Bishop L. Jonathan Holston, resident bishop of the South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, has appointed the Rev. James Friday as director of Congregational Development.
Rev. Friday, senior pastor of Francis Burns United Methodist Church in Columbia since 2016, will succeed the Rev. Sara White after the 2019 Annual Conference. Rev. White has served as director of Congregational Development since 2012.
Rev. Friday was born in Timmonsville, South Carolina, and graduated from Francis Marion University in 1992 with a bachelor of science degree, having majored in sociology and minored in psychology. He graduated from Duke Divinity School in 1997 with a master of divinity degree. He attended the Royce and Jane Reynolds School on Church Leadership at Duke Divinity School in 2005.
He was ordained as a full elder in 2000. Before his appointment to Francis Burns UMC, Rev. Friday served as superintendent of the Greenwood District from 2012 to 2016 and superintendent of the Florence District from 2008 to 2012, and served John Wesley UMC in Greenville, Easley Chapel UMC and John Wesley UMC in Easley, and St. Michael UMC in Kingstree.
In addition to Rev. Friday’s work in local churches, he has served in many ways, including on district and conference boards and committees on Congregational Development, Ordained Ministry, Connectional Ministries, Church and Society, and the Conference Journal. He has been a member of the Conference Board of Camps and Retreat Ministries and the Francis Marion University Wesley Foundation Board, as well as a trustee for Rural Mission Inc., the Methodist Manor of the Pee Dee, and Wesley Commons.
In the community, Rev. Friday has worked with a ministerial group for the Keenan School Cluster, and in school partnerships W.G. Sanders Junior High School and John P. Thomas Elementary School.
Rev. Friday is married to Debra C. Friday. He enjoys reading, golf and fishing.
