ROADSHOW: Don’t come to us, we’ll come to you

So beginning this fall, conference ministry leaders started packing up their resources and bringing them to you! Three of the conference’s 12 districts (Kingsport, Tazewell, Johnson City) have already participated in the “Connectional Ministries & Wesley Institute Roadshow” at district ministers’ meetings. Five more are scheduled: Oak Ridge, Nov. 13; Wytheville, Jan. 8; Knoxville, Jan. 15; Morristown, Feb. 12; and Abingdon, March 5.

According to Anne Travis, Holston director of connectional ministries, the roadshow is designed to provide information to ministers as well as to seek answers.

“We’re trying to get pastors to tell us how we can be in ministry to them, how we can help them in the local church,” she said. Traveling from district to district with Travis are the leaders of Holston’s various ministries (see below). Besides visual presentations and information packets, the roadshow also offers a question-and-answer session.

If they haven’t already, Travis & Company hope to be coming to your district soon. For ministers who can’t attend, information packets and videos will be available through district offices.

Adult Ministries:

Contact: Anne Travis,
Director of Connectional Ministries
Phone: (865) 690-4080
Fax: (865) 690-3162
Email: annetravis@holston.org

• Holston’s newly formed Adult Council meets for the first time in November 2001. Initially, this Adult Council will concentrate on Older Adult ministries in the local church, but the goal is to expand the group’s mission to include all ages of adult ministries within a year.
  
• The group will have a direct link to the Jubilation Design Team, which is the group of Older Adults in the Conference that organized the first Jubilation weekend event for Older Adults held last year. The second Jubilation event is now being planned for Sunday, May 5, through Tuesday, May 7, 2002, at the Park Vista Hotel in Gatlinburg, Tenn.
  
• A group of young adults in Holston organized themselves in 2000 and conducted the first Divine Rhythm weekend in coordination with one weekend of Resurrection. A second Divine Rhythm is now planned for Jan. 18-20, 2002 (the second weekend of Resurrection). Divine Rhythm features childcare provided by the Conference Children’s Council for young adults with small children.
  
• The Adult Council is also involved in formation of a consulting team for Older Adult Ministries in the local church. The council plans to recruit and train six to eight persons who are involved in Older Adult ministries and who are willing to go to local churches when invited to assist the church in forming or expanding a program of ministry for Older Adults. More information will be made available about this consulting team in early 2002.
  
  

Youth Ministries:

Contact: Angee Woody, Coordinator
Phone: (423) 928-2156
Fax: (423) 928-8807
Email: angeewoody@holston.org
Website: www.holstonyouth.com

T he Conference Council on Youth Ministries (CCYM) works to assist pastors and church leaders in this critical ministry. CCYM statement of purpose:

• To realize our dreams and make them a reality with God’s help.
  
• To represent the thoughts and views of youth in the conference and to ensure a place for youth as an active and vital part of the Holston Conference.
  
• To plan events where Christian youth can glorify God together in Christian fellowship.
  
• To promote the advancement of youth leadership positions.
  
• To make youth more aware of the world situations.
  
• To make adults aware of the needs of youth.
  
• To be a vessel through which youth are empowered to serve God in their church, community and world both collectively and individually.
  
• To provide training and resources in order to equip local churches for youth ministry.
  

Camping:

Contact: Randy Pasqua, Director, or Ruby Byrd, Administrative Assistant
Phone: (423) 928-2156
Fax: (423) 928-8807
Email: randypasqua@holston.org

Holston Conference Camping and Leisure Ministries coordinates ministries at the following camps. Please consider a Holston camp while making retreat ministry plans:

• Camp Ahistadi -- Location: Abingdon District, Camp Ahistadi is four miles south of Damascus, Va., in Laurel Bloomery, Tenn. Reservations: Bettye Duncan at (276) 628-4421 or abdist@umc.holston.org.
  
• Camp Buffalo Mountain – Location: Johnson City District, 10 miles south of Johnson City, Tenn. Reservations: Christina DowlingSoka at (423) 753-6678 or buffalomountain@hotmail.com.
  
• Camp Dickenson – Location: Wytheville District, six miles northeast of Galax, Va. Reservations: John Ousley at (276) 744-7241 or cdickenson@tcia.net.
  
