News Archives

Holston Annual Conference
June 11-14, Lake Junaluska, N.C.

The Holston Annual Conference theme –  “Courageous Past, Bold Future”– was borrowed from the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry to help Holston recognize the 50th anniversary of full clergy rights for women.

Yet, during the gathering of 1,900 clergy and lay members representing 912 churches in east Tennessee, southwest Virginia, and north Georgia, it was evident that “Courageous Past, Bold Future” also proclaimed something about Holston.

With Bishop James Swanson presiding, the conference adopted a “bold, passionate, and joyful” vision statement, based on prayerful responses gathered from members of the 2005 conference.

An offering of $94,494 was collected for an Alaskan mission led by Church and Community Worker Fran Lynch, a daughter of Holston. In the conference’s largest “hands-on” mission project ever, 6,728 kits containing food, clothing, sewing, school, and medical supplies were blessed and dispatched to missions in Liberia and Zimbabwe. An additional $43,853 was collected for “Change for Children,” benefiting children’s ministries in Africa as well as within Holston boundaries.

The conference welcomed Bishop Mary Virginia Taylor, resident bishop of the South Carolina Conference, during the opening worship celebrating clergywomen. Elected in 2004, Bishop Taylor is a native of the Holston Conference. Lifted up during the service were 152 living clergywomen, as well as many deceased.

Another special guest was Bishop Scott Jones, resident bishop of the Kansas Area, who led Bible studies on female leadership in the church. He concluded that seemingly conflicting verses can be resolved by examining the “general tenor of Scripture.” Verses forbidding women to pray or preach were temporary rules of the time, he said, kept by other denominations “because of the culture of sexism we have maintained for 1,900 years.”

In other actions:

• Members heard that more than 4,000 church volunteers have participated in hurricane recovery work in Mississippi. Churches and individuals also gave a combined $1.32 million to UMCOR disaster relief, Change for Children, the Russian Seminary Building Fund, and Special Sundays.
• The Board of Trustees received approval to purchase a $1.8 million, three-story building for the conference headquarters. The conference office will relocate from Knoxville to Alcoa, Tenn., in late August.
• Twenty-one retirees, representing a total 531 years of service, were recognized during a retirement celebration.
• With Bishop Swanson serving as preacher, the Service of Ordination and Commissioning included 17 full-connection deacons, one full-connection deacon, two deacons in associate membership, nine commissioned probationary elders, and one probationary deacon. 
• At the Sending Forth Service, 34 new local pastors received licenses.
• The conference approved a $15.89 million budget for 2007, representing a 3.8 percent increase over 2006.
• Approved resolutions creating a “limited-service church” category, establishing an annual Youth Sunday, lifting up mental health awareness, supporting health and wholeness ministry, and appointing a task force to preserve two historical shrines, Acuff Chapel and Cox House. Also approved –†and referred to the Council on Finance and Administration – was a resolution supporting the United Methodist Church Global AIDS Fund.
• The conference adopted, with a 421-396 vote, a resolution “affirming laws defending marriage.” The resolution states, “…Be it resolved that we continue to affirm the United Methodist stance on marriage and support laws in our state that protect the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”
• Rejected three resolutions: a resolution “reconsidering our relationship with the National Council of Churches,” a resolution “urging withdrawal from the Religious Coalition of Reproductive Choice,” and a “Resolution on Homosexuality.” The latter resolution declared that “advocates of unbiblical sexuality, who year after year seek the approval of plain and sinful practices, should cease their striving or separate themselves from the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church.”
• The Rev. James Noseworthy, president of Hiwassee College, received the Francis Asbury Award for higher education.
• The conference approved an increase in insurance premium rates of three percent for individuals and nine percent for family/retirees, effective Jan. 1. Also approved: A pre-1982 past service retirement rate of $465 for next year, a 3.64 percent increase over the previous year.

Conference membership stands at 167,340, down 373 from the previous year. Average worship attendance stands at 73,956, down 419.