This is the seventh prayer in a Holston Conference series for racial justice. LORD, we are grieving the racism in ourselves, in our church and in our country. We know our siblings are asking, “How much more must we endure? How much more can we ...
2020 was a year of such stress. My husband Tom had a difficult open-heart surgery. We were isolated from our families and church friends. We had to deal with new realities in our everyday constrained lives. But in looking back, one reality stands ...
Second Sunday of Easter: This is the sixth prayer in a Holston Conference series for racial justice. DEAR LORD, rescue us from the injustice we suffer and from the injustice we inflict. Clear our minds of all negative thoughts, free from all racial ...
Good Friday: This is the fifth prayer in a Holston Conference series for racial justice. GOOD AND GRACIOUS GOD, you invite us to recognize and reverence your divine image and likeness in ourselves and our neighbors. Enable us to see the reality of ...
Maundy Thursday: This is the fifth prayer in a Holston Conference series for racial justice. GOD OUR CREATOR, you understand everything about creation, but creation is limited in understanding everything about the Creator. Only through revelation ...
Wednesday before Easter: This is the fourth prayer in a Holston Conference series for racial justice. Señor Jesús, nos postramos ante tu presencia para pedirte, por toda la humanidad. Y porque haya igualdad en cada ser humano. Tú nos formaste ...
Tuesday before Easter: This is the third prayer in a Holston Conference series for racial justice. DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER, We thank you for this day and for all the grace and mercy you have shown your people. We know there is nothing new under the ...
Monday before Easter: This is the second prayer in a Holston Conference series for racial justice. OUR GRACIOUS AND LOVING GOD, we come to you, in all humility, recognizing that racism in all its forms continues to exist in our world, our nation, ...
Palm Sunday 2021: This is the first prayer in a Holston Conference series for racial justice. LORD, in our attempts to dismantle racism, give us wisdom, knowledge and understanding to do this difficult task. Help us to fight the good fight, stay on...
Holston Conference joins in the work of The United Methodist Church to dismantle racism by lifting up prayers for justice from brothers and sisters throughout our communities in East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and North Georgia. The series ...
Story and Verse: This is the seventh and final poem in our Thanksgiving-to-Epiphany series. This poem started years ago when I was in my training to be a missionary. Over the years I have added verses to the poem because of life experiences ...
Story and Verse: This is the sixth in a Thanksgiving-to-Epiphany series. The days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve have been busy for the Rev. Harry Howe. In addition to building a handicap ramp for a needy neighbor, the physician’s assistant ...
Story and Verse: This is the fifth in a Thanksgiving-to-Epiphany series. Matthew 24: 31-40 THIS IS THE STORY of a woman who gave life to this scripture, and how I found Jesus in her at a critical time in my life, as well as reaffirmation of my ...
Story and Verse: This is the fourth in a Thanksgiving-to-Epiphany series. THE BELL WAS HIDDEN in the belfry of a church. Few people knew it was there because workers had sealed it away many years ago after the bell had fallen in disrepair. The ...
This story was first published in a Veteran's Day supplement to The [Rhea County] Herald-News. At age 17, Layne Pennington signed the enlistment papers declaring his intent to report for induction into the U.S. Marine Corps following high school ...
Story and Verse: This is the third in a Thanksgiving-to-Epiphany series. MRS. CRAWFORD WILL FOREVER be remembered for her story of praying, waiting, and trusting in the Lord. “Her roof leaked all over except in the living room,” says the Rev. ...
Story and Verse: This is the second in a Thanksgiving-to-Epiphany series. THE IMAGE of the unopened gift opens up a sad place in the Rev. Harry Howe’s heart. “My mother-in-law always had two gifts under the tree at Christmas that had no name on ...
Story and Verse: This is the first in a Thanksgiving-to-Epiphany series. EARLY IN HIS MINISTRY, the Rev. Harry Howe began to write poems. They emerged as he worked on sermons or homilies for funerals. Later, his listeners often approached him for ...
The Rev. Harry Howe is not only a preacher, missionary, and health-care provider. He's also a poet. Throughout this holiday season, The Call shares a few of hundreds of stories and poems from his 40 years of mission and ministry in Marion, Virginia....
MARYVILLE, Tenn. -- On March 3, devastating tornados hit our neighbors in Middle Tennessee. As we began to hear news of the areas that were hit the hardest, we learned that Cookeville, Tennessee, had some very sad stories and lives were changed ...
Across Holston Conference, senior adults are finding their niche in their churches and communities through older adult ministries. They plug in with various groups at church ranging from worship service to Sunday school to small-group studies. The ...
In June 2019, the Holston Annual Conference received an offering of $129,733 to fight the opioid addiction epidemic in our conference. This money is being distributed through grants to area churches to implement new addiction recovery programs and to...
By Christie R. House Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church February 2020 | ATLANTA The Rev. Adam Burns, an ordained deacon in full connection with the North Alabama Conference, encounters many challenges as pastor of the Church of the ...
The Traditional Plan was adopted by the special General Conference by a vote of 438 to 384 in February 2019. The legislation maintains the church stance, which dates to 1972, that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian ...
See story translated in Korean language ALCOA, Tenn. (Sept. 19, 2019) – Bishop Mary Virginia “Dindy” Taylor was visited by a group of Korean clergy at her office on Sept. 17. Their mission was to invite her to visit a school in Korea, named for and ...
"Hands-on" kits sent by churches distributed to most needy It’s the hundreds of little faces and their expressions that inspire Amy Carmon to return to Zimbabwe each August. “It’s a blessing to see these kids’ faces ... You see those expressions ...
Story by Joey "Hills" Butler, photos by Mike "Grateful" DuBose Nov. 1, 2017 | PEARISBURG, Va. (UMNS) For most United Methodist itinerant pastors, changing churches can be a period of anxiety. But once the Rev. Matt Hall finishes his appointment ...