I am a voting delegate!

Mary and I were both invited to sit on the floor today! I really wanted to play it all cool, no big deal, but I couldn’t. Mary and I were giddy as we walked onto the floor of the General Conference. It takes two delegates to step aside for each of us so we owe our thanks to Jin Ming, Craig, Gail and Peter for giving us a few hours on the floor. Here is a time-line of the day so far.

5:45 Oh God, its already time to get up again.

6:30 Free breakfast in the hotel. Clint discovers Texas shaped waffles.

6:45 Hurry up kids its time to get in the car, where is Nico?

7:00 Western Jurisdictional meeting. Bishop Paup talks about some issues regarding GBGM and the “Nothing but Nets” campaign. There is some discussion about the “Nothing but Nets” and some inter-agency issues. UMComm had a major role in the campaign and some feel that it belongs in GBGM. (I don’t care who does it, I’m just thankful for the success of the campaign so far.)

7:10 We hear reports from the delegates and observers from the committees. This is a confusing time as all the committees are in or have just finished sub-committee work, and while a sub-committee may have taken a particular action it is impossible to predict what the full committee or the floor will do with that action.

Having said that: Some of the big things going on are:

1) Financing Bishops. There was a proposal to have Jurisdictions pay for Bishops. Presently this is paid from General Conference apportionments. The west would be very much hurt by this as at present giving we only pay for what one delegate said was 3.2 bishops. That would be a reduction of 2.8 of our present episcopal leadership.
2) There was a wholesale rejection of petitions placing the pastor as the sole authority for church membership. This is in response to petitions regarding a judicial council decision upholding a pastor’s decision to refuse a man membership on the basis that he was a gay man. I believe that this means that the sub committee is upholding that the church council in consultation with the pastor makes decisions about membership. Thus rejecting the Judicial Council’s ruling.
3) The sexuality sub committee has a compromise proposal that is a very small baby step toward inclusion, Mary has been observing them perhaps she will blog about it soon. As I understand it, the sub committee has created a statement that we agree to disagree, which oddly enough is a small step forward. In 2004 a similar petition was made and rejected by committee, I believe. So we still have a ways to go with that one.

7:45 Discussion about judicial council nominees. (Perhaps I will write another post to rant about this later.)

7:55 I learn that the “Good News” caucus gave cell phones to central conference delegates, primarily those from Africa. What? OMG! Rumor has it that those phones were used yesterday to inform those delegates who to support for the Judicial Council. (Yet another possible rant for later.)

8:15 worship begins with a youth drama group called “The Strangely Warmed Players.” (A reference to John Wesley’s statement that his heart was strangely warmed and he knew that he was a loved child of God.) They brought a comical and yet clear message for the church to be in mission.

The sermon from Bishop Hutchinson felt like an old tyme revival. It was great and nearly brought me to tears. It was a very moving testimony challenging us to not only have the form of religion but also the power. (A good Wesleyan reference.) We were encouraged to “Let Jesus and the Holy Spirit loose” in ourselves and our churches.

9:15 Report from the committee of Agenda. I Vote against the agenda for tomorrow! I am kind of grumpy about the agenda of a full working day on Sunday for the General Conference.

9:25 We are presented with the consent calendar items thus far to come from committee. Two of them are a bit troubling. One would change the language in paragraph 164 in the Book of Discipline deleting the sentence “Though coercion, violence, and war are presently the ultimate sanctions in international relations, we reject them as incompatible with the gospel and spirit of Christ.” In its place is a longer statement that doesn’t do much for me. The elimination of the word “incompatible” may be significant. As that word is part of the infamous “incompatible with Christian Teaching” phrase in regards to homosexuality.

On a positive note there is a consent calendar item that will require all General church agencies to “work with Annual Conferences and United Methodist Camps and Retreat Centers to develop recommendations and resources that would guide the United Methodist Church in reducing our carbon dioxide impact.” Further “The report to the 2012 General Conference should; create a plan for evaluating the current status of contributions to global warming throughout the United Methodist connection by churches, institutions and staff; create specific recommendations for reduction of contributions to global warming such as: solar panels or other renewable energies, meetings by conference call rather than driving, insulating buildings etc. Develop an ecumenical effort to support changes which reduce global warming.

