Randy Innes, District Superintendent
A native of Springfield, Missouri, and a graduate of 
Shawnee Mission West High School, Overland Park, Kansas, Randy received a BS degree in Business Administration from Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, OK (1976), and Master of Divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, NC (1985). He and Emily have been married 31+ years.
Prior to ordained ministry, Randy spent 5 years working in international evangelism and missions with the contemporary Christian music group—Living Sound—as both a musician and administrator. Based in England, a primary focus of their ministry was Eastern Europe, including the former Soviet Union, Romania, and Poland, where the group used music as a vehicle to gain entry into these formerly staunchly Communist countries. In this work, he traveled extensively to over 35 countries.
Randy was ordained an Elder in 1990 and has served as pastor of Pine Valley (Wilmington), Millbrook (Raleigh), Swansboro, First: Elon, Swepsonville, and First: Rockingham. Work with Conference boards and agencies has included the Board of Ordained Ministry, the Connectional Table, Christian Unity & Interreligious Concerns, and Religion and Race. Randy currently serves on the Conference Board of Pensions, the Hispanic-Latino Ministries Committee, the Thriving Rural Church Initiative of Duke Divinity School, and the Board of Trustees of NC Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount. He has been a participant on the House of Delegates of the NC Council of Churches, and in the Episcopal/United Methodist dialogue on unity.
Emily is a native of Wilson, NC, a graduate of Hunt High School, and holds degrees in Acting & Directing and Psychology from the NC School of the Arts (Winston-Salem, NC) and UNC-G (Greensboro, NC) respectively.
Committed to the ministry of the laity, Emily served eight years as Conference Lay Leader, a member of Ministry Cabinet of the bishop, and chair of the Conference Connectional Table. Committed to the mission of the church, she has eight years served as VP of the Women’s Division (UMW) and member of the Executive Committee the UM General Board of Global Ministries. She has served as President of the SEJ Conference Lay Leaders, and Vice-Chair of the SEJ Episcopacy Committee. She has been elected a Delegate to five General and Jurisdictional Conferences (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016), and in 2012 headed the NC delegation. From 2012-2016 Emily served as a member of the Connectional Table of the UMC.
In their spare time, Emily and Randy enjoy travel, the beauty of NC mountains and beaches, music, reading, and time spent with family and friends.
Jin Lee, Assistant to the DS
Jin was born in Seoul, Korea and immigrated to New York City with her family at age 12. Being raised in the “Melting Pot”, Jin experienced people of various cultures and languages, where she learned to embrace and thrive in the beauty of diversity.
She graduated from Pace University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and with her husband, John, operated a business in New York City for 25 years. She and her family served in Korean United Methodist Churches in New York and New Jersey until moving to North Carolina in 2007. Since then, she served actively at Agape Korean UMC in multiple leadership capacities including youth ministry, college/young adults ministry, chair of Education Ministry, Lay Member of the Annual Conference, UMW Korean Language Coordinator, and sermon translator.
She served as District Lay Leader in the Capital District for 3 years and is presently serving on the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, Multi-Cultural Ministry, Asian Ministry, Committee on Monitoring & Accountability, and United Methodist Women Conference leadership team. Special interests for her include C4C Ministry, Gender and Racial Justice and Racial/Ethnic representation in the North Carolina Conference.
Jin and John have been married 27+ years and have 3 young adult children: Alison, Justin and Brandon. She enjoys paper crafts, watching HGTV, and spending time with family and friends.
Tom Walden, Lay Leader
Tom is a member of Wake Forest UMC, where he serves on the Board of Trustees. He retired from a pharmaceutical company after thirty-five years in various positions. He is also a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves.
Tom has spent a number of years as a member of the Board of Trustees of Methodist University, is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the United Methodist Men’s Center in Goldsboro. and has been a delegate to Jurisdictional Conference several times. He is a Lay Speaker, actively involved as a speaker in churches across the Conference, and has served as Conference Director of Lay Speaking. He has also volunteered his time helping build additions to churches with the conference construction coordinator. In the local church, he has served in many positions of leadership. He is married and has three sons, one daughter, six grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.