UM Reporter -- February 6, 2004 -- Memphis Conference Edition

Volume 150 Number 51 021000

April 23, 2004

Briefly…

Igniting Ministry to ask for continuation, expansion of campaign

In recent years, the public face of the United Methodist Church has been Igniting Ministries, the advertising/evangelism campaign spearheaded by United Methodist Communications. UMCom is asking General Conference 2004 for $33.5 million to continue and expand by 18 weeks annually the advertising on cable TV networks and for $5.4 million to develop an advertising strategy for local church youth ministries. This amount is not in the monies requested through the budget proposal from the General Council on Finance and Administration.

Positions available

•Full time Financial Secretary: Treasurer’s Office, Jackson, Tenn. The treasurer’s office is taking applications for the position of financial secretary. The person hired for this position will have the responsibilities of treasurer’s office telephone reception work, data entry, maintaining the filing systems and report distribution. Candidates must have general knowledge of the organizational structure of the United Methodist Church, good communication skills and be computer literate. Qualified applicants should send a resume in confidence to the Treasurer’s Personnel Committee, 24 Corporate Boulevard, Jackson TN 38305. Applications received by May 31 will be considered. Interviews of those most qualified will be held in mid-June, and effective employment date for the person selected will be July 16, 2004.

Nominate clergy and laity for Harry Denman Evangelism Awards

The Denman Evangelism Award is presented annually to a United Methodist Lay and Clergy person in each Annual Conference for outstanding work in Christian Evangelism. The award is named for the late Dr. Harry Denman, a distinguished lay evangelist and mentor of Dr. Billy Graham. Those nominated should be people whose life-style brings honor to Christ and who are effective at making true disciples of Jesus. This can involve speaking, personal witnessing, inspiring the church to be involved in evangelism, or more. All nominations must be received no later than May 3. For more information, call the Rev. Joe Moseley, 731-664-8480.

‘Can I get a witness?’ 2004 Youth Annual Conference, April 23-25

The 2004 Youth Annual Conference is April 23-25 at Lakeshore Methodist Assembly, Eva, Tenn. The concert artist will be “Agape”– “Spreading God’s love through hip hop.” Dave Sherer of Agape will be the speaker on Saturday and Sunday. The cost is $70 per person and includes room, board, t-shirt, concert, leadership development, worship, voting, spiritual growth, basketball, new friends, ultimate frisbee and more. Worship will be led by the Conference Youth Council and Sherer of Agape. For more information, call the Rev. Deborah Suddarth, 731-664-8480.

Youth Annual Conference Mission Project– ‘Teens helping Teens II’

The Conference Youth Council is challenging all youth groups to collect school supplies to support children and youth in Western Kentucky. Each district is asked to collect the following:

Brownsville: construction paper

Dyersburg: glue

Jackson: scissors

Asbury: pencils

McKendree: Crayons

Paducah: notebook paper

Paris: erasers

Bring your supplies to Youth Annual Conference. For more information, call the Rev. Deb Suddarth, 731-664-8480.

Hopson	Hot button issues face General Conference delegates
Archer	Durbin	Comperry
Gaddie	Boone	Burnett
Peete	Christian	Brown

By Cathy Farmer

The ten Memphis Conference delegates and alternates elected to General Conference 2004 in Pittsburgh will be facing difficult, emotional decisions in the days ahead.

The April 27-May 7 quadrennial conference of the global United Methodist Church may well be in for contentious debate despite the heartfelt prayers being offered every day by dedicated church members around the world.

Homosexuality

A recent church trial in the Pacific Northwest Conference which found the Rev. Karen Dammann not guilty of breaking church law by serving as a pastor while being a “self avowed practicing homosexual,” left most United Methodists across the nation angry. Jim Lane, past president of the National Association of Annual Conference lay leaders, has even declared that the church has its “proverbial back against the wall...

“No longer can we tolerate and abide deliberate and provocative attacks upon our covenant agreement–the Book of Discipline–and polity,” he wrote in an article carried by United Methodist News Service. “Our umbrella is big, but it does have its drip edge!”

On the other hand, a small number of United Methodists greeted the acquittal with cheers, calling the verdict a prophetic voice on the issue of homosexuality. Amory Peck of Bellingham, Wash., a lay delegate to General Conference, said, “This is a new day.”

The opposing points of view will once again be represented at General Conference. The UMC’s first public debate about issues related to homosexuality occurred at the 1972 General Conference. The topic has continued to be a painful struggle, with the Book of Discipline reflecting United Methodists’ overwhelming belief that homosexuals are persons of sacred worth, but that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.

