The YPA Team

A brief introduction to the team of young people giving the Young People's Address. (Picture at right taken by Ronny Perry for UMCom.)

I should mention that with the exception of Andrew (who wrote his own bio), I'm grabbing all these facts out of my head. Spellings may be incorrect, but I did my best. These folks will all have access to my blog, so make sure you check out their comments with additions/corrections.

Me: Becca Farnum, age 17, West Michigan Conference. Secretary and Treasurer for the North Central Jurisdiction Division on Ministries with Young People. Delegate to General Conference. I'll be graduating high school on June 1st of this year and attending Michigan State University in the fall, double majoring in Microbiology and Interdisciplinary Humanities. (For those of you wondering what on earth you can do with that combination of majors, the answer is take a lot of pre-med prep classes and international relations with focuses on Africa and the Middle East so that one day I can serve as a missionary doctor in that area.)

Andrew Craig, 16 and an active member of Park Hill United Methodist Church, is a sophomore and a straight A student who is a journalism/communications major at Thomas Jefferson High School. He currently writes for the school newspaper, The Jefferson Journal, and his hobbies include oratory, reading, writing, studying, debating, and campaigning for Barack Obama. He has participated in and won numerous speech competitions, and is a proud member of the Blacks in Government (BIG) organization and is the president of Rocky Mountain Conference's Conference Council on Youth Ministries.

Annie Rigo Arnoldy, age 30, is a pastor serving in Grand Junction, Colorado, where she heads up the Young Adults' Ministry at First UMC. She just got married (yay, Annie!) and has a gorgeous ring. Annie and I have majorly conflicting personalities but have a lot of fun knowing that we're going to totally disagree on everything. Somehow we're very good friends and get along.

Kira Volkava is in her late twenties and serves as a pastor in Russia. She serves on the General Division of Ministries with Young People and has been a great addition to this group.

Matt Lockett is a chemistry major at Washington University. He works in his Conference Office with media and video and is a part-time photographer. He's been our liaison with UMCom.

Jason Rathod is in law school at Duke right now. His grandfather immigrated to the US from India and served as a pastor. His father was also a pastor. The boy claims to be becoming a lawyer...but you have to wonder. (Just kidding, Jason.) Jason is very into politics and social justice.

And that's the team of young people. Adults who have been instrumental:
Julie O'Neal, Director of Young Adult Ministries at the General Board of Discipleship.
Jay Clark, Former Director of Youth Ministries at GBOD, now serving as youth leader at a church in Arkansas.
Hank Hilliard, Current Director of Youth Ministries at GBOD, known affectionately by Annie as "New Jay"
Make Ratliff, Asssociate General Secretary of GBOD for the DMYP
Ginny, Nancy, and many wonderful people at United Methodist Communications
Sarah Brockus, Stage Manager of General Conferences, and her wonderful team

And a big thanks to General Conference 2004 for creating this address!!