Back row: Rev. Mike Morgan, Rev. Jonathan Lee, Rev. Rey Colon, Rev. Henry Jenkins, Rev. Corey Jenkins, Dave Mendyk, Jerry Rozeboom, Rev. Jeff Kelley
Front row: Rev. James Parks, Jodi Cataldo, Rev. Val Reinhiller, Norma Morrison, Andrea Schadel, Clarence Mittleider, Rev. Zach Kingery
Not Pictured: Rev. Thom Bowsher, Glen Flint, Rev. Andrew Happ, Gabriel Holen, Holly Reich, Jon Reich, Darcy Rubenking, Rev. Travis Stevik
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Opportunity To Give
It is an estimated $5,000 per person to fly to Costa Rica and be there for a week. If you or your church would like to support this effort, you can give electronically and designate it to General Conference.
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Upper Midwest GMChurch
416 S. Minnesota St.
Mitchell, SD 57301
We are also continuing to raise funds to cover the cost
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Upper Midwest Delegation
Laity Delegates
Want to email an individual Delegate? Please click on their name below to send them an email!
Currently serving as the Director of the Certified Lay Ministry program and lay ministry school for the Upper Midwest Provisional AC of the GMC as well as the Administrative Pastor of the Lehr Community Church in addition to serving as secretary of the Upper Midwest GMC Board of Ministry.
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Up until June of 2018, she was the Director of Laity in Leadership for Discipleship Ministries of The UMC with responsibility for lay leaders, lay servant ministries, and certified lay ministry. Prior to this, Jodi served as the Director of Leadership Development for the Dakotas Conference from 2010-2013, on the BOD of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the Board of Managers of the Upper Midwest Course of Study School, as well as Chair of the North Central Jurisdiction Mission Council.
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Jodi was also elected as the 1st Elect Lay Delegate to the 2016 General Conference of The United Methodist Church and the 1st Reserve Lay Delegate to the 2012 General Conference. At the 2016 GC, she was also elected to the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters and the Interjurisdictional Episcopacy Committee. She considers it a distinct privilege to serve now in the GMC encouraging laity to reclaim the Wesleyan movement!
I was baptized a Catholic, saved by the blood of Christ, and baptized in the Holy Spirit. I became a Member of the United Methodist Church in 1987, a Lay Speaker in 1991, a Pastoral Spouse in 2003, and a Walk to Emmaus Pilgrim in 2007. I served as a DSA at Huntley UMC from 2018 to 2021, retired to Hastings, and this year began serving Trumbull, Giltner, and Phillips Global Methodist Churches as a Certified Lay Minister.I was a District Lay Leader, a Reserve Delegate to General Conf. in 2000, a past Jurisdictional Delegate, and UM Men's Leader. I was a part of a regional Holy Spirit Encounter planning team, and am connected to a a nearby Christian Camp, Comeca.
I was a part of the Renewal groups in Nebraska and Kansas and attended the November, 2016 founding of the WCA. I represented our Conf. Chapter in 2021 at Montgomery, AL.
I have high hopes for the Global Methodist Church to become the movement God meant it to be. I am sure that we cannot create a Denomination without the power of the Holy Spirit. To be a Creedal, Confessing, and Biblical world-view Church and yet maintain our dependence on the Spirit's leading is our task. I also have concerns over the role and accountability of Bishops. I pray the GMC can lead our cultures rather than follow.
I am a life-long Methodist who loves Jesus and worshipping the Father and Son through the presence of Holy Spirit.Much of my ministry has been in the local church and para-church ministries but also in the wider UMC. My experience as a 4 time UMC General Conference delegate as well as 25 years of working in the renewal movement has prepared me well for the legislative aspects of the GMC Convening Conference. This includes Co-Chair of Methodist Laity Reform Movement and Revive, Iowa WCA secretary, and board member of Good News and the WCA Global Council. One of my greatest joys was making a difference in Iowa as Conference Lay Leader, especially inspiring and empowering laity to live out their calls in the Church and world.
I have enjoyed working globally with other cultures and languages through United Marriage Encounter in Asia, many countries in Africa with the Africa Initiative, and the countries of 80 Wesleyan denominations as a member of the World Methodist Council.
My current passions are Wesleyan theology and prayer. I started prayer ministries in my previous local church and weekly pray corporately for the WCA and the GMC. Please join me!
