperm fertilizing the egg is old or new. Both are likely to produce a healthy baby.
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|Up a level
Cooch, Mary and Foster, Helen and Costello, Eamon (2014) Our MOOC with Moodle. In: HOME (Higher education Online: MOOCs the European way), November 2014, Porto, Portugal.
Dalton, Elizabeth (2017) "Learn Moodle August 2016" anonymized data set. [Dataset]
Kop, Rita and Fournier, Hélène and Mak, John Sui Fai (2011) A Pedagogy of Abundance or a Pedagogy to Support Human Beings? Participant Support on Massive Open Online Courses. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distributed Learning, 12 (7). pp. 74-93. ISSN 1492-3831


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Great Wall Trail
At A Glance
1.63 mi one-way
Difficulty Rating: 1.63
Steepness: Climbs Steeply
Tread Condition: Moderately Rough
Trail Number: 489
Only open to bikes and horses on the short stretch from Granny Burrel Falls trail to the old shelter. This is an old road.
Intersecting Trails
This trail is located in the Panthertown Valley area. For a list of all the trails in that area, see the Panthertown Valley trails list page.
GPS Map
Download GPS Data
Click routes, trails, or points on the map to download them (on the GPS Data tab).
Trail Segments
Trails are often made up of several connecting paths which may have different characteristics, allowed uses, and seasons. This trail is divided into multiple segments as follows:
Granny Burrell Falls Tr. to Shelter
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 217 ft
Shelter to Steep Climb
- Allowed Uses: Hiking
- Length: 0.86 mi
Steep Climb to Mac's Gap Tr.
- Allowed Uses: Hiking
- Length: 0.43 mi
Total Calculated Length: 1.32 mi
This value is derived from our underlying map data, and it may not match officially published information.
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Check out these top tips for ways to improve your rubbish and recycling management. Don't forget to check out our Rubbish and Recycling Directory for more information about whether your item is trash or a recyclable treasure.
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Tours of the Southern landfill are available. The tour gives a history of waste operations, looks at the volume and types of waste being sent to landfills, and shares ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. Visit our free landfill tour section for all the information you need and how to book.
Kiwi families throw out about $560 worth of food a year, which hurts the wallet as much as the planet. We support Love Food Hate Waste NZ so they can inform, inspire, and enable Wellingtonians to waste less food –and save money.
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and Receive Complimentary E-Books of Previous Editions
Human rights are moral and/or legal norms that protect people from severe abuses by establishing a common standard of just treatment for all individuals. While rights generally may be customary, contractual, legal, or civil, a human right is one held by a person simply in virtue of the fact she is a human being. (Some human rights, however, e.g., cultural rights, may be held collectively by groups of human beings.) While the duty to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights (Eide, 1984) falls primarily upon states, human rights have implications for the obligations of others, including individual citizens, corporations, non-governmental organizations, and international actors (e.g., the World Trade Organization).
The modern conception of human rights arose after World War Two; the rights then articulated were designed to prevent states of the future from committing similar atrocities to those committed in that war (Morsink, 1999). The countries of the United Nations (UN) adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Since that time the UN has adopted a number of declarations and conventions further specifying and expanding that list of rights.
Representatives from a large number of UN member countries (among them China, Argentina, Lebanon, Cuba, India, France, Egypt, the USSR, the United States, and Pakistan), as well as non-governmental organizations, philosophers, and leaders from a number of different faiths around the world (Morsink, 1999), were included in the drafting process. Thus, there is little support for the claim that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is culturally biased and based solely on "western" values (American Anthropological Association, 1947).
"First generation" civil and political rights and "second generation" social, economic, and cultural rights are included in the UDHR. The rights listed in the UDHR were further specified in two separate covenants: the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) and the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). Over time, the scope of human rights has been extended to recognize rights of women, children, and the disabled, as well as "third generation" cultural and group rights, including the rights of indigenous peoples (see, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRD), Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRI)).
Intellectual Property: The right of to control access to and use of one's intellectual creations.
Cultural Property: The right of cultural groups to control access to and use of their traditional cultural expressions and traditional knowledge.
Information Right: Rights that specify claims and duties with regard to the communication, collection, access, use, and control of information. Information rights include the rights to privacy, intellectual property, free expression, and access to information.
Informational Privacy: The ability to control access to one's personal data and how the data may be used.
E-Human Right: Human right that specify claims and duties in relation to information and communication technologies.
