Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church

From the UMM President

June 21, 2012

Take advantage of a great opportunity to attend Calling All Men 2012. There are two locations; two dates. Early registration is open through July 27.

Greetings. I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself to you as your Holston Conference President of UMM for the next four years.

My name is Eric Knoefel. I reside in the Knoxville District and my home church is Fountain City UMC. I work as a firefighter/paramedic full time and teach emergency response in industry part time. I have a wife, Julie, and two children. Nick is 12 and Caty is 21.

I am excited about working along side you for the next four years. I can promise you that I will always look to God for guidance and will also look to all of you for support. One of the biggest blessings we have is also one of our challenges... staying connected. Connected in our purpose of bringing people to Christ, connected in ministry with one another, connected in Spirit by loving all God's people. As we move forward together in ministry please do all you can to be connected and then to stay connected.

Please feel free to contact me via email at ummpres@holstonconference.com or via text or phone at 865.388.9459. I very much look forward to being your servant in ministry leadership.   

I also want to take a minute to thank Mike Smith as our outgoing UMM conference president. The work he has done over the last four years to further the Kingdom is invaluable and for that we are all grateful.

Mike had the privilege of sharing the scrapbook that many of you and countless others signed for Bishop James Swanson which was presented at annual conference. Your support of this project will surely mean a great deal to Bishop Swanson and his family as he moves into a new role of servant ministry elsewhere in the United Methodist Church.