Annual Conference Session 2019
Report by Nick Strobel, lay delegate
The California-Nevada Annual Conference Session 2019 was held in mid-June at the Modesto Convention Center. This was the first annual conference session after the Special-Called General Conference session of February 2019 at which the "Traditional Plan" was passed over the more flexible (more grace-centered) "One Church Plan" favored by the Western Jurisdiction. There was legislation in response to what happened at the Special-Called General Conference as well as the usual sort of legislation we consider every year, including the annual budget. We also held elections for clergy and lay delegates to the General Conference Session of 2020 and Western Jurisdiction Session of 2020. There were two evenings for Christian conferencing around our shared values. Infused throughout were excellent worship services filled with uplifting praise music. Videos of the sermons, morning devotions, reports, and worship services are now available at the 2019 ACS Videos page.
Wesley had a big group at the Annual Conference Session. Nick Strobel and Gay Lynne Natho were the lay delegates and Pastor Anne was the clergy delegate from Wesley and Lisa Strobel and Ashley McCaslin were helping as pages and marshals.
Day 1 Highlights
Praise team from St. Luke's UMC in Richmond, CA led all of our worship services. Praise team leaders are Seru and Emi Vatuwaqa.
We opened the Annual Conference session with a Celebration of Communion and Bishop Carcaño preaching a powerful sermon on what it means to be with Jesus in the boat (Matthew 8:23-27). The boat the twelve disciples plus Jesus would have been in would have been too small for privacy and doing their own thing, so they all had to get along. Bishop Carcaño said that California-Nevada's boat needs to include everyone of all sexual orientations, cultures, and theological beliefs (traditionalists, centrists, progressives). She did make it clear that the Traditional Plan approved by a slim majority at the Special-Called General Conference went against the United Methodist belief that is centered on grace and against John Wesley's General Rules to do no harm, to do good, and to stay in love with God. This three-sentence description doesn't do her message justice, so I recommend you view the recording of her sermon.
Bishop's address to the Annual Conference
Fijian choir at the Communion Service (opening worship service)
Conference Lay Leader, Michael Pope, gave an inspiring and passionate Laity Address. When she isn't doing conference lay leader stuff, Michael Pope is the CEO of the ASEB (Alzheimer’s Services of the East Bay).
In the evening we participated in the first part of the Christian Conferencing on Strategic Visioning. The delegates, volunteers, and visitors were broken up into groups of five to seven people. Video of introduction & instructions for the first session. The two goals of the two Christian Conferencing times are to:
- Address the value of being a connectional church and the challenges of being in connection.
- Identify the values in local churches and our common set of values whose source is Jesus' life ministry and teachings.
Recommended resources for local churches and conference boards & agencies to use in developing a Discipleship System: "Developing an Intentional Discipleship System: A Guide for Congregations" (parent link) by Rev. Junius B. Dotson and "Membership to Discipleship" by Phil Maynard.
As an ice-breaker we were given the option to answer any of the following questions:
- Why am I following Jesus?
- What brought me to my church?
- Why do I stay? What keeps me there?
- Why is Jesus important to me?
Then we were asked to answer any of the following questions:
- When have you seen an example of the church doing something collectively that could not be done individually?
- When has the church done something that made it hard for you to stay? Why did you stay?
- When have you seen the church taken a leap of faith?
The final question for which we were asked to write down our responses was "What are the Jesus values that matter most for the California-Nevada conference's work today and for the next five years?
Day 2 Highlights
The ordination candidates were asked the historical questions and local pastors were licensed. Rev. Brian Adkins, the Cal-Nevada rep on the Commission on the Way Forward preached about going through the storm to get to the other side. Again, very powerful sermon that I hope you'll view at this link.
The legislation was first discussed in Legislative Committees from 10:30 to noon. Pastor Anne and Nick were in Section E and Gay Lynne was in Section C. Legislation that passed or failed by 85% or larger majority was placed on the Consent Calendar to be voted upon as a block at the Saturday (day 4) plenary session. An item could be removed from the Consent Calendar by petition of ten people (only one item was removed and that was because the resolution had a key implementation piece inadvertantly left out).
