As your Conference Lay Leader, I have been honored to introduce you to your Conference Board of Laity and your District Lay Leaders these past several weeks. I feel strongly that you need to know us and we are looking forward to continuing to meet you. We are available to talk, share and pray with you whenever you need us. I hope you will visit the Conference web site and the Board of Laity section as we get more information provided to you through that service. Our communications staff is working hard to make that site easy to find and full of information you can use. Let us know what you are not finding on it and we will certainly try to make that available.
As we continue our goal of sharing and communicating with you, I want to introduce our last 3 members of the Board of Laity. These 3 ladies give of themselves in so many ways as you can see. They are involved in many parts of our church and their communities. The work they do in caring and in love serves Jesus well.
Regina L. Norwood
The Central District Lay Leader is Regina L. Norwood. Regina is a native Arkansan and mother of one adult son. Her guiding life principles of “Faith, Family, Education and Service” were passed down by her parents and are reflected in her love for helping others. She retired several years ago from the federal government where she worked in various capacities, including Claims Representative, Program Analyst, Management Specialist and Public Affairs Specialist. Regina holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology.
Her interests include volunteering with the Arkansas Food Bank, serving as a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) with Toastmasters, and successfully operating her LegalShield home-based business. Regina enjoys writing and is currently working on publishing her own book of poetry. She is co-author of the published biography “Josephine – Celebrating the Life and Legacy” about Mrs. Josephine Irvin Harris Pankey who was a visionary, missionary, educator, realtor, and philanthropist during the late 1800s until her death in 1954.
Regina is actively involved in her church, St. Paul Maumelle where she serves as Leadership Team Chairperson. She is a member of United Methodist Women and a former member of the Advisory Group for Perkins Summit for Faith and Learning.
Helen Emerson
Helen Emerson, Lay Leader for the Southeast District is a member of the St Luke United Methodist Church in Pine Bluff. She is a retired social worker and program manager for the State of Arkansas. As a social worker, Helen conducted investigations for adult and child protective services, foster care services and placements, daycare licensing, court reports and attended court hearings, sometimes having to testify. She was also responsible for case management. In her work as a program manager, she supervised, hired, trained and terminated staff for all of Southeast Arkansas. Helen wrote and interpreted policy and also served as Juvenile Probation officer for Jefferson County, Pine Bluff.
In retirement she works hard for the Lord. She regularly calls on her keen gift of discernment that the good Lord blessed her with. She is a people person and enjoys working with and doing for others. Helen has a true servant’s heart.
Jennifer See-Rodgers
The Northeast District is served by Jennifer See-Rodgers. Jennifer is married to Bradley Rodgers and they are blessed with two children; Parker who is 12 years old and Kenzie Grace who is 9 years old. They have 2 dogs, 2 cats and 10 chickens along with a bearded dragon. They are members of Central Ave. UMC in Batesville.
Jennifer grew up the child of a preacher. Her father was Lewis See, a well known pastor in Arkansas. Jennifer works as a mental health therapist in the Batesville area. She loves spending time with her family, being at the lake, fishing and helping others. She is one of our new Lay Leaders this year and looks forward to meeting as many of our Laity as possible.