As the GMC establishes its theology, doctrine, and polity at this conference it will be important to ensure that our Wesleyan distinctives are an integral part of who we are.
I have the background, time, and stamina for the many hours required to make educated decisions. To God be the glory!
I would be honored to represent our area at the Global Methodist church conference. This is a historic time in the life of the church as we continue to make disciples of Jesus Christ and share His truth and love with the world.
My husband and I are active in our Aldersgate Church community and participate in leading worship on Sunday mornings, lead and participate in Bible studies, and I also served on our pastor-parish committee for several years. Aldersgate Church is our home and we are raising our three children to be active members in the church as well.
My faith has been important to me my entire life, and I have been raised in the church and attended Christian universities for my baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral education. I have significant leadership experience as a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of South Dakota and I own a mental health group practice where we offer Christian counseling. I am a United States Air Force veteran and served honorably as an officer for four years and had numerous leadership positions in that role as well.
I seek to glorify God, love others, and be bold in my witness. I would be honored to be considered and included as a laity delegate.
Born and raised the son of a Methodist pastor in the Dakotas, I have felt a life long connection to the church that was born out of the vision and calling of John Wesley. As a youth, I served both at both the jurisdiction and national levels, which gave me a taste of church politic for better or worse at a young age. In adulthood, I've served in many capacities at the local level, teaching Sunday School and leading Bible Studies regularly, as well as serving on multiple committees. Most notably, serving many years on Administrative Board during our recent journey through disaffiliation.
I currently help coordinate our worship teams, and lead on Sunday mornings in music ministry though singing and playing guitar. In my professional life, I co-own a consulting business, and have led teams for many years assisting nonprofit organizations with their tech needs. I believe my experience with the church and it's many levels of administration provide me the ability to consider the impact decisions can have on the various aspects of church life. I take church doctrine very seriously, and I understand the responsibility those in leadership have to faithfully and prayerfully consider that which is entrusted to them.
In all things, I ultimately aim to submit to the authority of God as revealed in His word. It it His church and we submit to Him in all things. May God guide, bless, and protect the Global Methodist Church, that we may glorify Him and spread the light of His kingdom.
Having been in church leadership for the last 12 years in varying capacities, having been a pastor's wife for eight years, having gone through disaffiliation with our church, and currently being in the candidacy process to be a Deacon, I feel I would have an informed position on the items we will be addressing a the Convening General Conference. I helped my husband, Jake, as he served on the WCA Board, participated in and helped facilitate informational meetings for churches discerning disaffiliation all over the state of Nebraska, and I am part of the Global Methodist Leadership Movement in Nebraska. The Global Methodist Church is a promise of a denomination that holds fast to a high view of Scripture and one that will encourage the leadership within it to do the same.
It is my hope to be one that continues to keep that at the forefront of my mind and the mind of others as our denomination grows. This is not our denomination. It is His!
Laity Alternates
I am a young man who is willing and eager to serve anyway I can. I was talking to my old Pastor and good friend Roger Spahr and he suggested I apply for this position.
I am passionately in love with Jesus and have served his church for many years, being very involved in Children’s, Youth, and Adult ministry and serving and leading in worship as well. I have also been involved in a ministry that is partnered with Cornerstone called Collision. It is a high school ministry that evangelizes and disciples fellow high school students. Throughout my years of serving in ministry I’ve experienced radical sanctification, amazing discipleship, passionate evangelism, heartfelt worship, and serving with a humble heart.
I am very excited to be considered for the delegate position and would be honored with the opportunity to serve, bringing a new and youthful perspective.
I feel called by the Lord to offer my services to the convening GMC General Conference as the current chairman of our SPRC, and as a retired physician and surgeon of 40 years having held the president position of our large group for more than 25 of those years. Thus, having been in leadership roles for most of my life, I feel after prayerful discernment, that the Lord is calling upon me to offer those leadership skills to the GMC's convening conference, as it, in my opinion, will be one of the defining general conferences in the life history of the GMC.
Having helped lead our church through the disaffiliation process I am hopeful that the convening GMC general conference will be guided by Biblical wisdom gained from what was both "right" and "wrong" with the UMC governance model, using that wisdom to establish a firm Biblical GMC foundation that precludes the likelihood of repeating our past mistakes. Glory be to God.