9:37 Rural Life celebration.

I take this time to read that “Hero” report which is from the GCSRW and GCORR. These two groups monitor participation in all General Conference proceedings in regards to diversity of gender and race. The report proclaims that this is the most diverse General Conference in history. 56% of Legislative committee officers are Female! 36% of all Legislative committee officers are African American, 8% are Central Conference (international) delegates.

10:40 We take a break. Clint and I arrange for another BBQ exploration in Ft. Worth.

11:00 The presiding Bishop tries to bring us back to order. Mary and I are the only PNW delegates at our chairs on time.

11:02 A video begins reminding us of the difficulties for retired clergy in the Central Conferences. (We must do more to support our international clergy!)

11:17 Motion for 2012 to have an Ethics Committee. My brain gets lost in the wording. I vote because Amory did, later I find out we voted to refer. This comes from the Cell Phone issue.

11:21 A report from from the Episcopacy Study.

11:40 A report from the Study committee on the relationship between the UMC and the Autonomous Methodist Churches in Latin America and the Caribbean. Bishop Galvan is part of the presentation.

12:15 We recess and Mary and I hand in our passes for the floor. :(

An "Early" Night

Our "First Elected" Clergy relaxes with one of the free massage chairs. She was so relaxed she agreed to give me time on the floor tomorrow!

I don't anticipate that there will be anything to vote about tomorrow it is very considerate of Jin Ming and Craig to give me an opportunity to be on the floor and I am looking forward to participating in worship from the floor. Our delegation is seated very close to the front and it must be a good view!

The only issue for the floor today was nominations for Judicial Council and University Senate. Those names will be available for the delegates for 48 hours with voting for those influential groups on Monday. That will be something I will try to blog about with more information in the next couple of days.

I imagine the Western Jurisdiction meeting in the morning will have a lot to add for the candidates the west will support. The "DCA" (Daily Christian Advocate, the daily publication of the General Conference with reports and eventually legislation from the committees) will have profiles of each of the Judicial nominees.

Any questions? Send an e-mail or write a comment.

Peace Y'all

Hymnals

Quick notes on the day.

Trying to sleep during worship. Fun and games with Robert's rules. Mmmmm mudbugs. Hymnal?

I'm tired. Two nights with 4 hours of sleep. I tried to catch up with some sleep during the sermon in morning worship. I know I shouldn't admit it but there it is the horrible truth. It didn't work, but I tried.

We arrived to the committee to discover they had put the "bar" back up so that the whole committee could work on petitions that would effect the budget. There was the usual parliamentary confusion that happens when church committees get together whether it is the PNW Annual Conference. All too boring to go into here but I found amusement with the process. I know I have an illness, I enjoy the machinations of parliamentary procedure.

I had lunch at a fun "Cajun Cafe" called "Razzoos." Apparently you are a "Razzoo" if:

• You have more bowlin, hotrod or karate trophies than books.
• You have more than 10 garage sales a year.
• You miss all weddings, kids recitals and funerals because "Its Dove season."
• You think a styrofoam cooler is personal luggage.
• You know more than 5 NASCAR driver or car sponsor names.

I had the "Cajun Etoufee" (et-two-fay) with "mudbugs" (crawfish.) Mmmm cajun cooking, its been a while since I have had crawfish and mmmm it was good.

I had my first experience of "observer discrimination." The sub committee was given a gift from the publishing house, General Conference commemorative Hymnals. I was kind of bummed about that. Then of course the sub committee began a discussion about the "Hymnal Revision Committee."

I came to the discussion on the fence about the need for a new hymnal. I haven't encouraged my church to purchase the "Faith We Sing" book because we were able to use the money saved from buying those to put up video projection instead. However, the discussion in subcommittee has turned me in favor of a new hymnal. Some key points that were raised:

• 96% of United Methodist Churches use the current hymnbook in worship. (While many churches are using video projection to some degree the hymnbook is still a vital resource for ministry.)
• The hymnal is a uniting resource for the United Methodist Church
• A new hymnal would represent a diversity of music but surely not be the only music resource for local churches.
• The hymnal is more than a music book, it is a worship resource as well.

