Monday,
June 14
After separate
morning sessions for clergy and laity, delegates
gathered in the Classic Center's exhibit hall
for a 2:00 p.m. service of worship and Holy
Communion.
The Rev. Carolyn
Morris, retiring District Superintendent of the
Athens-Elberton
District,
called on the delegates to focus on what they
hold in common, rather than on their
disagreements. "Could we come together in a
family gathering [and] stop hashing and
rehashing, chewing and rechewing, on our
differences?" she asked.
At 3:15 p.m.,
Bishop G. Lindsey Davis called the conference to
order and explained the process for voting on
delegates to both General and Jurisdictional
Conferences. North Georgia will send 26
delegates, 13 clergy and 13 laity, to the
General Conference, scheduled for May 2000 in
Cleveland, Ohio.
The Southeastern
Jurisdictional Conference will meet in July
2000, with 52 elected delegates from North
Georgia, 26 lay and 26 clergy.
The balance of
the afternoon was consumed with balloting, and
with reports from various committees, task
forces, and commissions.
At the evening
ordination service, four candidates were
ordained as Deacons in Full Connection, 25 as
Probationary Members, and 22 as Elders in Full
Connection.
Tuesday,
June 15
A communion
service was held at 7:30 a.m. in the Classic
Center Theatre. (These services, held each
morning at 7:30, were lightly
attended.)
At 8:30 a.m.,
the business session resumed with additional
balloting.
Then came the
daily Bible study time, this year lead by the
Rev. Dr. David Jones, senior pastor of
Trinity-on-the-Hill
UMC in
Augusta, who spoke about mending "broken bones"
in the Body of Christ. The text was Ephesians
4:1-13. (Later, he said much of the study grew
out of internal problems at his own church,
where great strife has resulted after a decision
by the Staff-Parish Relations Committee to
remove a longtime staff member.)
After the study,
the Rev. Dr. Joe Peabody, incoming pastor of
Marietta First UMC, led a session of prayer for
healing in the body. Special music was provided
by soloist Tim Burcham, who sang at services and
sessions throughout the week.
At 10:30 AM, the
conference recognized retiring clergy. Several
retirees seized the opportunity to give
testimony about Jesus, but, sadly, others used
to occasion simply to tell funny
stories.
After a lunch
break, the conference reconvened for several
reports, including one presented by the Long
Range Planning Committee was given. The
committee presented a plan to sell the United
Methodist Center building in downtown Atlanta
and relocate the Center to Simpsonwood, a
popular UM retreat area north of the city. After
considerable discussion, the plan
passed.
The balance of
the afternoon session was taken up with
balloting and reports, including report on the
new conference prayer ministry.
(Later, it was
announced that on Nov. 6, the North Georgia
Conference will be sponsoring the Bishop G.
Lindsey Davis Conference on Prayer at
Oak
Grove UMC in
Decatur.
The teacher will be Dr. Terry Teykl. This is
good news. Terry developed the idea of the Pray
Down at High Noon ministry of which Gateway is a
part. He is also the author of Blueprint for
the House of Prayer, taught last year in our
Adult Discipleship group.)
General
Conference Lay delegates elected on Tuesday
included evangelicals Joe Whittemore, Margaret
Knight, Rubin Perry, Joe Wesley Kilpatrick,
Betty Ellison and Hiram Bobo. Also elected was
conference youth president, Matthew Pinson,
reportedly the first high-school age delegate
elected from the conference in 38 years.
Only two clergy
delegates were elected Tuesday: the Rev. Martha
Forrest, Atlanta-College Park District
Superintendent, and the Rev. Malone Dodson,
senior pastor of Roswell UMC.
The Tuesday
evening worship service, billed as a "camp
meeting" service, was held in the
air-conditioned Classic Center Theatre. The Rev.
Dr. Alice Rogers preached a strong sermon on
"Telling the Story of Jesus."
Wednesday,
June 16
The session
began with balloting, followed by the daily
Bible study, in which the Rev. Dr. David Jones
focused on replacing ungodly qualities with
godly ones by the power of Christ. He said we
must put away anger and bitterness, even if we
have been wronged by another. The text was
Ephesians 4:25-32.
In the prayer
time which followed, the Rev. Dr. Joe Peabody
called for prayers of repentance over anger and
bitterness, and asked any of delegates who might
be harboring anger or bitterness toward any
other delegate to seek that person out during
the week to ask forgiveness.
Rubin Perry,
conference lay leader, presented the report of
the Board of Laity, calling on delegates to
spend time in prayer and to be open to the power
and leading of the Holy Spirit. He also urged
lay people to work actively toward racial
reconciliation and to embrace new technology for
use in evangelism and discipleship.