Freedom of Expression: The right to express ones beliefs, values, and feelings through speech, writing, or art.
Right: A (moral and/or legal) claim that an individual or group can make upon others. For every right there is a (moral and/or legal) duty of others to act so as to respect that right.


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About Mohave Wrestling Club
- The Mohave Wrestling Club is an organization based out of Bullhead City, Arizona that promotes the sport of wrestling. The coaching staff offers the oppertunity for boys and girls to succeed, not only on the mat, but in life. We pride ourselves in promoting positive self esteem, leadership skills, discipline, hard work, teamwork, and sportsmanship. Our overall goal is to help give necessary life skills to young men and women that will aid them in a successful future. Our club is 100% non profit and all of our coaches our non paid volunteers.
Why I'm Raising Funds
- We are raising funds to help offset the cost of running a successful program while keeping it affordable for our student-athletes. The funds will be used to purchasing uniforms, equiptment, tournament fees, and travel costs. With the cost of most youth sports travel teams on the rise, we pride ourselves on keeping our program affordable for anyone to join.
Join My Team and Spread the Word!
- We truley appriciate any contribution that you make! Every dollar donated helps our club and goes directly to the kids.
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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The third quarter was good to the airlines. After months of being frozen out of the credit markets, lending opened up to the tune of billions, flowing into the troubled carriers' war chests and encouraging the issuance of new shares.
That relieved investors anxious of potential bankruptcies, and they leapt back into the sector with a vengeance. Since early June, the benchmark NYSE Airline Index XAL, +0.15% has soared by more than 50%.
But now that they have the cash to survive, Wall Street will be looking for signs they will also grow and thrive. Airlines kick off the industry's earning season next week, and analysts and investors are hoping to see signs that forward bookings, particularly among business travelers, are starting to tick upwards.
"There is a high correlation between corporate profits and business travel so an economic upturn should lead to more business travel," said Michael Derchin, an analyst with FTN Equity Capital Markets. "Of course, the marketing people will have to convince the finance folks to relax travel budgets which have been very tight this year."
Alaska Airlines, one of the few carriers that report its future bookings, said Thursday that October bookings were up 2.5 points. An encouraging sign, Derchin said, as the month is primarily a business travel period.
But for the most recent quarter the industry is still expected to post heavy losses. Ticket discounting to get people to fly and the slow return of the premium-paying business traveler has taken a steep toll, while the airlines continue to wrestle with historically high fuel prices.
Southwest Airlines LUV, -0.62% starts things off on Oct. 15, with analysts looking for a third-quarter loss of two cents a share, on average, according to FactSet Research. The Dallas-based carrier said it lost 16 cents a share last year as a rapid decline in fuel prices brought about non-cash charges in its fuel-hedging program.
Shares of Southwest climbed 16% over the third quarter and traded most recently at $9.59 each. However, the stock is down more than 25% for the year.
Southwest is followed by its Texas neighbor American Airlines parent company AMR Corp. AMR, +0.00% on Oct. 21. Analysts expect the Fort Worth airline will report a quarterly loss of 77 cents a share. Last year the Fort Worth, Texas, airline reported a loss of $1.39 a share after one-time items.
Shares of AMR rose more than 60% over the quarter, and traded most recently at $7.68 each. The stock is down about 7% from a year ago.
Continental Airlines CAL, -2.28% also reports on Oct. 21, with analysts predicting the only profit among the big carriers: one penny a share. The year before the carrier said it lost $2.14 a share.
Houston-based Continental is one of the few airlines that reported September traffic growth, raising hope the erosion in industry-wide demand has come to an end. Flights carried more people, too, which should help airlines continue to raise airfare after months of cuts.
Shares of Continental jumped about 40% in the third quarter and are up about 9% for the year.
Next up is Delta Air Lines DAL, +0.07%, which reports Oct. 22. Wall Street is forecasting a loss of 6 cents a share. A year-ago comparison isn't available since the Atlanta carrier has since merged with Northwest Airlines.
On like the major airlines, Alaska Airlines owner Alaska Air Group ALK, -0.41% is expected to report a hefty profit, also on Oct. 22.
Analysts predict the Seattle-based carrier will report third-quarter earnings of $2.16 a share, on average, compared to $1.10 a share last year after adjusting for a non-cash fuel-hedging charge.
US Airways LCC, +0.00% has yet to schedule a date for releasing its financial results. Analysts are looking for a loss of 86 cents a share, on average, after reporting a loss of $8.45 a share in the year-ago period.