Those are some of the arguments that won me over. I know, it didn't take much. I wish I could collect my thoughts better but I'm tired. The sub committee seems fairly diverse and many of my questions were asked by others and I have been satisfied by the responses I have received. The publishing house seems plenty aware of the needs for multi media and the likely hood that they will not sell as many of this hymnbook as they have with the last one.

Time for dinner, I wonder if Clint is up for some Texas BBQ?

Thank God for Blue Bell

Spent some time after committee meeting today with the young adults. All our committees got out early (10:00 P.M.) so after returning to the hotel we made an ice cream run and I knew exactly what I had to have, “Blue Bell, brown rim, natural vanilla bean.” We took an adventure to find a Wal Mart that was open (I know, I know but it was the only grocery store we could get to at 10:40 at night, and I had a real craving for that ice cream! I’m sure God will understand, Its Blue Bell!) Mmmm, Blue Bell. Seriously, it is the best thing about Texas. If you haven’t had Blue Bell you just don’t know. Blue Bell makes everything better.

Oh ya, General Conference stuff.

I am observing the “Ordinal and Hymnal sub committee.” It should be a fairly painless group. The sub committee is about 20 people with about 5 or 6 observers. I did share a funny moment when I sat at a group that I thought was the Hymnal subcommitee (turns out it was another sub commitee) and a women sits down next to me and says “Hello Bruce Smith” and I look at her for a minitue and say “well hello Jenny!” So I have found one of our PNW related people. Jenny as many of you know, helped run the Indianola campaign a few years ago in our annual conference and is currently living in New York state.

I also met a man my age from the NW Texas Annual Conference. We sat next to each other and talked about sports and our families. I was impressed that he knew who Drew Bledsoe was. He is a big college football fan. We shared photos of our children and it was fun to connect with someone from Texas. He shared that he is an Asbury grad and I know that probably means we have some serious theological differences but frankly the primary thing for me right now was to connect with another person. We can disagree about theology later. It is good to be making some connections with people.

OK so now it is 12:53 and I am falling asleep at the computer. Western Delegation meets at 7:00 A.M. again and then its off to the usual plenary worship, committees etc, etc.
Peace Y’all

Random Thoughts

Just finished dinner. I attended a SMU Perkins School of Theology social. Free food, awkward social interactions. I ended up sitting next to a guy from Nebraska that seemed to be on his own as well. I was hoping to bump into someone I knew, but there wasn't anyone. It was always odd to be a person from the west at Perkins. The vast majority of Perkins people are from the South Central Jurisdiction and most of them are from Texas. They have all sorts of established networks and don't really seem to know how to talk with someone that is out of their networking zone. No one really cares who I am, I will never be their D.S. Well, it was free food.

Other random notes about General Conference . . .

Our first committee meeting was excruciatingly long and tedious. It took over an hour to elect a chair, vice chair and secretary!!! The process was interesting in an observer sociological point of view. After electing two men as chair and vice chair three women were nominated for secretary. Ah, gender roles gotta love them! Can't wait until we start debating the hymnal and fun things like that.

The weather has cooled off. Its only 75 and muggy. Although ,many of the PNW folks are complaining. I realize that I must have really been a pain when I was a student and moaning about the weather. Its a wonder Kendra married me.

I have made plans to catch up with my buddy Wes who has just taken an associate position after spending the past several years in Cameroon as a missionary. I am planning to drive out to his church on Sunday and spend some time with him. I will have to skip a few things to do it but hey if a reserve delegate has to have some privlidges.

Peace Y'all

Middway through Day 2

Two cool cats hanging out in the hallway. Patrick and Marie are wearing "Spotted Owl" hats. These have become the symbol for younger clergy and some of the issues being brought forward to assist the church in recruiting and retaining clergy under 35 or 40 or 45. I'm not really sure what the line for younger is presently.

