Sleep, who needs sleep?

The General Conference experience is a wild ride.

Most delegates again had a night of 4-5 hours of sleep. We ended the plenary session around 11:20. Then two committees went until about 12:45 still trying to finish their work. Global Ministries is taking the longest amount of time. The western jurisdiction then has a 7:00 meeting that most make an attempt to attend.

I am unsure how "holy" the conferencing will be as this sleep deprivation continues.

I have been debating in my mind whether I should go back and correct errors in my previous posting. I am leaning against it as the errors are also part of the General Conference experience. The learning curve is very high. I have been full of questions for whoever is sitting near me:Who is that, why did that just happen, when will this be coming up etc. etc. I was reassured nicely by Craig when he said, "That's OK no one can keep up with all of this stuff." If Craig can't no one can.

As I am typing this, Bishop Swenson is presiding with Bishop Talbert and Bishop Tuell supporting her. A great representation of leadership that has served the PNW in a variety of ways. Sitting next to me is Sharon who came into the PNW in the same year that I attended my first Annual Conference as a page while Bishop Talbert was our resident Bishop. I love all these United Methodist connections!

Just after lunch I bumped into a friend from my seminary days. It was great to see her. She is now a D.S. in Oklahoma! Franke is so good.

WOW, David wants me on the floor! Gotta Go.

So . . . When I got to the floor there was a debate about the United Methodist Mission. It was in danger of being added onto to the point of meaninglessness. In the end we said that "The Mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples for the transformation of the world."

My first opportunity to use the voting machine . . . I vote to add Bermuda to the NE Jurisdiction!

We passed a resolution to add a minimum of 100 delegates to the Jurisdictional conference. This will increase the number for the Western Jurisdiction by nearly 20. I believe this takes effect in 2012.

We had a fantastic time with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from Liberia. She called us to address the world needs around the issues of poverty. It was an especially powerful witness as she is a United Methodist lay person and was educated in a United Methodist high school in Africa.

I had a fun dinner with a group of guys with RMN ties. One was from a large downtown church in Atlanta that he described as a "gay" church, but hasn't joined the RMN. It was great to talk with a SE Jurisdiction person about the issues of inclusion.

After dinner the vote on the Episcopacy Study was brought to the floor agian. After much confusion (and much is still fuzzy to me) we voted to reduce the number of Bishops in each Jurisdiction (except the SE) by one. I believe this takes effect September 1, 2012. So that should add some fun to Jurisdictional conference.

I might actually get to bed by 10:oo tonight! Yippee!!!