Back from General Conference

Whew! Helen and I just returned from the whirlwind event known as General Conference. The theme of the conference was a Future with Hope.   As the clergy delegate from Ukraine, replacing Alexander Merzlikov, our pastor in Lugansk who could not attend due to health reasons, I had 10 conference days which started at 7:00 am with a meeting of the Eurasian episcopal area delegation and usually ended around 11:00 pm at night or later.  Our lay delegate, Olga Tyshkovetz, and English instructor at the Lviv State University was very active, speaking on the floor of General Conference at least 4 times!  During the debates, many of us delegates had a Hope for a Future that was the end of General Conference.

 I had been told of the long days and the exhausting schedule.  I was also warned about being bombarded with material from the various caucus group and agencies which tried to persuade delegates to vote one way or the other.  But what I didn't expect was to be inspired!  The worship was wonderful: incredibly inspirational, powerful preaching and spiritually uplifting.  To see the whole process work gave me renewed vision for the United Methodist Church.  I left feeling that our United Methodist Church really does have a Future with Hope.  Here is our delegation, all two of us, hard at work.  Can you find us?  Olga is sitting to my left.  She's the one who isn't bald.

 

If you would like to know more about General Conference and what was discussed, I recommend the blog of pastor Adam Hamilton, delegate from Kansas East Annual Conference who had a daily report from General Conference along with thoughtful discussion of all the major issues.  You can find it by clicking here for the main page of the blog.

Check the Recent Posts section in Adam's blog to find the posts on General Conference.