“Who presents these candidates to be ordained or commissioned?” Bishop John Schol will ask that question to begin the 2024 Greater New Jersey Conference’s Service of Ordination and Commissioning May 19.
The congregation’s response will remind all present of where these clergy members’ call to ministry is nurtured: “We have recommended them in our local congregations. We present them with our prayers and support.”
And then David Yamoah, Conference Lay Leader, will complete the response, indicating their movement from recommendation to readiness—from being sent forth to being set apart. “We have examined these candidates according to the standards of our Discipline and this annual conference of The United Methodist Church,” he will say. “We present them with our prayers and support.”
The Revs. Michelle Ryoo, Chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry (BOOM); Drew Dyson, BOOM Registrar for Full Members; and Cyndi Stouffer, BOOM Registrar for Provisional Members, will then present 13 candidates for ordination, commissioning and recognition by the bishop.
Bishop John Schol welcomes EPA &GNJ candidates for ordination, commissioning and recognition of orders to the Greater New Jersey Conference’s Mission Resource Center at a recent joint retreat. Sam Lampenfield photo
For ordination as an elder they will present:
Nicole Catherine Hamilton
Joseph Jueng
Eunkyong Kim
Sunghyuk Kim
Sooah Na
Laura Quackenbush-Steele
Jesse Scott Ruch Jr.
Vanessa Wilson
For commissioning as a provisional member, preparing for ordained ministry as an elder, they will present:
Timothy Andrew Conaway and Tayler Morgan Necoechea
For ordination as a deacon they will present Jamie Jimin Youm Min.
For recognition of orders as an elder and full member, they will present:
Guillermo Javier Barroso-Rodríguez and Jason David Ríos Ramos