WesleyMen Welcome New Leaders

For Immediate Release. September 18, 2024

The World Fellowship of Methodist and Uniting Church Men (WesleyMen) is excited to announce that our governing board of directors has selected Rev. Edgar De Jesus as its third World President. Rev. De Jesus will serve as the chair of the WesleyMen organization and fill the post as an ex-officio member of the steering committee of the World Methodist Council. World President terms for WesleyMen last five years between World Methodist Conferences. (The board also welcomes new directors in no particular order) Very Rev. William Allotey-Pappoe, PhD (Methodist Church, Nigeria – from Ghana), D. Barnabas Emmanuel (Emmanuel Methodist Church Chennai – India), and Bro. Anthony Seale (Barbados – Methodist Church of the Caribbean and the Americas (MCAA). Please join the existing board of directors in welcoming them to our organization.

Rev. Edgar De Jesus is a clergy member of the North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church and currently serves as Pastor of Bethel UMC & Plank Chapel UMC of the Heritage District. He is married to Judy Nayre Gaid and has two children– Kristina Esther, who will serve as a Global Mission Fellow in Spain, and Kairos Elaine, a second-year BS Biology/Psychology student at UNC-Chapel Hill. Rev. De Jesus served as the World Methodist Council delegate from 2011-2023. He also served as President of the National Association of Filipino American United Methodists (NAFAUM) from 2018-2023, where he spearheaded the establishment of the Global Filipino United Methodist Movement– an initiative to empower and grow Filipino diaspora churches and migrant communities worldwide. Rev. De Jesus is the Vice-President of the New Federation of Asian American United Methodists (NFAAUM). The NFAAUM is one of the five officially recognized racial ethnic caucuses in The United Methodist Church comprising the Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Formosan, Hmong, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Karenni-Nepali, Middle Eastern, Pakistani, and Vietnamese.

WesleyMen is the common name for the World Fellowship of Methodist and Uniting Church Men, Inc., the Men’s affiliate organization of the World Methodist Council. WesleyMen was created as a global connecting point of men’s ministry for Wesleyan, Methodist, and Uniting denominations. Its mission is to lead men in Christian Fellowship with a foundation rooted in the actions and words of Jesus Christ.

Board Members Present at the World Methodist Conference 2024 in Gothenburg, Sweden. From L-R: D. Barnabas Emmanuel, Very Rev. William Atolley-Pappoe, Phd, Andy Morris, Rev. Edgar De Jesus, Rev. Steve Hickle