ABOUT US

PASTOR LACEY HUGHES

Lacey Charles Hughes is a retired commissioned officer of the United States Army with more than twenty-two years of active military service. His professional career began in 1983 after receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing and commission as an Army Second Lieutenant through the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at Jackson State University. Subsequently, he served as a Logistics Management Specialist for over nineteen years. His organizational civilian experience includes service in the Department of The Army (Pentagon), Headquarters Army Materiel Command, and the Integrated Logistics Sustainment Command within the U.S. Army Communications Electronics Command. Lacey continues to serve as a Department of the Army Civilian in the Communications Electronics Command.

He has served in a variety of command, leadership, and managerial positions as a Logistic Officer, including commander of three company size units and a strategic distribution center. One key highlight of his military career included serving as an intern on the Staff of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the leadership of General Colin Powell, and General Shalikashvili respectively. His most memorable assignment was serving as the officer in charge of troops during the recovery of a plane crash in Gander, Newfoundland in 1985. His toughest Army assignment was serving as Chief of the U.S. Army Operations Center, located in the Pentagon.

Lacey is a graduate of Howard University School of Divinity’s Class of 2017 and holds a Master of Divinity (MDiv) which supports his ministerial calling. He served in hospital chaplaincy and enjoys teaching in a theological environment. He is a licensed pastor in the United Methodist Church, and serves as pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in Nokesville, Virginia (https://www.asburyumcnokesville.org/). Lacey is committed to sharing the Good News of Christ, encouraging others, providing pastoral care, and mentoring others…just as others have graciously invested in him.

He finds it disturbing that people are denied proper medical care due to discrimination on multiple levels. He enrolled in the Organization Leadership Doctoral program to critically study organizational processes and leadership failures that stand at the forefront of this systemic misfortune! Lacey was accepted into the Shenandoah University School of Health Professionals, Population Health Certificate Program. The classes in the certificate program will serve as my electives for the Organization Leadership Doctorate Program and confirm the authenticity of his body of work. By addressing these issues, Lacey hopes to shine light on areas of social justice that go unchecked. People tend to look the other way instead of addressing the root cause of injustices inflicted upon members of marginalized social groups.

Lacey a native Mississippian, enjoys learning to play the acoustic guitar, teaching, reading, listening to music, and creating memorable moments with his family. He also enjoys spending time with his grand-dog, Koji; and his grand-cats; Olivia, Evel, and Chai. He is married to the former Patricia M. Turner, and they have two adult children: Lakisha, age 39, and Lacey II, age 32. Two questions drive him: Who are you and Why are you Here?

PASTOR LACEY HUGHES

ASBURY LEADERSHIP TEAM

SPRC Chair

Steve Cooper

Ad Council Chair

Jack MacPherson

Finance Chair

Vicki Cooper

Trustee Chair

Charles Ketner

Financial Treasurer

Susan Jones

Lay Leader

Steve Cooper

Lay Member to Annual Conference

Stev Cooper

Lay Leader

Karen Smith

OUR CHURCH HERITAGE

United Methodist History

On April 23, 1968, The United Methodist Church was created when Bishop Reuben H. Mueller, representing The Evangelical United Brethren Church, and Bishop Lloyd C. Wicke of The Methodist Church joined hands at the constituting General Conference in Dallas, Texas. With the words, "Lord of the Church, we are united in Thee, in Thy Church and now in The United Methodist Church," the new denomination was given birth by two churches that had distinguished histories and influential ministries in various parts of the world.

Theological traditions steeped in the Protestant Reformation and Wesleyanism, similar ecclesiastical structures, and relationships that dated back almost two hundred years facilitated the union. In the Evangelical United Brethren heritage, for example, Philip William Otterbein, the principal founder of the United Brethren in Christ, assisted in the ordination of Francis Asbury to the superintendency of American Methodist work. Jacob Albright, through whose religious experience and leadership the Evangelical Association was begun, was nurtured in a Methodist class meeting following his conversion.

The United Methodist Church shares a common history and heritage with other Methodist and Wesleyan bodies. The lives and ministries of John Wesley (1703–1791) and of his brother, Charles (1707–1788), mark the origin of their common roots. The Second Great Awakening was the dominant religious development among Protestants in America in the first half of the nineteenth century. Through revivals and camp meetings sinners were brought to an experience of conversion. Circuit riding preachers and lay pastors knit them into a connection.

John Wesley was an ardent opponent of slavery. Many of the leaders of early American Methodism shared his hatred for this form of human bondage. The United Brethren in Christ took a strong stand against slavery, as church members could not sell a slave, and by 1837 ruled that slave owners could not continue as members. As the nineteenth century progressed, it became apparent that tensions were deepening in Methodism over the slavery question. The Civil War dealt an especially harsh blow to The Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Its membership fell to two-thirds its pre-war strength. Many of its churches lay in ruins or were seriously damaged.

In the years immediately prior to World War I, there was much sympathy in the churches for negotiation and arbitration as visible alternatives to international armed conflict. Many church members and clergy openly professed pacifism. Although Methodists, Evangelicals, and United Brethren each had published strong statements condemning war and advocating peaceful reconciliation among the nations, the strength of their positions was largely lost with American involvement in the hostilities of World War II. When The United Methodist Church was created in 1968, it had approximately 11 million members, making it one of the largest Protestant churches in the world.

From The 2008 Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church