After a break
for lunch, the conference resumed with a Service
of Celebration and Remembrance, remembering
clergy who died during the past year.
The rest of the
day was filled with reports and balloting.
Conference treasurer Clyde McDonald reported
that conference membership was up by 6,373 over
the previous year, with 7,559 professions of
faith. Average worship attendance was 2.2
percent. Most of the growth came from children.
Adult growth was less than 2 percent.
General
conference lay delegates elected Wednesday:
Chuck Lanier, Tom Jackson, Claudette Bryson,
Marget Sikes, and Paul Ervin. Clergy delegates
elected Wednesday: the Revs. Jonathan Holston,
Jamie Jenkins, Warren Lathem, James Mooneyhan,
Joe Peabody, Ed Tomlinson, and MacCallister
Hollins.
By adjournment
late Wednesday afternoon, 12 lay delegates and 9
clergy delegates had been elected to General
Conference.
At the evening
worship service, Bishop Edward W. Paup of Oregon
preached,
with music from The Junaluska Singers.
Thursday,
June 17
After David
Jones' morning Bible study (focusing on the
armor of God in Ephesians 6), prayer leader Joe
Peabody asked delegates to kneel, if they were
able, and pray.
Clergy were
asked to pray that God would give them a lay
person willing to speak the truth about any area
of their lives in which they were failing to put
on the full armor of God. Lay people were asked
to pray that God would give them the boldness to
speak the truth to their pastors in
love.
Afterward,
business resumed with more balloting and
reports.
Delegates
approved the proposed sale of Camp Wesley, run
by Wesley Community Centers, which provides a
wilderness experience for inner-city children. A
developer has purchased the land near the
existing camp and plans to build at least 1,000
homes in the area. Another, more rural, tract of
land will be located on which to rebuild the
camp.
The conference
decided to receive an impromptu offering for New
Salem UMC. The church's building was destroyed
by arson on New Year's Eve 1998. The total for
the offering was $9,540.45.
Delegates began
voting on several resolutions Thursday,
approving a recently written resolution
commending Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes for his stand
against casino gambling.
A resolution
denouncing persecution of Christians around the
world passed the conference, but two other
resolutions on the same topic were defeated,
largely over concerns about wording.
At about noon, a
resolution calling for a change in the Book of
Discipline to allow local churches to "redirect"
apportionment funds was defeated, despite a
6-to-1 recommendation of approval by the
conference Resolutions Committee.
Under the
resolution, redirection of funds would have been
allowed only after a local church had carefully
investigated and documented unscriptural
board/agency uses of apportioned money and had
notified the District Superintendent of the
intent to redirect. The proposed Discipline
language would have required that all redirected
funds be sent to other UM-related
ministries.
Defeat of the
resolution occurred after Bishop Davis,
deviating from normal parliamentary procedure,
cut off debate after only one speaker on each
side. His stated reason for shortening the
debate was that lunch time was
approaching.
A speaker
opposing the resolution was allowed to speak
first. He was Dr. Herchel Sheets, head of the
conference Board of Ordained Ministry (Dr.
Sheets is retiring this year after 55 years in
the conference). He urged delegates to vote
against the resolution, saying "we need to have
confidence in the leadership" of the
denomination.
The author of
this report spoke
in favor
of the resolution, which was defeated on a show
of hands.
(On Friday, an
attempt was made to rescind the "nay" vote and
resume debate. See below.)
The afternoon
session consisted of balloting and reports,
including one from Andrus Norvak, Dean of Baltic
Methodist Theological Seminary in Estonia. The
seminary had 19 graduates last year. Nine of the
graduates were supported by funds from the North
Georgia Annual Conference. (Later, Bishop Davis
announced that a special North Georgia
Conference offering for the Baltic Mission
Center raised $69, 266.98, plus several
additional pledges.)
Also on
Thursday, the laity elected a final delegate to
General Conference (Dick Williamson, from
Gainesville First UMC, who led a lay witness
mission at Gateway several years ago), plus ten
of the 13 additional delegates to Jurisdictional
Conference: Doris Paul, Betty Whitten of Athens
First UMC, Ida Jones, Jo Dinkins, Judie Wendt,
Shan Yohan, James Smith, Virginia Drewry, Vikki
McVay and conference United Methodist Men
President Norman Johnson.
The clergy
finished electing its General Conference slate,
sending Wiley Stephens, Mac Brantley, Alice
Rogers and Walter Kimbrough.
