Every year, Eastern Pennsylvania’s Laity Academy presents the Walter King Lay Leadership award to a layperson who has unselfishly given their time and talents to serve others through their local church, their District, the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, or the Laity Academy. This year’s recipient has led with that servant heart in every one of these arenas and more – including at the jurisdictional and General Conference levels. Her name is Candace Carter.
Carter’s service record is long and impressive and continues through to the present day. Yet humility is one of the defining characteristics of her leadership. Brenda Binns, Dean of the Laity Academy, says of Carter, “Her greatest gifts are presence and humility – her willingness to just ‘be there’ and let others take center stage. She is the ‘Barnabas’ to a host of ‘Pauls’ who are in ministry because of her recognition and confirmation of their calling.”
Carter’s active involvement in church life began in childhood when she served as an usher, sang in the choir, and eventually taught Sunday School. As an adult, she has served in nearly every aspect of local church life.
Ministry with older adults has been an area of special focus – from serving Communion to homebound members to formally launching an older adult ministry. That ministry, which Carter began in 1996 at St. Matthew UMC in Trevose, PA as “Circle of Love,” eventually became an ecumenical ministry under the name “Wings of Victory.” It provided numerous activities and programs for older adults including Bible study, youth mentoring, and praise dance. She has also taught Tools for Ministry workshops equipping others to design older adult ministries in their own contexts.
Beyond the local church, Carter, like Walter King after whom the award is named, has served in leadership roles at the district and annual conference levels in an incredible array of ministry areas. Whether it was teaching others about worship and lay leadership, serving on administrative committees, justice work, or evangelism, Carter has embodied the prophet Isaiah’s “Here am I; send me!” at every turn.
Carter’s willingness to be sent has extended even to the jurisdictional and General Conferences, where she served as a delegate four times and to ecumenical work as a delegate to the World Methodist Conference twice.
Over the course of her many years of service, Carter has shown dedication to continuing growth as a leader. She became a Christ Servant Minister in 1985 and since then has participated in over 300 hours of lay training. When, in 2014, Carter became a Certified Lay Minister, it may be no surprise that she was soon asked to serve as a local lay pastor.
About the call to be a pastor, Carter said, “I thought of the Gospel of Mark, ‘The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem’ and the words, ‘The Lord needs it….’ I thought about the colt and how our Lord would use such a lowly and untamed animal as he headed toward Jerusalem on his most momentous journey. This dramatic scene was fixed in my mind, which brought to memory the feeling of insignificance, and how our Lord would use me to serve in this way.”
Because the Lord needed it, Carter willingly served as a pastor at three churches – at Harriman UMC for six years, then as interim pastor for shorter appointments at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Philadelphia, Cornwells Heights UMC, and again at Harriman UMC. She retired from pastoral ministry in 2023, embracing once again her leadership role as a lay person.
As a pastor, Carter was especially effective in recruiting volunteers. Her method was to pray about it and receive a name from God. She then would go directly to that person, look them in the eye without blinking and state that she had been praying about this position and, “God gave me your name.” Who could say no?
Carter’s gift for calling others into service, equipping, and walking with them continues to this day. This year, she was appointed interim Christ Servant Ministry Director for the East District.
Given Carter’s impact on the lives of others, it is only fitting that on September 20th, she was presented with the Walter King Lay Leadership Award by Margie Krut, one of the very leaders she has mentored and who now serves as a Certified Lay Minister and Associate Dean and faculty of the Laity Academy. The award was presented at Carter’s home church, the Church of the Good Shepherd in Philadelphia. We give thanks for Carter and faithful servants like her who every day live out the call to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!