June 13th, 2025 | Rev. Rachel Williams

Dear Friends,  

It was such an honor and a privilege to stand up on stage at Annual Conference this past Saturday and be ordained as a deacon in Full Connection. I want to express my gratitude to each of you for your love and support these past twenty-two months leading into this time. This community is strong and thriving, and my family is so grateful to be a part of it!

Speaking of community and connection, I want to lend my pastor’s note this week to a reflection offered by Sarah Flint about the Florida United Methodist (and Fernandina Beach!) connection at work. I've attached her reflection below.

With love,  

Pastor Rachel ‘ 

Rev. Marisa Gertz, Rev. Anna Brook Opalinski, Rev. Rachel Williams, and Carlene Johnson

"This photograph encapsulates everything that is meaningful to me about being part of the UMC, and specifically the Florida Conference. 

Within the first couple of hours of arriving, I remembered how much I love this meeting because of all of the connections. As United Methodists, we emphasize connection at the denominational level. So many of our hugely impactful missions and ministries have so much more power for good because we are connectional. But it’s more than that. It’s the personal connections. This meeting is like a giant family reunion. Everywhere you look, you see love in action. People who have been apart for a year or more see each other from across the room and go in for the big hugs. It’s heartwarming and uplifting and joy-inducing and all the good things. 

When I look at this picture, I see four remarkable women closely connected with each other, and they all have connections to Memorial. On the left, we see the Rev. Marisa Gertz, who didn’t have the title at the time, but essentially was Memorial's Youth Director. She was hired when she was only 19, and stayed with us until she graduated from UNF and went on to Duke Divinity School. She is an elder serving as the Pastor of Care and Discipleship at Trinity UMC in Gainesville. Next up is the Rev. Anna Brooke Opalinski. We know her as “Pastor Brett’s daughter.” Anna Brooke is an elder serving as an Associate Pastor at another Trinity UMC, this one in Tallahassee. The third from the left is our beloved Pastor Rachel Williams. Our Annual Conference this year featured not only her ordination as a deacon, with her father Pastor Ivan Corbin supporting her on stage, but her maternal grandfather was also honored in the Service of Remembrance for Conference clergy who passed away over the last year. And last but certainly not least, Carlene (Fogle-Miller) Johnson, a.k.a. “Pastor Beth’s daughter.” Carlene has both an M.Div. and a J.D. She is another brilliant woman who is a gift to all of the organizations she’s been associated with over the years.  

I feel grateful to know these women. Having been raised in the UMC, they know how to lead. They answer God’s call in their lives. They are making a difference right now, and will continue to make a difference for years to come. Some of the events at the Annual Conference celebrated the ordination and work of clergy women in our Conference. The women in this photo do the legacy proud and give me hope for the future! " - Sarah Flint

June 6th, 2025 | Rev. Dr. Mark Charles

First of all, let me publicly wish my favorite daughter, Eva Charles, a happy 20th birthday! Our lives changed forever in all the best ways when we became parents on June 6th, 2005.

However, being born on June 6th means that Eva's birthday will usually clash with Annual Conference, where Margaret and I are this week. 

Annual Conference is the annual get together of the people called United Methodist in Florida. We gather to renew relationships with one another, to work of God in our Conference area, and to discuss the business of the church. Conferencing is a Methodist tradition that stretches all the way back to our beginnings as a denomination.

John Wesley held the first Methodist Annual Conference in 1744 with his brother, Charles Wesley, four other Anglican clergymen, and four of his lay preachers who were invited to join them. It lasted for six days, and the business was conducted in question and answer form. It deliberated about 'what to teach, how to teach and what to do, i.e. how to regulate our doctrine, discipline and practice'. 

Conferences are no longer six days long (praise God!) and business is no longer conducted only in question and answer form, although that certainly remains part of our work. Overall, Annual Conference is a sacred time together - encouraging, uplifting, challenging, and inspiring. 

Along with Margaret and myself, there are fourteen other Memorial people who are here in some capacity. Thirteen of them are voting representatives to the Conference. Please hold us all in your prayers this week. Pray for encouragement, wisdom, and abundant grace as we gather, worship, pray, and break bread together. 

And don't forget, the highlight of this Annual Conference for Memorial is that Pastor Rachel will be ordained as a Deacon in Full Connection this Saturday morning. If you can't make the trip to be in Lakeland in person, please come join the watch party that will take place in Maxwell Hall this Saturday morning. This is a special moment in her ministry journey, and we are incredibly proud of her! 

One more thing: remember that this Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. Don't forget to wear red to church as we celebrate the gift of God's Spirit given to empower the Church. 

See you then! 

Pastor Charlie 

May 30th, 2025 | Pastor Rachel

Dear Beloved Friends,  

We have experienced a season in the life of our church in which there have been many hospitalizations, illnesses, and experiences of sorrow. This Sunday, Pastor Charlie and I will lead a service of healing in each of our worship services. This may be something new for you, but there are numerous biblical accounts of prayers for healing and healing that took place amongst the miracles of Jesus and his disciples. We recognize that healing is a part of our Christian tradition and was a common understanding of the early Christian church. It is also a common practice for clergy to anoint the sick with oil.

As Discipleship Ministries explains: 

Although we can pray for the sick in any place or situation, to have a service in the church implies that, as God’s people, we are called to be a healing community. As United Methodists, we do not believe that it is necessary to have a person with a healing gift to do a healing service. All healing comes from God, not from human power. God gives gifts to the church and blesses the church as God wishes. 

This is a time where we can come together as a congregation to pray for one another and to ask for specific healing. Should you wish to receive a special blessing and anointing with oil we will have a time at the end of the sermon for that as well. Pastor Charlie and I will offer that blessing and anointing. If you are unable to attend and would like a blessing, please stop by the Partin Center or call to arrange for one of us to visit you. I encourage you to be in prayer for one another as we enter this time together as a community.  

With grace and peace,  

Pastor Rachel