Church and Society

Proposed changes to the Book of Discipline relating to human sexuality will be discussed in the Church and Society legislative committee. Other hot button topics referred to Church and Society will be issues related to the war in Iraq; a report from the Bioethics Task Force addressing in vitro fertilization, human cloning and stem cell therapy; capital punishment; abortion; protecting Native American “sacred sites”; energy policy; gambling; gun violence; language diversity; religious liberty; and the US Army School of the Americas. The Memphis Conference delegate to that committee is the Rev. Roger Hopson. Hopson, a delegate to the 1996 and 2000 General and Jurisdictional Conferences, is the Coordinator of Program Ministries for the Memphis Conference. He is a former Paris District Superintendent, served in local churches as pastor, and before answering the call to ministry, was a social studies teacher and assistant football coach. (Phone: 731-664-8480)

Connectional Table

Anita Kay Archer, co-chair of the Memphis Conference delegation, sits on the General Administration committee which will discuss legislation dealing with the Connectional Table proposed by the General Council on Ministries.

The Connectional Table would “integrate and synthesize the work of the GCOM and the General Council on Finance and Administration.” Much of the discussion about the proposed table centers around the makeup of the voting members. If accepted as proposed, it would include a representative from each of the 64 U.S. annual conferences, and three representatives from each of the seven central conferences; 12 at-large members for diversity, and up to 14 bishops plus the general secretaries and presidents of agencies accountable to the Connectional Table. The secretaries and presidents would have voice but no vote. This committee will also deal with “Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century.”

Archer is Business Development Officer for the Bank of Jackson. She has served as Conference lay leader since 1996. She was elected a delegate to the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 General and Jurisdictional Conferences. (Phone: 660-8000)

Higher Education and Ministry

Dr. Harry Durbin Sr., co-chair of the Memphis Conference delegation, will work with the committee dealing with all petitions relating to the work and concerns of ordained ministries and superintendency, higher education, schools of theology, and chaplaincy and related ministries. Hot button topics include: voting rights for local pastors at annual conference, guaranteed appointments for clergy, same sex unions, re-baptism, the definition of marriage, and the elimination of mandatory clergy retirement.

Durbin is the senior pastor of Collierville UMC. He was endorsed by the Memphis Conference as a candidate for the episcopacy in 2000 and 2004. He serves as the chair of the conference Board of Ordained Ministry. (Phone: 901-853-8383)

Financial Administration

Dr. David Comperry, first clergy alternate, will meet with the Financial Administration committee. All petitions relating to the work of the General Council on Finance and Administration will be considered by this group. The General Board of Pension and Health Benefits is proposing major changes in the clergy and lay pension programs. The quadrennial budget will also come before this group. But the hot button topic will be the GCFA proposal, as a cost-saving measure, to reduce the number of U. S. bishops.

Comperry is the senior pastor of Bartlett UMC. He serves as chair of the Memphis Conference Christian Unity & Inter-religious Concerns committee. He is also active with the Memphis Uptown Alliance Advisory Committee and Land Trust Board. He has been a delegate to SEJ Jurisdictional Conference, a delegate to the World Methodist Conference, and the chair of the conference Federal Credit Union. (Phone: 901-386-4563)

Local Church

The Rev. Gail Gaddie will sit on the legislative committee that will examine the provisions in the Book of Discipline that deal with the local church including legislation about the definition of a church member, inclusive language, local churches given permission/responsibility to start new churches, allowing the charge conference to decide whether or not gay unions shall be permitted, and whether to allow absentee balloting for charge and church conferences.

Gaddie is the pastor of Lambuth Memorial UMC in Jackson. She served previously at Mason and Braden United Methodist churches after graduating from Memphis Theological Seminary. She is active in the Jackson Area Ministers’ Association, representing the organization on the Disaster Recovery Services Board. For the conference, she serves on the Board of Ordained Ministry and Worship Design Team. (Phone: 731-422-6558)

Faith and Order

Dr. Ben Boone, Jackson District Superintendent, will serve on the Faith and Order committee which will deal with proposed changes to the stated mission of the church found in the Book of Discipline in the Doctrinal Standards and Our Theological Task. The committee will also deal with the Ministry of All Christians, and the Meaning of Ordination and Conference Membership, and proposed changes in Qualifications for Ordination. Several proposed amendments to the Book of Discipline deal with “Opening Doors to Different Sexual Orientations.”

