As reported in the August WN, the number of U.S. administrative districts has been reduced from 18 to 13.
The district superintendent serves as an on-the-scenes extension of Church Administration in Pasadena. He provides support and supervision of pastors and congregations in his district. With this decentralization, Church Administration can give more immediate and relevant assistance to the diverse needs of pastors and congregations in various regions.
Church Administration in collaboration with district superintendents and pastors selected new names for each of the 13 U.S. districts (see map). With redistricting, district superintendents will no longer pastor congregations and their attention will be devoted fully to the administration of their assigned districts.
The new district names reflect a greater focus on the districts as geographic regions with distinctive needs and identities. The names are intended to express district-wide geographic distinctives and variety rather than focus on one community in the district as with the previous names.
This emphasis on district identity is accompanied by an emphasis on shared ministries within each district. The vision is that congregations within districts will cooperate in conducting ministries for the benefit of all congregations in that district. One current example is youth ministry, where congregations are developing a collective vision and pooling resources to assist each other in the development of ministries for children, teens and young adults.
Following are the districts, district superintendents and their wives:
Northwest--Guy and Penny Engelbart
Southwest--Curtis and Jannice May
Rocky Mountain--Gerald and Connie Schnarrenberger
North Central--Dave and Linda Fiedler
Southern Plains--Don and Sue Lawson
Mid-South--Randy and Debbie Bloom
South Central--Carn and Joyce Catherwood
Northern Lakes--Ted and Donna Johnston
Central--Bob and Jan Taylor
Southeast--Al and Edna Barr
Northeast--Ken and Nancy Williams
Mid-Atlantic--Keith and Marian Brittain
Florida--Bob and Kay Persky
Proposed district conference sites, which are open to church members, are Jekyll Island,
Georgia (Jan. 12-14); Beaumont, California (March 17-19); Denver, Colorado; Dallas, Texas;
Des Moines, Iowa; and Hartford, Connecticut. The dates of the other conferences are
pending.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2000