Sage District hires new Twin Falls-based administrative assistant

Etha Carruthers might be new in her position as the Oregon-Idaho Conference Sage District Administrative Assistant, but her name will likely not be new to those living in, and serving, churches in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon as she has been heavily involved in the local United Methodist Church scene for years.

A lifelong United Methodist with origins in the legacy Yellowstone Conference (Montana) of the UMC, Carruthers has called Twin Falls, Idaho, home for 30 years and for the last decade was the church administrator at Twin Falls UMC, serving as the church treasurer prior to that. Additionally, she has worked as the part-time administrator for the Magic Valley Ministries of the UMC. She started in her new position on July 1.

“Administration is what I do well, and I like to connect people to resources,” Carruthers said.

This will be the first time in many years the Sage District administrative assistant works and lives in the area served by the Sage District. Carruthers already knows several of the churches in southern Idaho but is looking forward to connecting more deeply with the churches in the eastern Oregon portion of the district.

In addition to her work three-quarter time work as the Sage District administrative assistant, she will continue her one-quarter time role serving as the administrator for the Magic Valley Ministries – a cooperative of five UMC churches in Filer, Buhl, Hagerman, Jerome and Wendell, Idaho.

Carruthers said she was excited when the Sage District position came open because she would have the opportunity to use her gifts and strengths and knowledge of the UMC in deeper ways. She’s previously been a member of the Conference’s Council on Finance and Administration, as well as the Commission on Equitable Compensation. She and her husband attend Wendell UMC and she has been a lay delegate to Annual Conference before.

“She has a wide variety of local church volunteer and staff position experience, so she enters this role familiar with our denomination, the culture of the Sage District, and is gifted with the technological savviness to empower others to overcome technical obstacles,” said Sage District Superintendent, Rev. Karen Hernandez. “Etha has long been a gift to UMCs in the Magic Valley of Idaho, and now her gifts are blessing us across the district and beyond.”

Carruthers is familiar with databases needed to keep records of church information and is also familiar with the acronyms that make up the work of the UMC. Though she laughed that she had to look up what “BAC” meant the other day when meeting with other district administrative assistants (business of the annual conference, fyi).

She is no stranger to the challenges the United Methodist denomination faces with an upcoming General Conference and rift within the denomination. She knows the structure of the church might change, but she’s ready to roll up her sleeves.

“We’re full of possibilities,” she said.