TENNESSEE CONFERENCE REVIEW MARCH 10, 2006
Tennessee Conference Review March 10, 2006
Bishop Richard J. Wills, Jr. Announces the Appointments of Two New District Superintendents
Bishop Richard J. Wills, Jr. has announced the appointment of two new district superintendents for the Tennessee Annual Conference. Dr. Ronald D. Lowery will become superintendent of the Cumberland District replacing Rev. Larry Layne who is retiring at conference after 44 years of ministry. The Cumberland District includes the counties of Sumner, Macon, Robertson, Trousdale, and Wilson.
Rev. Cathie A. Leimenstoll will become superintendent of the Murfreesboro District which covers the counties of Rutherford, Cannon, Bedford, Coffee, Moore, Franklin and Grundy. She replaces Dr. James C. Clardy, Jr., who is retiring at Annual Conference. Clardy has held the position since 1999.
Ronald D. Lowery
Lowery is a native of Robertson County, Tennessee, and a graduate of Greenbrier High School. His B.A. is from Belmont University and he received his Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 1998 he was awarded a Doctorate of Ministry from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
After college Ron served as a social studies teacher in Metro Nashville for three years before becoming a Southern Baptist pastor for fifteen years. In 1987 he became an Assistant Minister at Blakemore United Methodist Church in the Nashville District. He has since served pastoral appointments including: Westview UMC, Matthews Memorial UMC, and is presently serving Cross Plain UMC.
Dr. Ronald D. Lowery. Lowery is both a local church pastor and chaplain in the Air National Guard.
In addition to being a local church pastor, Chaplain (LTC) Ronald D. Lowery has served as a National Guard chaplain. From August 11, 1987, until he joined the Air National Guard, he served as a chaplain with the Tennessee Army National Guard and for a brief period with the Army Reserves in Texas. In February, 1996, he transferred to the 118th Air Wing, Tennessee Air National Guard and is the Wing Chaplain (LTC). His staff consists of two chaplains and three chaplain assistants.
As part of his work with the National Guard, Lowery graduated from the Air Command and Staff College in 1999 and from the Air War College on January 30, 2006. He is a trained instructor (Basic Level) in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), a National Guard emergency response program. Because of his desire to train people to bring healing in times of crisis, Ron has been instrumental in offering CISM training to the Tennessee Annual Conference. After 9/11 he was called to Washington, D.C. to assist the Air Guard chaplains’ response to the crisis, and in November, 2005 spent 15 days as a chaplain to military personnel in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
He has served the Columbia and Cumberland Districts in a number of positions including chairperson on Evangelism and chairperson of the District Council on Ministries. On the Annual Conference level he has been chairperson of the Tennessee Conference Camping Committee, and is an interviewing chairperson for the United Methodist Endorsing Agency, the agency responsible for the national accreditation of chaplains.
He is married to Connie Cagle Lowery who works for the Tennessee Society of CPAs in Brentwood, Tennessee. They have three children and three grandchildren.
Cathie Ann Leimenstoll
Cathie was born in the community of Blanchester in southwest Ohio and received her B.A. degree from Wilmington College, a Quaker school in Wilmington, Ohio. She worked on a Masters of Education degree while living in Pennsylvania but husband Dwight Leimenstoll was transferred to Nashville to work at Donnelley Printing and her studies were interrupted.
She taught English in secondary schools for a total of 8 years in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee but took a five-year leave of absence when their son A.J. was born. When A.J. was five and entered kindergarten, Cathie began work on an Master of Divinity degree from the Vanderbilt Divinity School with wonderful support from her husband and son. She jokes that A.J. was the only child picked up at Kindergarten who had a mom studying Hebrew flash cards while she waited for his classes to get out. Dwight remained a major part of Cathie’s ministry until his death in August, 2005.
Rev. Cathie A. Leimenstoll. Leimenstoll was awarded the Denman Evangelism Award in 1999
Leimenstoll was appointed to Connell Memorial United Methodist Church first as a student pastor and then as an Associate Pastor in 1991, and in 1994 was appointed to Rehoboth United Methodist Church in Sumner County. During this 12-year appointment, the church has experienced amazing growth and renewal.
Since June of 2002 Cathie has chaired the Tennessee Annual Conference Council on Ministries and served as the secretary of the Board of Ordained Ministry from 1999 to 2001. In 2000 she was elected as a clergy alternate to the 2000 General Conference and as a clergy delegate to the 2000 and 2004 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conferences.
Friend and colleague, Judi Hoffman, affirmed Leimenstoll’s leadership as a pastor: “Cathie’s deep love for the local church and the congregations with whom she has served is evidenced by her commitment to excellence in preaching and the priority she places on faith formation and the study of the Scriptures. Over the years she has offered leadership in an untold number of retreats, Covenant Groups and Disciple Bible Studies, but her model for the empowerment of the laity is best exemplified in the Gallatin Shalom Zone.
Collaborating with neighboring churches, Cathie’s commitment to the concept of shared ministry led to the creation of an incredible partnership in the Gallatin community. Her leadership style of intentional mutuality has been a blessing to our Council on Ministries and will be to the Cabinet and to the Tennessee Conference. Discerning and compassionate, Cathie is an esteemed clergy colleague, a graceful witness to the faith, and she will be an extraordinary District Superintendent.”
Tennessee Conference Purchases a New Annual Conference Center
Five Area, Conference and District offices will be housed in a newly acquired Tennessee Conference Center building at 304 South Perimeter Park Drive in southeast Nashville. The new building replaces the former college campus ministry building adjacent to the Scarritt-Bennett Center, which has served as office space for the Conference Council on Ministries and the Office of Administrative Services for 26 years.
The 2004 and 2005 Sessions of the Tennessee Annual Conference approved a resolution authorizing a Conference Building Committee to pursue the relocation of the Conference offices with the condition of adequate resources realized from the sale of the 1110 19th Avenue South property. The resolution also required the approval of the Bishop and Cabinet, as well as the Conference Board of Trustees. The sale of this property to Vanderbilt University has made it possible for the purchase and renovation of the Perimeter Park Drive building and property. The new building formerly housed a call center for State Farm Insurance. Closing for the purchase of the new property took place on February 22, 2006.
Moving to the new building from three different Nashville locations will be the offices of the Nashville Area Foundation, the Nashville District Superintendent, the Conference Connectional Ministries, the Conference Administrative Services, and the Board of Ministry’s Office of Ministerial Concerns.
The move has been heavily studied by the Building Committee, chaired by Joe Williams (Conference Lay Leader); the Tennessee Conference Trustees, chaired by L.C. Troutt and by all the involved agencies. Conference Treasurer David Hawkins feels the sale of the old property and purchase of the larger facility was wise. “This is a matter of good stewardship for the Tennessee Conference. This is an opportunity to use wisely the valuable property on 19th Avenue South to obtain a more adequate Conference Center on South Perimeter Park Drive without placing additional financial demands on the annual conference budget.”
Front view showing the three loading bays
Though the location of the 19th Avenue South building is in close proximity to the Scarritt-Bennett Center and the United Methodist Boards of Discipleship and Higher Education and Ministry, which many found to be helpful, there were strong reasons for the move to South Perimeter Park Drive:
+The old building would have required major and very expensive renovation in the next few years.
