
Fig Tree Warming Center
People wait outside Cokesbury UMC before the warming center opens at 7 p.m. (Photo by Annette Spence)
Holston Annual Conference | January 11, 2025
Warming centers located in United Methodist churches throughout Holston Conference have been open for several days already in December and January. This weekend, staff and volunteers are hosting increasing numbers of people in need of housing or heat.
Here are updates on how United Methodists in Holston are responding to snow and frigid temperatures with cold-weather ministries. Contact The Call with information from your church. More to come.
MARION, Va. | Jan. 12 | 2 p.m.
Two churches in Marion, Grace United Methodist and Greenwood United Methodist, are working together to support a 24-hour warming shelter in their town, says the Rev. Barbara Doyle. At Christmas, the two congregations provided more than $1,000 in cleaning supplies for Antioch Greater Love Ministries. For the next three months, the two churches will join other area churches and individuals in cooking meals.

Greater Love
Twenty to 30 are sheltered on cold nights in Marion, VA. (Photo courtesy of Antioch Greater Love Ministries)
“We pray constantly for this ministry and those being cared for because of it,” Doyle says.
Antioch Greater Love Ministries is an Apostolic Pentecostal church. Twenty to 30 people are sheltered every night and about 100 meals are served each day, according to the Rev. Nolan Wolfe.
Doyle also reports that she and the pastors of the local Lutheran and Episcopal churches have joined to care for an unhoused couple. The three pastors help provide food, a tent, heat, phone minutes, clothing, and transportation.
“During the hurricane, they lost everything because their tent was set up by the river, and the water overtook them,” she said. “So we helped them start over. We are doing as the Lord requires.”
ATHENS, Tenn. | Jan. 12 | 10:30 a.m.
Keith Memorial United Methodist Church is one of several sponsoring congregations of the McMinn County Warming Center. About 15 men are staying there, says the Rev. Melissa Smith.
Volunteers at the warming center were recently horrified and saddened when one of their guests took off his shoes and discovered his feet were frostbitten. “This is the reality of what we are dealing with,” says Smith. The man was immediately taken to the hospital.
The numbers are down at the warming center because unhoused people are afraid to be out and about in Athens, the pastor says. In October 2024, the Athens City Council passed a ban on homeless encampments on public property within the city limits.
“It’s crazy. It’s basically illegal to be homeless in Athens right now,” Smith said.
In past years, the warming center was located at Keith Memorial but is now operated at 714 Walters Street. Keith Memorial provides financial, food and volunteer support. More help is always needed.
“Mary Jane Ballew is carrying the workload,” Smith said. “She is the coordinator of the warming center but also executive director of a ministry that works with the unhoused: Grace and Mercy Ministries. She’s been doing the warming center in her spare time. It’s been a great connection.”
Write checks to Keith Memorial UMC with "warming center" on the memo line. Mail to: Keith UMC, P.O. Box 1, Athens, TN 37371.
BRISTOL, Va. | Jan. 11 | 2 p.m.
Jeff Oliver is the van driver for Proverbs 3:27, a ministry at Hunt Memorial United Methodist Church. Oliver knows where people live in tents in the woods. He knows where they sleep on porches or when they get enough money to stay in a cheap hotel for a few days.
On Mondays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Oliver picks up people without daytime shelter and drives them to Proverbs 3:27. There, they can get breakfast, lunch and showers. They can get their laundry done. They can stay all day to rest and get warm, too.

