For the second year in a row, we had a beautiful day of golf at the Smyrna Golf Course. We feel like we have found our home! 40 golfers participated in our scramble tournament and enjoyed the putting contest, the longest drive and closest to the pin challenges. We ended the day with lunch grilled on site!
Once again team B & B Trophy finished the day in first place! Congratulations to Bobby George, Alan George, Ron Castillo and Curt Tilton
Our Valentines Day Pancake breakfast was a great success! We provided heart shaped pancakes for everyone! The Breakfast was won by St. Mark’s UMC - the recurring champions!
Our Auction went well and we invited people upstairs to see our newly completed office spaces.
Each year, our student council is selected by affirmation from our students. We are student led - an these students are already at work. We spent last week in retreat to plan our semester. We are looking forward to a great 2026!
Our group worked in Johnson City, Tennessee during spring break. We received projects from Appalachia Service Project, working with Hurricane Helen relief. We appreciate Johnson City UMC for allowing us to use their building during our stay and for their wonderful hospitality. We also enjoyed visiting the Wesley Foundation at ETSU.
When we returned, our trip was featured in the TWK Conference Newsletter. Below is the article, written by our mission coordinator Delaney Reynolds that ran in that newsletter.
by Delaney Reynolds
In Him all things are made new!
During spring break the MTSU Wesley Foundation spent a week in Johnson City working in relief for Hurricane Helene, one of our groups had the privilege of working on a wheelchair ramp for a man who had been severely impacted by the storm.
As we worked, he shared stories of his home and his life, the devastation that he experienced, and the hope for his next steps. Our conversations seemed to cover every topic possible, from bands to ham sandwiches and everything in between, however, our conversations always seemed to find their way to his garden. Before the devastation, the garden had been abundant in size, produce, and beauty, now it was reduced to a single flower breaking through the dirt.
Our communities in North Carolina and East Tennessee have experienced devastation and loss to a degree that most of us will never be able to imagine. But amid the devastation, hope has a way of taking root in the most unexpected places. The road to recovery is long. The storm may have passed, but the need for restoration remains. While it is easy to move on from the headlines in the comfort of our homes, those living in the aftermath cannot escape the reality of devastation.
Our response to these communities is not just a responsibility—it is a calling. To step in, to serve, to rebuild, and to bring hope is to be the hands and feet of Christ. As we continue our effort in hurricane relief, we see not just physical transformation but the renewal and resilience of a community. Every trip, every prayer, every gift is a seed planted in the hope of a greater garden and the reminder that hope is never truly lost—it simply waits for the chance to bloom again.
We celebrate a successful golf tournament in April at the Smyrna Golf Course. Our winning team is Bobby George, Brian Woods, Alan George and Curt Tilton. We loved their matching shirts too!
Over Christmas Break - some of our recent grads gathered at Wesley for a “Reunion”. Graduates over the last 10 years shared stories and dirty Santa and food (Of Course), some meeting each other for the first time. We hope to make this a more common occurrence in the future!
The new semester is off to a wonderful start with our week of welcome activities in full swing! Through a cookout, tailgate, scavenger hunt, and many more events, we’ve been able to connect with over 100 new students so far! We have two more weeks of fun events leading us into Homecoming, so here’s to more fellowship, new friends, and an impactful semester!
Our new council is already at work planning for the semester and even further into the year! We are excited for
Alec Creasy - President
Kae Sigler - Outreach Coordinator
Liv Murray - Fellowship Coordinator
Clay McDonald and Riley Williamson - Worship Coordinators
Zoe Kraus - Discipleship Coordinator
Delaney Reynolds - Missions Coordinator
We had a great fall! Our weeks of welcome saw more students than ever. We got caught up with football and the new MTSU coach. We welcomed Will Monaghan as a new ministry resident as we saw Mollie June go to UT Martin and Andi head to seminary.
We had a wonderful time at beach retreat and so many other fun things throughout the semester. We ended with a Petting Zoo, Live Nativity. We had people from almost every UMC church in our area come visit and pet the exotic animals.
On August 10, 2024, we held our first Pickleball Tournament. We had a “Just for the fun of it” division and a “We’re a little more serious” division. With a total of 14 teams, we had a great time!
We want to thank Meg Van Patten for being our tournament sponsor!
And Congratulations to (Alumni) James Touchton and Jake Bolling who earned First Place in the “We’re a little more serious” division.
Students from MTSU Wesley, staff and guests from FUMC left for Guatemala on Sunday, May 5th. They will spend time installing stoves and EcoFiltros in local homes, painting in a school and leading VBS for several different groups.
Part of the group will return after one week and part of the group will be staying for a second week, after a trip to Lake Attilan for rest.
2024 Guatemala Team
Our new council recently had their first retreat together to plan for the coming semester. We are excited for 2024 with this new group of leaders!