+The new facility will have meeting space to hold several meetings at the same time, and will be able to comfortably hold meetings for up to 50 people. The old facility had one conference room that could hold a dozen persons.
+Parking, which is extremely limited on 19th Avenue South, is no problem on South Perimeter Park Drive. There are 100 spaces adjacent to the new building.
+Five agencies that were previously at three different locations will be able to share the new Conference headquarters building.
+The new Conference Center is just off of Harding Place and Interstate 24, conveniently accessible to all Tennessee Annual Conference Districts.
+A traffic light at the intersection of South Perimeter Park Drive and Harding Place makes possible easy and safe access to the Conference Center even during the busiest times of the day.
+Three large loading bays in the new building will be able to handle the collection and loading of emergency supplies in response to regional, national or global disasters.
+There is 13,000 square feet of space in the new facility versus 5200 square feet in the 19th Avenue South Building.
+The new building is in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Close-up of the main entrance area
Moves to the new Center are expected to begin upon completion of renovation. Estimated time for this move is mid-May of 2006. Dates for dedication and grand opening of the Tennessee Conference Center will be announced at a later date.
Jason Brock, Joy Jones, Paul Purdue and John Purdue of the Tennessee Annual Conference. Charlie Jones, a member of Hendersonville First UMC and husband of Joy Jones is missing from the picture.
Southeastern Methodists Plan for Hispanic Ministries
by John Purdue*
We are living in a time of great social change as we witness a massive influx of persons from south of the Rio Grande into Tennessee. According the US Census Bureau, the number of Hispanics in Tennessee increased 278% between 1990 and 2000 and the growth of the Hispanic community since then has accelerated. Methodists have adjusted to change in the past and we must now adjust again. We adjusted during the Great Awakening and flourished; We adjusted during the Revolutionary War and flourished. We adjusted after the Civil War and flourished. Now the ground is changing underneath us again. Will we adjust and flourish or will we hold tightly to structures, patterns and beliefs that worked in the past but are likely to fail in the future?
The Southeastern Jurisdiction of the UMC recently hosted a convocation for non-Hispanic/Latino churches involved in Hispanic/Latino Ministries to help United Methodists adjust and flourish. Dr. Edwin Aponte of the Perkins School of Theology lead the three day workshop along with a host of other leaders in the field. Sixty five Methodists from across the Southeast attended including clergy Jason Brock, Paul Purdue and John Purdue and lay persons Charlie and Joy Jones of First UMC Hendersonville.
Many important ideas for adjusting and flourishing were discussed. One of the most salient was that it is not essential to speak Spanish to be involved in Hispanic Ministry. Often churches are stymied in their efforts to reach out because they think that language barriers make it impossible. While language can be problematic, all of the initial steps toward Hispanic ministry can be taken without reference to language skills. Further, solutions to language issues often emerge during a churches' initial engagement with the Hispanic community from the Hispanic community itself.
Another important idea discussed was that many of the best entrance points for Hispanic ministry are social justice ministries. Clothing and food pantries, help with health care, transportation and ESL classes (English as a Second Language) are all examples of important primary areas where churches can get involved with ministry and none of which require Spanish language skills.
The convocation emphasized that the most important things in developing Hispanic ministries are no different from the most important things in developing ministries with any other groups: prayer and developing relationships between people.
The essential challenge to our church is that we face the need to change because our world is changing around us, but we are also able to remain the same, because the change is slower than those in the past. But the change is coming.
When the Hebrews were captives in Babylon, their lives threatened, Mordecai spoke these words to Queen Esther: "Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this." Perhaps God has put you and your church where you are today "for just such a time as this."
Five Ways Your Church Can Be Involved in Hispanic Ministry
· Inviting Hispanic children to VBS and Sunday School
· Being open to Hispanics in worship and other events
· Providing ESL classes for Hispanics
· Providing poverty relief services
· Praying for the Hispanics in your area.
Five Resources for Your Church As It Considers Hispanic Ministry
· Partners in the Mighty Works of God, Jo and Russ Harris, from Discipleship Resources. This is the basic starting point for non-Hispanic churches interested in Hispanic ministry.
· Pentecost Journey, Jeannie Treviño-Teddlie, from Discipleship Resources. This book illustrates step by step implementation of Hispanic Ministriies.
· “National Plan for Hispanic Ministries” available at http://gbgm-umc.org/nphm/. Print copies also available offline at 212-870-3693. The official UMC plan for developing Hispanic Ministries.
· Catalogue for bilingual resources from Discipleship Resources: 1-800-972-0433
· Seven Steps: A Preview into Hispanic Ministries, Anna Maria and Conrado Soltero, General Board of Global Ministries, 1-212-870-3828
Two Resources for Understanding Wider Issues in Hispanic Ministry
· http://www.TNImmigrant.org/Information.htm This webpage contains links to eight very good documents related to Hispanic immigrants in Tennessee.
· Mexifornia (Victor David Hanson: Encounter Books) An examination of change in California as a result of Mexican immigration.
*John Purdue, pastor of Hartsville UMC and Chapel Hill UMC, Cumberland District, is much involved in Hispanic Ministries.
Training for non-Hispanic Churches Interested in Starting Hispanic/Latino Ministries
There will be training for non-Hispanic churches interested in starting Hispanic/Latino ministries offered at the Clarksville District Training event on Sunday April 2nd at 3pm at Madison Street UMC. Open to interested persons from all Tennessee Conference districts, the workshop will describe ways that any church can reach out and minister within the growing Hispanic communities in Middle Tennessee. Please Contact Paul Purdue, revpaul@newchapelumc.org, for more information.
United Methodist Singer/Song-writer Tricia Walker weaves a Multi-Media Story of Reconciliation
Tricia Walker has performed at the Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame and other important venues across the country. Her instrumental skills earned her a spot backing Grand Ole Opry star Connie Smith, with whom she played for six years. She also toured extensively with Shania Twain and Paul Overstreet as a keyboard player and vocalist. Along with Pam Tillis, Karen Staley and Ashley Cleveland, Tricia was a founding member of “Women in the Round,” one of the most celebrated foursomes at Nashville’s prestigious Bluebird Café. Her songs, Down in Capetown, reflecting on apartheid, and Halfway Around the World, written after the Tianemen Square uprising in China, illustrate how important songs with a conscience are to Tricia. Her uplifting What a Wonderful Day! was written at the request of a friend for breast cancer survivors and sold over 25,000 copies. Tricia Walker is a singer and songwriter whose songs are steeped in the passion, pain and grace of the American South. Her music has been recorded by Faith Hill, Patty Loveless and Alison Krauss, whose performance of Tricia’s Looking in the Eyes of Love earned a Grammy. Information excerpted from Tricia Walker’s website at http://www.bigfrontporch.com
Nashville singer/songwriter Tricia Walker was raised in the small Mississippi community of Fayette. In her tradition family stories were important—often shared on the front porch on a hot summer evening. The front porch was also the place were you could invite strangers, individuals you wanted to get to know, “to come on up and set for a spell.” It was a place of sharing hopes and dreams with friends, and a place where you could be reconciled with persons that had angered you. The imagery of the front porch remains with Walker some 25 years after leaving Mississippi to settle in Nashville, Tennessee. The name of her music publishing company is The Big Front Porch, and her song lyrics are front porch storytelling at its best.
