TENNESSEE CONFERENCE REVIEW JULY 27, 2007

In this issue of THE REVIEW
1. Bishop Wills Speaks from Experience when he comments on the August 26th Katrina Recovery Appeal.
2. Native Moccasins Rock, one of the country’s great festivals, right here in the Tennessee Conference, August 17-20, 2007
3. Tennessee Conference Youth Help Create Worship Center during Youth 2007.
4. Two from John Wesley United Methodist Church Receive Medical Degrees.
5. It’s A God Thing--Nolensville’s First Community 4th of July Celebration.
6. Meet Your Delegates to the 2008 General Conference, Fort Worth, Texas . Photos and short biographical statements
7. Waynesboro First United Methodist Installs Ten Commandments monument.
8. Beersheba Springs Assembly Conference and Retreat Center Has A Place For You!
9. Fifteen Retire at Special 2007 Annual Conference Celebration of Ministry.
10. Tennessee Conference Extended Cabinet 2007-2008, photo.

Bishop Wills Speaks from Experience when he comments on the August 26th Katrina Recovery Appeal
A special offering is scheduled to be taken in United Methodist churches on August 26, 2007. The United Methodist Bishops’ Katrina Recover Appeal acknowledges that a great deal remains to be done in Mississippi and Louisiana as recovery continues from hurricane and flood damage. This particular appeal focuses on rebuilding United Methodist church presence along the Gulf so that the church can continue to meet the spiritual and emotional needs, sometimes even the physical needs, of persons whose lives and property were battered by the storm.

Bishop Richard J. Wills is a strong supporter of the Appeal, and he speaks from his own experience as a Florida pastor living through the aftermath of an earlier storm, Hurricane Andrew. Wills recently said, “I hope our churches will take a special offering on August 26 for the Bishops’ Katrina Church Recovery. I know from personal experience, with my family, that hurricane Andrew took a good 5 years of recovery work.

“From that experience,” he adds, “I know that now is the time we need to continue to do the work of ‘recovery.’ Hurricane Katrina is no longer in the headlines, yet there continues to be much work to be done. The Bishops’ Hurricane Katrina Church Appeal will help with the recovery work so desperately needed by the churches in that area. I thank all congregations for whatever they can do to help rebuild our churches in these devastated areas.”

This is no idle request from the Bishop – the Cabinets of both the Tennessee and Memphis Annual Conferences are heading to Mississippi at the end of September to help with recovery work on behalf of the Nashville Area.

The storm is over. The calm has come. But work remains to be done before United Methodist churches in Louisiana and Mississippi can meet the growing needs of their traumatized communities. All United Methodists are urged to open hearts and wallets to the Katrina Church Recovery Appeal (#818-001). Donations of money and service will help to:
.Renovate and reopen hurricane-damaged United Methodist churches, parsonages and other facilities.
.Provide skilled professionals as a labor force.
.Grow congregations where memberships have declined.
.Reestablish community-outreach ministries.
.Train new lay leadership and rebuild church infrastructure.
.Provide salaries for support staff (including associate pastors, church musicians, Christian education directors and others).

Congregations may respond in three ways:

1. Donate online or through the Bishop’s Katrina Church Recovery Appeal (#818-001) special offering on Aug. 26, 2007.
2. Form congregation-to-congregation partnerships with churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama-West Florida.
3. Send skilled workers such as electricians, plumbers, drywall hangers, finish carpenters, painters, landscapers and others to assist with rebuilding. Also needed are volunteers in church music, Christian education and evangelical outreach.


Native Moccasins Rock, one of the country’s great festivals, right here in the Tennessee Conference, August 17-20, 2007

The Chata Dancers, Choctaw traditional dances, will perform during Native Moccasins Rock. The group members are from the Henning and Ripley area in West Tennessee. Sonny Bell is leader of the group.

For six years, the Tennessee Annual Conference Native American Ministries Committee has presented a “gathering,” a week-end event designed originally to train the local church Native American contacts that are elected by quarterly conference action each year.

