WELCOME

The United Methodist General Conference is over and you may be wondering what happened.  We have a new mission statement (it was "to make disciples of Jesus Christ."  It is now "to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."), new vows of membership ("prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness"), the beginnings of a new world-wide structure (if ratified by Annual Conferences, parts of the world may establish United Methodist Regional Conferences) and more.  You can check out our Senior Pastor's blog from the floor of Conference to get some of those details.  He'll be posting updates in the next few days that will begin to fill in more of the details that were not otherwise covered while he was there.

What was it like?  This was Rev. Clarke's 2nd General Conference as a delegate. When asked, he replied, "It was a long eleven days of meetings from early morning to late at night.  It was exhilerating to be there and see the global nature of the church.  We sat next to the delegates from North Katanga Conference in the Congo.  Having the chance to visit with them around the edges of the Conference was a privilege.  Meeting someone from East Angola who I had met last time was so much fun.  The sad part of that encounter was learning that his lay delegate who had joined him last time had died of Malaria two years ago.  When the list of churches scrolled down the screen of all the United Methodist Churches, Wesley Foundations, Districts, Conferences who had sent delegations to help in the post-Katrina recovery, it made me proud to be a United Methodist.  There were moments when it was very frustrating, like when we took almost seven hours to debate the constitutional amendments or when we rushed through some decisions that needed more critical evaluation.  I'm grateful to Saint Paul's for understanding the nature of being a connectional church and supporting me in participating in the Conference.  I am also very thankful to the entire staff who pulled together during these months of preparation and for the almost two weeks I was gone."