Preparation for the 2011 Annual Conference Session Takes Shape

UPDATE (Saturday 10:24 p.m.) Live Steaming will resume on Sunday Morning for the last Living The Connecton session at 8:30 a.m. and the closing worship session at 11:00. To connect, go to http://umc.adobeconnect.com/ac. Log in as a guest, type in your name, and enter the meeting room.

Schedule for Live Streaming:

• Thursday: 1:15 p.m. ~ Living The Connection #1
• Friday: 8:30 a.m. ~ Living The Connection #2
• Friday: 1:30 p.m. ~ Living the Connection #3
• Friday 7:30 p.m. ~ Service of Retirement, Licensing, and Commisioning (Bishop Innis preaching)
• Saturday 8:30 a.m. ~ Change the World: Taking it Out There - Session 1
• Saturday 1:00 p.m. ~ Change the World: Taking it Out There - Sesson 2
• Sunday 8:30 a.m. ~ Living the Connection #5
• Sunday 11:00 a.m. ~ Closing Worship

With Annual Conference Session coming up June 16 through 19, many tasks for preparation are in high gear or already finished. Pre-conference reports and other information are now available; the special learning event for Saturday June 18 with Rev. Mike Slaughter is planned and one day guest registrations are coming in, the worship team is planning engaging worship that will inspire the conference to meet in an attitude of holy conferencing.

“Packet B”; the package of pre-conference reports, budget information, legislation and other information needed by members of the Annual Conference has been published in both electronic and printed form. In an on-going effort to reduce costs, printed mailings only go to those who specifically request them. Others can download all the material from the conference website. This year just over 200 people requested printed material. A few extras will be available at the session (while supplies last). The conference website provides the ability to view and download specific sections of the report or the entire packet B in Adobe PDF format. iPad users can load the package into the iBook application to have it available at the touch of a finger (and searchable).

This will be the second year that the Annual Conference session has adjusted its schedule to allow for a full day of training for leaders. Conference leaders recognized that if empowering local churches is a key function of the Conference, they should not pass up the one time each year that we have over 600 key leaders in one place. And the schedule has been adjusted to put the training on Saturday so more laity can participate. The Rev. Mike Slaughter will be the presenter in a session titled Change the World: Taking It Out There!. Slaughter will focus on the mission aspects of church vitality as he shares what he has learned in ministry at Ginghamsburg UMC in Tipp City, Ohio. According to Brett Strobel, coordinator for the day, “In this workshop, … you will be given the tools to develop a missional strategy for your church in your community. Not only will you discover how to make a real difference in the world, but better still, how to make the world really different!”

This year two worship services will be held at Salem’s First United Methodist Church. The Memorial Service on Thursday evening and the Ordination Service on Saturday. Bishop John Innis of the Liberia Annual Conference will be the guest preacher at the Retirement and Commissioning Service on Friday June 17 at the Salem Conference Center.

For more information about Annual Conference Session. go to www.umoi.org/ACSession. Deadline for members of the conference to register without a late fee is May 31. Last day for online registration for both members and guests is June 6. Some seats for Change the World: Taking It Out There will be available at the door on the day of the event.