The event has grown and moved to a national stage as one of the best explorations in the country of Native American culture and spirituality. From humble beginnings it has become a three-day festival for persons interested in learning more about Native American music and dance, Native storytelling and traditions, Native crafts such as basket weaving and bead work, and even American history.

The 2007 “Gathering,” Native Moccasins Rock, will be held August 17-19, 2007 at Camp Lake Benson, Bon Aqua, Tennessee. Besides local church native American Representatives, and persons with Native American genealogical background, others will find the experience enriching—persons (including teens) interested in liturgical and sacred dance, artists wanting to study Native arts, musicians, storytellers, individuals fascinated with traditional medicinal salves, youth groups, students of history—there is literally something for all age groups and most interests. The classes are taught by some of the major Native American talents from across the country, and not all the leaders are tribal elders. The leadership team also includes some very talented teens--dance will be taught by the NDN Stix Chix dance group from the Nanticoke tribe in Delaware. One of the group’s adult leaders, Boe Harris-Nakakakena (which means ‘rattles with feet’) has just been featured in a news release from the American Forces Press Service: “Army Brat Spreads Word About Her Indian Culture in Powwow Dances, Speeches.”

The NDN Stix Chix, dance group from the Nanticoke tribe in Delaware

Workshops include: Round the Drum, the basics of powwow drumming, taught by Emerson Begay and Ben Sanchez; Making Medicinal Salves taught by Darryl Patton from Gadsden, Alabama; Storytelling with sharing by David Null, well known puppeteer, and others; Flute-Playing led by Jamie Russell (bring a flute or get a cane flute from Jamie); Rivercane Baskets taught by Ramsey King (two sessions required); Bead work – basic and advance – lead by sisters Nancy, Emma, and Juanita; Make a leather bag, taught by Debbie Fitzhugh, or flint knapping, instructor TBA.

Take a week end or a day to meet people of varied ethnic and spiritual backgrounds as we come together to honor and celebrate Native American traditions and cultures. You can request a brochure by contacting Mary T Newman, Connectional Ministries Office, 304 S. Perimenter Park Drive, Suite 1, Nashville, TN 37211, by phone at 615-329-1177, or by email at mtnewman@tnumc.org. The brochure can also be downloaded from the Annual Conference website.

Registration fee is $25.00 with additional cost for meals on site. Housing at Camp Lake Benson is also available.


Tennessee Youth Help Create Worship Center during Youth 2007
By Hunter Pavlik*

An estimated 200+ youth attended Youth 2007 from the Tennessee Annual Conference.
Four youth groups from middle Tennessee worked together to create and run “Worship Feast.”

Youth 2007 has come and gone with close to 7000 youth and young adults and youth leaders from around the world descend upon Greensboro, North Carolina. The Tennessee conference had a number of groups represented at Y07. One group had a special mission and cause for the event. A generative friendship of Hendersonville First United Methodist Church, Hermitage UMC, Franklin FUMC, Hillcrest UMC, and help from Pleasant Valley UMC (Wichita, KS) put together and ran the "Worship Feast" area of the event. Inspired by the Worship Feast line of resources by Abingdon Press, the worship feast area offered nine areas for participants to come and spend time in "sacred space."

Art was a part of the worship experience

During a week of chaos, concerts and splat shops, many needed a chance to get away from the daily grind and noise and find a more unique area of reflection on the week. The Worship Feast area that was located in the Sheraton Koury Convention Center in the Imperial Ballroom did just that, offering quiet prayer and reflection areas.

From art areas where individuals can come and demonstrate their inner artist to two labyrinths that offer individuals a chance to embark on their own spiritual pilgrimages, the area offers everyone a chance to wind down. With only one continual path the labyrinths differ from your typical maze because the goal is not about the finish but instead the journey at hand.


Post-It-Note stickers requested personal prayers in the Worship Feast area

"A labyrinth is a spiritual tool that replicates a pilgrimage." Gavin Richardson, youth minister at Hendersonville First United Methodist said. "Historically it is a path that replicates a journey to the holy land." Once one finds their way to the center of a labyrinth they have found a place with God. They then begin a pilgrimage back out, a different person than when they entered.

