About Us
Debby Fox, Chairperson of Nurture
debby.fox(at)ngumc.net
(770) 536-2341
What a joy it has been to serve on the conference Nurture Team. We have shaped and molded our team to respond to the needs of the local church in the areas of Nurture; in other words, in those places where we intentionally disciple all of God’s children and help them grow in their understanding of who, and whose, we are.
Specifically, we provide workshops, training, networking, and fellowship opportunities for people who volunteer in their church’s Sunday School, Bible Studies, Youth Ministry, Young Adult groups, Older Adult Ministries, Adult discipling groups, Pre-School Directors groups, as well as connect with our conferences Camping and Retreat Ministries.
Louise Adams (clouadams@bellsouth.net), Chair of our Older Adult Ministry, provides excellent leadership, and the team is offering “Wired 4 Ministry” conference for Older Adults that is a must. It deals with the unique gifts and abilities we have that then translates into ministry.
Our camping & retreat ministries, especially at Glisson & Simpsonwood, has always proved a vital component to North Georgia Conference ministry. The Chair for Camping & Retreat Ministry is Owen Skinner, owen.skinner@ngumc.net.
The Adult & Family Ministry Chair, Chris Shurtz, (chris.shurtz@ngumc.net) helped develop a web database to share video and dvd resources in a lending library format. This lending library is called the Media Resource Network.
We are looking forward to the leadership of the new Executive Director of Higher Ed & Campus Ministry, Cindy Autry (gahied@bellsouth.net).
Jasmine Smothers, Chair of Young Adult Committee, (jasmine.smothers@ngumc.net) has been a wealth of resources and networking for the young adults in our conference.
Kim Bell (kimberlybell511@yahoo.com), Chair of Youth Ministry, is currently overseeing the Spiritual Life Retreat process, along with Margaret Freeman, Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries.
And this year we welcomed Katie Atcheson (katieatcheson@yahoo.com) to chair our Children’s Ministries Committee. She has held a successful workshop on "Good Children's Ministry in Bad Economic Times" and has more on the way.
Emily Johnson (ejohnson@northbrookumc.com) & Helen Geesey (preschool@standrewunitedmethodist.org), Co-Presidents of Weekday Preschool Association, have done an awesome job keeping the necessary preschool resources current on our website.
One event we look forward to every year is our annual Sunday School and Beyond. In its 20th year of success, this event attracts hundreds of teachers, leaders and educational ministry workers, and equips them for the teaching challenges ahead. Plans are underway for 2009! This is just one event that is offered by the Education Training Committee. The Chair of Education Training is Vicky Brantley (brantley1030@charter.net).
We also connect with the QUEST leadership team, enabling professional directors of Christian Education to attend a week long training to further their professional skills, and CEF, Christian Educators Fellowship, a support group for those employed in Christian Education in the local church.
For information about funding for these trainings or for Disciple Bible Study scholarships, please contact Bob Winstead at bob.winstead@ngumc.net. And of course, keep checking the Nurture page on the Connectional Ministries website for the most updated information.
It is our pleasure to serve you!