Just before
afternoon session closed, Gov. Roy Barnes, a
member of the troubled Marietta First UMC,
addressed
the conference. (The Marietta church recently
split,
following Bishop Davis's decision to reappoint
its senior pastor, Charles Sineath, who had been
at the church for more than two
decades.)
Mr. Barnes, also
was the keynote speaker at the United Methodist
Men's dinner Thursday evening, said "I'm not
here this afternoon as your governor. I'm here
as a Methodist but most of all as a follower of
Jesus Christ."
He noted that
every believer has the responsibility to act as
a Christian in both their private lives and in
the offices they hold.
After Gov.
Barnes spoke, Bishop Davis led the delegation in
prayer for the governor.
Friday,
June 18
In the morning
session, singer Tim Burcham sang "The Blood Will
Never Lose its Power." Bible teacher David Jones
led a study titled "Something to Sing About,"
emphasizing the Scriptural basis of many of our
hymns and songs. Afterward, prayer leader Joe
Peabody asked members of the delegates to form
prayer triplets and pray for one another.
Bishop Davis
then announced that work would continue on
resolutions. Immediately, the author of this
report rose "to a question of privilege" to
register dissatisfaction with the shortened
debate preceding the previous day's vote on the
the apportionments resolution (see details in
Thursday's report above).
Citing the
Robert's Rules of Order provision (Rule 34)
which says the "chairman cannot close the debate
as long as any member desires to speak," I
offered a motion to rescind the vote and reopen
the debate. The Bishop cited the discretion
allowed the chair in applying the rules and set
aside my question of privilege. I appealed his
decision to the delegates, who supported the
Bishop's view that the rules need not be
followed in all cases.
(The good news:
This apportionment issue will go before next
year's General Conference anyway. Why? Even as
we were facing defeat in North Georgia, an
almost identical resolution on redirecting
apportionments was being approved by the South
Georgia Annual Conference at its session in
Savannah.)
Debate then
proceeded on other resolutions.
A resolution,
from McEachern United Methodist Church, calling
for deletion of Discipline language (66H) which
appears to support out-of-wedlock unions was
defeated. The Bishop allowed three speakers on
each side of the question. Opponents of the
resolution said it would be perceived as
hateful. Supporters said the Church must offer a
clear witness that out-of-wedlock unions are
Scripturally wrong.
Then came the
final resolution -- one supportive of homosexual
unions but not calling on the conference to
actually take any action. Immediately after the
resolution was announced by the chair of the
resolutions committee, the author of this report
raised an objection "to consideration of the
question."
Called upon by
the Bishop to explain my objection, I noted that
such an objection is permitted under the rules
regarding any motion deemed "irrelevant,
unprofitable or contentious."
I explained that
the resolution on homosexual unions failed all
three tests. "It is certainly contentious. It
calls for no action on the part of the
conference, therefore it is irrelevant. And I
would submit that it most certainly unprofitable
to debate that which God already has
decided."
The Bishop
called for vote on the objection, which was
sustained by more than two-thirds of the body.
This kept the resolution from the floor. (The
Athens Daily News/Banner-Herald reported
this turn of events in a front page
story.
The story also discussed the resolution
mentioned above that called for changing the
Discipline language on out-of-wedlock unions.
Unfortunately, that part of the story,
apparently based on an inaccurate reading of the
resolution, is wrong in a number of
particulars.)
The rest of the
day was consumed with budget matters, property
resolutions, and balloting.
Delegates
approved a 6.2 percent budget increase (equal to
$942,000) for the year 2000, bringing the total
conference budget for next year to almost $16.2
million.
Lay delegates
elected the rest of their Jurisdictional
Conference delegation (Jo Ann Bookout, Gus
Gustavson, and Dorothy Edmund) and chose five
alternates (Lyn Powell, Marian Wilder, Virgil
Eady, Dino Wesley, and Deborah
Marlowe).
As the hour for
adjournment approached, the clergy continued
struggling to fill out their slate of
Jurisdictional delegates.
The Bishop
proceeded to read the new appointments,
officially adjourned the session, and held the
clergy past adjournment to continue
balloting.
Eventually, the
following 13 were selected as additional clergy
delegates to the Jurisdictional Conference:
Gerald Thurman, Dee Shelnutt, Jane Brooks, David
Jones, Parks Davis, Lurline Fowler, Phil DeMore,
Mark Westmoreland, Bridgette Young, Beth Cook,
Al Turnell, David Naglee, and Terry
Walton.
The following
were elected as alternate delegates: Jim
Mitchell, Harvey Palmer, Dean Milford, Renita
Thomas, and Athens First UMC senior pastor Bill
Britt.