For those running the worship feast it gives them a chance to see the area change individuals as they wander from one prayer station to the next.

"It's fun to watch them come in with their own expectations and see their eyes get big," Mike Worden from Hillcrest UMC said. "They come in quick and leave slow."

For someone looking for a more organized event the Worship Feast offered two worship services during the day along with a Taize' Worship time and a spiritual practices workshop during the "splat shop" hours. The group also observed the Hours of Prayer at 7:30 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. and were open to anyone. "Lauds" or morning prayer were easily the most popular seeing 75 to 100 participants each morning.

*Hunter Pavlick is a youth intern at Hendersonville First United Methodist Church.


Two members of John Wesley UMC applied to the Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State, at the same time, both were accepted—and neither knew the other had applied.
Two from John Wesley United Methodist Church Receive Medical Degrees
By Glenda S. Smith*

Two members of Nashville’s John Wesley United Methodist Church received Medical Degrees during spring 2007 commencement ceremonies at the Quillen College of Medicine in Johnson City, Tennessee, Ethel Marie Cobbett and Carlenda Monique Smith were awarded the Doctor of Medicine Degree. Drs. Cobbett and Smith have been members of John Wesley United Church since childhood.

Ethel Marie Cobbett


Dr. Cobbett is a 1995 graduate of Middle Tennessee State University where she earned the Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and pursued a Master of Science degree in Animal Physiology. While in medical school she participated in the Student-Run Outreach Clinic and the Liberty Bell Project (an organization that educated local high school students about STDs and contraception), she was a Medical School Ambassador, a Graduate Research Fellow in the Department of Pharmacology, and a clinical volunteer. Her professional memberships include American Medical Association, American Medical Student Association, and Student National Medical Association. For relaxation, Dr. Cobbett enjoys painting, decorating, playing the cello, athletics, cooking, travel, and gardening.

As a member of John Wesley United Methodist Church, she participated in Vacation Bible School, Bible study and the choir. When asked how her faith in God enabled her to realize her goal of becoming a physician, she answered, “My faith enabled me to appreciate the good times and to find blessings in the obstacles that came before me.”

Beginning July 2007 until July 2010, Dr. Cobbett will be a Resident Physician at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC, in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Carlenda Monique Smith.

Dr. Smith is a 2003 summa cum laude graduate of Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, where she earned the Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology. She was a 1999 graduate of St. Cecilia Academy in Nashville.

She was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society in a special Honors Convocation and Hooding Ceremony in May. The Society honors senior medical students, residents, and faculty for demonstrated excellence in clinical care, leadership, compassion, and dedication to service. The inductees demonstrated exemplary attitudes and behaviors characteristic of the most humanistic physicians. While in medical school she served as a role model for young people by tutoring and mentoring at the Carter Community Center in Johnson City. She also volunteered with Coalition for Kids, another Johnson City community organization, local health fairs, and the Keystone Clinic, and she served as a peer tutor. Her professional memberships include Student National Medical Association, American Medical Association, Christian Medical/Dental Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, and International Health Club. Aside from medicine her interests are ballet, exercising, painting, and theater.

As a member of John Wesley United Methodist Church, she has served as a Vacation Bible School teacher, she participated in the “Room in the Inn” program, and she was the June 2007 “Education Day” speaker. “Education Day” is an annual observance that recognizes graduates, currently enrolled college students, and educators who are members of John Wesley. Dr. Smith acknowledges that she is a living testimony of what God can do if we trust him and keep the faith. During a number of difficult situations, she knew that God was by her side, and by trusting Him failure was not an option. Her favorite Bible passage is taken from 2 Corinthians 12:6-10.

Dr. Smith is currently a University of Tennessee Health Science Center Resident Physician at Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center in Memphis.

