LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C – The Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center will continue its 2011 Summer Worship Series, “The World is My Parish,” on July 17 with The Rev. Susan Leonard-Ray, District Superintendent in the South Carolina Conference, serving as guest preacher and presider at this Service of Holy Communion. Rev. Leonard-Ray will preach on the tension between the present reality and the greater, hope-filled narrative of the reign of God in a sermon titled, “Bifocal Living.”
“We are pleased to have Susan Leonard-Ray join us as guest preacher and presider this Sunday. The worship will be a Service of Holy Communion,” said Dr. Jack Ewing, Executive Director of Lake Junaluska. “Rev. Leonard-Ray’s gifted presence at the table will guide us into the mystery of Holy Communion.”
The 1995 recipient of the Denman Evangelism Award, Leonard-Ray has served as an elder in the South Carolina Annual Conference for twenty years. She served Monaghan UMC in Greenville and was the Campus Minister at Furman University from 1992 -1997. Following that she served as an Associate Pastor at Buncombe Street UMC. In 2001, Susan was appointed to serve Advent UMC in Simpsonville, SC where she has lived out her ministry and calling for the past nine years before being appointed the Anderson District Superintendent in July of 2010.In addition, Susan has served on the Greenville District Committee on Congregational Development, the Board of Ordained Ministry, the Executive Committee on the Annual Conference, and the Committee on Episcopacy.
This service is supported by The Christine and Eugene Webb Preaching Endowment, created in 2006 by Ms. Christine Webb to enable and foster outstanding evangelistic preaching at Lake Junaluska. The Webb Endowment currently supports two Sundays in the Summer Worship Series.
Leonard-Ray will preach at Memorial Chapel at 8:30 a.m. and in Stuart Auditorium at 10:45 a.m. at Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center on July 17, 2011. All services are free and open to the public and will be streamed live every Sunday at www.lakejunaluska.com/streaming. For additional information on this service or any of the Summer Worship Series, visit www.lakejunaluska.com/summer-worship, or contact Kimberly Jenne at 1-828-454-6752 or kjenne@lakejunaluska.com.
Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center is an agency of the Southeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. The mission of Lake Junaluska is to be a place of Christian Hospitality where lives are transformed through renewal of soul, mind, and body.