1st United Methodist Church

reaching and connecting

A TIME FOR

GIVING THANKS

November 12, 2023

5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

With four worship services during the week and a multitude of other activities at the church it's not often that EVERYONE at the church has time to CONNECT with each together.

Each November (usually the 2nd Sunday), the Churchwide Thanksgiving Dinner provides a time not only to give thanks for all God has done for us, but also a time for us to REACH folks we don't often see, CONNECT with new friends and of course eat lots of great food.

This year, we welcome Rev. Samuel Dzobo as our guest speaker. A native of Zimbabwe, Sam currently serves as a pastor in the Holston Conference and as the district associate for the Smoky Mountain and Tennessee Valley Districts. Read more about Sam in the section below.

Let us know you are coming by signing up before November 6th. You can scroll down to the form or click on the Sign Up button below.

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The church will provide the main course and beverages. Please bring a side dish or dessert

to share.

meet the speaker

REv. Samuel Dzobo

Our guest speaker for this year’s thanksgiving celebration is the Rev. Samuel Dzobo, pastor of Lennon-Seney United Methodist Church in Knoxville, and district associate for the Tennessee Valley and Smoky Mountain Districts.

Sam is a native of Dzobo Village, Zimbabwe, where he first experienced the love of God through the embrace of a United Methodist congregation meeting in the local school. Because of that church’s influence, he became a lay pastor and was eventually appointed to the Hilltop United Methodist Church in Mutare, the first United Methodist congregation established in Africa.

He is a graduate of the United Methodist Church’s Africa University, and has earned master’s and doctorate degrees from Duke Divinity School and Asbury Theological Seminary. For the past fifteen years, he has served as pastor of United Methodist congregations here in the Holston Conference.

Under his leadership, Mary’s Chapel UMC in Grainger County raised nearly $50,000 to build a 250-seat United Methodist church in his home village. Dzobo United Methodist Church has met in this new facility since 2022.

Sam recently helped lead a group of Holston Conference United Methodists who visited Zimbabwe and Liberia from late August through early September to see the effect of our annual hands-on mission project food buckets, school kits, and hygiene kits. While there, the Holston delegation helped lead Hilltop UMC’s vacation Bible school in which 2,800 children participated.

We are glad to welcome Rev. Samuel Dzobo, both as the associate superintendent of our Smoky Mountain District and as our guest speaker for our annual Thanksgiving celebration.

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