Proverbs Ministry
Proverbs 3:27 offers hospitality to unhoused neighbors on Mondays and Fridays. (Photo courtesy of Caroline Hawthorne)
Proverbs 3:27 usually accommodates about 30 to 50 people per day, but on really cold days the number can rise to 80. “It's close quarters in there sometimes,” Oliver says. Proverbs 3:27 does not have the facility or resources to stay open all night. So when it’s time to close, Oliver drives his guests back to the Salvation Army, the woods, the porch, or wherever they want to go.
In recent days, Oliver has been driving people to Calvary Baptist Ministries, which opened an emergency warming center. “That denominational line -- when it comes to things like this – that line disappears,” he said.
Hunt Memorial United Methodist Church has about 15 in average worship attendance. The church is able to serve the community with the help of four other United Methodist churches comprising the Bristol HUB: Beech Grove, John Wesley, Reynolds Memorial, and Trinity. Abingdon United Methodist Church is also a partner church, as well as local congregations of other faith traditions.
“When you work together, it’s so much better,” says Oliver, who has been a member of Hunt Memorial his whole life.
Give online to support Proverbs 3:27.
GREENEVILLE, Tenn.| Jan. 11 | 11:45 a.m.
Rhonda Castro sent photos of neighbors (who gave permission to be photographed) staying overnight at Asbury United Methodist Church. Castro is director of CARE.
"We had 17 last night," she said. "I praise the Lord." (See related story, below.)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. | Jan. 10| 5:45 p.m.
The Rev. Tim Jackson sent this photo of Vestal United Methodist Church in the snow.
"I think John Wesley would be proud," he said.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. | Jan. 10 | 4:15 p.m.
When predictions of heavy snow made volunteers at Norwood United Methodist Church realize their monthly free drive-through lunch wouldn’t be possible on Jan. 11, they quickly reorganized.
On Jan. 9, the day before the winter storm was to arrive, Norwood volunteers had a “Before-the-Snow Food Giveaway.” Jane Currin, missions director at Concord United Methodist Church, offered to share packaged food left from the church’s holiday ministries.

Food giveaway
Norwood UMC hosts a "before-the-snow food giveaway." (Photo by Annette Spence)
In addition to Concord’s bread, milk and desserts, the food giveaway included Operation Inasmuch vegetable soup mixes prepared by Holston Conference youth at last summer’s Assembly. Members of nearby Mt. Hermon United Methodist Church also helped with the food giveaway.
On Jan. 10, members from Norwood and Central United Methodist Church gathered to prepare a meal for guests staying at Magnolia Avenue United Methodist Church’s warming shelter. They used the same ingredients and menu originally planned for the canceled Jan. 11 free drive-through lunch: Tuna noodle casserole and green beans with bacon. Cookies and mandarin oranges were donated by Holston Conference staff.
"I think warming shelters are a very important ministry. I have felt a need to help out for a long time," said Spence Meyers, who led Norwood's cooking and serving team. "A good, hot meal is an integral part of helping people get through a hard time."
KINGSPORT, Tenn. | Jan. 10 | 2 p.m.
About 90% of the 100 or so people who participate in a new dinner church called “The Table of Kingsport” are housed. Yet about 15% live in housing that is not “properly heated,” says the Rev. Melissa Malcolm.
She describes a 70-year-old man who lives in a house with a hole in the door and only one radiator that can’t stand up to freezing temperatures. “There are slumlords in these neighborhoods who won’t fix broken heaters or windows,” Malcolm said.

