Who are these people What do they do?
by Annette Bender
In June, Holston welcomed a new youth coordinator, pastoral counselor and Wesley Institute director. Two months later, we’re finaly getting around to asking:
The conference staff looks a lot different than it did just a few months ago.
In spring 2003, Holston had 34 staff members: 16 in Knoxville, 18 in Johnson City. Today, there are 29 conference employees: 16 in Knoxville, 13 in Johnson City. Six are part-time.
Some changes were effected by retirements, resignations, and reappointments. Some posi- tions have been eliminated or restructured in response to the budget crunch. Other changes are part of the move to centralize financial oper- ations in Knoxville.
The shifting of staff and offices will continue through fall as the Knoxville Conference Center accommodates new employees, conference lead- ers say. In the meantime, new staff members Dan Gray, Gary Mauldin, and Caryl Griffin have had more than two months to settle into key leadership positions in Holston. Here's what they have to say about their first weeks on the job, their goals, and more.
Passionate about youth ministry Dan Gray has a pet peeve. He doesn't think people should refer to youth as “the church of tomorrow.” Never mind that that was the theme of a youth presentation at Annual Conference in June.
“They're just so much more than that. Our youth are the church of today. They're part of the body of Christ,” says Holston's new youth coordinator. “Sometimes we can be a little paternalistic.”
A former Washington, D.C., trial attorney, Gray doesn't seem to have any problem with straight talk. He says he will not allow his job to become overly administrative (“Having face time with youth is important”) and he's critical of churches that offer little more than pizza parties to students.
“I'll probably serve them pizza, but I'm trying to offer them more than that. I'm trying to offer them Christ,” says Gray. “I'm interested in helping churches see how important that is.”
Following former Youth Coordinator Angee Woody, who resigned ear- lier this year after more than a decade at the post, Gray started on June 16 in the Johnson City office. By his second week, he was leading 46 students to Ft. Worth, Texas, for Youth in Mission week. His fourth week he spent at Emory & Henry College, working with more than 130 students at Junior High and Senior High Assembly.
Gray has been “passionate” about youth ministry since he was recruited as a volunteer at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. Three years later, he left attorney work behind to enter Duke Divinity School, serving as youth minister at North Raleigh UMC.
After less than a year as minister of youth and young adults at First Bristol UMC, Gray was hired by Holston for its top youth spot. In June he was commissioned as a probationary clergy member at Annual Conference. Besides a master's in divinity from Duke, he has a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Gray doesn't want to discuss ideas for change until he's had a year of assessment. But he will say this: “I want to be a resource for the local churches, especially the rural ones. The larger churches have a lot of resources. I'm interested in helping those youth groups that might have two or three kids.”
In (and out) of the therapy room Gary Mauldin's starting date was June 1. He's already got 25 clients.
As Holston's new pastoral counselor, Texas-born Mauldin has moved into a position previously held by someone for 30 years: Bill Balch, who retired last year.
“I don't know if I know enough yet to do anything different than Bill did,” Mauldin says. “I'm just trying to follow in his footsteps.”
However, Mauldin promises that confidential- ity remains a priority (“What is said here, stays here”). In addition to counseling clergy, he'll work with families, spouses, and conference staff, as well as conduct sessions on conflict resolution and staff development. He's already held a wellness session for Maryville, Oak Ridge and Knoxville District clergy.
The son of a retired United Methodist minister from Northwest Texas Annual Conference, Mauldin has been a United Methodist minister since 1980. He has a doctorate in family therapy from Texas Woman's University, a master's degree of divinity from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, and a master's of education in guidance and counseling from Tar- leton State University. He most recently served as assistant professor of counseling and psychology at Tarleton.
With a caseload of 25 hours per week, Mauldin's plate is already full, but he says he “won't ever turn anyone away.” Currently, he has a tem- porary office at Middlebrook Pike UMC in Knox- ville but is waiting for his permanent office to be completed at Inskip UMC. He also has satellite offices at Broad Street UMC in Cleveland, Tenn., Wesley Foundation in Johnson City, Tenn., and Emory & Henry College in Emory, Va.
“I'm available to work with churches and to preach,” Mauldin says. “So much of this work is at the local church level. It's not all in the therapy room.”
He's available at (423) 418-3585 or by email. A website with clergy helps and downloadable forms is available at www.garymauldin.com.
Flooded with ideas for education After three years as associate pastor at First Broad Street UMC in Kingsport, Caryl Griffin was “geared for pastoring at another church” this year. Then she heard about the forthcoming appointment of Kim Goddard, former Wesley Institute director, as Abingdon District superintendent. Later, during prayer, Griffin was “flooded” with ideas for the Wesley Institute. Given her previous experience, the director's position seemed perfect for her. She applied for and got the job. Her first day was June 17 in the Johnson City office.
As former nurse and health-care consultant, Griffin feels she's primed to take the conference's continuing education program to the next level. “I'm such a systems person,” she says. “We need a specific development plan for the Wesley Institute, step by step.” The Wesley Institute board will meet in late September to help Griffin accomplish that. A key goal: “To uncover and discover practical paradigms for a model of lay leadership. Many of the published models are business models that don't really fit the relationships of local churches.”
Her challenge this summer has been to “pick up the baton when seminars had already been planned.” But Griffin is already deep into polish- ing off and promoting a “Wesley & the Poor” sem- inar at Tennessee Wesleyan College in October. (See “Wesley seminar” on page 1.)
Griffin has a master's in Divinity from Candler School of Theology and a master's of science in nursing from Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing.
Other New Faces in Holston
Rick Cherry: Don’t tell anybody, but the conference’s new controller is Baptist. Rick Cherry came on board June 27 and is now based in the Knoxville office. He was previously employed as vice president at East Tennessee Pioneer Oil in Knoxville. Working for Holston, he says, “is a great opportunity, different than anything I’ve ever done before. It’s more people-oriented than profit-driven.”
Beth Gibson: She has two undergraduate degrees in chemistry and biology, and in May 2003, Beth Gibson graduated with a M.B.A. from Lincoln Memorial University. Why does she want to be Wesley Foundation director at University of Virginia College at Wise? After four years as a campus ministry president, “I really felt the call to campus ministry,” she says. A native of Wise, Gibson is currently in the candidacy process for deacon’s orders. Her first day on the job was July 22.
Dennie Humphreys: He’s not exactly a new face. Dennie Humphreys has been on the cabinet for the past four years as Big Stone Gap District superintendent. But as of June 16, Humphreys’ new role on the cabinet is conference secretary/director of clergy services. “The learning curve is tremendous,” he says. His goal: “I’m looking forward to meeting with colleagues in the Southeastern Jurisdiction to find out where their annual conferences are in the process of credentialing and how their journals are published.”
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