AC2026

Love Boldly, Serve Joyfully, and Lead Courageously: Annual Conference Reflections

June 18-21, 2026, our pastors and several laity from Boone UMC participated in the 2026 Annual Conference (AC2026) of the Western North Carolina Conference (WNCC) of the United Methodist Church at Lake Junaluska in Waynesville, NC. The theme of AC2026 was Love Boldly, Serve Joyfully, and Lead Courageously. This conference connection extends to Boone UMC the gift of a wider Christian vision and network of service help and opportunity — across our state, nation, and beyond.

Bishop Ken Carter challenged us to Love Boldly through a newly formed partnership with churches from our UMC connection in Ukraine. To support this partnership, a special offering was received. Here at Boone UMC, we are eager to see the fruit of this Conference partnership, as we continue our own support of Pastor Vlad Kalin’s ministry at New Life Church in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Through worship, Bible studies, and workshops led by Bishop LaTrelle Easterling of the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Area, retired Bishop Christian Alsted of the Northern Europe Regional Conference, and various clergy and lay leaders, we were challenged to Serve Joyfully through prayer, compassion, and faith. Members of Avery County’s Elk Park UMC presented about the paid apprenticeship and internship program they have created to prepare high school students for their local workforce.

During AC2026, Boone UMC was recognized for Leading Courageously through our care of Creation, most recently through the installation of solar panels. For more information about resources available through WNCC to enhance our Creation Care efforts, go to: wnccumc.org/wncc-creation-care-ministry.

Thank you to everyone who represented Boone UMC at AC2026: Pastors Ed Glaize, Patti Connelly, Laura Byrch, and Vern Collins; lay members Alice Arledge, Kelly Broman-Fulks, Ali Flinchum, Chris Laine, and Caitlin Stanton-Rich; and Duke Divinity Summer Interns Daniel Phebus and Savannah Smith.

Want to hear more from AC2026? Check out the Conference website at: wnccumc.org/articles2026.