Laity Reserves
R1: Darcy Ruebenking
My name is Darcy Rubenking and I am a pastor’s wife. My husband, Andrew is a Global Methodist pastor. He was an elder in the United Methodist Church for about 40 years. Many years I refused to attend annual conference because it would upset and frustrate me with the liberal theology I would hear. In 2011, I felt a calling to run to be a general conference delegate, to preserve the Discipline’s stance on marriage and practicing homosexuals. I felt it was either time to make a stand or leave the UMC. I was a member of the Revive movement and I was co-chair of the Iowa Chapter of the Wesleyan Covenant Association. I went to several churches to explain paragraph 2553 about disaffiliation. I was elected to the 2012, 2016 and 2019 General Conference and I fought for Wesleyan and Biblical theology. Even though we were able to keep the traditional view of the Bible in the Discipline, it didn’t matter. Bishops and pastors ignored the Book of Discipline.
I am happy to be a member of the Global Methodist Church where we share Wesleyan traditions and Biblical truth. Our church in Clarinda, Iowa disaffiliated, and we are finally seeing growth both in number and in faith. I work in Children’s ministry, and I have taught adult Sunday School. We are trying new things to reach others for Jesus Christ. I would feel privileged to represent the Upper Midwest Conference in Costa Rica.
I'm the lay leader at Calvary been to many of the annual conferences of the United methodist Dakota conferences also have been to the global conference in Watertown and will be in Sioux City in June. I am a former youth leader in Jamestown and have been serving in church in different committee's for years and have always been looking to serve.
R3: Glen Flint
I'm 67 years young, still working at Northrop Grumman Corporation in Bellevue. Married to my wife Sonya for 46 years. Sons Cory and Toby live in the Omaha area. Cory and his wife Shannon have recently blessed us with our first grandson, Arthur Dean Flint!
Several people in my church have encouraged me to serve in the 2024 GMC Convening General Conference. My heart is for the more traditional members of the UMC that have not been allowed to disaffiliate and feel some need to stick it out with the UMC until after their General Conference. At that time I think it will become clear to them that they no longer have a home in the UMC and we welcome them to join us in something new, fresh, and exciting in the GMC. I have been involved in a Facebook page for people searching for a GMC in Omaha as well as the Living Faith GMC Facebook page and serving with the AV team in the extended absence of the regular sound board operator.
Clergy Delegates
I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. After graduating from high school I moved to Huron, South Dakota where I attended Huron University and played baseball. After two years at HU, I transferred to Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell. For a number of years I served as a youth pastor at Huron FUMC. This led experience led me into the role of associate pastor, in which I served for four years. Since 2022, I have been serving Tulare United Church. I obtained an MDiv from Sioux Falls Seminary, and became ordained in the GMC in the fall of 2023.
I believe my language skills and understanding of the Hispanic culture can be a key tool in making connections between the US and the Costa Rican churches.
I was ordained in 2005, served on the Board of Ordained Ministry (UMC) and am currently serving Faith Methodist Church in Sidney, NE. I serve on the Cabinet, the Conference Leadership Council, the Board of Ministry, and as Presiding Elder for District #1 in Nebraska. Preaching, teaching, and helping to raise up faithful disciples is my call in ministry, and I take very seriously my ordination vow to “take authority in the church.”
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Before the disaffiliation process started in our local church, I led a 1-year study on our Wesleyan heritage. Over the next 18 months, I was privileged to visit over 2 dozen local Nebraska churches and church leaders, helping them discern their own way forward in disaffiliation. In that time, in addition to disciplinary requirements, I stressed our Wesleyan traditions, and how we can live those out in the world. Continuing to serve as a P.E. offers many opportunities to help my church family grow in numbers and in faithfulness!
It’s always been my hope and prayer to serve the Church beyond the local church.
Prayer, study, and meditation are foundational parts of my own faith journey. I continue to read and study Wesley’s sermons, and while I’m not an “expert” on the Transitional Book of Doctrines and Discipline, I am conversant on most of it! I would be honored to serve both God and the Global Methodist Church as we seek to become a presence for Jesus Christ in the world, raising up faithful disciples.
I was born into a religiously diverse family in South Korea on June 7, 1972; a pivotal moment in my spiritual journey occurred during a Methodist revival service, leading to a profound personal transformation and commitment to Christianity despite initial familial opposition. This period of conflict, especially with my father, culminated in mutual understanding and my parents' conversion to Methodism, marking a significant milestone in my faith journey. I pursued theological studies with the intent of becoming a missionary, leading me to engage deeply with various world religions and the nuances of interfaith dialogue.