Walker who has a Bachelor of Music Education from Delta State University and a Master of Music degree from Mississippi College is adept as a vocalist and instrumentalist. She plays the keyboard, guitar, and five other instruments. For awhile, before coming to Nashville, she even served several local Mississippi United Methodist Churches, including Crystal Springs UMC, in youth ministry. Whatever she has accomplished however, she has not strayed far from her roots and has a passion for sharing the story and culture of rural southwestern Mississippi—always with the overriding themes of reconciliation and love.
Walker, who is a member of the Pleasant View United Methodist Church in the Clarksville District, is presently working on a multi-media two hour show built around her newest CD The Heart of Dixie. The show will be built strongly on her experiences as a teenager. She admits to carrying the idea for the song The Heart of Dixie around in her writing notebook for nine years before one night she could feel the song moving towards completion. Here Tricia shares some of the experiences that have become part of her personal story, the soul of The Heart of Dixie:
Over the years Tricia Walker has been a volunteer in the Country Music Hall of Fame Words and Music program. She was a member of the creative team carrying this songwriting workshop into public schools in the 5 boroughs of New York as part of the CMA Awards held in New York City in 2005.
“In the fall of 1969 or beginning of 1970 there was a mandate that states would have to integrate immediately. Up until then the process was built around freedom of choice with the goal of gradually integrating the schools. Jefferson County was heavily African American with a black high school on one end of town, and a white high school on the other. When the mandate came down there was a concern on the part of our parents for the quality of our education and for our safety. We were all going to be thrown together and it looked like there would be chaos.
There were 32 students in my junior class and the decision was made—I can’t say WE made it, we had a voice in it, but our parents made it—and 16 classmates chose to go to the next county to finish their senior years, and the other 16 of us, lacking only a few credits for graduation, took them early in the summer and we graduated from high school without a senior year. Randy Moomaw’s play The Class of 1971 and a Half is based on an experience that I had with two friends many years later. To celebrate a particular birthday—and I’m not going to say which one—we planned a trip to New York for two or three days. Since we didn’t have a senior trip in high school we playfully called the trip to New York our “senior trip.” Unbeknownst to the others, the character that is sort of my character has invited one of the black students from our hometown to the reunion but she hasn’t told the other two. In the surprise lies the comedy and the seriousness of the play as the women deal with the situation.
My mother was the newspaper editor of the paper in my home town during the 60s and 70s. She was a self-taught journalist, very outspoken, very much a southern lady but she had a strong backbone, and there were many things to write about during the civil rights movement. She wrote a column every week called Just Whittlin’, called that because her daddy, a railroad man, used to sit at the courthouse on Saturdays whittling.
“I love stories, and I love the physical sound of voices and dialects particularly in the south. Those dialects are quickly disappearing. We’ve gotten too homogenous. At any rate, I wanted tape recordings of my mother’s voice, and asked her, ‘Would you please read some of your columns on tape for me?’ She kept putting it off. ‘You don’t want me to do that!’ I’d respond, ‘Yes I do.” I finally had to pull the one-sentence trump card that all children play at one time or another, ‘I’m not coming home for Christmas this year unless you tape these things.’ Which she did--so fortunately I’ve got several hours of her reading from her columns, mostly from the years 1969 and 1970 while all the Civil Rights turmoil was going on. In the show you’ll hear components of my mother’s voice blending in with some of my personal perspective on things. There will be some visual pieces as well. There will also be audio from a contemporary of mine. I didn’t grow up with her, she’s from the next county. She’s an African American woman about my age and she shares her perspective on changes that were going on at the time. So all these things are going to filter in—some audio and some video, still shots, and some music. The songs are threaded through the presentation and are what holds everything together. I’m not doing any character. I’m a song writer, not an actress. So the songs carry a lot of the meaning of the two hour presentation segued between stories told in other ways. It is my hope that the stories are part of a common experience for much of the audience—or if not common experience at least stir up some memories.
“I grew up in a small Methodist Church and it was not without controversy during the civil rights movement because in 1968 when the Methodist Church became the United Methodist Church I remember the tension in our small town—fear that the churches were going to become integrated. That never happened, but that was a point of contention for while. Part of this Heart of Dixie show is growing out of the memory of the struggle of being a kid and going to Sunday School and having my elders teach me the bible and the Gospel and right from wrong. Then somewhere when I was 15-16 all this change occurred and suddenly what I was seeing out the door didn’t jibe with what my elders had been telling me all along. This was a real struggle for a teenager and I think that has germinated into what a lot of Heart of Dixie is about. Yet, underlying everything that I went through, everything the community went through, was a real sense of love. You could see that love manifested in the relationship of the African American women to the children they cared for—white as well as black. That love in my mind symbolized a real sacrificial love—and the challenge is to try to live that sacrificial love even if everybody doesn’t agree with you.”
Heart of Dixie will have its premiere at the Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center in Huntingdon, Tennessee, March 10th, 7:30 p.m. Information at http://www.dixiepac.net/schedule.htm
Tricia Walker’s faith has played a big part in her life. She feels her faith has been the rock even through some muddy places, and even when she faced difficult issues. She says, “The verse that pierced my heart in a wonderful way goes back to a strong relationship that I have with a group of believers here in Nashville: Roman 2:4b ‘God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.’ You know when I was in the midst of dark places, walking away from God, I’d come across that scripture in my journals and in the Bible. Those words pierced me in such a way that I started back to God. I hope all the music and hopefully my life will be one where people can feel the kindness of God.”
Brenda Strunk, who serves as Director of Music at Pleasant View UMC, Pleasant View, Tennessee, talks about Tricia’s contributions to her local church: “Tricia Walker shares her considerable musical talent with our congregation to enhance and enliven the worship services regularly at Pleasant View United Methodist Church, especially during special seasonal services. Her talent enables her to bring new awareness to traditional, familiar hymns, as well as bringing glory and worship through her own musical works. She also brings God's spirit to light by sharing her music through programs such as music therapy for chemotherapy patients at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center. We are very blessed to have a musician of her caliber as a regular part of our congregation and worship services.
Her pastor Ryan Bennett echoes Brenda Strunk’s remarks: “Tricia is just special. Her heart for God, her love for people, and her amazing voice unite together intertwined with a sweet spirit to make her such a powerful tool in the building of the kingdom. Whether she is singing in worship, working with the youth and children, working with the American Cancer Society, or in Ireland or the gulf coast doing mission work, Tricia brings a message of grace to the lives of the people she meets, most of the time without saying a word at all.”
Twins Delivered at McKendree Village
More than 100 people gathered recently to celebrate the delivery of "twin" 15-passenger vans at McKendree Village continuing care retirement community. Willie McDonald, far right, chairman of the McKendree Village Foundation board, cuts the ribbon on one of the vans as McKendree Village residents and staff members watch. Pictured left to right are McKendree resident Rev. Bill Gamble; Bill Black, executive director of McKendree Village Foundation; Paul Clinard, van driver dressed in surgical scrubs for the delivery; Rev. Jim Robinson, McKendree's director of pastoral care; Suleiman Aziz, van driver; Roxie Mathison, co-chair of the residents' van campaign committee; Bob Feldman, co-chair McKendree Village Foundation development committee; Curt Silverthorne, co-chair of the residents' van campaign committee; Sue Peters, co-chair McKendree Village Foundation development committee; and Mary Anna Womeldorf, president and CEO of McKendree Village.