Chicken pot pie
Every day, hot food shows up at The Table of Kingsport's warming center. (Photo by Melissa Malcolm)
That’s why The Table of Kingsport is temporarily opening as a daytime warming center from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. This week, about 12 people have been taking advantage of a warm space and hot meal. Today, Malcolm watched as 10 kids on bikes suddenly showed up to join the dozen people inside. “The word has gotten out,” she said.
Malcolm is pastor of St. Matthew United Methodist Church and Emory United Methodist Church. The Table of Kingsport kicked off in July 2024 as a dinner church on Monday nights, housed in the former Community United Methodist Church. Within four weeks the new ministry had reached its fellowship hall capacity of 77.
Every day, hot food shows up from community members to feed the daytime guests. Of the 40 regular volunteers that keep the growing ministry going, about 10 are from St. Matthew, the founding church. Grange Hall United Methodist Church is also a big supporter.
Malcolm is not yet sure how long the daytime warming center will go on or what’s to come. “We’re building this airplane as we fly it.” What she does know is the building cannot accommodate overnight guests because it has no sprinkler system or beds. "Our mission is sitting around the table."
The Table of Kingsport’s most immediate needs are cooking teams and cash donations. Use Venmo @TheTableKPT or send checks to: The Table, 510 Gibson Mill Road, Kingsport, TN 37660.
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. | Jan. 10 | 10 a.m.
Thirteen people slept in Asbury United Methodist Church last night. Rhonda Castro expects the number to go higher tonight.
Castro is director of CARE, a Greeneville organization partnering with Asbury to get unhoused people in from the cold at night. CARE stands for “community in action reaches everyone,” she said.
“They have been so good to us,” Castro said, referring to Asbury church. “They treat our people with respect, and they love on them just like we do.”
CARE operates a day center offering laundry, showers, and three meals a day for about 25-50 people. The CARE Center on Andrew Johnson Highway isn’t zoned for sleeping, so people desiring a warm bed on nights when the temperature drops below 33 are transported to Asbury.
Asbury offers accommodations from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., but today guests can arrive at the church as early as 4:30 p.m. due to the snow. On Sunday morning, church members have invited their guests to stay and join them for an 8 a.m. breakfast, says the Rev. Sharon Bowers. "Also, members of Asbury volunteer to spend the night to help the Care Center staff in any way they need it," she said.
Last year, Asbury's warming center hosted as many as 32 people, so Castro is prepared for the guest count to double.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. | Jan. 9 | 7 p.m.
The warming center at Cokesbury United Methodist Church has abundant resources to accommodate the 25 to 35 people staying overnight, thanks to their partner churches and donors.
“A big thank you to all the people who have showed up. We’re in really good shape,” said Katie McIlwain, Cokesbury Connection Center director.
United Methodist churches in west Knoxville are working together to take care of persons without housing or heat as a winter storm approaches, according to the Rev. Andrew Lay, Cokesbury pastor of discipleship.
“Cokesbury is providing the site, some resources and supplies, and volunteers,” Lay said. “Concord UMC is helping provide volunteers. Ebenezer is providing dinner bags for the guests. Valley Church UMC in Hardin Valley is providing to-go snack bags for guests as they leave. And First Farragut UMC is providing all the breakfast items for the guests. It is very much a collaborative effort.”
For more information, visit Cokesbury’s website.

Warming sign
Fountain City UMC's warming centeris in its first year. (Photo by Annette Spence)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. | Jan. 9 | 12:10 p.m.
This is the first winter that Fountain City United Methodist Church has offered a warming center. "But it feels like we've already been open 100 nights," said Gail Clift, co-chair of the church's unhoused ministries committee.
Volunteers were surprised before Christmas when the temperature dropped dramatically and Knoxville warming centers had to open for seven nights in December. As of today, the Fountain City shelter has been open for nine nights already in January. Although guests have been required to leave at 7 a.m., this weekend Clift expects to host them throughout the day during a winter storm.
Fountain City's capacity has been set by the city at 15 maximum guests, but last night, 17 stayed overnight. "We've told everybody we're not leaving anybody out in the cold," Clift said.
Fountain City's website provides info about how people can help. Currently, Clift says priorities are breakfast foods and men's sweatpants.

Sheltering
In east Knoxville, Magnolia Avenue UMC is sheltering 30 to 40 people. (Photo by Tim Jackson)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. | Jan. 9 | 11 a.m.
The Rev. Tim Jackson is calling out for volunteers to help his two churches keep the hospitality, love and care going on the bitterly cold days and nights ahead.
“We’ve been open since last Thursday, and it looks like we’ll be open ‘til next Friday,” said Jackson, pastor of Magnolia Avenue United Methodist Church and Vestal United Methodist Church.
Magnolia Avenue (east Knoxville) and Vestal (south Knoxville) are two of the four warming centers offered in United Methodist churches in the city, open when the temperature drops below 25 degrees. The others are Cokesbury United Methodist Church (west Knoxville) and Fountain City United Methodist Church (north Knoxville).
Vestal is hosting about 25 each night. Magnolia Avenue has been hosting about 30 persons without shelter or heat, Jackson said, but is permitted to accommodate about 40 as the dangerous weather continues.
Jackson asks persons who can volunteer to please text Kecia Armstrong at 865.228.0990 or use this sign-up list.
“Our need for day volunteers and overnight volunteers at Vestal is real and pressing,” Jackson said.
Annette Spence is editor of The Call, the Holston Conference source of news and stories.