Disaster Response and Recovery
Higher Education & Campus Ministry
Pan-Methodist Campaign for Children in Poverty
12/28/2009
Emory University's Candler School of Theology is helping make theological education affordable for the next generation of Christian leaders by hosting a special scholarship event Feb. 28-March 2, 2010. Leadership Candler will bring together a distinguished group of prospective Master of Divinity students from across the country and the world. The three-day event includes interviews with scholarship committees, visits to classes and conversations with Candler's faculty. Leadership Candler also ...
7/24/2009
by Mike Stonbraker, Northwest District Superintendent July 19, 2009 was a very special day for Rex Manasco pastor of Halltown United Methodist Church. Rex is beginning his second year at Halltown. The church has been both an honor and pleasure for Rex and his new bride Carla. However, physically it has been a real challenge since the very beginning of his ministry at Halltown. On March 25, 2008 Rex was diagnosed with Leukemia. Chemotherapy and extended stays in the hospital became part of his ...
6/6/2009
Last week 16 of our newest pastors gave up trips to the beach, family time and packing to come together at Camp Sumatanga for a 5 day Residents in Ministry or RIM retreat. They were led by various pastors in the North Alabama Conference in such subjects as Ministry by Strengths, Vision and Courage, Self-Care and Family Systems Theory. However, the central feature of the retreat was forming Covenant Groups which will be the anchor for their budding ministries. "We can always read books," ...
6/3/2009
The United Methodist Young Clergy Network is leading a 40-day prayer campaign for renewal, hope, and clarity of call for the church. North Alabama Conference clergy Jack Hinnen and Mike Holly are two of the young clergy who are contributing to this 40 days of prayer. In the campaign, which began May 18 on the organization’s revamped Web site, young United Methodist leaders from more than 20 annual conferences are asking God to guide them through the darkness of their times and to give them a ...
4/7/2009
EXPLORATION 2009, scheduled for Nov. 13-15 in Dallas, Texas, addresses The United Methodist Church’s need for young clergy by offering youth and young adults who feel God’s call a chance to explore that call. “Today more than ever, the denomination needs to sponsor events that invite, train, and support young people as they answer their call to ordained ministry,” said the Rev. Meg Lassiat, director of Student Ministries, Vocation, and Enlistment at the General Board of Higher Education and ...
11/7/2008
On November 6-7 the North Alabama Conference Committee on Ministerial Integrity held a Clergy Misconduct Response Team training event at the United Methodist Center in Birmingham. The focus of the event was to train the conference Response Team to assist local congregations, staffs, and clergy in the process of bringing justice and healing after an incident of sexual misconduct in the church. The District Superintendents were participants as well so that they might fully understand the response...
8/6/2008
Four North Alabama Conference clergy have been selected for the first rotation of the Young Pastors’ Network with Adam Hamilton of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection and Mike Slaughter of Ginghamsburg Church. Those clergy are Mary Bendall, associate pastor of Tuscaloosa First UMC; Wade Griffith, pastor of Trinity (Tuscaloosa) UMC; Jack Hinnen, associate pastor of Riverchase UMC; and Michael Holly, associate pastor of Canterbury UMC. These candidates were all nominated by Bishop ...
6/23/2008
Annual Conference 2008 concluded on Sunday, June 22 at Huntsville First UMC with the Service of Commissioning. During the service 5 new residents in ministry were commissioned. They will make up the second class of Residents in Ministry in the North Alabama Conference. Those commissioned included William Timothy Alexander Michael Alan Katschke Suzanne Evelyn Katschke Gregory Lee Anderson Reynolds Clauzell Ridgeway Williams Commissioning implies that the person is being "sent" by the Annual ...
6/17/2008
On Sunday, June 22, the North Alabama Conference will conclude with a holy time of worship at Huntsville First UMC at 5 p.m. as it commissions the new class of probationary elders and deacons. This will make up the second class of Residents in Ministry in the North Alabama Conference This service will conclude with an altar call for others who are feeling a call to ordained ministry. So congregations are encouraged to bring those who are feeling such a call to ministry to experience this time ...
5/15/2008
On May 10, students of Memphis Theological Seminary celebrated their graduation. Among these graduates were several North Alabama Conference students. North Alabama Conference Bishop William H. Willimon was the Commencement speaker. The North Alabama Conference graduates included Jeff Davis receiving a Doctor of Ministry degree; and Clauzell Williams, Baxter Chism, Sally Harris, Joseph Karr and Lori Carden, all receiving Master of Divinity degrees. “United Methodism has some of the most ...