The temperature was a little too low to provide all the outdoor activities planned for the dedication of two new vans at McKendree Village on February 20th—hot air balloon rides were cancelled—and McKendree residents were decked out in winter coats to keep off the chill.
Inside the tent set up for dedication, however, the winter weather wasn’t a problem. Exhibited in the tent was a whole lot of warm friendliness and an incredible amount of “parental pride.”
Planners of the event played off on the fact that most of the money for the purchase of the two vans was contributed by residents and employees of McKendree Village—and it was obvious that everyone at the dedication shared “parental pride” in the arrival of two new vans. The two vans, one decked out in pink ribbon and the other in blue, were treated as a birth in the family—a birth of “twins” to be exact. Invitations had been sent out about the arrival of twins at the McKendree Village Retirement Community and bubble gum cigars were passed out to commemorate the occasion.
Four McKendree staffers, wearing surgical scrubs in preparation for the delivery, added their voices in song to the dedication event.
Though many McKendree residents have automobiles to drive, many do not, and they require the services of three vans to go shopping, go to medical appointments, or to participate in McKendree Village outings such as going downtown to the theatre or symphony. Even those with automobiles prefer to use McKendree transportation when the trip is to be at night.
Van 2, a 2006 Ford E450, Startrans Senator series, will accommodate 13 passengers plus a driver or can be converted to accommodate four wheelchairs plus ten ambulatory passengers and a driver. The vehicle, which has a wheelchair lift, is very versatile because seating can be easily configured in a variety of ways.
Van 3, a 2005 GM, Startrans Senator Series, also has a wheelchair lift and can accommodate 2 wheelchairs plus 14 other passengers.
“Both of these vans have multi-use capabilities, in addition to being very spacious and comfortable. The large windows on the side of the vans make traveling more fun,” said Kevin
Rainbolt, Support Services Coordinator at McKendree Village, who is responsible for the managing and maintaining all vehicles.
Prayer time at dedication of "The Twins"
Bishop Richard J. Wills, Jr. Announces the Appointments of Two New District Superintendents
Bishop Richard J. Wills, Jr. has announced the appointment of two new district superintendents for the Tennessee Annual Conference. Dr. Ronald D. Lowery will become superintendent of the Cumberland District replacing Rev. Larry Layne who is retiring at conference after 44 years of ministry. The Cumberland District includes the counties of Sumner, Macon, Robertson, Trousdale, and Wilson.
Rev. Cathie A. Leimenstoll will become superintendent of the Murfreesboro District which covers the counties of Rutherford, Cannon, Bedford, Coffee, Moore, Franklin and Grundy. She replaces Dr. James C. Clardy, Jr., who is retiring at Annual Conference. Clardy has held the position since 1999.
Ronald D. Lowery
Lowery is a native of Robertson County, Tennessee, and a graduate of Greenbrier High School. His B.A. is from Belmont University and he received his Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 1998 he was awarded a Doctorate of Ministry from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
After college Ron served as a social studies teacher in Metro Nashville for three years before becoming a Southern Baptist pastor for fifteen years. In 1987 he became an Assistant Minister at Blakemore United Methodist Church in the Nashville District. He has since served pastoral appointments including: Westview UMC, Matthews Memorial UMC, and is presently serving Cross Plain UMC.
Dr. Ronald D. Lowery. Lowery is both a local church pastor and chaplain in the Air National Guard.
In addition to being a local church pastor, Chaplain (LTC) Ronald D. Lowery has served as a National Guard chaplain. From August 11, 1987, until he joined the Air National Guard, he served as a chaplain with the Tennessee Army National Guard and for a brief period with the Army Reserves in Texas. In February, 1996, he transferred to the 118th Air Wing, Tennessee Air National Guard and is the Wing Chaplain (LTC). His staff consists of two chaplains and three chaplain assistants.
As part of his work with the National Guard, Lowery graduated from the Air Command and Staff College in 1999 and from the Air War College on January 30, 2006. He is a trained instructor (Basic Level) in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), a National Guard emergency response program. Because of his desire to train people to bring healing in times of crisis, Ron has been instrumental in offering CISM training to the Tennessee Annual Conference. After 9/11 he was called to Washington, D.C. to assist the Air Guard chaplains’ response to the crisis, and in November, 2005 spent 15 days as a chaplain to military personnel in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
He has served the Columbia and Cumberland Districts in a number of positions including chairperson on Evangelism and chairperson of the District Council on Ministries. On the Annual Conference level he has been chairperson of the Tennessee Conference Camping Committee, and is an interviewing chairperson for the United Methodist Endorsing Agency, the agency responsible for the national accreditation of chaplains.
He is married to Connie Cagle Lowery who works for the Tennessee Society of CPAs in Brentwood, Tennessee. They have three children and three grandchildren.
Cathie Ann Leimenstoll
Cathie was born in the community of Blanchester in southwest Ohio and received her B.A. degree from Wilmington College, a Quaker school in Wilmington, Ohio. She worked on a Masters of Education degree while living in Pennsylvania but husband Dwight Leimenstoll was transferred to Nashville to work at Donnelley Printing and her studies were interrupted.
She taught English in secondary schools for a total of 8 years in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee but took a five-year leave of absence when their son A.J. was born. When A.J. was five and entered kindergarten, Cathie began work on an Master of Divinity degree from the Vanderbilt Divinity School with wonderful support from her husband and son. She jokes that A.J. was the only child picked up at Kindergarten who had a mom studying Hebrew flash cards while she waited for his classes to get out. Dwight remained a major part of Cathie’s ministry until his death in August, 2005.
Rev. Cathie A. Leimenstoll. Leimenstoll was awarded the Denman Evangelism Award in 1999
Leimenstoll was appointed to Connell Memorial United Methodist Church first as a student pastor and then as an Associate Pastor in 1991, and in 1994 was appointed to Rehoboth United Methodist Church in Sumner County. During this 12-year appointment, the church has experienced amazing growth and renewal.
Since June of 2002 Cathie has chaired the Tennessee Annual Conference Council on Ministries and served as the secretary of the Board of Ordained Ministry from 1999 to 2001. In 2000 she was elected as a clergy alternate to the 2000 General Conference and as a clergy delegate to the 2000 and 2004 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conferences.
Friend and colleague, Judi Hoffman, affirmed Leimenstoll’s leadership as a pastor: “Cathie’s deep love for the local church and the congregations with whom she has served is evidenced by her commitment to excellence in preaching and the priority she places on faith formation and the study of the Scriptures. Over the years she has offered leadership in an untold number of retreats, Covenant Groups and Disciple Bible Studies, but her model for the empowerment of the laity is best exemplified in the Gallatin Shalom Zone.
Collaborating with neighboring churches, Cathie’s commitment to the concept of shared ministry led to the creation of an incredible partnership in the Gallatin community. Her leadership style of intentional mutuality has been a blessing to our Council on Ministries and will be to the Cabinet and to the Tennessee Conference. Discerning and compassionate, Cathie is an esteemed clergy colleague, a graceful witness to the faith, and she will be an extraordinary District Superintendent.”
Tennessee Conference Purchases a New Annual Conference Center
Five Area, Conference and District offices will be housed in a newly acquired Tennessee Conference Center building at 304 South Perimeter Park Drive in southeast Nashville. The new building replaces the former college campus ministry building adjacent to the Scarritt-Bennett Center, which has served as office space for the Conference Council on Ministries and the Office of Administrative Services for 26 years.