After lunch we had the Memorial Service with the Great Northern District's Superintendent, Blake Busick, preaching. We also recognized the UMW's 150th anniversary and the 200th anniversary of the UM Global Ministries. We began the voting process for the General Conference and the Western Jurisdiction delegates.
Starting slate of candidates for lay delegates to General Conference & Western Jurisdiction
Delegates to the General Conference (which meets every four years for just 10 days--May 5-15, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN) will:
- Set mission priorities
- Adopt a budget to support the mission priorities (for the next four years)
- Adopt The Book of Discipline for the coming quadrennium (link to free online version)
- Participate in Legislative Committees that refine and perfect petitions from across the church
- Participate in Plenary Sessions with debates and voting on legislation
Delegates to the Western Jurisdiction (which meets every four years for just 4 days--July 15-18, 2020 in Billings, MT) will:
- Coordinate regional mission plans
- Elect & assign bishops
Delegates and reserve delegates for both conferences will attend both conferences but the ones elected for a particular conference will be able to vote. Delegates will prepare for the conferences by studying over 1400 pages of material and meeting monthly to discuss legislation and strategy.
In the evening we participated in the second part of the Christian Conferencing on Strategic Visioning. Video of instructions and modeling of Christian Conferencing for second session. In the same small groups from Day 1, we answered the following questions:
- What do we mean when we talk about a "fully inclusive Church"? What do you mean by that phrase?
- Is your local church fully inclusive? Who would have a hard time finding their way into your church?
- Is our Conference fully inclusive? Who is not yet fully included in the life of the Conference?
After three ballots the laity elected their General Conference delegates. The clergy took seven ballots to get their General Conference slate.
Delegates for the General Conference 2020
Day 3 Highlights
Rev. Anne Lau Choy led the morning devotions. The District Superintendents gave reports of great things happening in their respective (five) districts.
DS Debra Brady gives her report for Central Valley District
We fixed the appointments for each district. Pastor Anne is returning to Wesley--yay! Various conference and general boards & agencies gave their reports as well as awards of special recognition given to special clergy and laity. We also voted on legislation that did not make the Consent Calendar.
I offered an amendment to Item 5 regarding the disposition of local church owned property (change to Division IX of the Standing Rules) to change the conference-district split from the 70-30 ratio to a more equitable 50-50 split. My rationale for doing so is given in my letter to the Central Valley District delegates to the June 29th District Conference. Unfortunately, my amendment did not pass. I also tried another amendment to change the funding of strategic initiatives and strategic appointments to focus on the district in which the local church resides. That also did not pass.
The seven clergy and seven lay Western Jurisdiction delegates were elected. The clergy took just one ballot while the laity took four ballots to get their slate. (Not to be competitive but the laity were still three ballots faster in getting all their delegates for GC and WJC.)
In the evening was the Service of Commissioning & Ordination of elders, deacons, and missionaries. [Link to just Bishop's Sermon part.]
Covenant of ordained and commisioned persons.
Ordained to preach the Word.
Ordained to be of service to others (blessing of the hands and laying on of hands).
Bishop washes the feet of the newly ordained and commissioned.
Washing of feet as Jesus did for his disciples (described in John 13:1-17).
Day 4 Highlights
Rev. Sifa Hingano led the morning devotions. Appointments were fixed for two districts. We approved the Consent Calendar and finished voting on legislation that did not make the Consent Calendar. We approved the budget with zero debate or amendments due to the greater preparation and transparency of the Conference Council on Finance & Administration and the implementation of the biblical Conference Tithe for our apportionment system. We voted on the reserve delegates (five clergy and five lay) to General Conference and Western Jurisdiction. It took four ballots for both clergy and lay to elect their slates and the final slates actually had six clergy and six laity who achieved more than 50% approval (each delegate could vote for five), so the last slot was a tie. Rather than balloting again, we suspended the Standing Rules to allow the top six slots to be reserve delegates.
Link to 52-second video of session singing one of the songs while we wait for the results of the last ballot.
Final slate of General Conference 2020 and Western Jurisdiction Conference 2020 delegates and reserves. Praise God!
ACS 2019 adjourned at about 2:40 p.m. Whew!