*Glenda S. Smith is chairperson, Higher Education and Campus Ministry Committee, John Wesley United Methodist Church


It’s A God Thing
Nolensville’s First Community 4th of July Celebration
By the Rev. Sandy Shawhan*

In early May our music team had a meeting to determine if it was time to think about starting an emerging worship service in addition to our contemporary and traditional services. The four of us shared lots of ideas and finally allowed ourselves to dream big. We left the meeting with the charge to check and see the possibilities of our church sponsoring a Fourth of July Celebration for the whole community of Nolensville in order to see what interests the community had in events that we could sponsor for our neighborhood. If we could even begin to start such a project, we only had 8 weeks to get organized and have everything ready.

Two days later the city’s Events planning committee contacted us and wanted to know if we would be interested in working with them to do a celebration. A meeting was scheduled so that we could talk about the possibilities. It appeared that a big dream might come into reality.

After meeting with the chair of the city’s committee and the Mayor of our town, we became a partner with the city to provide Nolensville’s first July 4th Community celebration. As we worked together, the church became the provider of the live music which would be all contemporary Christian and would provide volunteers for trash detail. Our city would provide traffic control and block off pedestrian walkways, get trash service, and the city’s planning committee would get food vendors, set up children and family game activities, get publicity, and provide additional volunteers.

With approximately four weeks left, our dream was becoming reality and we knew this was a “God Thing”. How could such a dream become reality in such a short time with a city and a church working together in partnership to host the whole population for a time together? We all knew that much more was at work here and we were just following the leading of God’s Spirit. Our joint committee gave thanks for this opportunity and thanked God for using us as instruments.
The Fourth of July celebration captured the interest of the Nolensville community

Although work started on the morning of the 4th, the event didn’t begin until 5:00 p.m. From 5:00 p.m. until 9 pm., under the leadership of Don DeMumbrum, we had music provided by Greg Miller, Pamela Mendoza, The Last Goodbye, and Ronnie Freeman. At 7:30 p.m., we paused in the midst of all the activities to give thanks for the freedom we have in our country to assemble and share as a community. At 9:00 p.m., our 20-minute professional fireworks display began.

At the end of the day, depending on whom you asked, we estimate that somewhere between 2500 and 4000 people shared in our historic making first Fourth of July party.

We are still tabulating the responses that people shared about their interests for the future.

*The Rev Sandy Shawhan is pastor of Nolensville First United Methodist Church


Meet Your Delegates to the 2008 General Conference, Fort Worth, Texas

Lay Delegates

C. Don Ladd. Don Ladd received Bachelor Degrees in both Chemisty and Business from Austin Peay University. He has been associated with American Express Companies (Now Ameriprise Financial) for almost forty years, and serves as Senior Financial Advisor for Ameriprise Financial Advisors.

He has served the Tennessee Annual Conference in numerous ways, most notably in his work with Lay Speaking Ministries where he is past Director of Conference Lay Speaking Ministries, past Chairperson Southeastern Jurisdictional Lay Speaking Ministries, and Founding Member and Consultant of the National Association of Lay Speaking Ministries. He is Chairperson of the Bishop’s Appeal New Church Development Committee, Nashville District, a member of the Tennessee Conference Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry, and Associate Lay Leader for the Conference Board of Laity. He has served as delegate to previous General and SEJ Conferences, and was a delegate to the World Methodist Conference in Brighton, England. In 1996 Don was honored by the Conference with the Harry Denman Evangelism Award, and in 2007 was recipient of the St. Andrew Award.

Ladd is a member of Forest Hills United Methodist Church where he has served in many positions and as a Sunday School Teacher. He is married to Michelle and has one daughter, Amanda.


Joe Williams. Joe Williams is a native Tullahoman and retired attorney and member of First UMC in Tullahoma. He has been elected as a lay delegate to the 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 General and Jurisdictional Conferences.

A lay member of the Tennessee Annual Conference since 1995, he has served as Conference Lay Leader the past three years. He previously served seven years as the Murfreesboro District Lay Leader, seven years on the Board of Directors of the Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation, and seven years on the Conference Committee on Health Insurance. He is a Certified Lay Speaker, a member of United Methodist Men, and was chair of the Executive Committee of the Together We Can Campaign, 1999-2002, and chair of the Conference Building Committee, 2004-2006.

