District Superintendent

Cookeville District Office

The United Methodist Church

271 East Ninth Street

Cookeville, TN 38501

931.526.1343 or 800.252.9865

fax 931.528.7740

District Superintendent: The Reverend Jay E. Archer

email jayarcher@citlink.net

February 2008 - The Rev. Jay Archer announced as new Cookeville District Superintendent starting in June.

Bishop Richard Wills has announced the appointment of the Rev. Jay Archer as District Superintendent of the Cookeville District. Archer was the senior pastor of Manchester First United Methodist Church, and has served a variety of churches within the Tennessee Conference including White House, Love’s Chapel, Westview, Cook’s, Antioch, Fayetteville First UMC.

Reverend Archer is married to Christine Archer. Both Jay and Christine hold Master of Divinity degrees from Yale University, where they met and married. Christine also holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Tennessee and has been employed as a counselor in the various communities in which the Archers have served. Jay and Christine have two children, Rosemary (born in 1982) and Luke (born in 1986). Rosemary married in March to David Rawsthorn and the couple moved to Great Britain. Luke will be graduating from Rhodes College in Memphis this May.

After the Archer’s first appointment, both Jay and Christine took a year’s leave of absence to be a part of a Christian community called Karatana. Karatana was a network of Christian families who, though often separated geographically by some distance, were bound together in the Christian life for mutual support and accountability for growth in discipleship. The learning, experience, and growth gained from this year in Christian community has continued to be a foundation for spiritual development and faithful living in the lives of the Archers.

Reverend Archer is convinced of the reality and power of a loving God who acts to redeem His creation, and Reverend Archer is grateful to this God who has invited him and all people to join God in this venture. Reverend Archer’s dream for the church is that the church would come to be more fully “the church”—a community of people living in the name of Christ Jesus who offer the grace of God to this world by word, by deed, and by life lived in the Spirit of God.

Archer has served the conference as Chair person of the Conference Board of Pensions, Chair of the Conference Health Insurance Committee, Chair of the Conference Stewardship Committee, and Chair of the Cumberland District Committee on Ordained Ministry. Through the years he has also been part of the Religion and Race Commission, the Evangelism Committee, and Board of Ordained Ministry. He feels strongly that a number of continuing education experiences have left a positive mark on his ministry: New Life Mission training, Church growth training, the Academy of Preaching, the Wesleyan Restoring Methodism Convocation, and several Congresses on Evangelism. His faith journey has also been enriched by participation in Laywitness Mission, Emmaus and Chrysalis. For a time he served as Spiritual Director of the Nashville Chrysalis Community.

Wife Christine is currently serving as the Family Resource Director of Manchester City Schools. She is very active in the community. She is a founding partner of the Coffee County Anti-drug Coalition, and through her Family Resource position, teaches Parenting Classes and organizes the annual We Care event (providing free shoes, backpacks, school supplies, personal items, health checks, etc, to underprivileged children in the Manchester School system).

As he prepares to become the new Cookeville District Superintendent, he is facing the future with anticipation. He recently noted, “Christine and I look forward to becoming partners in the Gospel with the pastors and churches of the Cookeville District as we all seek to grow in our love of God and neighbor, making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

District Secretary: Ms. Pamela S. Whitmore

email cookevilledist@citlink.net