The 2004 and 2005 Sessions of the Tennessee Annual Conference approved a resolution authorizing a Conference Building Committee to pursue the relocation of the Conference offices with the condition of adequate resources realized from the sale of the 1110 19th Avenue South property. The resolution also required the approval of the Bishop and Cabinet, as well as the Conference Board of Trustees. The sale of this property to Vanderbilt University has made it possible for the purchase and renovation of the Perimeter Park Drive building and property. The new building formerly housed a call center for State Farm Insurance. Closing for the purchase of the new property took place on February 22, 2006.
Moving to the new building from three different Nashville locations will be the offices of the Nashville Area Foundation, the Nashville District Superintendent, the Conference Connectional Ministries, the Conference Administrative Services, and the Board of Ministry’s Office of Ministerial Concerns.
The move has been heavily studied by the Building Committee, chaired by Joe Williams (Conference Lay Leader); the Tennessee Conference Trustees, chaired by L.C. Troutt and by all the involved agencies. Conference Treasurer David Hawkins feels the sale of the old property and purchase of the larger facility was wise. “This is a matter of good stewardship for the Tennessee Conference. This is an opportunity to use wisely the valuable property on 19th Avenue South to obtain a more adequate Conference Center on South Perimeter Park Drive without placing additional financial demands on the annual conference budget.”
Front view showing the three loading bays
Though the location of the 19th Avenue South building is in close proximity to the Scarritt-Bennett Center and the United Methodist Boards of Discipleship and Higher Education and Ministry, which many found to be helpful, there were strong reasons for the move to South Perimeter Park Drive:
+The old building would have required major and very expensive renovation in the next few years.
+The new facility will have meeting space to hold several meetings at the same time, and will be able to comfortably hold meetings for up to 50 people. The old facility had one conference room that could hold a dozen persons.
+Parking, which is extremely limited on 19th Avenue South, is no problem on South Perimeter Park Drive. There are 100 spaces adjacent to the new building.
+Five agencies that were previously at three different locations will be able to share the new Conference headquarters building.
+The new Conference Center is just off of Harding Place and Interstate 24, conveniently accessible to all Tennessee Annual Conference Districts.
+A traffic light at the intersection of South Perimeter Park Drive and Harding Place makes possible easy and safe access to the Conference Center even during the busiest times of the day.
+Three large loading bays in the new building will be able to handle the collection and loading of emergency supplies in response to regional, national or global disasters.
+There is 13,000 square feet of space in the new facility versus 5200 square feet in the 19th Avenue South Building.
+The new building is in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Close-up of the main entrance area
Moves to the new Center are expected to begin upon completion of renovation. Estimated time for this move is mid-May of 2006. Dates for dedication and grand opening of the Tennessee Conference Center will be announced at a later date.
Jason Brock, Joy Jones, Paul Purdue and John Purdue of the Tennessee Annual Conference. Charlie Jones, a member of Hendersonville First UMC and husband of Joy Jones is missing from the picture.
Southeastern Methodists Plan for Hispanic Ministriesby John Purdue*
We are living in a time of great social change as we witness a massive influx of persons from south of the Rio Grande into Tennessee. According the US Census Bureau, the number of Hispanics in Tennessee increased 278% between 1990 and 2000 and the growth of the Hispanic community since then has accelerated. Methodists have adjusted to change in the past and we must now adjust again. We adjusted during the Great Awakening and flourished; We adjusted during the Revolutionary War and flourished. We adjusted after the Civil War and flourished. Now the ground is changing underneath us again. Will we adjust and flourish or will we hold tightly to structures, patterns and beliefs that worked in the past but are likely to fail in the future?
The Southeastern Jurisdiction of the UMC recently hosted a convocation for non-Hispanic/Latino churches involved in Hispanic/Latino Ministries to help United Methodists adjust and flourish. Dr. Edwin Aponte of the Perkins School of Theology lead the three day workshop along with a host of other leaders in the field. Sixty five Methodists from across the Southeast attended including clergy Jason Brock, Paul Purdue and John Purdue and lay persons Charlie and Joy Jones of First UMC Hendersonville.
Many important ideas for adjusting and flourishing were discussed. One of the most salient was that it is not essential to speak Spanish to be involved in Hispanic Ministry. Often churches are stymied in their efforts to reach out because they think that language barriers make it impossible. While language can be problematic, all of the initial steps toward Hispanic ministry can be taken without reference to language skills. Further, solutions to language issues often emerge during a churches' initial engagement with the Hispanic community from the Hispanic community itself.
Another important idea discussed was that many of the best entrance points for Hispanic ministry are social justice ministries. Clothing and food pantries, help with health care, transportation and ESL classes (English as a Second Language) are all examples of important primary areas where churches can get involved with ministry and none of which require Spanish language skills.
The convocation emphasized that the most important things in developing Hispanic ministries are no different from the most important things in developing ministries with any other groups: prayer and developing relationships between people.
The essential challenge to our church is that we face the need to change because our world is changing around us, but we are also able to remain the same, because the change is slower than those in the past. But the change is coming.
When the Hebrews were captives in Babylon, their lives threatened, Mordecai spoke these words to Queen Esther: "Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this." Perhaps God has put you and your church where you are today "for just such a time as this."
Five Ways Your Church Can Be Involved in Hispanic Ministry
· Inviting Hispanic children to VBS and Sunday School
· Being open to Hispanics in worship and other events
· Providing ESL classes for Hispanics
· Providing poverty relief services
· Praying for the Hispanics in your area.
Five Resources for Your Church As It Considers Hispanic Ministry
· Partners in the Mighty Works of God, Jo and Russ Harris, from Discipleship Resources. This is the basic starting point for non-Hispanic churches interested in Hispanic ministry.
· Pentecost Journey, Jeannie Treviño-Teddlie, from Discipleship Resources. This book illustrates step by step implementation of Hispanic Ministriies.
· “National Plan for Hispanic Ministries” available at http://gbgm-umc.org/nphm/. Print copies also available offline at 212-870-3693. The official UMC plan for developing Hispanic Ministries.
· Catalogue for bilingual resources from Discipleship Resources: 1-800-972-0433
· Seven Steps: A Preview into Hispanic Ministries, Anna Maria and Conrado Soltero, General Board of Global Ministries, 1-212-870-3828
Two Resources for Understanding Wider Issues in Hispanic Ministry
· http://www.TNImmigrant.org/Information.htm This webpage contains links to eight very good documents related to Hispanic immigrants in Tennessee.
· Mexifornia (Victor David Hanson: Encounter Books) An examination of change in California as a result of Mexican immigration.
*John Purdue, pastor of Hartsville UMC and Chapel Hill UMC, Cumberland District, is much involved in Hispanic Ministries.
Training for non-Hispanic Churches Interested in Starting Hispanic/Latino Ministries
There will be training for non-Hispanic churches interested in starting Hispanic/Latino ministries offered at the Clarksville District Training event on Sunday April 2nd at 3pm at Madison Street UMC. Open to interested persons from all Tennessee Conference districts, the workshop will describe ways that any church can reach out and minister within the growing Hispanic communities in Middle Tennessee. Please Contact Paul Purdue, revpaul@newchapelumc.org, for more information.
