Welcome

As the Apostle Paul would open his letters to the early churches, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
GREETING! I am Greg Sokolowski, your new District’s Director of Lay Servant Ministries and may I start by saying how excited I am to have been asked and honored to take on the duties and responsibilities of this position. But first, a little bit about me. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh PA (Go Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins!) and was transplanted by my parents in 1966 to Fredericksburg VA where I now live. I was raised Catholic and was led to Christ at the early age of 13 and have strived to follow Christ ever since.
I completed High School in Stafford County and proceeded to earn two technical Bachelor degrees from the University of Mary Washington and one Master’s degree from George Mason University. For the past thirty-one years, I have worked for the Department of the Navy as a Lead Scientist/Engineer supporting the Naval Surface Warfare Center.
I am married to my lovely bride Karen and we have one married daughter, Meghann, one son Adam, and two grandchildren, Rachael and Amy.
My family has attended New Hope UMC for the past ten years where I have served on the following committees - SPRC, Stewardship, Finance, and Trustees. I have been a certified Lay Speaker for five years and have been blessed by attending several VIMS trips and an Emmaus Walk.
As you will see in this month’s newsletter, our District Lay Servant Ministries Committee has hit the road running and we will be offering three training sessions across the district over the next three autumn months. I truly hope and pray that many of you will seek the Lord’s will for your talents and will take the steps towards signing up for one of these sessions and walk the path our Lord has for you to serve as we have been called! I look forward to meeting you at our upcoming training events and God willing maybe at two or three sessions. May God Bless each of you!

In His Service
Greg Sokolowski
Fredericksburg District Director of Lay Servant Ministries		 gregsokolowski

 

CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE UPCOMING LAY SERVANT ACADEMY AT BLACKSTONE

 

The Lay Servant Ministries announces a new format for training available on line for Laity.  We now have On Demand Learning for Laity.  . 

This first course will be “Laity Lead in Worship”.  It will be offered live at Blackstone and the Conference office on March 19th.  Then, the following week it will be available online so that persons can start and stop the training at their leisure.  It will be available for 90 days. 
 
New courses should appear monthly after the first one.  The first six courses are those that are required for Lay Speaker endorsement.  If you complete the training and evaluation portion of the class, you will be sent a certificate from the conference for that class.  All the classes can be used for Lay Servant recertification.
 

Laity Lead in Worship March 19 9:30 – 2:30

Leading in Prayer Planned for April

United Methodist Polity Planned for May

United Methodist Heritage Planned for May

Spiritual Gifts Planned for July

Preaching Planned for September

Lay Servant Basic Planned for September

Basic in Spanish Planned for October

Polity in Spanish Planned for November

United Methodist Primer Planned for December

Cost:  $35 for the first day live presentations (lunch is included).   $30 for a single online participant

Instructors for the first three classes have been selected.   They are Reverend Nathan Decker, Laity Leading in Worship; Reverend Norman Ramsey, Leading Prayer; Reverend Andrew Ware with Reverend Teresa Keezell, United Methodist Polity        

To Register for the live presentation, go to the conference website and click on Calendar at the top.  Chose the date and click the link.  Or, click here: Live Presentation Training Registration
To Register for the online training, check the conference website the week after the training.  Click on Ministries/Lay Leadership and then Lay Servant.
 
Questions?  Contact Greg Sokolowski, our Director of Lay Servant Ministries at

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