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I moved to the U.S. to study, was ordained as an Elder in UMC, and transferred to GMC last year. My ministry has been characterized by a blend of academic pursuits and practical service, bridging cultural gaps within diverse church environments, including serving in Korean immigrant churches in the U.S. and engaging in cross-racial and cross-cultural ministry. I have worked at the Commission of Ministry and T.F. on Ethnic Ministry in GMC. My journey reflects a deep commitment to spreading the Gospel, fostering understanding across cultural and religious divides and living out my faith through service and ministry.
Laboring two decades for faithful renewal in the United Methodist Church to reclaim a biblical worldview and passionate witness for Christ in the world was met consistently by leadership with disdain and reprimands. Thus, with several colleagues the Wesley Club was formed in Iowa to bring conservative and evangelical pastors together for prayer, mutual support, inspiration, education, and organization. The momentum of the Wesley Club drew the attention of various conservative leaders before and during the Portland General Conference relationships were cemented.
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Following General Conference and the very difficult Iowa Conference John Gaulke and I were invited along with 40 others to The Woodlands, TX on August 1 and 2, 2016 to found the Wesleyan Covenant Association. Our aspiration and inspiration was to renew the denomination, but, failing that we provided the ability to form a new denomination, which has come to fruition in the Global Methodist Church.
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Serving as the President of the Iowa Wesleyan Covenant Association all its seven years allowed me to be elected to each of the Global Legislative Assemblies which solidified the ministry of the WCA and began germinating the structure, theology, and discipline of the Global Methodist Church. It has been a thrilling, difficult, lifegiving, wonderful labor of faith and love which my spouse and I have been happy to give. Now, I ask the Upper Midwest Conference Clergy with the experience and relationships I bring to elect me to General Conference to finish building out this first leg of our denominational journey.
My name is James Parks. I have served in pastoral ministry for 20 years. My personal passion is reaching more people with the love and grace of Jesus Christ. This passion has led me to focus on developing ministries that will reach those who are outside the church. I currently serve half-time at Christ Church in Davenport, Iowa and half-time as president pro tem of the Upper Midwest Provisional Conference.
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Last year, I began working with our conference leadership to help create and develop our Upper Midwest Provisional Conference. Since November, I have been working with the presidents of the other GMC conferences to organize the ministries of our Global Methodist Church.
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It would be an honor to continue this work by being a part of our Upper Midwest delegation to General Conference. I would work to structure our worldwide church to serve our local churches because they are where disciples of Jesus are made and grown. I appreciate our attempts to have some organization to give the church boundaries and direction, and yet flexibility to reach the people in our neighborhoods as God calls us.
I am Valerie Reinhiller an elder in the Upper Midwest Provisional Conference of the Global Methodist Church. I serve Faith Methodist Church, Williston, ND. We have a large outreach ministry, Out In Faith, that serves in the Bakken Oil region focusing on homelessness, children and infants, and hunger.
I was the Chair of the Dakotas and Co-Chair of the Transitional Conference Advisory Team (TCAT) helping guide the formation of the Upper Midwest Provisional Conference. Currently, I serve the Conference as the Chair of the Board of Ministry, process clergy and church applications for the Global Methodist Church. I served as Dean and a teacher of the Certified Lay Ministry School for our Conference.
I have a heart to see all people come to Jesus Christ. I am passionate to walk alongside people who are answering the call to ministry (clergy and lay). I would like to be part of the Upper Midwest delegation to assist and mold our lay and candidate ministry in the Global Methodist Church. This is an important work. I am passionate and experienced in this important work. I Chaired the Board of Ordained Ministry for the Dakotas UMC Conference for six years prior to becoming Global Methodist.
I grew up in Bismarck, ND. I served Christ in churches and ministries in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Bogota, Colombia. I was a director for Disaster Response in the Dakotas Conference working with UMCOR. We responded to major flooding and tornados across North Dakota and South Dakota.
Clergy Alternates
I am 36 years old with a wife and three children, and currently serve a 2-point charge in rural South Dakota as a Global Methodist Elder. I grew up in a Bible-believing Wesleyan church in rural Kansas. I have served in youth ministry, pastoral ministry, and as a laity in adult discipleship in churches with numerically large and small congregations across the Midwest over the last 16 years.