United Methodist Singer/Song-writer Tricia Walker weaves a Multi-Media Story of Reconciliation
Tricia Walker has performed at the Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame and other important venues across the country. Her instrumental skills earned her a spot backing Grand Ole Opry star Connie Smith, with whom she played for six years. She also toured extensively with Shania Twain and Paul Overstreet as a keyboard player and vocalist. Along with Pam Tillis, Karen Staley and Ashley Cleveland, Tricia was a founding member of “Women in the Round,” one of the most celebrated foursomes at Nashville’s prestigious Bluebird Café. Her songs, Down in Capetown, reflecting on apartheid, and Halfway Around the World, written after the Tianemen Square uprising in China, illustrate how important songs with a conscience are to Tricia. Her uplifting What a Wonderful Day! was written at the request of a friend for breast cancer survivors and sold over 25,000 copies. Tricia Walker is a singer and songwriter whose songs are steeped in the passion, pain and grace of the American South. Her music has been recorded by Faith Hill, Patty Loveless and Alison Krauss, whose performance of Tricia’s Looking in the Eyes of Love earned a Grammy. Information excerpted from Tricia Walker’s website at http://www.bigfrontporch.com
Nashville singer/songwriter Tricia Walker was raised in the small Mississippi community of Fayette. In her tradition family stories were important—often shared on the front porch on a hot summer evening. The front porch was also the place were you could invite strangers, individuals you wanted to get to know, “to come on up and set for a spell.” It was a place of sharing hopes and dreams with friends, and a place where you could be reconciled with persons that had angered you. The imagery of the front porch remains with Walker some 25 years after leaving Mississippi to settle in Nashville, Tennessee. The name of her music publishing company is The Big Front Porch, and her song lyrics are front porch storytelling at its best.
Walker who has a Bachelor of Music Education from Delta State University and a Master of Music degree from Mississippi College is adept as a vocalist and instrumentalist. She plays the keyboard, guitar, and five other instruments. For awhile, before coming to Nashville, she even served several local Mississippi United Methodist Churches, including Crystal Springs UMC, in youth ministry. Whatever she has accomplished however, she has not strayed far from her roots and has a passion for sharing the story and culture of rural southwestern Mississippi—always with the overriding themes of reconciliation and love.
Walker, who is a member of the Pleasant View United Methodist Church in the Clarksville District, is presently working on a multi-media two hour show built around her newest CD The Heart of Dixie. The show will be built strongly on her experiences as a teenager. She admits to carrying the idea for the song The Heart of Dixie around in her writing notebook for nine years before one night she could feel the song moving towards completion. Here Tricia shares some of the experiences that have become part of her personal story, the soul of The Heart of Dixie:
Over the years Tricia Walker has been a volunteer in the Country Music Hall of Fame Words and Music program. She was a member of the creative team carrying this songwriting workshop into public schools in the 5 boroughs of New York as part of the CMA Awards held in New York City in 2005.
“In the fall of 1969 or beginning of 1970 there was a mandate that states would have to integrate immediately. Up until then the process was built around freedom of choice with the goal of gradually integrating the schools. Jefferson County was heavily African American with a black high school on one end of town, and a white high school on the other. When the mandate came down there was a concern on the part of our parents for the quality of our education and for our safety. We were all going to be thrown together and it looked like there would be chaos.
There were 32 students in my junior class and the decision was made—I can’t say WE made it, we had a voice in it, but our parents made it—and 16 classmates chose to go to the next county to finish their senior years, and the other 16 of us, lacking only a few credits for graduation, took them early in the summer and we graduated from high school without a senior year. Randy Moomaw’s play The Class of 1971 and a Half is based on an experience that I had with two friends many years later. To celebrate a particular birthday—and I’m not going to say which one—we planned a trip to New York for two or three days. Since we didn’t have a senior trip in high school we playfully called the trip to New York our “senior trip.” Unbeknownst to the others, the character that is sort of my character has invited one of the black students from our hometown to the reunion but she hasn’t told the other two. In the surprise lies the comedy and the seriousness of the play as the women deal with the situation.
My mother was the newspaper editor of the paper in my home town during the 60s and 70s. She was a self-taught journalist, very outspoken, very much a southern lady but she had a strong backbone, and there were many things to write about during the civil rights movement. She wrote a column every week called Just Whittlin’, called that because her daddy, a railroad man, used to sit at the courthouse on Saturdays whittling.
“I love stories, and I love the physical sound of voices and dialects particularly in the south. Those dialects are quickly disappearing. We’ve gotten too homogenous. At any rate, I wanted tape recordings of my mother’s voice, and asked her, ‘Would you please read some of your columns on tape for me?’ She kept putting it off. ‘You don’t want me to do that!’ I’d respond, ‘Yes I do.” I finally had to pull the one-sentence trump card that all children play at one time or another, ‘I’m not coming home for Christmas this year unless you tape these things.’ Which she did--so fortunately I’ve got several hours of her reading from her columns, mostly from the years 1969 and 1970 while all the Civil Rights turmoil was going on. In the show you’ll hear components of my mother’s voice blending in with some of my personal perspective on things. There will be some visual pieces as well. There will also be audio from a contemporary of mine. I didn’t grow up with her, she’s from the next county. She’s an African American woman about my age and she shares her perspective on changes that were going on at the time. So all these things are going to filter in—some audio and some video, still shots, and some music. The songs are threaded through the presentation and are what holds everything together. I’m not doing any character. I’m a song writer, not an actress. So the songs carry a lot of the meaning of the two hour presentation segued between stories told in other ways. It is my hope that the stories are part of a common experience for much of the audience—or if not common experience at least stir up some memories.
“I grew up in a small Methodist Church and it was not without controversy during the civil rights movement because in 1968 when the Methodist Church became the United Methodist Church I remember the tension in our small town—fear that the churches were going to become integrated. That never happened, but that was a point of contention for while. Part of this Heart of Dixie show is growing out of the memory of the struggle of being a kid and going to Sunday School and having my elders teach me the bible and the Gospel and right from wrong. Then somewhere when I was 15-16 all this change occurred and suddenly what I was seeing out the door didn’t jibe with what my elders had been telling me all along. This was a real struggle for a teenager and I think that has germinated into what a lot of Heart of Dixie is about. Yet, underlying everything that I went through, everything the community went through, was a real sense of love. You could see that love manifested in the relationship of the African American women to the children they cared for—white as well as black. That love in my mind symbolized a real sacrificial love—and the challenge is to try to live that sacrificial love even if everybody doesn’t agree with you.”
Heart of Dixie will have its premiere at the Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center in Huntingdon, Tennessee, March 10th, 7:30 p.m. Information at http://www.dixiepac.net/schedule.htm
Tricia Walker’s faith has played a big part in her life. She feels her faith has been the rock even through some muddy places, and even when she faced difficult issues. She says, “The verse that pierced my heart in a wonderful way goes back to a strong relationship that I have with a group of believers here in Nashville: Roman 2:4b ‘God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.’ You know when I was in the midst of dark places, walking away from God, I’d come across that scripture in my journals and in the Bible. Those words pierced me in such a way that I started back to God. I hope all the music and hopefully my life will be one where people can feel the kindness of God.”
