Pastors, delegates and guests gathered at The Life Center in Lenoir, North Carolina, for worship, equipping and fellowship at the 2025 Eastern District Conference biennial convention Sept. 19-21.
Highlights of the convention, themed “Changing lives through Christ,” included the presentation of the amended EDC constitution and bylaws and a graduation ceremony for students of World Impact’s The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI). Delegates also affirmed officers, approved the budget, heard presentations from agency representatives, attended workshops and gathered for worship and fellowship.
“The convention was great,” says James Moore, Eastern District minister, in an email interview. “Everyone did a great job presenting their topics. It was amazing from Friday to Sunday. A week later, people were still talking about how good the convention was.”
District adopts revised constitution and bylaws
Terry Hunt, district moderator and senior pastor of The Life Center, led Saturday’s business sessions.
Delegates spent significant time discussing, and then adopting, new and amended EDC Constitution and Bylaws, following a two-year revision process first announced at the 2023 convention.
Approved changes gave term limits for district officers and changed how district pastors are secured. Hunt says in a post-convention interview that historically, the district played a large role in providing pastors for its churches. But with churches now in multiple states, the district can no longer supply pastors, meaning churches are now responsible for hiring their own pastors.
Delegates also discussed the reversion clause, which pertains to what happens to a church’s capital assets if the church leaves the conference or dissolves. The district owns property of the six churches in the former North Carolina district, Hunt says, but newer additions to the district are not under the reversion clause. The district will await the national decision on this topic before deciding how to move forward, he says.
Other business
In other business, delegates affirmed officers, approved the budget and heard updates from ministry partners.
The following district leadership team officers were affirmed: Terry Hunt, chair; Mike Mathes, vice chair; Tyrone Sturgis, treasurer; Elaine Maxwell, secretary; Berihanu Takiso; Clyde Ferguson; Darrin Foddrell; Henri Ngolo; Alex Mutabazi; Samuel Pawlos; Yvette Ngale; Hermann Mputu and Amy Jackson-Kincaid.
District Board of Faith and Life members were also affirmed: James Moore, Lynn Patterson, Mathes, Pawlos, Mputu and Hunt.
Jackson-Kincaid was affirmed as a USMB Leadership Board member, while Maxwell was affirmed as a member of the Tabor College board of directors and Ferguson as a Mennonite Central Committee East Coast board member.
Delegates approved the 2024-25 budget and a projected budget of $85,200 for 2025-26. The approved budget includes an expectation for every EDC church to give to the district, a portion of which the district will tithe to the U.S. conference, Hunt says.
Delegates also heard updates from ministry partner representatives, including MB Foundation, Tabor College, Multiply, Mennonite Central Committee and World Impact.
Workshops offered practical tools and spiritual enrichment on topics including stewardship and loan preparation, women in Christ, trauma healing and immigration insights.
MB Foundation treated pastors and wives to dinner at the Dan’l Boone Inn in Boone.
TUMI graduation
A graduation ceremony highlighted Friday’s activities as 10 graduates received Certificates in Christian Leadership Studies from World Impact’s The Urban Ministry Institute satellite campus of Lenoir, led by Clyde Ferguson, EDC educational director.
“The world needs you,” Ferguson said during the ceremony. “The U.S. needs you. I’ve seen you all grow. Now you need to go take your mountain. Your first step is today.”
Graduates completed 16 modules and more than 250 hours in class, many doing so while working full- or part-time jobs and serving in Christian ministry. To complete their studies, students persevered through the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Helene, with the pandemic stretching a four-year program to five.
Richard Esselstrom, director of TUMI of San Diego, served as keynote speaker, encouraging graduates to be with Jesus and then step boldly into their calling.
“Congratulations on your endurance,” Esselstrom said. “You are precious to the church. Jesus raises up and calls leaders for his church, and you are among those.”
For the first time, the satellite offered a class in French, taught by graduate Hermann Mputu, pastor of Christian Center the Hand of God in Hamilton, Ohio.
Graduates were Tariku Abebe, Julian Horton, Nico Kinwa, Augustin Kisubi, James Moore, Hermann Mputu, Mamie Mputu, Yvette Ngale, Blessed Tambwe and Michael Tenga.
Attendees celebrated graduates’ achievements with a reception.
Sunday worship includes licensure, message
On Sunday, three individuals were recognized as licensed for district ministry: Berihanu Takiso, lead pastor at Global Ethiopian Gospel Believers Church, Stone Mountain, Ga.; Jose Martinez, associate pastor at Beech Bottom MB Church, Newland, N.C.; and Eva Walker, associate pastor at West End MB Church, Lenoir. Vice moderator Mike Mathes presented certificates of licensure.
USMB National Director Aaron Box shared a message challenging attendees to be not only disciples but also disciple-makers.
“Jesus’ primary invitation to people was not to believe in him,” he said. “It was to follow him.”
While discipleship includes belief, it is more than that, Box said. Discipleship means learning to walk with and become like Jesus.
Disciples abide in Jesus by spending time in silence and solitude, studying Scripture and worshiping, Box said, adding that disciples show love not only for one another but also for enemies, and bear fruit by displaying the fruit of the Spirit and making disciples.
Box encouraged listeners to intentionally follow Jesus and then invite someone else along on the journey.
Following the message, Mike Mathes offered a prayer for all EDC pastors.
To conclude the convention, Ray Hunt, deacon; William Dugger, pastor of Beech Bottom MB Church; and Samuel Pawlos, pastor of Ethiopian Evangelical Church, led a time of communion.
The Life Center praise and worship team led attendees in singing throughout the weekend.
Janae Rempel Shafer is the Christian Leader associate editor. She joined the CL staff in September 2017 with six years of experience as a professional journalist. Shafer is an award-winning writer, having received three 2016 Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence and two Evangelical Press Association Higher Goals awards in 2022 and 2025. Shafer graduated from Tabor College in 2010 with a bachelor of arts in Communications/Journalism and Biblical/Religious Studies. She and her husband, Austin, attend Ridgepoint Church in Wichita, Kansas.
