April 30 - General Conference

Today we worked on some legislation. Actually completed a number of petitions. Two significant items pertain to electing a bishop to give full leadership to the council of bishops rather than serve an area and term limits for bishops. The first proposal was defeated in a close vote. The other item relating to term limits was also defeated. We had a presentation from Higher Education that highlights our vast education ministry in the United Methodist Church. We came back from dinner and spent time in conversation with other members at our table. The evening concluded with worship. Tomorrow we continue our legislative work. Continue to pray that God move in our midst. steve

General Conference - April 28

We finished the legislative work in the Local Church. Now our recommendations will go to the whole body next week. There will be minority reports. There will be more debate. But in a week this will be finished once again. The word is that the Call to Action work is not progressing. It is questionable if the conference will make decisions to re-structure. It does appear the "guaranteed appointment" matter has support to eliminate. I've made some new friends. I'm finding some good people to work with. Most committees are still working. I'll check on some later. We do not met tomorrow so no update. Steve

General Conference 2012 - April 27

The majority of the day was spent working through legislation. Tedious at times. You can sense some trends. We don't seem too intent on making lots of changes for change sake. Most of the petitions we have are not being supported. Next week the whole body will vote. There may be minority reports. Our committee is supporting the pastors authority to make decisions about membership. After a slow start we made good progress. This evening our session consisted of an act of repentance toward healing relationships with indigenous people's. Keep tuned. Tomorrow we will finish our committee work and move toward a week of action. Steve

General Conference 2012 - April 26

Today we bagan our work in legislative committees. In the committee on the Local Church where I am serving we have about 72 petitions and 4 Resolutions to work through. We read them, discuss them, debate them, perfect them and adopt, refer, reject or don't consider. There are about 65 delegates in our committee. We come from all over the world. The delegates from Africa are full participants in the work of the conference. It is very good to watch them grow into this church process. We completed 23 petitions. Not a bad start. Later I'll pick out a few specifics to share with you. Actually we were in legislative committees through the day. We concluded our day with a session where many people were nominated for the Conference Secretary, The Judicial Council and The University Senate. (you can google those last two and find out what they do!) Following worship it was back to the room for some rest before we do it again tomorrow. steve

General Conference 2012 - April 25

Day 2 of General Conference featured great worship to begin our day. We heard the Episcopal Address by Bishop Weaver. This was followed by the laity and young people's address'. All pointed us toward a better future. We finally approved the committee on rules recommendations. (ended up the same as we started but chased rabbits for a day) In the afternoon we orgainized the legislative committees. I am on Local Church. We will begin our work in the morning. A time of holy conferencing led to the dinner break. In the evening we did some business and heard some reports. The highlight came when Rev. Adam Hamilton led a presentation on the call to action. Adam left us with a challenge but a very hopeful challenge. Evening worship and a message by Bishop King concluded our day. INVITE.

General Conference 21012 - April 24

The first session of General Conference offers amazing worship. Bishop Goodpaster preached and together we shared in Holy Communion. Having attended previous GC's it is good to see familiar faces. Our Missouri delegation is ready to go. In the evening session we got the first taste of "conference." There were 18 (I am pretty sure) amendments made to the report of the Rules Committee. Here we go! Steve

Reflections From Sunday Evening

This week The United Methodist Church's General Conference begins. This is a quadrennial meeting with delegates from around the world coming together to worship, debate and establish our discipline. This is a very interesting process. There are just under 1000 delegates and practicaly every possible viewpoint is represented. By the time the conference concludes on May 4 everyone will come home and get back to the task of ministry. There are a number of issues this year. As usual a series of social issues will be debated and voted on. There will be no clear concensus on the issues but eventually the majority will decide our official position for the next four years. Another area of interest comes under the heading of "call to action." A series of legislative issues will be worked through with the idea of re-structuring which is hoped to position the denomination to be more fruitful in our ministry. I plan to do a daily blog for GC and will try to keep everyone informed of the happenings. I urge you to be in prayer for our gathering. There is the potential for coming together with a shared vision. There is also the possibility of behaving in a manner that was referred to this morning in our mesage - as an "argumentative, disputatious group." In this setting as well as all our daily experiences of life, I seek the risen Lord Jesus to come and extend hands of grace. May the church unite to say "My Lord and My God." It's been a great day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve

