The Rev. Jo Ann Batteiger, current Assistant Director for the Office of Missional & Community Engagement, will leave her position effective July 1, 2025, to become the Regional Director of Cross Connection in Virginia.
Cross Connection, established in 1988 at First United Methodist Church in Lincolnton, NC, serves 14 counties across North Carolina as well as serving Kansas City and Honduras. Many Virginia UMCs have taken part in their Access and Awareness Programs; a ministry that grounds the work of mission and justice in the context of relationships for students in 6th-12th grades.
The Virginia Conference recently shared a partnership with Cross Connection (formerly Carolina Cross Connection) as they expand their ministry with the development of three Access Experience weeks and three Awareness Experience weeks into Richmond, VA in Summer 2026. Learn more in this February 2025 article.
In this position, Batteiger will oversee the planning, execution, and growth of Cross Connection’s Access Experiences and Awareness Experiences in the Virginia region. This role will include program development, staff and volunteer leadership, growing church and community partnerships, and fundraising support to ensure impactful programming.
“I am really excited to be joining the Cross Connection team,” Batteiger said. “I am looking forward to continuing to live more fully into my deep love and call for church and community as this vision is brought to life in this new role. I am so grateful for my time serving in the Missional and Community Engagement Office alongside Amanda and our conference office team, and am looking forward to taking what I’ve learned forward into this new adventure.”
“Jo Ann’s passion for justice, equity and belonging has been a tremendous gift to the whole VAUMC, and we celebrate the next step in her vocational journey,” Rev. Amanda Miller Garber, conference Missional & Community Engagement Director said. “I have every confidence her leadership with Cross Connection and her ongoing partnership with the VAUMC will continue to transform lives and communities.”
Please join the conference team in sharing thanks to Jo Ann for her presence and gifts in her time with us and as she continues in ministry alongside the VAUMC in her new position.