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The 2024 North Alabama Annual Conference celebrated new beginnings; reflected on endings; and gave thanks for past, present and future ministry.
The conference gathered at Asbury United Methodist Church in Birmingham from May 30 to June 1. Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett presided over her 12th regular North Alabama Annual Conference session, the final session she will lead before her reassignment in September. The theme “Living the Story of Jesus; All for the Glory of God” guided the Conference work and worship together.
Bishop Bill McAlilly, episcopal leader of the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference, was the guest preacher. During opening worship, he preached “Our Anchor Holds.” Reflecting on Jesus’ prayer for all believers in John 14, he said, “There is a problem in our theological understanding in the world today around sanctification. Some of us think sanctification means to be set apart and separated from the world. But Jesus doesn’t say get separate from the world; Jesus says go into all the world and baptize, preach and teach. …If our anchor is gonna hold, it’s because we preach Christ and him crucified so that the world might know the love of Jesus.”
The first afternoon of the conference featured Learn and Lead Workshops designed to equip church leaders with practical ministry ideas, essential leadership skills and insights from fruitful churches. Workshops included:
- Radical Hospitality led by Yvonne Gentile from Resurrection, A United Methodist Church.
- Recruiting Volunteers led by Kerri-Ann Hayes from Ministry Architects.
- Skills of Leaders led by the Rev. Laceye Warner from Duke Divinity School.
- How to Reach Your Community led by the Rev. Suzanne Katschke, North Alabama New and Renewing Churches.
- Rural Fresh Expressions led by the Rev. Susan Arnold, director of Congregational Development & Revitalization Holston Conference.
- North Alabama Churches Doing New and Different, stories from various North Alabama United Methodists.
Thursday evening featured the Service of Licensing, Commissioning and Ordination. Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett preached “Living the Story of Jesus: A Lifestyle of Service.” She said, “We are to do more than talk about service. We are to live it! We are the chief servers, servant leaders and people who place the needs of the whole ahead of our individual preferences.”
During the service, two new local pastors were licensed, one person was commissioned as a provisional deacon, three people were commissioned as provisional elders, one person was an ordained deacon, and two people were ordained elders.
The Friday morning plenary opened with a keynote address by the Rev. Laceye Warner, the Royce and Jane Reynolds Professor of the Practice of Evangelism and Methodist Studies and associate dean for Wesleyan engagement at Duke Divinity School. Her address was titled “Growing in Grace.” She shared an ecology of disciple-making that includes saving small groups, worship and tenacious mission.
During business, the conference:
- Affirmed realigning from eight to four districts
- Heard a report from the delegation to the General and Jurisdictional Conference and elected two reserve delegates to the upcoming Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference.
- Adopted a 2025 budget of $5,741,047.
- Recognized 12 retiring clergy.
- Remembered 16 clergy and 16 clergy spouses who have died over the last year during a Celebration of Life Service.
- Voted to close seven churches and one campus ministry.
- Elected a jurisdictional pool of nominees to be considered by the 2024 Southeastern Jurisdiction to serve on jurisdictional teams and general boards and agencies
- Elected conference officers to serve in the new quadrennium.
- Updated the conference standing rules.
During its second annual Celebration Dinner, the Conference:
- Honored and celebrated the leadership of Bishop Wallace-Padgett, who has served as resident bishop of North Alabama for 12 years and will be reassigned in September.
- Recognized the recipients of this year’s Louise Branscomb Barrier Break Awards: The Rev. Brook Hemphill, clergy recipient, for her service of building bridges in a congregation hurt by disaffiliation; and Sarah Corson, laity recipient, who was one of the founders of SIFAT, a nonprofit Christian organization that provides training in community development in hard places in our world.
- Recognized the recipients of this year’s Harry Denman Evangelism Awards: Josh McPherson, a college student reaching out to other students to help them find a church home, and the Rev. Steven Barber, who has begun a ministry of a pro wrestling chaplainship that provides pastoral counseling, whole-person care, encouragement and suicide prevention for independent professional wrestlers.
- Presented the Rev. Ken Smith with the Francis Asbury Award for Higher Education. The award recognizes individuals who have significantly contributed to fostering United Methodist ministries in higher education at the local, district, or annual conference level. Smith was the director of the Wesley Foundation and the University of Alabama for 27 years.
