Watauga Missional Network

Like each new District in the Western NC Conference of the United Methodist Church, Watauga County has a new Missional Network too.
One of our assignments by our District Superintendent Rev. Lory Beth Huffman is to address an area of mission and unite our efforts as churches in the county to make a significant impact on an area of need. Our first meeting is at Deerfield UMC at 10am for the Watauga County United Methodist pastors. The days of going to district meetings once a month are gone. Our district now is huge and too spread out over too many miles to make that possible. One of the goals for the meeting tomorrow is to look at the ways we communicate with each other as pastors and make sure we have the best practices possible in our communications to be effective with our time. We plan to make time when we gather to share prayer concerns and pray for one another and the churches we serve, and tomorrow we will really spend some time trying to narrow our focus on what area of mission could our churches in Watauga County address together from our own location to make a significant impact on the issue.
Currently, I am the pastor of Deerfield UMC in Boone, and I am in my third year of service here, my 20th year as a full time pastor. Last summer I started into a doctoral program at Bethel University in St. Paul MN in Educational Leadership. That work has helped me make ties out in the community in the school system here in Watauga County. Please go to the website that I am building and using for class for more information on the Missional Network. On the website, you will find a powerpoint presentation on how to improve literacy in Watauga County that I did for a class project in December of 2012. We look forward to how the Lord will bring our churches together for mission and guide us as we make important decisions for the kingdom. Here is the website: www.faithliftingstories.com