Brenda Strunk, who serves as Director of Music at Pleasant View UMC, Pleasant View, Tennessee, talks about Tricia’s contributions to her local church: “Tricia Walker shares her considerable musical talent with our congregation to enhance and enliven the worship services regularly at Pleasant View United Methodist Church, especially during special seasonal services. Her talent enables her to bring new awareness to traditional, familiar hymns, as well as bringing glory and worship through her own musical works. She also brings God's spirit to light by sharing her music through programs such as music therapy for chemotherapy patients at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center. We are very blessed to have a musician of her caliber as a regular part of our congregation and worship services.
Her pastor Ryan Bennett echoes Brenda Strunk’s remarks: “Tricia is just special. Her heart for God, her love for people, and her amazing voice unite together intertwined with a sweet spirit to make her such a powerful tool in the building of the kingdom. Whether she is singing in worship, working with the youth and children, working with the American Cancer Society, or in Ireland or the gulf coast doing mission work, Tricia brings a message of grace to the lives of the people she meets, most of the time without saying a word at all.”
Twins Delivered at McKendree Village
More than 100 people gathered recently to celebrate the delivery of "twin" 15-passenger vans at McKendree Village continuing care retirement community. Willie McDonald, far right, chairman of the McKendree Village Foundation board, cuts the ribbon on one of the vans as McKendree Village residents and staff members watch. Pictured left to right are McKendree resident Rev. Bill Gamble; Bill Black, executive director of McKendree Village Foundation; Paul Clinard, van driver dressed in surgical scrubs for the delivery; Rev. Jim Robinson, McKendree's director of pastoral care; Suleiman Aziz, van driver; Roxie Mathison, co-chair of the residents' van campaign committee; Bob Feldman, co-chair McKendree Village Foundation development committee; Curt Silverthorne, co-chair of the residents' van campaign committee; Sue Peters, co-chair McKendree Village Foundation development committee; and Mary Anna Womeldorf, president and CEO of McKendree Village.The temperature was a little too low to provide all the outdoor activities planned for the dedication of two new vans at McKendree Village on February 20th—hot air balloon rides were cancelled—and McKendree residents were decked out in winter coats to keep off the chill.
Inside the tent set up for dedication, however, the winter weather wasn’t a problem. Exhibited in the tent was a whole lot of warm friendliness and an incredible amount of “parental pride.”
Planners of the event played off on the fact that most of the money for the purchase of the two vans was contributed by residents and employees of McKendree Village—and it was obvious that everyone at the dedication shared “parental pride” in the arrival of two new vans. The two vans, one decked out in pink ribbon and the other in blue, were treated as a birth in the family—a birth of “twins” to be exact. Invitations had been sent out about the arrival of twins at the McKendree Village Retirement Community and bubble gum cigars were passed out to commemorate the occasion.
Four McKendree staffers, wearing surgical scrubs in preparation for the delivery, added their voices in song to the dedication event.
Though many McKendree residents have automobiles to drive, many do not, and they require the services of three vans to go shopping, go to medical appointments, or to participate in McKendree Village outings such as going downtown to the theatre or symphony. Even those with automobiles prefer to use McKendree transportation when the trip is to be at night.
Van 2, a 2006 Ford E450, Startrans Senator series, will accommodate 13 passengers plus a driver or can be converted to accommodate four wheelchairs plus ten ambulatory passengers and a driver. The vehicle, which has a wheelchair lift, is very versatile because seating can be easily configured in a variety of ways.
Van 3, a 2005 GM, Startrans Senator Series, also has a wheelchair lift and can accommodate 2 wheelchairs plus 14 other passengers.
“Both of these vans have multi-use capabilities, in addition to being very spacious and comfortable. The large windows on the side of the vans make traveling more fun,” said Kevin
Rainbolt, Support Services Coordinator at McKendree Village, who is responsible for the managing and maintaining all vehicles.Prayer time at dedication of "The Twins"
The new vans replace a 1996 Ford passenger van and another van approaching “retirement” in McKendree’s existing fleet; only one of these vehicles could accommodate wheelchairs. In 2005, McKendree residents traveled more than 57,000 miles in McKendree Village vehicles.
Hilarious “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” Heads to Franklin
An ingenious and wildly comic romp “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” is being presented by the community theatre production team, The Bethlehem Players, March 10-19 at the Performing Arts Center of the Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Franklin off Hillsboro Road.
Respected theater veteran J. Dietz Osborne returns as director for this ensemble production. The original play enjoyed a long, critically hailed run both on and off-Broadway. Osborne said his veteran team is presenting a clever, twist on this show biz farce.
“It’s not a musical but it certainly is a comedy and a clever murder-mystery which will provide lively entertainment for adults and children. The play was hailed by New York media as ‘hugely enjoyable.’ The play pokes fun at show biz antics while providing who-dunnit intrigue,” Osborne said.
Written by John Bishop, the comedy is set in the library of an old mansion in Chappaqua, New York during a snowstorm in December of 1940. A fake musical audition is set up at the mansion by the owner, a Broadway investor, trying to solve the mystery of the stage door slasher. Numerous secret passages and disguises keep the audience guessing all evening.
The Bethlehem Players community theatre production of “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” takes place March 10, 11, 17 and 18 at 7:00 p.m., March 14 at 5:00 p.m. and March 12 and 19 at 6:00 p.m.
Tickets are $14.00 for adults and $10.00 for students. Only on Tuesday, March 14 at 5:00 p.m., the show includes dinner in the $14.00 ticket price with underwriting support from Stroud’s Barbeque. This special show is open to the public and available for the senior community with seating at 4:45 p.m. BUMC is wheelchair accessible, and accommodations are available for the handicapped.
The Bethlehem Players were established in 1997 by Harry Robinson and former minister Jim Hughes as a church outreach project “and a team sport beyond softball,” according to Robinson. The program has ambitiously grown successfully staging “Fiddler On The Roof” in 2005 to packed audiences. Other Osborne productions include: “Steel Magnolias,” “Rumor” and “A Bad Year For Tomatoes.”
For more information, directions and ticket reservations, contact Harry Robinson, BUMC Music and Arts Director, at (615) 794-6721, ext. 228 or visit http://www.blogger.com/www.bethlehemumc.com.
Applications Requested for the Position of Elementary Camp Director
The Tennessee Annual Conference is receiving applications for the position of Elementary Camp Director. The position requires that the person be deeply rooted in Christian faith and practice and have a sense of the importance of making disciples for Jesus Christ; knowledge of the structure and polity of the Tennessee Camp Program; knowledge of needs, abilities and behavioral patterns of elementary children or youth; ability to make independent decisions; demonstrated communication skills; demonstrated cultural sensitivity; ability to use discernment, judgment and initiative.
The Elementary Camp Director will work with the Cedar Crest Executive Director to plan, implement, and evaluate the summer camp experience; coordinate plans and supervise staff counselors; and will consult with the camp nurse about the medical needs of the campers. The applicant must be at least 21 years of age, have a bachelor=s degree or at least two years of camping experience as a staff person. The director will be required to be in residence at Camp Cedar Crest during the summer. There is opportunity to be off on Saturdays. Salary is based on experience and training. For inquires about Elementary Camp, please contact Susan Groseclose, 1-800-403-5795, 615-329-1177 or email sgroseclose@tnumc.org for a job description and an application.
