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