Our Conference has been blessed by the faithful service of Randy Hayes, who has served as Annual Conference Secretary for the past six years. Randy recently made the difficult decision to step down from this role due to health concerns.

In addition to serving as an Annual Conference Secretary, Randy is a member of Faith United Methodist Church in Polo and is the registrar for the Prairie South District Committee on Ministry. Randy is a former Licensed Local Pastor, having served in Polo: Brookville, Polo: Elkforn and Mendota: Zion. He also served as Conference Co-Chair of the Bishop’s Initiative on Children and Poverty. He spent his professional career in behavioral health as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Certified Addiction and Drug Counselor. He has published and lectured on Statistical Process and Quality Control, and he has also written for the United Methodist Publishing House on teaching Church School.

We are sad to see Randy step down as Annual Conference Secretary, but we are deeply grateful for his faithful service and leadership over the years.

Bishop Dan Schwerin, in consultation with the District Superintendents, has nominated Rev. Dr. Paul Lee to assume this responsibility on an interim basis until the next election at the regular Annual Conference Session. Rev. Dr. Lee is the pastor of First UMC in Evanston and has been part of the Annual Conference Secretarial Pool for several years. He has served as chair of the Order of Elders, chair of the Prairie South Committee on Ordained Ministries, and a volunteer at General Conference for several years, among other leadership responsibilities at the district and conference levels.

The Annual Conference Secretary is an officer of the Annual Conference whose primary responsibilities include preparing materials to facilitate the work of the Annual Conference Session, keeping the official record of the proceedings, publishing the record in the Journal, and maintaining updated service records for ordained and diaconal ministry personnel.

We give thanks to God for Randy’s six years of faithful service as Annual Conference Secretary and for the many gifts he has shared with our Conference. We also pray for Randy in this season and are grateful for his continued ministry among us.

We welcome Rev. Dr. Paul Lee into this new responsibility and trust that his gifts, experience, and commitment to the life of our Conference will help carry this important ministry forward. We are grateful for the faithful leaders who have served before us and for those who continue to say “yes” to serving God and the Church in new ways.