Like Southwest, Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways got slammed last year from non-cash charges in its fuel hedging program.
Shares of US Airways leapt more than 30% in the third quarter and traded most recently at $4.39 each. In the last year the stock has fallen about 36%.
United Airline parent company UAL Corp. UAUA has also not scheduled a release date.
Analysts predict the Chicago-based carrier will report a loss of 98 cents a share, on average. Last year UAL said it lost $1.99 a share after adjusting for the negative impact of its fuel-hedging program.
Shares of UAL rose 32% for the third quarter, but are down about 21% over the past year. Most recently the stock traded at $7.22.


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free verse, spare change, loose thoughts, personal essays, poems, drones, raves, reviews, dreams, themes, head revs, short stories, interviews and inner views
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Millthorpe Cemetery Blues
There's nothing like the afternoon rays of the sun. Like country roads and their turning. The AM radio pushes me on into a rising curve, into an Elton John song from the 1970s, 'Where to Now St Peter?' It reminds me of being 15 years old; of being 47 now: "I took myself a blue canoe and I floated like a leaf".
A cemetery swings into view as I enter Millthorpe. White crosses and granite tombstones tumble over a lazy hill. White clouds sit in a blue Australian sky. "I understand I'm on the road where all that was is gone…so where to now St Peter?"
Ahead a funeral cortege is bumping along, kicking up dust as it pulls out from the gravel beside an empty Catholic church. There's something lonely and bright about the procession as six or so vehicles scroll by, black duco flashing, onto the bitumen and away.
I get the feeling I should go visiting the graveyard and spin the wheel. As if the song on the radio and the funeral cortege had invited me in. Truth is I know this hill in sunlight and in frost. I know the sound of the wind in its trees, the jitter of the sparrows high on the winter spires of the branches. I've been here before.
Why anyone would resist visiting a country graveyard mystifies me. The sense of local history that such places give off; the feelings of serenity and sadness that tangle with it; the way you can feel both complete and dissolved, as if you've always belonged there... the closest thing I can relate it to is looking out over the ocean and letting the weight of your life go.
Of course there are those who find graveyards boring, even detestable places, who strictly regard them as provinces for those who grieve - not to mention a little confronting to one's own mortality. But it's more than just historical train-spotting or maudlin geriatric tourism that draws me in. My visits usually end up being connected to events like the ones I've described, as if I have somehow been 'called'. Which is how I find myself standing on a hill in the middle of a sunny winter afternoon surrounded by the dead again.
Millthorpe lays half way between Bathurst and Orange in country New South Wales: 'pop. 650' the sign says. For a while it was my home. I've written a book here, made friends and lost contact with them, come back and got drunk with some new ones. One of them lost his wife and baby daughter in a motor vehicle accident a few years ago, out along the back road to Bathurst. I'd see the single flower he and his surviving daughter left on the turn where it happened. Like graves these roadside memorials mark out a place where souls have the left the world while we're still saying goodbye. And though I never knew the deceased I'd slow down and bless myself every time I drove past, till one day the flower was gone.
Millthorpe's official graveyard has a population of some 2000 souls and growing from the looks of two fresh mounds of soil at the top of the hill today. I get out of the car and watch a burgundy haired punk, country poor in track pants and old running shoes, making her way past me. Catching her face is like looking into someone's private Calvary, and I avert my eyes as she continues climbing towards the piles of dirt and that moment of grief when everyone has gone and there's time to be alone.
Below me the St Canna's Catholic Church is so quiet it seems abandoned. I take in the sheep-dotted farmlands across the road as they haze outwards to Mount Canobolas, the highest point in Australia west of the Great Dividing Range. A few days later Trevor Pascoe, the President of the Millthorpe District Historical Society, will tell me this is "the best view in town".
It's not unusual for graveyards to occupy prime real estate, as anyone here in Millthorpe - let alone visitors to cemeteries like Waverly in Sydney or Robertson in the southern Highlands - will attest. The same is true the world over. Fields and mountains, restless seas and big skies: we apparently feel a need to give the dead their vistas. But as I stand on this hill I realize it is us - the living - who need that horizon when we come calling on those who've passed away.
Locations like these are exposed and elementally intense, adding to the theatre of the dead. Trevor Pascoe calls Millthorpe's graveyard "the prettiest part of town and usually the coldest part of town too" and it can be a relief when the wind drops on a bitter day. As we talk a cloud shadow wipes its mood over the graveyard like a thumbprint, birds go suddenly quiet. It's not just a matter of 'ghosts'; in moments like these you feel something of the Aboriginal idea that the land itself is alive.