Reflections From Sunday Evening

I truly appreciate these weekends after Easter. We have a great celebration on Easter. We rejoice in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We talk of the "empty tomb." But the "Post-Resurrection" stories serve the purpose of validating that which comes with the empty tomb.
In the Post-Resurrection stories we find our "evidence" that Jesus really rose from the dead. Our evidence centers on the testimony of eyewitnesses as their stories are shared in the scriptures. So we have the witness of the scriptures. Furthermore we have the longevity of the message. Above all we have those lives that have been changed through faith in the Risen Lord.
The Post-Resurrection stores give us confirmation that Jesus is risen. These are the stories of the first witnesses and their experience of seeing Jesus alive.
Today we looked at the Emmaus Road story. (Luke 24) Next week we will look at Thomas. (John 20.) Other Post-Resurrection stories find Jesus and the disciples having breakfast after a night of fishing. The Apostle Paul even shares teaching that centers on Jesus appearing to others following his resurrection.
It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too.
steve

Reflections from Sunday (Easter) Evening

Why live a pedestrian life when you may run a resurrection life? Today we had a great day of worship at church. What a joy!
In thinking of what living the Christian Way is like we talked of the preparation that goes into becoming a follower of Jesus. Preparation comes through the sermons heard, the lessons discussed, the conversations participated in and a host of other experiences that bring us to the place of becoming followers. The life requires that moment of "yes." The resurrection life is then lived in on-going relationship with Christ and leads to joyful celebration.
We likened the Christian life to a race. Runners train and prepare. There comes the moment when the starter gun sounds and the runner starts the race. The race is run with strategy and determination. On a good day the race concludes with joyful celebration.
If you want to see what that looks like google Michael Johnson's world record 400 meter run.
Easter is a great reminder that we are invited - called - to live a resurrection life. Don't settle for a pedestrian life, wandering through your days on your own or just giving lip service to God. Join the resurrection race. Live in relationship with Jesus Christ. Life is amazing when lived in step with the Spirit.
It's been a great day. I hope you've had a good day too.
steve

Reflections From Sunday Evening

The question today was "is our mission primarily to those God has already entrusted to our care or to reach a new generation?" (I heard this articulated by Dr. David Kerr in a board of ministry interview.)
The answer is YES. It is a both/and proposition. Unless we factor in the word "primarily." This means we have to give priority to one or the other. So where did we come down on the question?
We certainly have a very significant mission to those God has already entrusted to our care. This means we are meant to be accountable to one another for our growth in love and grace. This means we are meant to do all we can to help people become disciples of Jesus Christ. We develop discipleship for those already entrusted to our care.
Furthermore we are responsible for binding up the broken-hearted; healing the sick; visiting the lonely; feeding the hungry; caring for those in need; encouraging the downcast and an inexhaustable host of other areas of ministry among those already entrusted to our care.
There is so much to consider that many churches gets totally invovled with those already entrusted to our care.
That is a major reason so many churches lose sight of the next part of the question and do not take reaching a new generation seriously enough to devote resources, time and energy to this important outreach.
Is our mission primarily to reach a new generation?
If you were in church today you know that this is where I ask us to put our primary attention. As we read God's story in the Scriptres we find each generation responsibile for reaching the next generation. Ours is no exception.
It is a tremendous call and responsibility entrusted to us. While we provide excellent ministry to those God has already entrusted to our care we are meant to make the reaching of a new generaion our primary mission.
It is a big question. It is a big challenge. I invite you to consider your response and how we will respond to the challenge of making disciples of a new generation.
It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too.
steve
(Oh, and to our devoted basketball fans still filled with anxiety - rock chalk!)