June 16, 2012

Dear Reader,
Today at Annual Conference is a day of training. But as Mark Miller began the session he said, “mostly this will just be one long time of worship.” You can join us as he inspires the room with his music, and as he shares about the power music can have on worship and our Christian connection. Watch online at http://umc.adobeconnect.com/AC/.

Greg Nelson – Director of Communications

ANNUAL CONFERENCE NEWS

Friday Recap
Friday at Annual Conference the session completed all legislative items and passed the conference budget. The day began with greetings from Stephen Thorsett, President of Willamette University and ended with an energy filled worship service celebrating the vitality of congregations all over the conference that are looking for new ways to “be church” and connect to their communities.

The conference welcomed and thanked the General Conference delegation. Laura Jaquith Bartlett, head of the delegation, shared a high speed view of the many aspects of the conference and how the whole delegation was a part of providing a presence and witness at General Conference.

Conference Adopts New Structure
At Friday’s session the conference adopted a new organizational structure for the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference. Following a two-year period of re-visioning the structure, conference leaders submitted legislation to create conference rules to codify the changes. The legislative assembly approved the action request with some changes and forwarded it to the full annual conference. The item was lifted from the consent calendar to allow for full debate on the conference floor.

Members of the Ministry Leadership Team led the conference through a time of explanation, discussion, and question and answer. When the legislation was taken under full consideration, there were questions about the composition and nomination of the Annual Conference Oversight Board, how the new plan messes with requirements of the Book of Discipline and how the Oversight Board will report to the Annual Conference.

The conference supported the action request to create the new structure. Watch for more information in later articles on the conference website.

Challenge Offered to Imagine No Malaria
During the presentation on the Imagine No Malaria program, Bishop Hoshibata shared that the College of the Bishops of the Western Jurisdiction has set a challenge for the people of the jurisdiction to contribute $2 million, plus seeking major gifts, toward the United Methodist Churches $75 million campaign goal.

Telling the Story of Annual Conference
As pastors and Lay Members of Annual Conference prepare to tell the story of the Annual Conference Session, they can look for resources on the conference website. Watch for updates on this page during the course of next week including pictures you can download, videos to watch and share and even a ready to go PowerPoint presentation.

AROUND THE GLOBE

Annual Conference Coverage
If you want to learn what is happening at other annual conferences, you can go to the annual conferences page at the www.umc.org website.