What are your experiences and areas of service that you believe will be valuable in your role as a General Conference delegate?

Global Methodist Church Service:

-General Conference Credentialing Team

-South Georgia Certified Lay Ministry Coordinator and Designer

-South Georgia Annual Conference Planning Team (Worship Leader)

-South Georgia Leadership Development Team

-Valdosta Connectional Community Presiding Elder

United Methodist Church Prior Experience:

-Secretary for South Georgia Council of Finance and Administration (2016-2023)

-Licensing School Preaching Instructor (2017-2022)

-Course of Study Preaching Instructor (2022-2023)

-Lay Ministry Trainer (Basic, Advanced, and CLM) (2019-2022)

Most of my experience serving the broader church has been in education and leadership development for both clergy and laity. I believe that would be the area I can be most useful, but I also have experience in worship that might be helpful as we approve liturgies and worship practices, and my 7 years working in conference finance gave me good insights into stewarding resources for large connectional bodies.

Describe why you believe that God has potentially called you to serve as a General Conference delegate.

As someone that has 30 years of ministry ahead of me in the Global Methodist Church, I am passionate about helping us lay a solid foundation that we can build on to equip the church to make Christ known and to raise up disciples. So much of our effectiveness as a movement will hinge on leadership that we develop as a denomination, which is why I jumped in head first to develop a Certified Lay Ministry track from scratch for the South Georgia Conference and the North Georgia District. I believe establishing the role of bishops and the nature of leadership development (clergy and lay) will be amongst the most important work completed during the Convening General Conference. In terms of bishops, we know that we do not want UMC Bishops 2.0, and so finding the right role and accountability structures for episcopal leadership is vital. In terms of leadership development, I believe my experience in both clergy and lay training will give me a good sense of what is needed in our education and training to equip harvest workers for the advance of the kingdom. I plan to attend regardless of being selected as a delegate, as I am already signed up to serve as a part of the Credentialing Team for General Conference. I know we will have plenty of capable candidates, and it would be an honor to serve South Georgia and the GMC as a whole. Thank you for your consideration, and God bless!