Trevor points to the ground directly in front of us. He explains how many early graves from the last century are lost: wooden crosses have fallen and rotted away, others had nothing to mark them at all. "There's one here," Trevor says, "I can feel it in the subsidence." We've all been taught our graveyard manners as children, been told not to walk over the dead. Call it respect if you like but even before this unmarked spot an aura pushes us back.
According to Trevor "the first grave [in Millthorpe] was a little girl back in 1867." You walk around and witness the family pain wrought in times of Federation, World War One and Great Depression: the babies and children felled by pneumonia, bronchitis, diphtheria and whooping cough. One grave shows a boy born on Christmas morning, dead ten days later. Other family plots paint recurring stories of loss in mere dates and details. Mothers are often with their newborn, like Catherine Burke and her baby in "June 1912": "I sleep so peaceful in my grave / With baby at my breast / So dear husband do not mourn / For we are at rest."
Gravestone verses, Bible quotes, personal notes, some lyrical and transcendent, others brutishly accepting of God's hand in things, others unintentionally comical – "the best is yet to come" – all these words give a cemetery its consoling force and poetic life: "We are nor dead but sleeping here. We were not yours but Christ's alone. He loved us best and took us home… Loved in life. Treasured in death. Beautiful memories are all that are left… Not lost, but gone before."
Many sentiments are repeated ad infinitum: "Rest in Peace… Peace, Perfect Peace… Thy Will Be Done." There's an oddly choral feeling to these phrases on gravestone after gravestone. As if, in the end, we do run out of words and a form of prayer or chant is all we can manage.
You could nonetheless fill an encyclopaedia with the language of these stones and its origins in prayer and poetry. For a time what were called 'Graveyard Poets' flourished in England in the 18th century, capturing the public's imagination and laying the ground (so to speak) for the Romantic and Gothic movements to come. Arguably the most famous of these was Thomas Gray, whose 'Elegy in a Country Graveyard' (1750) recounts the poet's own cemetery reveries: "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. / The lowing herd winds slowly o'oer the lea, / The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, / And leaves the world to darkness and to me."
Trevor Pascoe says he has "done a lot of grave-yarding". Looking for his forebears in the U.K. as well as locally. The tourism centre in Millthorpe gets at least two or three enquiries every weekend from people tracing their family histories. Trevor's parents, Neville and Ivy ("The Lord is My Shepherd") are both buried here, and likely he will be too. Although a Columbarium was installed at the foot of the cemetery over a decade ago, cremation is not for him. "To me there's just something more respectful about people being placed in the ground."
Behind us the Anglican church St Mark's sits prestigiously high on the hill. The Rector, Reverend Robert Myers, talks to me about "the committal" that takes place at gravesides. He explains there is a carpet covering the hole which is then removed when the coffin arrives "so that the grave is ready to receive". "We commit the body to the ground, or in the case of cremation to be interned, in the belief that its purpose has been fulfilled," he says. "And we commend the soul to God's merciful keeping. Burial is the most common in the country. Cremation is still more of a city thing."
It's hard not to be aware of your 'place' in this, to think of parents, grandparents, even your own children. For me graveyards are about a return to God in some elusive form, or at least our hopes for a greater connectedness. Maybe memory itself is a kind of graveyard? I'd be a liar if I didn't admit I am still a Catholic in this world of stone and flowers. And yet it's the poetry of rock 'n' roll that dawns in me most, appropriately enough the lyrics to 'Cemetery Gates', the great Smiths song where Morrissey speaks of Yeats, Keats and Wilde before lamenting, "So we go inside and gravely read the stones. / All those people all those lives where are they now? / With loves and hates and passions just like mine?"
Millthorpe's 'life' is told through family names: Redmond, Foley, McGlynn, Hayes, Hooper and McCooey proliferate. Sheer numbers in the Anglican quarter affirm the dominant faith of the town. Lichen beatifies the stone and marble, even as it creates an acid environment that eats away at verses and names. A few pinus radiata trees have been cut down because their roots were tilting the graves. Others have died because of the drought. Amid the cracks and moss and fallen trees this aesthetic of decay and erasure accentuates the fact graveyards can die too.
