Joe Harris, churchwide men’s leader, returns to conference ministry
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The Rev. Joseph Harris
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March 11, 2005 By Linda Green* NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (UMNS)—The man who moved United Methodist men forward for more
than eight years is leaving his post to return to ministry in the annual
conference. The
Rev. Joe Harris, top executive of the churchwide Commission on United
Methodist Men, is leaving to become assistant to Oklahoma Bishop Robert
Hayes and director of communications for the Oklahoma Annual (regional)
Conference, effective Sept. 1. Harris,
who has led the men’s commission since it was established by the 1996
General Conference, said he is “extremely excited about the annual
conference position I am going to, and am excited about where the
commission has come from and is headed.” Hayes
said he is appointing Harris as his assistant and as communications
director because he has proven himself “worthy to get the best position
the annual conference can offer him.” He cited Harris’ experience as a
pastor, district superintendent and general secretary. “Joe
Harris has the skills and tremendous gifts in being able to communicate
with people, build bridges of understanding and preach the gospel to
the people in the Oklahoma Annual Conference,” the bishop said. “I am
excited about his coming and look forward to working with him.” The
commission became an independent organization in 1996 after being a
division of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship in Nashville. Its
mission is to assist men to know Jesus Christ, serve him, grow
spiritually and seek daily to do his will. The agency develops programs
of recruiting, training, and supporting and implementing men’s
ministries in the United Methodist Church. It also coordinates the
denomination’s scouting ministries. “The
commission is a lot stronger today than it was when it began, and it is
getting stronger in affecting men and scouting ministry for Jesus
Christ,” Harris said. He looks forward to his new position and “to being
part of the itinerant ministry which moves ordained elders from one
location to another for the sake of the entire church.” The
denomination’s 12-year limit on the tenure of top staff officials of
churchwide agencies was an important factor in Harris’ decision to leave
the agency, said Gil Hanke, president of the commission and a layman
from Nacogdoches, Texas. “Dr.
Joe Harris is in his final quadrennium, as he became our general
secretary after the GCUMM was created in 1996. Joe is also an elder and
therefore is under appointment of his bishop in the Oklahoma
Conference,” Hanke wrote to United Methodist Men across the
church. “As
you know and have experienced, Joe has provided outstanding leadership
and has assembled and refined this new commission from its very
beginning,” Hanke wrote. “Joe has taken a vision, a hope, a prayer and a
vital need within the United Methodist Church, and has been the servant
leader that birthed and nurtured the GCUMM to its present vitality. He
has been a blessing to the GCUMM and to the entire
church.” While
feeling the time is right for the change, Harris said he didn’t want to
leave until after the 9th National Gathering of United Methodist Men in
July. He also has other duties to complete, including helping Bishop
William Morris get acclimated as the interim general secretary of the
men’s agency. Bishop James King is leading a search committee to find a
new leader for the commission. Harris
said he is confident the search committee will “find the strongest
general secretary, who along with a strong staff, will continue reaching
men inside and outside the church and in strengthening scouting
ministry.” He added that he has appreciated working “with the finest
laypeople in the church, whose hearts are in strengthening the whole
church through the ministry of United Methodist Men.” Men
across the church can be proud of where men’s ministry is today because
of Harris’ work during the last nine years, said Robert Powell of
Dothan, Ala., president of the United Methodist Men’s Foundation. Powell
noted that Bishop Morris has been a longtime supporter of men’s
ministry. “He, along with a committed staff, will hold our work and
ministry together until a new general secretary is hired.” News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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