A graduate of Tennessee Tech and the Nashville School of Law, he and his wife, Frances, will soon celebrate their 52nd wedding anniversary. They are the proud parents of three grown children now residing in Memphis, Cary, NC, and Huntsville, AL, and five grandchildren.


Betty Masters Alexander. Dr. Betty Masters Alexander, having professed her faith at age seven, has been a “Methodist” all her life. Her higher education began at Bluefield College in Virginia. She earned her B.A. degree in Religion and Philosophy at Athens State University; her M. Ed. In Counseling and her Doctorate in Higher Education at Vanderbilt University.

Betty has been a long time Christian educator. She has served as a Youth Director; Director of College-Church Relations, Youth Advisor at Martin Methodist College and has taught the “year long” Confirmation Class as a member of First United Methodist, Hendersonville for 17 years.

Betty has served the United Methodist Church on the District, Conference, Jurisdiction and General Church levels. She was Chair of the Cumberland District DCOM, Conference Lay Leader and Conference Director of Lay Speaking Ministries, a member of the Conference Board of Higher Education and Conference Episcopacy Committee. She served as Vice-Chair of the SE Jurisdictional Lay-Leaders and Vice Chair of the Jurisdictional Episcopacy Committee. Betty has been an elected member of the General Board of Higher Education and is currently serving on the General Board of Discipleship, The Upper Room Division. She is also a member of the Miriam’s Promise Board. She has been an elected delegate to Jurisdictional Conference seven times and an elected delegate to General Conference six times.

Betty is married to the Reverend Dr. Ben Alexander, Senior Pastor Emeritus of Hendersonville First United Methodist Church. Betty asks the prayers of the Tennessee Conference as she seeks to be a faithful disciple as a delegate to General and Jurisdictional Conferences in 2008.


Beth Morris. Beth Morris has been the Director of Youth, Young Adults and Camping for the Tennessee Conference since 1997. She attends First UMC, Hendersonville, with her family, husband Alan and children, Graeme, Kelsey and Tanner. She is active as a sunday school teacher, bible study leader and member of the missions committee and Council of Stewards. Beth has a great collection of PEZ dispensers and given the opportunity, she loves to read.

Opal Green Ransom. Opal is a member of Gordon Memorial United Methodist Church, Nashville, Tennessee, and is currently Lay Leader, member of the Finance, Church Council and Pastor Parish Relations Committees. She is member of the United Methodist Women, the Agape Ministry, and the Hospitality Committee. She has completed all Disciples Bible Study courses.

She is presently serving as Chairperson of the Conference Council on Connectional Ministries, and serves on the Board of Laity and the Tennessee Conference Personnel Committee. In the past she served as President of the Conference United Methodist Women as well as President of the Nashville District United Methodist Women. She has been part of the Conference Common Table, Religion and Race, and Finance and Personnel Committees.

A graduate of Tennessee State University, Opal is employed with the State of Tennessee in the Division of Mental Retardation Services. She is married to Joseph C. Ranson, and has two adult children and three grandchildren.

Clergy Delegates

A. Lynn Hill . Lynn is a native Nashvillian and currently serves as the Senior Pastor of Franklin First UMC. Prior to his coming to Franklin First, he was the Cumberland District Superintendent. He has been elected as a clergy delegate to the 2000, 2004, and 2008 General & Jurisdictional Conferences.

Lynn became a member of the Tennessee Conference in 1975 and has served the following appointments: Meridian Street, Donelson Heights, Chaplain at McKendree Manor, St. Paul's, Dalewood, City Road, Cumberland District, and Franklin First.

He has served on numerous district and conference committees and currently serves on the Council on Finance & Administration for the Tennessee Conference and the General Council on Finance & Administration.

Lynn has an Associate in Science degree from Aquinas College, a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tennessee, a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from Vanderbilt University. He is married to Susan Troxler Hill and they have one daughter, Emily.


