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Gooden among Chattanooga-area Methodist appointments

The Rev. Mary Virginia Taylor is bishop of the United Methodist Church's Holston Conference, which includes 881 congregations in Southwest Virginia, East Tennessee and North Georgia. Pastoral appointments to local churches were announced this week during the 2018 Holston Annual Conference in Lake Junaluska, N.C.
The Rev. Mary Virginia Taylor is bishop of the United Methodist Church's Holston Conference, which includes 881 congregations in Southwest Virginia, East Tennessee and North Georgia. Pastoral appointments to local churches were announced this week during the 2018 Holston Annual Conference in Lake Junaluska, N.C. The Rev. Mary Virginia Taylor is bishop of the United Methodist Church's Holston Conference, which includes 881 congregations in Southwest Virginia, East Tennessee and North Georgia. Pastoral appointments to local churches were announced this week during the 2018 Holston Annual Conference in Lake Junaluska, N.C.

By Staff Report 4 min read

The Rev. Dr. C. Mark Gooden has been appointed the new senior minister at First-Centenary United Methodist Church, according to the Rev. Mary Virginia Taylor, bishop of the denomination’s Holston Conference.

His is one of several changes announced during the 2018 Holston Annual Conference held this week in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.

The 2,400-member First-Centenary is the oldest United Methodist church in Chattanooga. Gooden replaces the Rev. Dr. Doug Fairbanks, who retired. Gooden, like Fairbanks, grew up in Hixson and, like Fairbanks, had previously served as senior minister at Signal Crest UMC on Signal Mountain.

The First-Centenary minister comes from Munsey Memorial UMC in Johnson City, where he served for four years.

Other churches receiving new appointments in the conference’s Scenic City District (formerly the Chattanooga District) include: