Dear Families of Pender United Methodist Church,

I want to share with you some information regarding our upcoming pastoral transition. I feel it is important that we communicate with you as fully as we can.

Please know that change is never easy, however, if it is done purposefully and prayerfully it can be good. Over the past year our Staff/Pastor-Parish Relations Committee (S/PPRC) has been prayerfully considering appropriate staffing of the youth pastoral position after Rev. Howard M. Fickling-Finley resigned from his post.  I have served as the interim advisor and minister for our youth. Now that I am entering retirement, Pender’s S/PPRC and myself, have decided to appoint Mark Atwood as the interim youth director with Arlether Williams, Chairperson of Staff/Pastor-Parish Relations Committee, and Jane Mckee, Leader of the Grow in God Cluster to serve as co-leads during this period of transition.

Mark Atwood is the Chairman of the Chris Atwood Foundation, which he co-founded in 2013  after the Atwood family lost their son Christopher to an accidental overdose at age 21. The CAF is a 501(c)3 charitable organization that creates recovery ready communities through free harm reduction and recovery support services, resources, and education. They specialize in providing free training to the community on how to administer naloxone to reverse an opioid overdose; they provide free life-saving naloxone,  recovery housing scholarships, as well as free peer recovery support specialists for individuals.

Mark has taught high school Sunday School class at Pender for the past 15 years and worked with Pender’s youth group for the last twenty years. He is currently serving on Pender’s Nominations Committee, and is active in the Men’s Bible Study Group. Previously he served as co-chairperson of Pender’s S/PPRC.

Jane McKee has been a member of Pender for the past eight years, serving as the Superintendent of Sunday Schools, Chairperson of Children Ministries, and Leader of the Grow in God Cluster. Jane is an active singer and soloist in Pender’s Sanctuary Choir, she plays the autoharp in the Common Ground Praise Band, rings bells with the Joy Ringer Handbell ensemble, and is a member of Pender’s flute and wood recorder music groups. She is a worship leader, and is actively engaged in Pender’s Reaching New People and Common Ground Revision Teams. Jane is an educator, teaching in Fairfax County high schools, specifically Robinson High School, in the math discipline for the past twenty years. Prior to teaching math, she taught music in several communities to include overseas in Japan. Jane received a Master of Digital Learning degree from George Mason University and is a longstanding home owner in the Greenbriar Community.

Arlether “Arlet” Williams has been a member of Pender for the past 27 years, serving as a volunteer in our youth program, singing in the Sanctuary Choir and the Common Ground contemporary praise band. She assists in leading monthly worship services at Fairfax Juvenile Detention Center, serving in Pender’s United Women in Faith, our Reaching New People and Common Ground Revision Programs, and is currently the Chairperson of S/PPRC. Arlet retired after serving 32 years at the Central Intelligence Agency as Chief of Staff in the Talent Center and Office of Security. She has three adult children, whom she and her spouse Victor Ugwu raised at Pender in our children and youth ministries. Arlet is a graduate of Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Mark, Jane, and Arlet are highly committed to educating and guiding our youth.  Please know that with God’s help, we believe this transition plan will serve our youth, the Pender congregation, and most importantly support our new Lead Pastor Robert “Bruce” Johnson in making disciples for Jesus Christ who will go and transform the world.

Yours in Christ,

Lead Pastor William “Will” White