Cathie Leimenstoll. Cathie Leimenstoll was born in Wilmington, Ohio, and grew up in rural southwestern Ohio. She attended Wilmington College (a Quaker school) for undergraduate degree in English/Sociology with a minor in Secondary Education. She taught middle school language arts in Ohio; secondary English in Lancaster, Pennsylania and Gallatin, Tennessee.

Cathie was married to Dwight Leimenstoll who passed away in August of 2005. They have one son, A.J., and a daughter-in-law Meghan, who live in Chicago. Prior to being appointed District Superintendent of the Murfreesboro District in 2006, Cathie served Connell Memorial UMC as an Associate Pastor for 4 years and Rehoboth UMC for 12 years. While at Rehoboth she was part of the beginning of the Gallatin Shalom Zone which is continuing to work for peace and justice in the Gallatin area.

She has been the secretary of the Board of Ordained Ministry; the Chair of the Conference Council on Ministries; and the chair of the Sexual Ethics Task Force.

Bettye P. Lewis. Bettye P. Lewis is a second generation Methodist clergy, born in Little Rock, Arkansas. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from Philander Smith College, a Master’s Degree in Education from Stephen F. Austin State University, and a Master’s of Divinity Degree from Vanderbilt University School of Divinity. She was ordained a Deacon in 1989 and an Elder in 1992. Bettye is currently serving in her eighth year as the District Superintendent of the Pulaski District.

Her other appointments include: the Campus Minister/Director of the Wesley Foundation at Austin Peay State University in the Clarksville District, Associate Pastor of Arlington UMC in the Nashville District, the pastor of St. James-St. John Charge in the Pulaski District, and the Assistant Chaplain at Meharry-Hubbard Hospital in Nashville. She has been the first African-American female to serve in each one of her appointments. Bettye’s past and present areas of service include leadership/membership on the following conference committees: Ethnic Local Church Concerns, Board of Ordained Ministry, Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, Office of Pastoral Formation, Religion and Race, Black Methodists for Church Renewal, New Church and Congregational Development, Love and Justice Ministries, Worship, Shalom Zones, and the Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry. She has also served as a Trustee of Martin Methodist College. She was elected to the Jurisdictional Conference in 2004 and also served as one of the two reserve delegates to General Conference during that same year.

She is the mother of two daughters, Tamara E. Lewis, a PhD student in Church History at Vanderbilt University Department of Religion and Kristin A. Lewis, an opera singer residing in Vienna, Austria and performing throughout Europe and the United States.

Barbara Garcia. Barbara Garcia grew up in rural Mississippi and she, her three brothers and her parents, Roy and Verdie Phillips were an integral part of the faith community at tiny, rural Collinsville Methodist Church.

Barbara graduated from Millsaps College with a major in Religion, minor in music. During the summers following her sophomore and junior years, Galloway Memorial sponsored her trips to Monterrey, Mexico to get a glimpse of what mission work would be like. This is where she met her future husband, Joaquin Garcia.

After college graduation, she served for three years in Monterrey, Mexico as a short-term missionary.

In 1967 Barbara and Joaquin were married and both began work on a Masters in Christian Education at Scarritt College for Christian Workers. In 1969 the couple returned to Mexico—this time to Mexico City—where she served as a consultant in Christian Education to the Methodist Church of Mexico. Their two sons, Roy and Carlos, were born in Mexico City.

The family moved to the United States in 1977, and Barbara served at First United Methodist Church in Monroe, Louisiana. While serving at First UMC in Monroe she was consecrated as a diaconal minister.

Barbara accepted a position in 1979 at the General Board of Discipleship where she served, first as a bi-lingual secretary in the Section on Evangelism, and then for 10 years on the professional staff in the area of Children and Worship in the Section on Worship, and as Coordinator of Children’s Ministries.

In 1989 Barbara was appointed to the staff of Brentwood United Methodist Church, and at Annual Conference 1996, Barbara Garcia was appointed as Assistant to the Bishop, the first female to serve in this role in the Nashville Area, and the first diaconal minister to serve in this role in the United States. She served as a delegate to General and Jurisdiction Conferences in 1996, 2000, and 2004.

