In 2009, Dr. Fred Dearing was asked to move in his role of district superintendent within the United Methodist Church’s Holston Conference from Kingsport to Chattanooga. The next move in his career will take him a bit farther afield.
Later this month, he and his wife, Libby, will move to Yei, Sudan, to become district superintendent of the Sudan District of the United Methodist Church’s East Africa Annual Conference.
“We feel very blessed to go over there and serve alongside folks,” said Dearing, who is taking retired status within the denomination this week. “The [general] church has a very strong presence and is a positive force there.”
Although United Methodist clergy are annually given one-year appointment, his assignment is open-ended, he said.
Dearing said the East Africa Conference bishop does not have enough clergy elders to appoint to district superintendent positions, so he will be replacing another Holston Conference minister, the Rev. Buford “Boo” Hankins, who served in the position for two years along with his wife, the Rev. Phyllis Hankins.