Revs. Fred Durham, Clara Reed named to cabinet positions

Bishop Alfred L. Norris has announced changes in extended cabinet-level appointments for two clergy members of the North Texas Conference, effective Jan. 1, 2008.

The Rev. Fred L. Durham, Jr., has been appointed as director of connectional ministries for the North Texas Conference. He will succeed Mary Brooke Casad, recently named as executive secretary of the United Methodist Church’s Connectional Table, effective Nov. 1. Area Provost James Dorff will assume her duties in the interim.

The Rev. Clara Reed has been appointed superintendent of the Sherman-McKinney District, succeeding Rev. Durham. She is an associate pastor at St. Luke "Community" UMC in Dallas.

Rev. Durham, in his seventh year on the Sherman-McKinney District, had served 10 years as senior pastor at Tyler Street UMC in Dallas, Oak Cliff, when appointed to the superintendency. Rev. Durham’s previous appointments were to Ridgewood Park, Dallas; Dallas Northeast District, for five years; Key Memorial, Sherman; First UMC, Winnsboro; First UMC, Trenton/Gober/Randolph, and First UMC, Caddo Mills.

Rev. Durham is married to Teresa Jackson and they have three children, Frederick Leighton Durham, III, Rebekah "Becky" Durham Hart, and Rev. Durham Rev. Reed Kathleen "Kathy" Durham Lucini.

Rev. Durham was elected a clergy delegate to both General and Jurisdictional Conferences in 2000 and 2004 and a delegate to Jurisdictional Conference in 1996. He will also serve as first reserve delegate to Jurisdictional Conference in 2008.

Dr. Reed transferred to the NTC from the Northwest Texas Conference as a full member in 1999. She was the founding pastor of The All Nations UM Fellowship in Plano in 1999 and served there until 2006, when she was appointed to St. Luke "Community" UMC. In the Northwest Texas Conference she had served five years in a hospice care chaplaincy.

Like Rev. Durham, she was a delegate to the 2004 Jurisdictional Conference. She chairs the NTC Board of Ordained Ministry and has served as Adjunct Professor of Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology, SMU.

Dr. Reed, who began her Christian journey as a member of the Pentecostal church, is a frequent facilitator for Disciple Bible Study.

Dr. Reed resides in Plano with her husband, Charles. They are co-owners of the Schlotzsky's Deli franchise in Collin County. They have one daughter, Crystal, and one granddaughter, Camryn.