Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994 TAG: 9407130006
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A new Roanoke District superintendent will be among the clerical faces for United Methodists in Roanoke-area churches beginning July 3.
New ministers will come to parishes in the Roanoke Valley and communities east of the New River in Montgomery and Floyd counties. Churches in Bedford, Franklin, Rockbridge and the Alleghany Highlands also will get new ministers.
The Rev. Richard L. Worden, who has been pastor of Reveille Church in Richmond for the past five years, will succeed the Rev. T. Eugene Carter, who is retiring at 63 after five years as superintendent. Worden, 57, served the South Roanoke Church as pastor 20 years ago.
Superintendents assist the bishop in Richmond in administering church work, including the assignment of pastors, in Virginia's 18 districts. They are rotated every six years.
Carter served a year as superintendent of the Lynchburg District before returning to Roanoke, where he formerly had been a pastor. He will continue to live in Roanoke after retirement.
The assignments were announced Wednesday at the close of the Virginia Annual Conference meeting in Norfolk. United Methodist ministers are up for rotation each year, but most remain for three to eight years.
The conference bishop collaborates with superintendents and consults with pastors and their lay committees to decide if a move is appropriate.
The Rev. Dr. Donald H. Roberts will come to South Roanoke Church from Walker Chapel in Arlington. After four years at South Roanoke, the Rev. James Hain is retiring to other work in the city.
The Rev. Tammy L. Estep is leaving Windsor Hills Church as its associate after four years there. She is taking a leave from pastoral ministry to enter inner-city service work in Washington. Her successor will be the Rev. Bryan D. Oldham, a recent graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Central Church in Salem will welcome the Rev. William A. Davis Jr., who has been at the Beverly Hills Church of Alexandria. The Rev. A. Howell Franklin, who has been in Salem for three years, is going to South Hill.
The Rev. Sara Lou Hudson, who has been at a Nelson County church, will come to the Mountain View Charge, which includes the two Stewartsville area churches of Parrish Chapel and Mays Memorial. She will succeed the Rev. Scott Seiler, who is taking a leave of absence after a year there.
The Rev. Stephen R. Creech, who has been at Trinity Church of Buchanan for six years, is moving to Gogginsville in Franklin County. He will be succeeded by the Rev. Donald M. Warrick Jr., who is coming from Cheriton on the Eastern Shore.
The Catawba Circuit, which has been served by the Rev. Edward S. Barnett, will receive the Rev. R.C. Wagner as its full-time pastor. Wagner is moving from the Eagle Rock Charge. Barnett will become an associate pastor at Trinity Church in Poquoson near Newport News. A student at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, Robert N. Hoskins Jr. will serve Eagle Rock.
The Christiansburg Charge, which includes the Park, Calvary and Garber Memorial congregations, will be served by the Rev. Mark E. Christian, who is coming from Roundup United Methodist Church in Montana. The Rev. Raymond S. Kelley, who lives in Ellison and is starting a community service ministry there, will return to official retirement status with the church.
The Rev. Lawrence J. Stevens will move from the Bath Charge to the Floyd Parish. He replaces the Rev. Richard H. Ecklund, who leaves after four years for the Nelson County church vacated by Hudson.
The Rev. Robert Garner, a financial adviser in a church firm in Roanoke, will become the part-time pastor of Goodwin Memorial Church west of Salem. He will succeed the Rev. Paul T. Pullen, a college professor.
The Hebron Church will receive Charles R. ``Buddy'' Boitnott as its pastor. He succeeds Dan Horner, a Roanoke architect who has worked there part time. Horner will enter Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington.
A student pastor at Wesley, David C. Lagerveld, will come to the Lafayette-Halls churches to succeed the Rev. Steven W. Greer. He has been assigned to the St. John's-Mount Pleasant congregations in the Danville District.
In the Danville District, which includes churches in Franklin, Henry and Patrick counties, the Rev. Luther S. Ramsey is coming to the Franklin Charge from Mount Solon to succeed the Rev. J. Richard McDowell, who goes to Asbury Memorial Charge elsewhere in the district.
The Gogginsville Charge, where Creech is going, has been served by L. Stanley Wright, who is entering Asbury Seminary. Pleasant Grove Church near Martinsville will receive the Rev. Steven L. Propst from the town of Stanley. Propst succeeds the Rev. David J. Bonney, who becomes an associate at Aldersgate Church in Alexandria.
The Rev. Ralph G. Satter, now at Madison Heights, will come to Smith Memorial Church in Collinsville. He will succeed the Rev. Larry J. Edmonds, who goes to Fairview near Danville.
E. Brian Hare-Diggs, a student at Duke Divinity School, will succeed the Rev. Michael W. Desper at the Salem Church at Patrick Springs. Desper has left the conference.
The Rev. Robert J. Thorne, who has been at Asbury Memorial in Danville, will replace the Rev. M. Lee Ramsey at Stuart. Ramsey goes to Monumental Church in Emporia.
In the Lynchburg District, which covers Bedford parishes, the Rev. Kenneth J. Jackson will begin work as superintendent; he comes from the Franconia Church of Alexandria.
A former Roanoker, the Rev. Glenn Langston, will become pastor of Main Street Church in Bedford. He is coming from the Ferebee-Halstead Church in Virginia Beach to succeed the Rev. Carl Douglass, who retires to the Moneta area.
The Bedford Circuit will receive the Rev. Marshall F. Driskill, who has been in Halifax County. Its current pastor, the Rev. James S. Blankenbaker, is going to Keysville.
In Rockbridge County and the Alleghany Highlands changes will affect several congregations.
At Callaghan, the Rev. Thomas H. Keithley will succeed the Rev. Rufus E. O'Quinn, who is retiring. Keithley is from Short Hill. At Iron Gate, the Rev. Susan K. Carlson comes from Mount Solon to succeed the Rev. Robert W. Smith Jr., who goes to Stonewall-Westview congregations near Staunton.
From St. John's Church in Buena Vista, the Rev. Robert E. Hawkins is going to the West End Church in the Newport News area and will be succeeded by the Rev. Edward H. Johnson, who has been at Schoolfield-Westover of Danville.
In Covington, the Parrish Court congregation will receive the Rev. Matthew M. Nelson, who has been at Monumental Church in Petersburg. The Rev. Paul C. Harris is retiring.
by CNB