%1

Kirbyjon Cald­well, the former senior pastor of Hou­ston’s Wind­sor Village United Meth­odist Church—the de­nomination’s largest in membership—surrendered his clergy credentials weeks before pleading guilty on March 11 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Yet, as he awaits sentencing this summer in federal court, Caldwell remains on staff at Windsor Village and is taking the pulpit there occasionally as a lay preacher. Caldwell is scheduled to be sentenced on July 22 and faces five to seven years in prison.

Disbelief is often the response Carole Boston Weatherford gets from children about her books featuring notable African Americans.

“Kids just can’t believe that our nation allowed those kinds of injustices to visit upon so many people,” said Weatherford, a poet who has written children’s books on Fannie Lou Hamer, Harriet Tubman, Lena Horne, and others.

Roland Fernandes has been tapped as the next general secretary of Global Min­istries, the United Methodist Church’s worldwide mission agency. He will re­place Thomas Kem­per, who, after a decade of leading the organization, chose not to stand for reelection.

Fernandes, a layperson, has been with the organization since 1995, serving in various capacities, including interim general secretary. Since 2003, Fernandes has been the chief operating officer and chief financial officer.