I will do a wrap up shortly, but first I want to openly express and opinion.
There was a great deal of talk about Christian Conferencing at General Conference. I noticed that there was a different tone and civility (some of it didn't seem to be very deeply felt.) From my perspective, there is a different source than has been lifted up by the leadership and headlines. If you look at the situation in Ft. Worth, there are many sources of potential irritation.
1. As we began to plan in 2005, there was to be a new Omni Hotel across the street from the convention center. Word came that those rooms would not be available until 2009. This meant that there would be less convenience to the delegates and guests. Shortly after that, The Hilton chain bought the other major hotel close to the convention center and closed one tower and made offices of it. That was a loss of another 250 rooms. The Sheraton was to have a major remodel done prior to the conference. Did not happen. The loss of another large block of rooms. Rather than having time to plan which hotel to use the delegations and guests now had to be told that rooms would be miles (in some cases 16miles) away. They would have to ride buses to and from the convention center. In some cases the ride was 30 minutes or so. That might not have been so bad in the morning, but at midnight after a grueling day, it could be brutal.
2. Upon arrival, the convention center had a problem regulating the temperature in the meeting rooms and the arena. The arena was similar to a meat locker. Cokesbury was probably the only one that profited from this because they had jackets for sale. Some of the meeting rooms were like saunas. For the first two days, this was a problem.
3. Everything in the center was a cash only basis. The commercial about the smooth flow of business brought about by the use of plastic cards was in evidence as there were lines caused by the need to make change and for those not prepared for this method of barter, it was very inconvenient. The parking was $7 per day cash with no in and out privileges.
4. There were no repeaters in the building for enhancing cell phone usage. The service was spotty and at times, garbled.
There were enough things that were in place to cause all people involved to be irritated(at the very least), Why weren't they? I believe that it was the presence of almost 2000 volunteers in red and blue vests that were making the people feel welcome as they were doing "Whatever it takes" to see to their needs. I watched for 10 days as the volunteers greeted, guided, provided and offered Incredible hospitality. Some were there for a day or part of a day, but until the waning hours of the conference, they were there. Some were there like the Everready Bunny. From the opening of the convention center to the last hour, they were there. Providing emergency care-medical and dental, providing rides, making calls about the luggage requirements on international flights and a myriad of other servant roles that were too numerous to list. One veteran General Conference attendee (she has been a delegate and staff for 20 years) said that she never came into the center without at least 7 people greeting and offering help or cookies before she could get to her meeting room. Allen Goss and Thomas Childs lead this army of people, and are to be commended because of the people that they chose to serve. These 2,000 people modeling the servant ministry are in my opinion that this General Conference 2008 was able to accomplish the Christian Conferencing.
We, as the Commission on the General Conference, intentionally planned for the spirit of Christian Conferencing. The Council of Bishops and the staff of General Conference were intentional in their efforts, but ultimately, in my opinion these 2,000 servants modeled the Extravagent Hospitality that set the tone of General Conference 2008. God was in their hands and feet(and smiles) each day.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Is It Heat or Light?
Wednesday was set aside for dealing with those issues that produce more heat than light. It seems that the issues surrounding homosexuality surface each quadrenium and 2008 is no exception. There were three separate groups of petitions that dealt with areas of this controversial issue.
The current language in The Discipline states that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian Teaching. There were a group of petitions that around that question. The legislative committee brought a recommendation to the plenary that would have changed the wording to one that indicated that there was not agreement on the matter within the church. The gist of the new wording would have stated that over time the question was not clear and the church would agree to disagree. In a long drawn out debate and parliamentary process, amendments, minority reports from the committee were and emotional and passionate speeches, the result was, in effect, leaving the wording intact in The Discipline. The vote in years past has been about 65%-35% to leave the wording intact. This time it was about 55%-45%.
A group of petitions asked that the church’s definition of marriage be changed to include same-sex unions. After much debate and effort, these were rejected 574-298. This was an emotional debate as well.
The Conference approved a resolution opposing homophobia and discrimination against lesbians and gays. This was approved 544-365. There was a spirit of concern for those that experience discrimination for any reason in society.
In the debates and discussions, there was and is a spirit of openness and acceptance. This is probably due to the emphasis on Christian Conferencing that has been encouraged since the process of preparing for General Conference began. Those presiding have insisted on the use of non-inflamatory words and attitudes. The legislative committees modeled the proper behavior and respect for others regardless of the wide divergence of ideas and opinions.