Alec Creasy - Discipleship Coordinator
Delaney Reynolds - Missions Coordinator
Lacy Stroh - President
Mad Gardner - Outreach Coordinator
Gibby Beville - Fellowship Coordinator
Bradley Schwartz - Worship Coordinator
We had beautiful weather for our spring Golf Tournament! We appreciate all who played and our board, students and volunteers who helped make it happen! Congratulations to our winning team of Bobby George, Curt Tilton, Alan George and Steve Dix!
With a weekend full of activities, Wesley celebrated the ministry it has had for and with students for three quarters of a century. We had a great time playing games, eating (of course), enjoying a coffee house with acts from every recently former director and then closing out the weekend with worship on Sunday morning.
We have pictures to share and good memories. We also had accumulated a good bit of history. We are trying to get it as complete as possible, so if you would like to read it over and make suggestions you can do that here
Our new leadership team was affirmed at a recent worship service and has begun the process of planning for the year. They recently attended a council conference to learn more about each other, create a covenant which will guide the ministry for the coming year and scheduled events on our calendar. We are excited for the new year!
Student Ministry Residents are post-graduate students who commit to working with Wesley while also discerning their own call to ministry. This year, we have two!
Mollie June Miller comes to us from Long Valley, NJ by way of Johnson City, TN. We first met Mollie June while Wesley was working with ASP for Spring Break, where Mollie June was on staff. She says that she has loved getting to meet the students exactly where they are and remind them to take heart in the Lords promises.
Jonathan Stallings started at MTSU in the Fall of 2017 as a Music Theory and Composition Major. He found Wesley through his previous connections at the United Methodist Church, and became one of the Worship Coordinators in Spring of 2018. He continued to serve on the Wesley Student Council as Worship Coordinator for 5 more semesters, Outreach Coordinator for 1 semester, and Student President in 2021. He studied Audio Production with a minor in music for 2 years, and graduated in Fall 2021 with a B.S. in Integrated Studies with a minor in music. After graduating, Jonathan moved to Nashville to pursue a career in film music. He now serves as a Ministry Resident at the Wesley Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Adult Ministry Director at Fellowship UMC, and Media Specialist at St. Mark's UMC.
As we enter into a new year and head towards a new semester, we’d like to introduce our newest staff member, Baker Bachman! Baker is a Wesley alumnus and served as our Student Council President until his graduation in the Fall of 2018. He will be serving as our Director of Connection and Care. Baker, we are so excited for you to be here with us!
Between October 8th-12th, our students and students from Wesley of UT Southern traveled down to Panama City Beach for a weekend of relaxation, fellowship, and good food! We were so blessed to have been fed by two ministry partners of ours, Chandra Buckhout and the wonderful folks at First Methodist of Panama City.
After missing out on our annual beach retreat last year, it was so wonderful to offer students relaxing time at the beach, bask in God’s creation, and form new friendships!
Our beloved Associate Director and Campus Minister, Michelle Ozier Wallace, has been called to serve as the Director of the new Wesley Foundation at UT Southern in Pulaski, Tennessee. We are so thrilled and excited for her and the amazing service she will bring to Pulaski, but we will miss her so much here at MT!
We love you, Michelle, and we thank you for who you are and what you’ve done for our community! ❤️
Music: bensound.com
SHOW LESS
Wesley of Middle Tennessee took to the Murfreesboro Greenway on Thursday with gloves, masks and trash bags in hand to show some love to God’s creation.
The Middle Tennessee State University based campus ministry said their missional theme for September was “Caring for Creation”. As part of this missional effort, the group decided to walk a portion of the greenway and pick up as much trash as they could find. Camryn Shepard, one of the Missions Coordinators, explained, “God created us to be in his creation, and if we’re not taking care of it — in a way, we’re not really taking care of ourselves.”
The local mission was founded on Psalms 96:11-13, which poetically describes the whole of nature rejoicing before the Lord. While they wanted to honor the students’ time and the opportunity to pick up trash, Kaylee Skipper, also a Missions Coordinator, spoke to all the students gathered before they began, “We are called to love all of creation. To do that is to pick up trash but also to just be present with the trees and be grateful. This is a form of sabbath. It’s rejuvenating to be around nature, and I hope we can offer that to you guys for a little bit.”
Starting at the Old Fort Park trailhead, two groups of students – 15 in total – were sent in opposite directions on the trail covering a distance of over two miles. Soon after, a third group of students arrived hoping to help and were sent out as well. One group finished their trash pick-up at the Redoubt Brannan Trailhead, while the other two groups met up and finished at Cannonsburgh Village Trailhead together.
After only an hour of walking, the students had covered well over two miles and filled four 30-gallon trash bags with items found along their routes.
The students were rewarded with popsicles at the end, but many students say that was not why they came to the event. Daniel Phebus, a sophomore at MTSU, said, “I’ve picked up trash on trails and park paths many times and I continue to do it because giving back to the community, being in community, and faithfully stewarding the gifts we have received are what we, or at least I, really have in life.”
This group of MTSU students has made it abundantly clear that they not only have a heart for each other and for Christ but for creation care, as well.
Written by: Megan Young
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