As superintendent of the Greater Southwest District, Rev. Dean Prentiss is excited about focusing on new opportunities to share Christ’s love and meet present needs.
GLENN M. WAGNER
Michigan Conference Communications
On July 1, 2024, Rev. Dean Prentiss began his appointment as the new superintendent of the Greater Southwest District of the Michigan Conference of The United Methodist Church.
Prentiss comes to this position with a wealth of pastoral experience. He grew up as a member of Troy: First UMC. He graduated from Adrian College and received his Master of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee. Prentiss has served in pastoral appointments in Mt. Pleasant, Williamston, Big Rapids, and for the past 13 years at Wesley Park UMC in Wyoming, Michigan. Dean has also served as the registrar for the Michigan Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, a group of clergy and laity who provide an important role in evaluating and certifying candidates for ordination and service in ministry.
Since January, Prentiss has met with the cabinet and Rev. Dwayne Bagley, his predecessor, to prepare for this new ministry role. Prentiss is excited about this new opportunity to help the cause of Christ in the Greater Southwest District. Prentiss is profoundly grateful to Rev. Dwayne Bagley for his patient mentoring. Mandana Nordbrock, the district’s long-time executive assistant, has also been vital in helping facilitate a smooth transition for Prentiss.
Dean Prentiss is excited to focus his ministry not on the difficulties of the past but on the new opportunities Christ offers to share his love and message with grace to meet the needs of the present.
The Greater Southwest District, one of seven in the Michigan Conference, encompasses 97 congregations with a combined membership of 10,651 persons and an average weekly worship attendance of 4,675. Some of the smaller membership congregations are yoked together in pastoral circuits where two or three congregations share one pastor. There are currently 15 such circuits in the Greater Southwest District.
The congregations of the Greater Southwest District are situated across portions of 11 counties — Allegan, Berrien, Calhoun, Branch, St. Joseph, Cass, Kalamazoo, Van Buren, Barry, Ionia, and Jackson — and an area covering 6,601 square miles in the southwest corner of Michigan. These counties are currently home to 1,191,501 people, which is 11.9 % of Michigan’s population of 10.3 million. The 97 congregations in this district are currently being served by 76 pastors.
According to Prentiss, an immediate priority in this new role is to meet individually with each of his pastors and learn more about their ministries. He has already started these one-on-one hour-long meetings. Twenty clergy serving in his district are ordained elders with college and seminary training. Many others are lay ministers and licensed local pastors who have been certified for their work through the United Methodist Course of Study program.
Prentiss knows that superintending traces its roots to the beginnings of Methodism. John Wesley first gathered with like-minded friends in Oxford, England, in the 1720s to meet for the purpose of ordering their lives after the example of Christ in a group they first called the “Holy Club.” Those believers earned their nickname, “Methodists.” They encouraged each other in their regular weekly meetings to live with a “single eye” by ordering all things in their lives, such as finances, personal habits, and spiritual practices, to glorify God. In a deliberate, organized fashion, a single club meeting has since become a global Christian movement for the gospel involving 80 million people in 138 countries. The Michigan Conference is comprised of approximately 590 churches and 90,600 members.
Superintendents serve an essential leadership role in the United Methodist connectional structure. The Michigan Conference currently has seven superintendents. These clergy are selected and appointed by Bishop David Bard to serve for six years. Their term can be extended (click to learn more). Superintendents serve, along with the bishop, to provide spiritual leadership for the people and congregations of the conference and to act as the personnel committee for the United Methodist churches of Michigan. Local congregations share with their superintendent their vision for ministry and their particular needs for pastoral leadership, and the bishop and superintendents deploy clergy to best match experience and talents with local ministries across the state. Primary responsibilities of the superintendents also relate to overseeing the work of the local churches, including presiding at charge conferences (annual business meetings) and supervising the work of pastors. Superintendents also help local congregations and their pastors to make disciples for Christ, develop leaders, and encourage connectional mission.
Inspired by the words of Jesus in John 15:5 — “I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (NRSVUE) — Prentiss shared his organizational vision for the churches in his district. He hopes they will work together as groups of six or seven congregations in proximity to each other in “branches” to share in mission, fellowship, and efforts to extend the love of Christ.
One example of this kind of connectional sharing could be for these cooperating congregations to organize shared efforts to help support the new Latinx ministry start in the district (read more about this new ministry). This new church launch is called “Semilla,” which means “seed” in Spanish. It is being led by César García-Rodriguez and Miriam Peralta de Garcia and is currently centered in Lawrence, Michigan, just west of Paw Paw. According to the Greater Southwest District web page, “The Hispanic/Latino community represents 12% of the total population in the Greater Southwest District. And every year, more than 200 migrant camps receive temporary Hispanic families for seasonal work.” Prentiss hopes congregations will collaborate to help support this new ministry with shared volunteer time, prayer, and offerings as a way churches can encourage and support each other in ministry.
Rev. Prentiss can be reached through the Greater Southwest District office located in the Wesley Foundation building on the Western Michigan University campus. The address is 2350 Ring Road North, Suite B, Kalamazoo, MI 49006, and the phone number is 269-372-7525. His email address is [email protected]. Mandana Nordbrock, executive assistant for the Greater Southwest District, can be reached by email at [email protected].
Prentiss’ official installation service as superintendent of the Greater Southwest District will be held on Sunday, September 22, 2024, at 2:00 pm Eastern at Westwood UMC, 538 Nichols Road, Kalamazoo, MI 49006. All are welcome to attend. The notice on the Greater Southwest District web page for this event reflects Dean’s humor and grace: “Children of all ages are invited to this special time of celebration and fun!”
Last Updated on August 20, 2024