Throughout annual conference, members received reports for various teams and mission agencies:
- The Conference Missions Team highlighted the conference's mission giving, missionaries and advanced specials.
- The Ministry with the Poor Team announced that it had changed its name to Poverty Action Ministry. They presented various resources and events to help churches be in ministry in their communities.
- The Advocacy for Social Justice discussed the recent Conference Day at the Legacy Museum in Montgomery. It encouraged churches to pursue the work of racial healing through holy conversations, shared worship and shared mission and ministry.
- The NAC3 Team has met with numerous churches throughout the conference over the last few months and listened. They reported that a common thread in all their conversations is that North Alabama United Methodists are excited to go forward with something new and work together.
- Huntingdon College thanked the North Alabama Conference for its connection and support and introduced President-Elect Anthony Leigh.
- Church planters shared stories of their ministries during the New and Renewing Churches report.
- Multicultural Ministries shared highlights of their work over the last year.
- Methodist Homes of Alabama and Northwest Florida shared about its ministry serving 1,100 older adults daily.
- The conference’s Commission on the Status and Role of Women presented an annual update of the clergy salary study, noting that North Alabama’s percentage of full-time clergywomen serving and the percentage of high-paying women clergywomen have continually grown since the conference passed the Parity in Appointments Resolution several years ago.
- The chair of the Birmingham-Southern Board of Trustees, the Rev. Keith Thompson, shared an emotional report on the closure of the United Methodist-related college on May 31.
- The Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry discussed the work of Wesley Foundations and highlighted a student who heard her call to ministry while a part of a United Methodist campus ministry. She closed the report by singing a song she wrote, which reflected on her experience.
- Urban Ministry shared a report testifying how the advanced special agency is a sign of resurrection as it continues to change the lives of people in the West End neighborhood of Birmingham.
- Sumatanga Camp and Conference Center offered a positive report on the current status and ministry of the camp.
- United Counseling’s executive director, the Rev. Monica Harbarger announced United Counseling will offer mental health first aid training beginning in the fall. She emphasized how important it is for the church to be better equipped to reach those experiencing mental health emergencies, especially suicidal thoughts.
- United Women in Faith offered a report about how the organization has changed its event calendar and continues to seek ways to overcome the challenges of membership loss.
- The Adult Discipleship team shared about resources the team offers individuals and groups to grow in their Christian faith, including small group materials, podcasts, retreats, a prayer Labyrinth and more.
- Celebrated a special recognition of conference staff member Jilda Hulsey, who has served as the bishop’s administrative assistant for 31 years and will retire at the end of August.
The business sessions concluded with conference members and guests pausing to celebrate and thank Bishop Wallace-Padgett for her 12 years of leadership in North Alabama. The Rev. Brian Erickson led the recognition. He invited several conference leaders to reflect on some of the gifts Bishop Wallace-Padgett offered to North Alabama while leading its ministry. These included Responding (not reacting), Intentionality, Integrity, Humor and Collaboration. Erickson then led the entire body in praying a prayer of blessing over Bishop Wallace-Padgett and her family, concluding with the Doxology singing.
Conference members and guests ended their time together with worship. During the Sending Forth Service, Bishop Bill McAlilly preached: “The call of God on our life is not difficult to understand. It’s really very simple. Love God. Love those God tells you to love, and the last time I checked, was everybody — no exclusions.” He added, “Live the story all for the glory of God by offering Christ to all those who God is bringing to you.”
Bishop Wallace-Padgett fixed clergy appointments for the next year, and the congregation shared Holy Communion before being sent forth “strengthened and encouraged to tell the story of Jesus and also to live the story of Jesus, all for the glory of God.”
Membership stands at 59,427, down 17,987 from the previous year.
Worship attendance stands at 31,654, down 9,421.
Church school attendance stands at 7,891, down 2,521.
The number of professions or reaffirmations of faith in 2023 was 375, only down 25 from 2022.
The number of adults and young adults in small groups for 2023 was 13,069, down 3,572 from 2022.
The number of worshippers engaged in missions in 2023 was 14,689, down 2,579 from 2022. This represents 46% of the North Alabama worshipers actively engaged in missions.
Note: 150 North Alabama churches disaffiliated during 2023.
—Danette Clifton, director of communications