wfn.org | Plans get under way for Exploration youth event

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Aug. 2, 2002 News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.   10-71B{343}

By United Methodist News Service

Exploration 2002, a weekend of worship and workshops designed to help young
people discern God's call, will be held Nov. 15-17 in Chicago.

"Is God Calling You?" will be the theme for the 2002 biennial gathering,
which will be at the O'Hare Regency Hotel at O'Hare International Airport.
Exploration events, sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Higher
Education and Ministry, invite participants to learn the steps to ordained
ministry in the United Methodist Church and consider the variety of ways
they can live out their call.

Exploration is designed for young people ages 16 to 24. The registration
deadline is Sept. 30. Registration materials and other information about the
event are available at www.gbhem.org/exploration or by calling (615)
340-7397. The board provides rooms, food and program. Participants are
responsible for their travel expenses and a $65 registration fee.

Worship leaders will be: 

The Rev. Aida Irizarry-Fernandez, superintendent of the Metropolitan Boston
North District in Massachusetts. She was ordained as an elder in the
Southern New England Annual Conference in 1991 and was previously the
associate council director in the Northern New Jersey Conference.
 
Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader, leader of the United Methodist Church's
Wisconsin Area. She served as superintendent of the West Michigan Conference
before being elected to the episcopacy in 1992. 

The Rev. Nick Harvey, senior pastor of Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church
in Decatur, Ga. He also serves as a member of the teaching faculty at Emory
University's Candler School of Theology in Atlanta.
 
The Rev. Grant Hagiya, Los Angeles District superintendent of the
California-Pacific Annual Conference. He is an adjunct faculty member at
Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology, teaching United Methodist polity and
field education. He currently serves as a member of the General Conference's
Committee on Plan of Organization and Rules.

The Rev. L. Gregory Jones, dean and professor of theology at Duke Divinity
School. A noted scholar, he is the author of several books, including
Embodying Forgiveness. He is editor at large and writer of the "Faith
Matters" column for Christian Century magazine. He is on the board of
trustees of the Center of Theological Inquiry.

The Rev. Susan Pendleton Jones, director of special programs at Duke
Divinity School. An elder in the Western North Carolina Conference, she has
served pastorates in North Carolina and Maryland. She is the former senior
pastor of Arbutus United Methodist Church, a 1,000-member church in
Baltimore, and is the immediate past campus minister of the United Methodist
Wesley Fellowship at Duke University. She is the author of United Methodist
curriculum resources and a contributing writer to Christian Century.

Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer, leader of the church's Iowa Area. He comes to
the Iowa Conference after serving as senior pastor of the United Methodist
Church of Berea, Ohio, for seven years. Before that, he was a district
superintendent and served churches in both Ohio and North Carolina.

The Rev. Cynthia A. Wilson-Hollins, pastor of music, worship and
communication at Ben Hill United Methodist Church in Atlanta. Before serving
at Ben Hill, she was the minister of music for six years at Hamilton Park
United Methodist Church in Dallas, where she was also an adjunct professor
at Southern Methodist University. She is a graduate of the Southern
Methodist University Perkins School of Theology. She was the 1999 recipient
of the "Best Female Vocalist Award" at the Gospel Choice Awards. 

Ray Buckley, director of the Office of Native American Communications for
United Methodist Communications. He spent the early part of his life on the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, and is fluent in the Tlingit
and Lakota languages. 

The Rev. Patricia Alice Rogers, senior pastor of Aldersgate United Methodist
Church in Augusta, Ga. She was ordained deacon in the North Georgia
Conference in 1985 and ordained elder in 1988. 

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United Methodist News Service
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