A half hour's drive away is Carcoar. Even people in Millthorpe say its graveyard "is really the one to see". But I never seem to make it past the pub in Carcoar on each of my visits. Once upon a time Carcoar competed with Bathurst to be the administrative centre of the Central Western District, but the discovery of gold west of the town ruined the town, blinded it to such stable possibilities. I think about Carcoar now because as a thirteen year old boy I used to stare at Brett Whiteley's painting The Road to Carcoar – which was in the possession of the Newcastle Regional Art Gallery in the town where I am from - and yearn to touch it. I had never seen a painting before that used stones and other materials layered into the paint. It gave off a feeling that this yellowish painting was a clay-and-sunlight hallucination of the landscape itself.
To some extent I've set foot on this road to Carcoar too. Whiteley would use Millthorpe as a base to then trek out west and work on his landscapes. He'd also retreat to Millthorpe during tough times with his heroin addiction. I'm sure he spent time in this graveyard like me, looking and thinking. It makes me wonder about the history in the ground that might have affected him. What Aboriginal people would say is the country's Dreaming force. Unlike the discoveries west of Carcoar - and at other sites like Ophir, Lucknow and Brown's Creek - Millthorpe (then known as Spring Grove) was never 'gold country'. Instead it was the place where people settled after the gold ran out, where they realized there was good land for wheat, stock fodder, fruit and potatoes. It was to this historically Protestant farming and working community that Whiteley came to get his head straight and be himself again, to 'dry out'.
An 1870 monument to John Hardman Australia Lister has pride of place here nonetheless. It was Lister and his friend William Tom Jnr who found gold in the district at Ophir. Country lads, they took the information to their 'partner', an American called Edward Hargreaves who'd already experienced the Californian gold rush. Hargreaves reported it and claimed the reward as well as historical credit as the first to find gold in Australia. It would not be till after Lister's death his contribution was recognised, belated praise that gives his grave an air of missed opportunity and betrayal.
At the bottom of the hill I notice an old woman weeding a narrow garden beside the Columbarium. Her name is Mavis Harvey and she says she is "visiting" her husband. Mavis was "born in town in 1928 and never had any real reason to leave. I've been to Queensland. And Nyngan! It doesn't matter where you are as long as you are happy and contented," she assures me, getting back on her knees to dig. "I have a nice day whenever I can be in the dirt and weeds, boy! I'm happy enough here. And yet so many people out there are looking for something and cannot find it. Damned if I know what they are looking for."
We hear the sounds of children playing carried over to us by gusts of wind. Mavis smiles, tells me how her grandchildren ask, "If they [the dead] get out at night and look at the flowers?" I picture a clutch of sweet peas back on a grave at the top of the hill, left their fresh and loyal as the morning, seventeen years after the woman they were for has passed away.
Mavis has two hair-pins in the shapes of a golden shell and a similarly blue flower holding back her thin, grey-brown strands. She reminds me of a young girl on a date as she waves me goodbye, garden spade in her hand. Birds are making their silvery, jostling calls among the late afternoon branches. From the roadside I can see a park that lies next to the graveyard, full of children laughing and kicking a ball.
- Mark Mordue
* An edited version of this story was first published in the Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum 'The Essay' pages, September 15-16, 2007 under the title 'Ashes to ashes, dust to trust'.
3 comments:
- Sam Webster said...
ah - that final tagline reminded me where I had read this. The SMH version was plastered upon the wall of Level 4 in Bon Marche a few weeks back.
What struck me most was the idea of a floating catholicism that kind of wilts in and out of you. I think that is an image that clashes with the very traditional knowledge of the catholic church, but it really cuts to the heart of faith/religion - some sort of yardstick for where you came from I guess.
Camilla mentioned you're working on a new novel. After reading Dastgah, I can't wait!
- November 21, 2007 at 9:45 PM
- Mark Mordue said...
Hey Sam - Thanks for the comments. Pretty damned subtle yourself, that insight about a "floating Catholicism that kind of wilts in and out of you". Am assuming we share similar roots / uprootedness on that front when it comes to faith. Yeah, working on a novel. So close and yet so far. Hallulujah for deadlines (end of December).
- November 22, 2007 at 9:47 PM
Very evocative, Mark. I love writing, music, art that dredges exciting half-images, half-moods out of my mind. Additional beauty to go with the beauty created. Elsewhere there was discussion of the ABC wantonly and irresponsibly letting their arts division decay. Art evokes - sport does not. Preserve art! Let sport look after itself, even if I help by watching the Tour de France.
- August 3, 2011 at 8:45 PM