Guest speakers/preachers

Bishop Marcus Matthews

Preacher, Service of Ordination and Commissioning

At the 2008 Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference, Bishop Marcus Matthews was assigned to serve as the episcopal leader of the New York West Area effective Sept. 1, 2008. On July 1, 2010,  Bishop Matthews became the Resident Bishop of the newly formed Upper New York Episcopal Area.  He is also currently serving as President of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

The Rev. Dr. Marcus Matthews was elected bishop on July 14, 2004, during the first ballot taken at the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference held in Syracuse, New York. He was assigned to serve the Philadelphia Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church (Eastern Pennsylvania and Peninsula-Delaware Conferences) effective September 1, 2004.
 
Bishop Matthews is originally from Florence, South Carolina, where his home church, Cumberland UMC, was a pivotal influence in his life. He graduated from South Carolina State College in 1968. In 1969, he was employed by Cumberland UMC as a community developer in the first wave of the Black Community Developers program of the General Board of Global Ministries.
 
In 1970, Marcus was selected by the Ford Foundation’s Leadership Development Program to conduct a year-long study of religious institutions such as the Delta Project in Mississippi, The UMC General Commission on Religion and Race, and a project with juveniles in Syracuse, NY.
 
He enrolled at Wesley Theological Seminary in 1971 and served as a student intern at Douglas Memorial UMC for a year. He became an assistant pastor at Asbury UMC in Washington, where he continued as associate for two years after his graduation from Wesley.
 
From 1976 to 1982, he served as pastor of Jones Memorial UMC in Washington, DC, where he oversaw the building of a new sanctuary and established a community development program. In 1981, he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from New York Theological Seminary. He was pastor of Epworth Chapel UMC in Baltimore, from 1982 to 1986, when, during his pastorate, Epworth received 272 new members.
 
In 1986, he became District Superintendent of the Baltimore East District and in 1991 was named Conference Council Director, a position he held until being named Washington West District Superintendent in 1999.   
 
During his ministry, Bishop Matthews served on the General Commission on Religion and Race, General Board of Global Ministries, Connection Process Team, General Council on Ministries, Africa University Development Committee, World Methodist Council Executive Committee, and the Northeast Jurisdiction Multi-Ethnic Center Board. In 2004 he was elected Co-Chair of the Endorsing Committee of The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of The UMC. He is a member of Black Methodists for Church Renewal.
 
In 2005, Bishop Matthews was elected to the Board of Directors of Africa University and he is currently serving as Vice Chair of  the Africa University Board of Trustees. Bishop Matthews served as President of the Northeastern Jurisdiction College of Bishops from February 2006 to 2007. In his role as  President of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, Bishop Matthews chairs GBHEM’s Executive Committee and serves on the Personnel and Policies Committee.
 
Bishop Matthews is married to Barbara Walker Matthews and they have two children, Jaime S. Matthews and Marci Michael, and five grandchildren. His other interests include movies, reading, jogging, and playing with his grandchildren.
 

 

Shannon Trilli

Shannon Trilli, the director of Global Health programs at The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) will be the guest speaker during the conference, teaching about The United Methodist Church's involvement in global health initiatives as well as the denomination's Imagine No Malaria Campaign. 
 
As the primary representative of UMCOR’s Global Health unit, Trilli is the key liaison to all international, regional, and national collaborating health partners. She provides strategic vision and leadership to all of UMCOR’s health initiatives and oversees the implementation of those initiatives in the United States and abroad. Trilli designed and directed the Imagine No Malaria (INM) program, which focuses on implementing and scaling up community-based programs in 18 countries to reduce the mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa due to malaria. Under her leadership, INM (on behalf of The United Methodist Church) distributed more than 600,000 mosquito nets in Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe, among others. 

Rev. Dr. William Dobbs

Preacher, May 18 worship service
 
The Rev. Dr. William D. Dobbs was born in Bad Axe, Mich., on September 17, 1945, to Willard and Verna Dobbs. He grew up in Cass City where he graduated from high school in 1963. Bill was active in district and conference MYF activities while in the Port Huron District. He attended Michigan State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree. After teaching public school music in Potterville for four years, he felt a call from God and began his pastoral ministry in the West Michigan Conference while attending Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary where he earned his Master of Divinity in 1976. Pastoral appointments included West Mendon, Lansing Calvary, Ludington United, East Lansing University and Holland First. Dobbs earned his Doctor of Ministry at Ashland Theological Seminary in 2003 and was appointed as a Superintendent in the Heartland District beginning in 2005. Dobbs became the Clergy Assistant in 2010.
 
Dobbs married Janice Faye Sbresny in 1963. They have four grown children and six grandchildren, who range in age from 22 to 12. Their youngest child is the Rev. DeAnn Dobbs, pastor of Reading UMC in the Albion district. Bill and Janice are avid RV’ers and golfers in their spare time. They live in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.