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Disaster Response and Recovery
Higher Education & Campus Ministry
Pan-Methodist Campaign for Children in Poverty
8/20/2019
Dear Friends, Many times since the 2019 Annual Conference I have heard some version of the comment, “Annual Conference teachers and preachers Bishop Bob Farr and Dr. Candace Lewis were great. I wish we could have heard more from them!” Good news! Bishop Farr and Dr. Lewis will both be featured at the North Alabama Conference 2019 Gathering of the Orders and Fellowship of Local Pastors and Associate Members on October 27-28 at Sumatanga Camp and Conference Center. In the course of 28 hours, they ...
8/9/2019
Dear Friends, Back-to-back U.S. mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, this past weekend have been a stark reminder of the frequency of horrific killings in the U.S. Thirty-one persons died in one weekend from those two events. Mass shootings in the U.S. are occurring on such a regular basis that some countries are warning their citizens to take extra precautions when traveling here. As followers of Jesus Christ, how do we respond to such violence in our own country, especially when...
7/16/2019
Dear Friends, Family gatherings are great when everything is going well, everyone is getting along and positivity abounds. However, sometimes the most meaningful and growth-producing experiences occur when family get-togethers take place in the midst of dicey and challenging dynamics. Our United Methodist family is struggling right now, especially in the United States. On one hand, this makes Conference events and District gatherings challenging. On the other hand, it causes them to be opportune...
7/3/2019
Dear Friends, My husband Lee and I were serving as clergy in the Kentucky Conference when we received an invitation from our Bishop, Robert C. Morgan, to participate in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. After my parents offered to care for our 7 and 5-year-old children while we were away, Lee and I registered for the pilgrimage. We are both glad that we did, as this ten-day pilgrimage proved to be life-changing. Since then, Lee and I have taken four additional journeys to Israel, three of which ...
6/13/2019
Dear Friends, “And Are We Yet Alive?” Methodists have opened Annual Conferences with a rendition of this powerful Charles Wesley hymn since our inception in the late 1700s. As we sang this question at the opening worship service of the 2019 North Alabama Conference, the answer was evident. Yes, the North Alabama Conference is alive, energetic, diverse, principled and committed. We also are a Conference consisting of persons with varying perspectives on many matters. Our life together is not easy...
5/14/2019
Dear Friends, The Spring 2019 Council of Bishops meeting took place May 5-9 in Chicago. Throughout the meeting I experienced rich covenant group sharing, meaningful worship and candid discussion about the present and future of the United Methodist Church. The Council of Bishops intentionally put hope in the center of our conversation even as we grappled with the reality of the deep differences and brokenness that exist in our beloved United Methodist Church. A summary of the week’s outcome can ...
4/21/2019
Dear Friends, I have a deep appreciation for Charles Wesley, brother of Methodism’s founder, John. A prolific hymn writer and gifted musician, Charles penned more than 6,000 hymns, many of which continue to speak deep theological truths to us today. One of my favorite Wesley hymns is “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”* The words are particularly meaningful to me this Easter season against the backdrop of challenges like my Dad’s recent death, the conflict in our beloved United Methodist Church ...
4/4/2019
Dear Friends, Thank you so much for the many ways in which you have reached out to my family and me in the recent death of my father, Rev. Frank Wallace. We appreciate your expressions of support and love during this time when we are celebrating Dad’s life and grieving his death. The many e-mails, texts, cards, floral arrangements, phone calls and visits have touched us greatly. Your kindness has been a comfort to us in our loss. Again, thanks for your thoughtfulness. As always, it is a ...
2/27/2019
Photo by Kathleen Barry, UMNS Below is a video message from Bishop Wallace-Padgett from St. Louis following the close of the Special Session of General Conference. Transcript: Hello. I am Debra Wallace-Padgett, resident bishop of the North Alabama Conference. I am speaking from St. Louis, Missouri, a few hours after our special General Conference has concluded. This week has taken several twists and turns, leaving participants, leaders and observers fatigued. Some in our church are grateful ...
2/18/2019
Dear Friends, As always, it is a privilege to serve as your bishop. You may recognize the previous sentence as a way in which I typically conclude my blogs. It is more than that, though. It is also a deep-felt expression of how I feel about serving as your episcopal leader. Granted, sometimes I am disappointed and frustrated by situations related to our ministry together. I am sure that many of you are too. Mostly, though, you and your ministries inspire and encourage me! Why? Baptisms, ...