Opinion
In discussions with delegates and others, there is the feeling that most folk came here with the opinions expressed in the votes and that very little shift resulted from the debate. In other words, the votes would have been much the same if they had been taken at the opening of the conference. Maybe we should try that in an effort to move the process ahead. It is important for all to be heard; so, maybe that isn’t such a good idea.
On Thursday morning, that was an orchestrated “witness” allowed on the floor of the Plenary Hall by those who felt pain from the Wednesday Votes. In comparison to the protests on past General conferences, it was more subdued and respectful of the body. Contrasted to Cleveland in 2000, there were no arrests and no angry confrontations. The group was allowed to have spokes persons who expressed their anger and pain. There was integrity within the agreement between the leadership of General Conference and the demonstrators that was not evident in the past.
This is Thursday night as we begin the evening session. The delegates still have about 100 calendar items to deal with. The adjournment time on the preconference agenda is 3PM Friday. My experience tells me this isn’t going to happen. I will try to get another blog on Friday Morning to give you an idea of how things are looking.
The current language in The Discipline states that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian Teaching. There were a group of petitions that around that question. The legislative committee brought a recommendation to the plenary that would have changed the wording to one that indicated that there was not agreement on the matter within the church. The gist of the new wording would have stated that over time the question was not clear and the church would agree to disagree. In a long drawn out debate and parliamentary process, amendments, minority reports from the committee were and emotional and passionate speeches, the result was, in effect, leaving the wording intact in The Discipline. The vote in years past has been about 65%-35% to leave the wording intact. This time it was about 55%-45%.
A group of petitions asked that the church’s definition of marriage be changed to include same-sex unions. After much debate and effort, these were rejected 574-298. This was an emotional debate as well.
The Conference approved a resolution opposing homophobia and discrimination against lesbians and gays. This was approved 544-365. There was a spirit of concern for those that experience discrimination for any reason in society.
In the debates and discussions, there was and is a spirit of openness and acceptance. This is probably due to the emphasis on Christian Conferencing that has been encouraged since the process of preparing for General Conference began. Those presiding have insisted on the use of non-inflamatory words and attitudes. The legislative committees modeled the proper behavior and respect for others regardless of the wide divergence of ideas and opinions.
Opinion
In discussions with delegates and others, there is the feeling that most folk came here with the opinions expressed in the votes and that very little shift resulted from the debate. In other words, the votes would have been much the same if they had been taken at the opening of the conference. Maybe we should try that in an effort to move the process ahead. It is important for all to be heard; so, maybe that isn’t such a good idea.
On Thursday morning, that was an orchestrated “witness” allowed on the floor of the Plenary Hall by those who felt pain from the Wednesday Votes. In comparison to the protests on past General conferences, it was more subdued and respectful of the body. Contrasted to Cleveland in 2000, there were no arrests and no angry confrontations. The group was allowed to have spokes persons who expressed their anger and pain. There was integrity within the agreement between the leadership of General Conference and the demonstrators that was not evident in the past.
This is Thursday night as we begin the evening session. The delegates still have about 100 calendar items to deal with. The adjournment time on the preconference agenda is 3PM Friday. My experience tells me this isn’t going to happen. I will try to get another blog on Friday Morning to give you an idea of how things are looking.
Wednesday on into Thursday
Wednesday was a day of celebrations.
Africa University has been in existence for 16 years and has already graduated 2500 students. These are graduates that remain in Africa to improve their culture. Prior to the founding of Africa University, the pattern was for the student to go to Europe or the US for their education and not return home. There was the loss of the educational factor and the lack of trained persons to fill the professional levels in that society. Now, the teachers, pastors, and others are there to help train others. According to the material about Africa University, there are 1,395 students representing 21 African countries. The university has colleges in education, management and administration, agriculture and natural resources, theology, health sciences and the Institute of Peace, Leadership and Governance. Visit the website at www.support-africauniversity.org and find out more.