While in the UMC I chaired the Dakotas Connection Initiative which was tasked with leading rural churches to develop new ministries and methods of ministry. In the GMC I chair the Upper Midwest Conference Multiplication team and am a denomination leader with Dirt Roads Network which is a parachurch organization within the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition that works with rural clergy, congregations, and church plants.
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I am committed to an orthodox Wesleyan theology and desire to see lives transformed for the Gospel and nations reformed through the spread of Scriptural holiness. As a clergyperson called to rural churches and people, it is my hope to see the Methodist movement once again planting or revitalizing churches in our rural areas and empowering our rural laity to advance the Kingdom of God.
As a delegate, I believe I will represent our rural Methodist congregations and be an advocate for the importance of seeing our rural areas worldwide regarded as valid mission fields worthy of, and in need of, effective proclamation of the Gospel.
I am offering myself as a delegate having been a part of the initial group attending the 2016 conference of the WCA.
I have been involved in my area in assisting other churches that wish to exit the former denomination. My primary commitment is to keep our rules simple in nature, seeking new ways to function in ministry in the present time. I believe that continuing to do our work in the same fashion as before will lead to the same results. I am concerned with those who wish to add back old parts of our former denominations structure will lead us down the same road as before. I would work for new approaches to being in ministry to all people.
Clergy Reserves
R1: Thomas Bowsher
I am a second career ordained elder with twenty-four years of experience serving various size churches in various size communities. My spiritual gifts are administration, leadership, and teaching. Prior to disaffiliation I served on a number of different committees within the Dakota’s Annual Conference. As a part of the Dakotas Annual Conference theologically conservative leadership team, I had the opportunity to speak at and assist in the development of several highly inspiring and encouraging events for clergy and laity within the Dakota’s Annual Conference. I also had the privilege of speaking with numerous local churches and providing them with accurate information, support, and encouragement as they considered disaffiliation and joining the Global Methodist Church. As a part of the Upper Midwest GMC Transitional Conference Advisory Team (TCAT), I was afforded the opportunity to collaborate with others in developing our Annual Conference. I served on two sub committees. One was developing our vision and mission statement. The other was developing the selection process and ministry description for the President and Vice Pro Tempore positions.
I am greatly vested in our Upper Midwest GMC Annual Conference’s and the Global Methodist Church’s future. I also understand the legislative process and am adept in working within its systems to facilitate and accomplish what is in the best interest of our Annual Conference and the Global Methodist Church. I will do my very best to represent our Upper Midwest GMC Annual Conference with respect and integrity.
R2: Andrew Happ
I believe God has called me to offer my service to participate in and help the GMC become what God has called us to be as a church and denomination. Both in our foundation and future. God has revealed this to me through prayer, the congregation I serve, my wife and three little girls. Our Methodist roots run deep both in church and at home. As a father of three little girls and a pastor, my prayer is that they would love our Lord Jesus with all of their heart, mind, soul, and love Gods church.
My past experiences working closely with the Iowa UMC Conference specifically on disaster relief, have prepared me to help not repeat a dysfunctional institution. God revealed to me in that season of ministry and through disaffiliation, if there were ever a chance to help the GMC become what God has called forth that I would serve wherever God needed me. I am blessed to be here and I'm ready to work for my Lord and His Church.
R3: Travis Stevik
After growing up outside of the church, I became a Christian in high school and have been in pastoral ministry since I was twenty-one years old. I was ordained in the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church in 2013 and joined the Global Methodist Church in 2023 when my church disaffiliated. I have felt called to make myself available to serve as a delegate to the Convening General Conference in part to be part of the early theological development of this new denomination.
I have a PhD in Theology from the University of St. Andrews and, in addition to serving as the pastor of a local church in Iowa,
I have been teaching courses on Christian Doctrine and Wesleyan Theology through the CTM program at United Theological Seminary (an approved alternative educational pathway for ordination in the GMC). I am passionately committed to a robustly Wesleyan understanding of Christian faith and do my best to articulate such a vision in every aspect of ministry “in the trenches.” I believe that I could be an asset in helping to ensure the theological faithfulness of the Global Methodist Church at an institutional level long into the future.
I am married and have two boys and am looking forward to serving in the GMC for years to come!