• Camp Fort Blackmore – Location: Big Stone Gap District, 10 miles north of Gate City, Va. Reservations: Mary Dougherty at (276) 523-3025 or bsgdist@umc.holston.org.
  
• Camp Laurel –Location: Tazewell District, four miles west of Rocky Gap, Va. Reservations: Don Bowling at (276) 326-3470 or scbowling@yahoo.com.
  
• Camp Lookout – Location: Chattanooga District, on Lookout Mountain in northwest Georgia, 20 miles south of Chattanooga, Tenn. Reservations: Don Washburn at (706) 820-1163 or info@camplookout.com
  
• Camp Wesley Woods – Location: Maryville District, Camp Wesley Woods is 10 miles south of Maryville, Tenn., in Townsend. Reservations: David Leach at (865) 448-2246 or dleach@campwesleywoods.com
  
  

Wesley Institute:

Contact: Kim Goddard, Director
Phone: (423) 928-2156
Fax: 423-928-8807
Email: kimgoddard@holston.org
Website: holstonconference.com/wesleyinst


In 1998 the Wesley Institute was born with the stated mission “to provide life-long learning opportunities for clergy and laity that nurture mind and heart in the Wesleyan tradition.” The Institute has one purpose: To help us through continuing education “by all means win some” in the name of Jesus Christ.

Who needs continuing education? All clergy serving under appointment, except those involved in academic study such as Course of Study or Advanced Course of Study, College degree programs, Seminary degree programs, CPE participants.

What are the requirements for continuing education? The Board of Ordained Ministry, in consultation with the Wesley Institute, set three Conference Standard Units (CSUs) as the minimum annually (12 CSU’s per quadrennium). Four units are highly desirable and the units shall be reported to the Fall Charge Conference.

Please contact the Wesley Institute for information about continuing education opportunities and grants.


Children’s Ministries:

Contact: Claudia Howard, Coordinator
Phone: (423) 928-2156
Fax: (423) 928-8807
Email: claudiahoward@holston.org

T he primary goals of Holston Conference Children’s Ministries are: (1) to reshape the conference as an answer to the great needs of children, (2) to develop and make available resources to help the local church in these efforts, and (3) to make known the grace and love of Jesus Christ through what we say and what we do. These goals come from the Bishops’ Initiative on Children and Poverty. This document calls for an interpretation of the gospel in which children are truly welcomed, affirmed, and loved as members of the faith community.

Formerly known as the Conference Children’s Council, the Children’s Ministry Team is comprised of clergy and lay member from all areas of the conference who have expertise and passion for children’s ministry. The Team plans Children’s Day at Annual Conference. It also publishes the “Hearts and Hands” newsletter, which is mailed quarterly, beginning in 2002, to all pastors and children’s ministry workers. Team members are available as resource for workshops.

The Children’s Ministry Team is also responsible for the Bishops’ Initiative on Children and Poverty. In 2002, every district will have a contact person to help develop ministry in the local church inspired by the Initiative.

Please contact the Children’s Ministry office for information on workshop topics including “Children & Prayer,” “Rotation Sunday School,” “Helping Children with Divorce,” and more.


Missions:

Contact: Bill Daugherty Sr., Coordinator
Phone: (865) 690-4080
Fax: (865) 690-3162
Email: daughcc@usit.net

The Holston Conference is involved in missions both inside the conference boundaries and worldwide. Through connectional giving to missions, the conference is able to support ministries on a scale much larger than any one individual church could ever accomplish on its own.

The Holston Conference supports four Church and Community Workers, one of the largest groups of Church and Community Workers in any United Methodist conference in the United States. Through our Disaster Coordinators, Holston was the first group or denomination to respond to flooding that devastated parts of our conference during the summer of 2001. Work teams are still serving in some of those areas today.

In other mission efforts, Holston programs for impoverished children in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and now Johnson City are leading the way in providing a caring community for neglected children.

In-Conference Missions include: Jubilee Project (Sneedville, Tenn.), Emerald Youth Foundation (Knoxville), Wesley House (Knoxville), Bethlehem Center (Chattanooga), and Hispanic Ministries.

U.S. Missions include: Appalachian Service Project, Red Bird Mission and UMCOR Relief.

World-wide Missions include: Hope for the Children of Africa, new church development in Latvia, and the Baltic Mission Center in Estonia.

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