In 1908, the Methodist Men’s organization had its beginnings. Over these 100 years the ministry has grown and changed as the world has changed. Actually, the celebration revealed that John Wesley first formed the Brotherhood in 1752, but no much is known about its history. Since 1908, the organization has ebbed and flowed as it responded to the needs of men to be in ministry. The 1968 Discipline had a “watered down” version of the organization/ministry. From 1976 to 1996, UMM was housed in the General Board of Discipleship. The 1996 General Conference voted to create the Commission on United Methodist Men in 1997. In its lifetime UMM has fostered ministries that are aids in the growth of men in ministry. They have fostered the Boy Scouts, the Heifer project and any of a number of mission projects. They report that they continue to develop unique ministries that will carry on that tradition. Complete information about United Methodist Men can be found on www.gcumm.org.
All petitions that have financial implications have been dealt with the plenary on Tuesday night finished them up and sent them on to the General Council on Finance and Administration & Connectional Table for coordination. Coordination is a euphemism for weaving them into the proposed budget for the 2009-2012 quadrennial. There was an approximate amount added beyond the planned budget of about $14 million. When that is added to the $655million budget, some will probably be rolled into the budget of the agencies and some will be placed in special categories that will be part of the Advance. That should be listed in the Daily Christian Advocate (the daily journal/minutes) on Thursday. I will try to give you those figures tomorrow night.
A number of matters of importance were cleared off the calendar, today, but it is now past midnight and I will probably get those to you, tomorrow. (Thursday) Maybe I should say later today.
Your delegation is faithfully serving in the midst of the agony of the chair. Mike Mckee was on the stage and monitors filing a part of the Church and Society report.
Africa University has been in existence for 16 years and has already graduated 2500 students. These are graduates that remain in Africa to improve their culture. Prior to the founding of Africa University, the pattern was for the student to go to Europe or the US for their education and not return home. There was the loss of the educational factor and the lack of trained persons to fill the professional levels in that society. Now, the teachers, pastors, and others are there to help train others. According to the material about Africa University, there are 1,395 students representing 21 African countries. The university has colleges in education, management and administration, agriculture and natural resources, theology, health sciences and the Institute of Peace, Leadership and Governance. Visit the website at www.support-africauniversity.org and find out more.
In 1908, the Methodist Men’s organization had its beginnings. Over these 100 years the ministry has grown and changed as the world has changed. Actually, the celebration revealed that John Wesley first formed the Brotherhood in 1752, but no much is known about its history. Since 1908, the organization has ebbed and flowed as it responded to the needs of men to be in ministry. The 1968 Discipline had a “watered down” version of the organization/ministry. From 1976 to 1996, UMM was housed in the General Board of Discipleship. The 1996 General Conference voted to create the Commission on United Methodist Men in 1997. In its lifetime UMM has fostered ministries that are aids in the growth of men in ministry. They have fostered the Boy Scouts, the Heifer project and any of a number of mission projects. They report that they continue to develop unique ministries that will carry on that tradition. Complete information about United Methodist Men can be found on www.gcumm.org.
All petitions that have financial implications have been dealt with the plenary on Tuesday night finished them up and sent them on to the General Council on Finance and Administration & Connectional Table for coordination. Coordination is a euphemism for weaving them into the proposed budget for the 2009-2012 quadrennial. There was an approximate amount added beyond the planned budget of about $14 million. When that is added to the $655million budget, some will probably be rolled into the budget of the agencies and some will be placed in special categories that will be part of the Advance. That should be listed in the Daily Christian Advocate (the daily journal/minutes) on Thursday. I will try to give you those figures tomorrow night.
A number of matters of importance were cleared off the calendar, today, but it is now past midnight and I will probably get those to you, tomorrow. (Thursday) Maybe I should say later today.
Your delegation is faithfully serving in the midst of the agony of the chair. Mike Mckee was on the stage and monitors filing a part of the Church and Society report.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Back to Work
So I decided to spend the morning walking through the exhibit hall and soak in the experience of the Cokesbury store and the international "Advance Specials" exhibit. I am fascinated with the persons I run into and get to talk to. They all have unique stories about where they come, how they ended up at the conference, and why they want to be there. Making a difference is what one lady from Colorado told me. She wanted to be a part of the history of the United Methodist church. She, like I am, is a life long Methodist and believes with all her heart in the church and that she can make a difference. She spoke with passion and has a drive in her life about the church that I could only hope to ever have. I would have been able to give you a little more description of my afternoon and evening, but I got called back to the church to preach to my junior high students. I forget how much I love to be with them and how much I love the church and what I do! More tomorrow... Stay Tuned
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
God is Still in the House
The wrangling goes on. Words take on an importance of their own. The nuance between “Making disciples of Jesus Christ and saving souls for the transformation of the world.” is sooo different from “Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” The delegates keep burning time on such as this without realizing that time will become very precious in the days ahead and major issues (without financial implications) will get very little attention in the penuries because there was so much of the time burned up with minutiae.
