2009 Annual Conference Highlights

Lay Delegates Provide Insight into the Central Texas 2009 Annual Conference of the
United Methodist Church June 7-10, 2009

Four First Church members had the privilege and responsibility of representing First Church as Lay Delegates at the 2009 Annual Conference. Bill Canet, Doug Laws, Tricia Reid and Rich Thompson, traveled to Whites Chapel United Methodist Church in the outskirts of northern Fort Worth for four days of fellowship, education, worship and spiritual renewal. This article contains highlights from the Lay Delegate Report. Click the link below to read the full report. A limited number of hard copies are available in the church office.

Lay Delegates Report from 2009 Annual Conference

Conference Highlights:

Conference began Sunday evening with a welcome and sermon by Dr. Walter L. Kimbrough, currently the National Vice-Chair of Black Methodists for Church Renewal, a member of the North Georgia Conference Committee on Finance and Administration, and a member of the Coordinating Committee to Strengthen the Black Church of the United Methodist. Dr. Kimbrough’s sermon was titled, “Remembering Our History.” He preached from Acts 2: 37-47, summarizing with the question, “Do you really want it?”

Several times during the conference delegates had the opportunity to hear Dr. Kimbrough speak. His talks were stimulating, thought provoking, encouraging and at times humorously chastising as he encouraged United Methodists to think outside the box to find ways to bring in new members.

Monday evening delegates and ministers had the opportunity to participate in a Conference Fellowship Event -- attending a Texas Rangers game. The four Lay Delegates from First Church Round Rock hosted our new Associate Pastor and his wife, Lee and Melissa Trigg. Over 200 of the United Methodist contingent were recognized on the scoreboard.

Each morning began with an optional communion service. The first day was in the American Indian tradition, the second was a Taize service and Wednesday the communion service was bi-lingual.

On Monday, conference business began with concurrent Clergy Executive and Laity sessions. The Lay session presenter was Karen Greenwaldt, the General Secretary of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship and a member of the Central Texas Conference. Her presentation, titled, “Reaching Out to God/Reaching Out to the World,” expounded on the denomination’s four focus areas, which summarize the major focus of the United Methodist Church as defined by the 2008 General Conference:

1. Developing Principled Christian Leaders for the Church and the World.
2. Creating New Places for New People and Renewing Existing Congregations.
3. Engaging in Ministry with the Poor.
4. Stamping Out Killer Diseases of Poverty by Improving Health Globally.

She included in her presentation four additional points:

1. We are the people of the United Methodist Church. We believe in – making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
2. We live by two kinds of holiness – personal and social.
3. We follow three simple rules – Do no harm; Do good; Stay in love with God.
4. We work in four areas of focus – developing leaders; creating places for new people; eliminating poverty; improving health globally.
5. These are points which should be copied and placed on your refrigerator as reminders of what we’re all about. 

Karen provided two interesting statistics which are covered in detail:

• First, The U.S. is the largest mission field of all English speaking countries and the fifth largest globally. 
• Second, anywhere from 60 to 80% of our currently serving elders will retire within 10 years. The average age of United Methodist ministers is 56.

Karen then challenged us to think about what will happen to the United Methodist Church if we are unable to replace those exiting ministers and asked us all to be very intentional about seeking out, encouraging, nurturing and supporting young members who show any interest in or have characteristics beneficial to becoming a minister.

The Episcopal Address of Bishop Michael J. Lowry set an upbeat and progressive tone for the Annual Conference by sharing the story of Granger United Methodist Church. It was an amazing and inspiring story, the details of which can be read in the Lay Delegate Report on the website.

Bishop Lowry also gave a staggering statistic - of some 320 churches in the Central Texas Conference, approximately 116 are one generation away from either becoming a less-than-full-time appointment or closing their doors. He went into detail about why this is happening and offered suggestions about what we can do to change that pattern. That information can also be found in the report on the website. The Bishop emphasized that missional engagement and evangelism will be the twin driving engines of the church of the future.

A presentation on Living the United Methodist Way pointed out that 50% of all clinics and hospitals in the US were started by the United Methodist Church. Several other informative presentations were made and are discussed on the website.

Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, following communion, Bishop Lowry led Bible studies from Acts. He called for courageous witness from the pulpit and the market place. Paul did, and we should, start where people are, not where we think they should be. He pointed out that waiting is a time for witness, and that fear of offending shuts our mouths.

The Tuesday morning business session included review and adoption of several reports on Conference business during the time between Annual Conference meetings. Tuesday’s activities concluded with a Service of Commissioning and Ordination.

The Wednesday morning business session was entirely on review and voting on proposed Constitutional Amendments. There were 32 amendments proposed by the 2008 General Conference. These broke out into three main groups: a series of core component amendments; a series of word change amendments; and nine stand alone amendments. A breakdown of the various amendments is given in detail in the report on the website. The business of the afternoon session is also reported.

The 2009 CTC Annual Conference concluded with the Bishop’s Sending Forth Worship.
The Bishop’s sermon again called for Courageous Witness. This is information valuable to all United Methodists.

• We must love everyone enough to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.
• We must communicate in a language they can understand.
• We must realize that witness/conversion is part of an on-going process/relationship – Not a one-time, all-done experience. The average time to move from introduction to the Bible and theology to making a commitment is 48-49 weeks.
• We must be open to the Holy Spirit’s lead.

You are challenged to tell your story, simply tell your story.

For additional information or to schedule a presentation on the 2009 Annual Conference for your group, contact Bill cwecan@att.net , Doug texsail@aol.com , Tricia tkreid@austin.rr.com , or Rich rich.thompson@sbcglobal.net .