Conference is Receiving Applications for Elementary and Youth Camp Counselors
The Tennessee Annual Conference is receiving applications for Counselors at Elementary Camp and Youth Camp. As a counselor, you will be responsible for a small group of children or youth each week. The committee is looking for a person deeply rooted in Christian faith and practice and who has a sense of the importance of making disciples for Jesus Christ; knowledge of the structure and polity of the Tennessee Camp Program; knowledge of needs, abilities and behavioral patterns of children or youth; ability to make independent decisions; demonstrated communication skills; demonstrated cultural sensitivity; ability to use discernment, judgment and initiative. The person needs to be able to lead elementary children or youth in Bible study, crafts, nature experiences, music, swimming, and sports activities.
The applicant must be at least 18 years of age, have a high school diploma and at least one year of academic training or the equivalent of two years of camping experience. The counselor will be required to be in residence at Camp Cedar Crest during the summer. There is opportunity to be off on Saturdays. For inquires about Elementary Camp, please contact Susan Groseclose, 1-800-403-5795, 615-329-1177 or email sgroseclose@tnumc.org for a job description and an application. For inquires about Youth camp, please contact Beth Morris, 10800-403-5795, 615-327-1533 or bmorris@tnumc.org.
2006 Summer Camp Dates at Cedar Crest
Elementary Camp Weeks
Please note that graduated 3rd-graduated 6th graders are eligible to attend any week of camp, unless otherwise specified.
June 12 – 16
June 19 – 23
June 26 – 30
July 10 – 14 Special Week for graduated 3rd & 4th graders
July 10 – 12 Mini-Week I for graduated 2nd graders
July 12 – 14 Mini-Week II for graduated 2nd graders
July 17 – 21 Special Week for graduated 5th & 6th graders
July 24 – 28
Youth Camp Weeks
Junior High includes graduated 6th – 9th grades
Senior High includes graduated 9th – 12th grades
June 12 -16 Graduated 6th – 12th graders
June 19 – 23 Junior High
June 26 – 30 Junior High
July 10 – 14 Junior High
July 17 – 21 Junior High
July 24 – 28 Senior High Adventure Week
Hilarious “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” Heads to Franklin
An ingenious and wildly comic romp “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” is being presented by the community theatre production team, The Bethlehem Players, March 10-19 at the Performing Arts Center of the Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Franklin off Hillsboro Road.
Respected theater veteran J. Dietz Osborne returns as director for this ensemble production. The original play enjoyed a long, critically hailed run both on and off-Broadway. Osborne said his veteran team is presenting a clever, twist on this show biz farce.
“It’s not a musical but it certainly is a comedy and a clever murder-mystery which will provide lively entertainment for adults and children. The play was hailed by New York media as ‘hugely enjoyable.’ The play pokes fun at show biz antics while providing who-dunnit intrigue,” Osborne said.
Written by John Bishop, the comedy is set in the library of an old mansion in Chappaqua, New York during a snowstorm in December of 1940. A fake musical audition is set up at the mansion by the owner, a Broadway investor, trying to solve the mystery of the stage door slasher. Numerous secret passages and disguises keep the audience guessing all evening.The Bethlehem Players community theatre production of “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” takes place March 10, 11, 17 and 18 at 7:00 p.m., March 14 at 5:00 p.m. and March 12 and 19 at 6:00 p.m.
Tickets are $14.00 for adults and $10.00 for students. Only on Tuesday, March 14 at 5:00 p.m., the show includes dinner in the $14.00 ticket price with underwriting support from Stroud’s Barbeque. This special show is open to the public and available for the senior community with seating at 4:45 p.m. BUMC is wheelchair accessible, and accommodations are available for the handicapped.
The Bethlehem Players were established in 1997 by Harry Robinson and former minister Jim Hughes as a church outreach project “and a team sport beyond softball,” according to Robinson. The program has ambitiously grown successfully staging “Fiddler On The Roof” in 2005 to packed audiences. Other Osborne productions include: “Steel Magnolias,” “Rumor” and “A Bad Year For Tomatoes.”
For more information, directions and ticket reservations, contact Harry Robinson, BUMC Music and Arts Director, at (615) 794-6721, ext. 228 or visit http://www.blogger.com/www.bethlehemumc.com.
Applications Requested for the Position of Elementary Camp Director
The Tennessee Annual Conference is receiving applications for the position of Elementary Camp Director. The position requires that the person be deeply rooted in Christian faith and practice and have a sense of the importance of making disciples for Jesus Christ; knowledge of the structure and polity of the Tennessee Camp Program; knowledge of needs, abilities and behavioral patterns of elementary children or youth; ability to make independent decisions; demonstrated communication skills; demonstrated cultural sensitivity; ability to use discernment, judgment and initiative.
The Elementary Camp Director will work with the Cedar Crest Executive Director to plan, implement, and evaluate the summer camp experience; coordinate plans and supervise staff counselors; and will consult with the camp nurse about the medical needs of the campers. The applicant must be at least 21 years of age, have a bachelor=s degree or at least two years of camping experience as a staff person. The director will be required to be in residence at Camp Cedar Crest during the summer. There is opportunity to be off on Saturdays. Salary is based on experience and training. For inquires about Elementary Camp, please contact Susan Groseclose, 1-800-403-5795, 615-329-1177 or email sgroseclose@tnumc.org for a job description and an application.
Conference is Receiving Applications for Elementary and Youth Camp Counselors
The Tennessee Annual Conference is receiving applications for Counselors at Elementary Camp and Youth Camp. As a counselor, you will be responsible for a small group of children or youth each week. The committee is looking for a person deeply rooted in Christian faith and practice and who has a sense of the importance of making disciples for Jesus Christ; knowledge of the structure and polity of the Tennessee Camp Program; knowledge of needs, abilities and behavioral patterns of children or youth; ability to make independent decisions; demonstrated communication skills; demonstrated cultural sensitivity; ability to use discernment, judgment and initiative. The person needs to be able to lead elementary children or youth in Bible study, crafts, nature experiences, music, swimming, and sports activities.
The applicant must be at least 18 years of age, have a high school diploma and at least one year of academic training or the equivalent of two years of camping experience. The counselor will be required to be in residence at Camp Cedar Crest during the summer. There is opportunity to be off on Saturdays. For inquires about Elementary Camp, please contact Susan Groseclose, 1-800-403-5795, 615-329-1177 or email sgroseclose@tnumc.org for a job description and an application. For inquires about Youth camp, please contact Beth Morris, 10800-403-5795, 615-327-1533 or bmorris@tnumc.org.
2006 Summer Camp Dates at Cedar Crest
Elementary Camp Weeks
Please note that graduated 3rd-graduated 6th graders are eligible to attend any week of camp, unless otherwise specified.
June 12 – 16
June 19 – 23
June 26 – 30
July 10 – 14 Special Week for graduated 3rd & 4th graders
July 10 – 12 Mini-Week I for graduated 2nd graders
July 12 – 14 Mini-Week II for graduated 2nd graders
July 17 – 21 Special Week for graduated 5th & 6th graders
July 24 – 28
Youth Camp Weeks
Junior High includes graduated 6th – 9th grades
Senior High includes graduated 9th – 12th grades
June 12 -16 Graduated 6th – 12th graders
June 19 – 23 Junior High
June 26 – 30 Junior High
July 10 – 14 Junior High
July 17 – 21 Junior High
July 24 – 28 Senior High Adventure Week
posted by TN Conference UMC @ 1:22 PM
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