Significant things have happened at GC08 that will bring new vitality to the United Methodist family.
If you had a great day of joining at your church and 50 to100 people joined, it would be an event of note, right? On Monday, April 27, action was taken to complete the addition of the United Methodist Church in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to our family. This regional conference is the largest of the church. On this great day of joining, 677,355 members joined the family. The Virginia Conference was the largest with 341,264 members. God will expect more us on the 28th of April than on the 27th of April. It took four years to get all the procedural issues dealt with, but will we in the US church add 677,000 new members in the next four years?
After considerable wrangling, a study team was approved to look to the future of the UM in terms of the way we organize globally. The present system is becoming unmanageable because of cultural differences from nations. These cultural differences cause each of the Central Conferences to write their own version of the Book of Discipline. Issues that are distracting to the US are not handled in the same way in Africa, Europe or Asia. Different cultures have different language and word meanings are not the same when translated. The Study Team will have recommendations by 2012 for a more orderly division geographically. The possibility of a Central Conference that encompasses the US and a Global Conference for worldwide ministries. We will just have to stay tuned for how this plays out.
Today, there was a historical event when Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President, Republic of Liberia addressed the GC. She is an active UM laywoman. The first woman elected to the Presidency in an African nation. The GC08 theme of A Future With Hope is being lived out in Liberia. She told us that when she was elected that her motorcade caused children to run in fear that they were to be harmed or their possessions taken. Now, they run after her motorcade wanting her to stop and greet them. The Conference greeted Ellen with several minutes of standing applause. The African delegates greeted her with the traditional high-pitched trills. Not many years ago, there were only about three democratic governments on the continent. Now, there are 18. With here support there many UM supported schools and hospitals and clinics in Liberia. The university will move into a new facility shortly.
Maybe God just doesn’t have time to worry about the parliamentary procedure and wordsmithing; because God is definitely still in the house!
Significant things have happened at GC08 that will bring new vitality to the United Methodist family.
If you had a great day of joining at your church and 50 to100 people joined, it would be an event of note, right? On Monday, April 27, action was taken to complete the addition of the United Methodist Church in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to our family. This regional conference is the largest of the church. On this great day of joining, 677,355 members joined the family. The Virginia Conference was the largest with 341,264 members. God will expect more us on the 28th of April than on the 27th of April. It took four years to get all the procedural issues dealt with, but will we in the US church add 677,000 new members in the next four years?
After considerable wrangling, a study team was approved to look to the future of the UM in terms of the way we organize globally. The present system is becoming unmanageable because of cultural differences from nations. These cultural differences cause each of the Central Conferences to write their own version of the Book of Discipline. Issues that are distracting to the US are not handled in the same way in Africa, Europe or Asia. Different cultures have different language and word meanings are not the same when translated. The Study Team will have recommendations by 2012 for a more orderly division geographically. The possibility of a Central Conference that encompasses the US and a Global Conference for worldwide ministries. We will just have to stay tuned for how this plays out.
Today, there was a historical event when Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President, Republic of Liberia addressed the GC. She is an active UM laywoman. The first woman elected to the Presidency in an African nation. The GC08 theme of A Future With Hope is being lived out in Liberia. She told us that when she was elected that her motorcade caused children to run in fear that they were to be harmed or their possessions taken. Now, they run after her motorcade wanting her to stop and greet them. The Conference greeted Ellen with several minutes of standing applause. The African delegates greeted her with the traditional high-pitched trills. Not many years ago, there were only about three democratic governments on the continent. Now, there are 18. With here support there many UM supported schools and hospitals and clinics in Liberia. The university will move into a new facility shortly.
Maybe God just doesn’t have time to worry about the parliamentary procedure and wordsmithing; because God is definitely still in the house!
More discussion less process please....
There has been a lot of process about parliamentary procedures and very little discussion about the actual issues. There seems to be a quite a bit of persons that are more concerned about the process than what we are actually trying to discuss.
They adopted a new mission statement, which actually was the old one that had an addition to the end of it. "Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World". I love it!
The President of the Democratic Republic of Liberia came to speak today. Security was tight. She is a United Methodist and from what I understood spoke very eloquently. I was not able to heat her because I had to go to our General Conference Youth and Young Adult Gathering (see below) that the Central Texas and North Texas Conference was sponsoring.