Boone is in his fourth year as Superintendent of the Jackson District. He served parishes in West Tennessee, Western Kentucky and as a campus minister. He was a delegate to the 2000 General Conference and the 1996 and 2000 SEJ Conference. He has served on the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, COSROW and Church and Society. (Phone: 731-660-1376)

Global Ministries

Mrs. Sandra Burnett’s committee will consider proposals relating to the work and concerns of the Board of Global Ministries. These include substance abuse and related violence, the National Plan for Hispanic Ministries, Advancing Korean American Ministries, Asian American Language Ministry, Native American Comprehensive Plan, restorative justice, shalom ministry, deaf ministry, town and country ministries, urban ministries, volunteers in mission, and the Women’s Division.

Burnett is the past president of Memphis Conference United Methodist Women, and is a member of the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, is on the Lakeshore Board of Trustees, chairs the Board of Trustees for United Methodist Family Services in Paducah, and has served in many offices in her local church, Lone Oak UMC, Paducah, Ky. (Phone: 270-554-9405)

Independent Commissions

Mrs. Ellen Peete will sit on the Independent Commissions legislative committee. This committee will consider petitions and resolutions relating to the commissions on Archives and History, Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, Communications, Religion and Race, Status and Role of Women, and United Methodist Men. This is the committee that will deal with the possible merger of Religion and Race and Cosrow into one Justice Commission. Independent Commissions will also debate the expanded Igniting Ministries nation-wide media campaign and its multi-million dollar funding request for 2005-2008.

Mrs. Peete is the Executive Director of Memphis United Methodist Neighborhood Centers Inc. She is the McKendree District lay leader, is a member of the Memphis Conference Board of Trustees. She has taught at the elementary, junior high, high and college levels. (Phone: 901-323-4993)

Discipleship

Dr. Solomon Christian, a dentist, will sit on the Discipleship legislative committee. This group will handle petitions on lay speaking, lay leadership, older adult ministries, and annual conference groups with discipleship responsibilities. They will also consider the Holy Communion Study and the proposed creation of a Youth and Young Adult Division which will encompass the work presently being done through the United Methodist Youth Organization and the Shared Mission Focus on Young People.

Dr. Christian was born and educated in India. He is a founder of United Methodist Volunteers in Mission/SEJ Medical Fellowship and of the UM Fellowship of Health Care volunteers. He coordinates “Dental Clinics for the World,” opening clinics in South America, Asia and in Sierra Leone, Africa. He provides leadership for the church on local, district and the conference level. (Phone: 901-566-1414)

Conferences

Mrs. Beth Brown will serve on the Conferences Legislative Committee. This group will consider legislation affecting General, Jurisdictional, Annual, Provisional, Missionary and District Conferences and missions. It will also consider changes to the election and assignment of bishops. One proposed change to the Book of Discipline would call for a retention election for all bishops at each General Conference. This committee will consider the GCFA money-saving proposal to reduce the number of bishops by one in each jurisdiction.

Mrs. Brown is the Preschool Director at Pleasant Valley UMC, in Union City, Tenn. She’s the chair of the Memphis Conference Commission on the Status and Role of Women, vice-chair of the Reelfoot Rural Ministries Board of Trustees, a member of the conference Professional Sexual Ethics Committee and the Conference Inclusiveness Committee. She served on the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (1992-2000), was elected a delegate to SEJ Jurisdictional Conference 1992, 2000, 2004 and first alternate to General Conference 2004.

Not sure how General Conference works?

UMNS–When the United Methodist Church’s top legislative body meets in Pittsburgh, nearly 1,000 delegates from around the world will once again speak to issues of the day and set direction for the denomination.

Convened every four years, GC is the only entity that speaks for the entire 10-million member denomination.

Carolyn Marshall of Veedersburg, Ind., longtime secretary of General Conference, explained: “General Conference is the legislative body that sets policy for the denomination. We come together from divergent theological and geographic backgrounds to struggle, pray and work together to discover who we are as United Methodist people of God.”

In an intense, two-week period, 998 delegates from the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia will handle more than 1600 piece of legislation. They will also participate in daily worship and take other action relating to guiding the church for the 2005-2008 period.

Majority votes can change any part of the denomination’s book of law, or Book of Discipline, except the Constitution, the Articles of Religion or Confession of Faith. Rules in the Constitution also prohibit the conference from eliminating the office of bishop and the right of clergy to trial by committee. Any proposed changes to the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote of General Conference and a two-thirds affirmative vote by the aggregate total of voting members of all annual conferences.

The number of delegates from each conference is determined by the number of church members. Each annual conference sends an equal number of lay and clergy delegates.

If you wish to follow the activities/votes, several resources are available: Go to www.gc2004.org for daily information. To track legislation, click Online Legislative Tracking. You may also subscribe for email updates.