John Collett. At Annual Conference 2007 John Collett was appointed District Superintendent of the Nashville District. In his 35-year ministerial career Collett has served in a variety of ministerial settings and the last 15 years at Belmont United Methodist Church, a large congregation in a Nashville neighborhood that has changed radically since the early 1960s.

Collett received a B.A. degree from Carson-Newman College and his M.Div. degree from The Divinity School of Vanderbilt University. He was admitted to the Tennessee Conference as a deacon in 1972 and an elder in 1974. Besides Belmont, Collett has served Madison Street in Clarksville (1988-92), Donelson Heights (1983-88), West Nashville (1976-1983), Belmont Associate (1974-76) and the Bell Buckle Circuit (1972-1974).

Collett has provided a great deal of leadership on the Annual Conference level. He has been a member of the Tennessee Conference Episcopacy Committee 2000-2004 and has been Chairperson of that Committee from 2004 to the present. He has served two full terms of 8 years each on the Martin Methodist College Board of Trustees. In addition, he is presently Chairperson of the McKendree Village Foundation Board.

Since 1984 Collett has been elected delegate to each Jurisdictional Conference and is a member of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Council on Finance and Administration. He was also a delegate to the General Conference in 2004.


Waynesboro First United Methodist Installs Ten Commandments monument

A granite monument depicting the Ten Commandments was recently installed on the campus of Waynesboro FUMC. This generous gift to the church was made by church members, Fran Ellis and David Taylor. They are pictured with James Kayler, pastor of the church.


Beersheba Springs Assembly Conference and Retreat Center Has A Place For You!
Campaign Shows value of Beersheba Springs for smaller groups


Fall is a great time to get away with your church staff for planning or team building or just time together. Beersheba Springs Assembly is now available for your staff retreat. Sunday evenings through Thursday evenings are available in Turner Lodge with no minimum charge for rooms or for meals. Please inquire about our personalized meal options and group snacks which are available on a limited basis for groups of six to twenty four. If you need help with any aspect of your retreat, Dickie Hinton, Executive Director of the Assembly is available as a resource to lead, help you design your retreat or to help you find the perfect leader. For more information or to book your staff retreat for fall (or spring), call the Assembly at (931) 692-3669. We hope to see you soon!






Fifteen Retire at Special 2007 Annual Conference Celebration of Ministry

Retiring clergy and spouses gathered before the altar rail as the Annual Conference celebrated the 375 years of combined service among the retirees.

Retiring Class of 2007 includes 14 pastors and one Diaconal Minister: Mark F. Ashley, Larry J. Burke, Don F. Dunlap, Randall C. Ganues, Barbara P. Garcia, John W. Hembree, David C. Huffman, David E. McIntyre, John W. Poellnitz, Garry D. Speich, Harvey L. Sullins, Gerald L. Taylor, Howard J. Welch, J.J. Wheelbarger, and Bob Snell


Each retiree had several minutes to speak to the Annual Conference. Here David E. McIntyre addresses the Conference while Bishop Wills, Steve Angus, and Patricia McIntyre look on.

Tennessee Conference Extended Cabinet 2007-2008

Left to right front row: Joe Williams (Conference Lay Leader), David B.Hawkins (Conference Treasurer), Susan S. Padgett (Director, Office of Ministerial Concerns), Bishop Richard J. Wills, Jr. (Nashville Area Bishop), Roger Hopson (Assistant to the Bishop), Harold Martin (Cookeville District). Second Row, left to right: Loyd E. Mabry (Director, Conference Council on Connectional Ministries), John Collett (Nashville District), Cathie Leimenstoll (Murfreesboro District), Willie Burchfield (Columbia District), Ron Lowery (Cumberland District), Bettye P. Lewis (Pulaski District), and Vincent “Vin” Walkup (Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation); Back row: John W. Casey (Clarksville District), and Dr. John G. Corry (Chancellor of the Tennessee Conference)