The gathering for youth and young adults for general conference was a great opportunity for those attending the conference and for our local churches to come enjoy fellowship, food and local praise bands for music. The FUMC Mansfield student praise band and White's Chapel UMC student praise band led some very inspiring and fun music.
Our own Central Texas delegation seems to be tired but their spirits are high. Our reserves have been faithful in staying the majority of the time and providing relief when they need it. I love seeing all of the clergy and lay volunteers that come to support the conference and our delegation. Tomorrow is new day with new experiences. Stay tuned...
They adopted a new mission statement, which actually was the old one that had an addition to the end of it. "Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World". I love it!
The President of the Democratic Republic of Liberia came to speak today. Security was tight. She is a United Methodist and from what I understood spoke very eloquently. I was not able to heat her because I had to go to our General Conference Youth and Young Adult Gathering (see below) that the Central Texas and North Texas Conference was sponsoring.
The gathering for youth and young adults for general conference was a great opportunity for those attending the conference and for our local churches to come enjoy fellowship, food and local praise bands for music. The FUMC Mansfield student praise band and White's Chapel UMC student praise band led some very inspiring and fun music.
Our own Central Texas delegation seems to be tired but their spirits are high. Our reserves have been faithful in staying the majority of the time and providing relief when they need it. I love seeing all of the clergy and lay volunteers that come to support the conference and our delegation. Tomorrow is new day with new experiences. Stay tuned...
Monday, April 28, 2008
More Molasses
The Area Event was a great ending to the day. The Texas Boys Choir was entertaining and inspiring. These boys practice 2 hours per day and it shows. They are apparently talented and well coached. Their concert was varied and entertaining. The range of the types of music pleased all those attending. The inspiring thing was the evident discipline that they practice. Voices that blend and produce sounds that are so smooth that they seem to be one voice. Gospel to Broadway tested their skills and they were equal to that test. I hope that it is okay to express the opinion that these guys are Great! The concert was followed by a time of food and fellowship in the water garden and inside the convention center. Country and Western music along with Lydia Patterson Institute Mariachis provided a Texas flavor to the evening, as did the tables laden with cheeses, fruits Mexican chips and appetizers. The opportunity to do serious damage to ones diet was at every hand. Most of us took advantage of the opportunity.
Early in the Sunday session there was a report on the UM response to the Katrina disaster. There was much evidence that UMCOR is the first on the scene and is still there all the years between. It became evident that the mission teams, volunteer workers and financial support have made a real difference. The job isn’t finished and there is some concern that there is “Katrina weariness” will cause the effort to die out. The call has gone out to keep up the fight.
Parliamentary maneuvering plagued the plenary session Sunday afternoon. That seemed to be the fore taste of what was to be Monday. The reports and petitions were plagued by more of the Sunday afternoon wrangling. Once again it became the perfection of each sentence word by word. Most of the amendments were as consequential as a flea on an elephant’s ear. The petitions with financial implications, by rule, have to be dealt with by 5 PM on Monday. So much time was spent with one calendar item that the rules were suspended to allow the session to continue until these petitions are finished. The time was extended until 11 PM, but we posted signs that the last bus would leave for the hotels at 1 AM. I left at 10 because as a delegate for several of these rodeos, I’ve seen this rerun before.
Early in the Sunday session there was a report on the UM response to the Katrina disaster. There was much evidence that UMCOR is the first on the scene and is still there all the years between. It became evident that the mission teams, volunteer workers and financial support have made a real difference. The job isn’t finished and there is some concern that there is “Katrina weariness” will cause the effort to die out. The call has gone out to keep up the fight.
Parliamentary maneuvering plagued the plenary session Sunday afternoon. That seemed to be the fore taste of what was to be Monday. The reports and petitions were plagued by more of the Sunday afternoon wrangling. Once again it became the perfection of each sentence word by word. Most of the amendments were as consequential as a flea on an elephant’s ear. The petitions with financial implications, by rule, have to be dealt with by 5 PM on Monday. So much time was spent with one calendar item that the rules were suspended to allow the session to continue until these petitions are finished. The time was extended until 11 PM, but we posted signs that the last bus would leave for the hotels at 1 AM. I left at 10 because as a delegate for several of these rodeos, I’ve seen this rerun before.
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