Bishop Leeland announces an appointment change to the Western North Carolina Cabinet, effective July 1, 2020.
 
Rev. Beth Crissman will be appointed as Senior Pastor of West Market Street United Methodist Church in Greensboro, NC. Beth has served as the District Superintendent and Chief Missional Strategist in the Blue Ridge District in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church since 2016. Prior to her appointment as District Superintendent, she pastored churches across the WNCC and with her husband Rev. Kelly Crissman served as the founders and directors of Plowpoint, a non-profit organization which trained teams of clergy and laity throughout the United Methodist Church for the transformation of leaders, churches, and communities. Beth is the author of four books: Longing to Belong, How We Lead, Stepping in the Stream, and Choosing the Faithful Path, and multiple other curricula to develop and strengthen disciples and leaders in the local church. Beth has served on several boards and agencies within the Conference and other United Methodist-related institutions including Equitable Compensation, Congregational Development, Givens Estates, and UNC-Asheville Wesley Foundation. Beth, a native of Graham, N.C. is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (BS Nursing), University of California-Los Angeles (MNursing-Family Nurse Practitioner), and Emory University (MDiv). She and Kelly have two grown children, James and Maddie.
 
Rev. Dr. Mark Ralls will be appointed as District Superintendent of the Blue Ridge District. Mark has served as Senior Pastor of First Hendersonville since 2015. He is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill (A.B., 1988), Duke Divinity School (M.Div., 1991) and Princeton Theological Seminary (Ph.D., 1999).  He has served Providence, Charlotte, St. Timothy Brevard, Epworth, Concord, Asbury First, Rochester, NY, Centenary, Winston-Salem.  Mark is the co-author of Is This All There Is?: And Other Big Questions About God and Life with Andy Langford. He is also active in Blue Ridge Emmaus and St. Baldrick's Foundation. Mark was born in Charlotte, NC into a parsonage family and lived in several mountain towns in Western North Carolina and attended high school in Asheville.  Mark worked on the summer staff of Lake Junaluska for seven summers. There, he met his wife Jennifer, daughter of Rev. Jimmy and Julia Jones (Florida Conference).  Jennifer is a School Psychologist with the Buncombe County School System.