I had been getting frustrated last night and today with Bishops talking about how our differences need to be set aside so that we could do ministry. The unspoken implication seemed to be that diversity was not a value of the General Conference. I don't think this is what they meant. Yet so far the presentations of the Bishop's has seemed to be of a tone that we need magically set aside our differences and get along. I grew frustrated at their lack of naming the differences. I have some great friends in ministry with whom I disagree about many things. Those differences are valued and while sometimes they are difficult to work through in our friendships we do not hide our diversity of opinion or our beliefs. The bishops have seemed to want to hide everything under a rug.

Then we had the "Young People's Address." Apparently this was the first time that there has been such a thing and they did a remarkable job. They spoke of the difference between speaking over each other and talking with each other. The pointed to poverty as the greatest world wide challenge in front of us. They called for the church to be a place where young people belong. I was especially moved by a young man from Nebraska who said that "It is time to transcend the division." He spoke of his life experience as a high school liberal in a conservative area. Then of his experience as a person of faith in a liberal college. He called for us to follow the Wesley tradition of following religion and reason together. I remember him saying both liberal and conservative (or did he say "red and "blue"?) are right! Then Matt from the PNWAC closed the presentation. He spoke of a world that is desperate for Jesus. He encouraged us to interact with one another. He pointed out that it is not only the young who are the church of today and tomorrow, the delegates are also the church of tomorrow!

Three times I heard the young people name some of our divisions and say the word "gay." The word the Bishops have been so afraid to say. The young people named our divisions so NOW we can be the church. We can interact with each other in authenticity, whether we agree or not. It was a dramatic moment to have the youth and young adults lead in such a powerful way when the Bishops could not or would not.

Committee meetings this afternoon and evening. Yippee!

Day 1 finished

Picture is from Communion service.

It is presently 11:43 P.M. local time.

Worship began at 6:00 with a wonderful presentation of music and dance. I chuckled some when even at General Conference the sound system was imperfect with the occasional feedback and on one song the song leader and the person running the video screen got out of sync. Just like our local churches! I was also a bit amused that while we will be voting on creating a new hymnal we don't use them at General Conference. There was a printed order of the service but everything was displayed on the four large screens around the auditorium. Why do we need that new hymnal?

Bishop Huie gave the sermon using the conference theme "A future with hope." I forgot to take notes during the sermon. I remember one example of hope becoming a marshmallow word, such as "I hope I can help" being a way to say "I would rather not." Instead we were encouraged to live into the hope of the risen Christ. A hope that is for something not yet seen but that can be realized.

The first business of the conference was primarily housekeeping. The bar for voting was set as the main floor of the auditorium. They tested the voting system. 90% of the delegate voted that they were present. Leaving 10% who apparently thought it would be funny to vote that they were not present. In bigger news John was voted as the most respected Apostle followed closely by John. Judas got 120 votes. Again, delegate humor.

So with the voting system in full operation it was time to vote for the rules of the conference. TWO HOURS. It took two hours to vote for the rules. There were amendments, questions and referrals. At least one time it took a youth delegate to notice that a whole section of the rules had been skipped. Thank God for YOUTH!

We also heard from the Commission of the General Conference. Apparently they put on this whole shindig. They have a petition to reduce the maximum number of delegates from 1,000 to 600. I am not a fan of this idea. Primarily I object to reducing the number of delegates as we are trying to become a world wide church. Small conferences like the PNW could be reduced to two or four voting delegates and it wasn't all that long ago that we had ten.

We were told that the attendance for worship this evening was about 6,500. I love that they announced that. It could create a game like guessing the attendance at Safeco Field. It seemed like about 4,000 of those 6,500 left immediately after worship.

Finally we witnessed a video and heard from a couple of speakers on the topic of diversity and sensitivity training. Delegates were encouraged to:

• Tell the truth about who we are


• Let us listen to each other


• Let us remember that we have not yet achieved the diversity we seek


• Let us demonstrate our respect

The video was well done and I especially the clips from "The Office."

So that's one day done. It is now 12:20 A.M. and wake up is 6:00 A.M. So I can get to the 7:o0 Western Jurisdiction delegation meeting. Yippee! I will have to write my post complaining about how we expect to care for ourselves with this sort of schedule another time.

Peace Y'all!