Please share your thoughts and observations of the 2008 Annual Conference below.
Annual Conference 2008 Blog
7 June 2008 | Annual Conference 2008 Blog | 24 Responses
Last Modified: 17 June 2008 @ 09:26
7 June 2008 | Annual Conference 2008 Blog | 24 Responses
Last Modified: 17 June 2008 @ 09:26
Please share your thoughts and observations of the 2008 Annual Conference below.
What? No live streaming Webcams?!
I watched last year’s AC for Western PA and hoped West Ohio would have it this year. (They also kept recordings of their session for on-demand streaming.)
(sad sigh)
The weather here has been something this time around. Temperatures in the 90’s, and then, for the first time in memory, evacuating Hoover Auditorium for a tornado warning on Monday night. At least the temperature today has gone done some with the rain!.
Kudos to the communication department for including and informing us that are not there through this very inviting and inclusive web site. What an excellant professional job!
Thank you so much.
Dear Friends,
In this year of transition I am glad to have been able to attend Sunday night’s extension ministry gathering, Monday’s Memorial service and Holy Communion. Due to new responsibilities as Chaplain with the Springfield Masonic Community I needed to return home. I am thankful for the website’s multimedia coverage and photos. Stay safe in Christ.
This is the first conference I have had to miss in 10 years. Reviewing this site helps me to keep up and not feel so left out as I am now living with my mother to care for her and can’t get away this year. Thanks so much for the site.
Great stuff. The worship was outstanding. I find it very hard to understand how we could even consider the 400k plus houseing deal when we have a Bishop standing up and looking over the crowd to determine a close voting call.
Electronic voting, Web Streaming, Video as well as audio downloading (direct purchase) are all old hat but not in use in 2008 in our conf very disapointing.
I thank you for posting the resolutions on this web page. I have some very serious concerns about resolutions #11 and 12. I ask you not to pass these two resolutions. The word of the Lord indicates that there are very serious consequences for those who practice the homosexual lifestyle. These consequences were deadly. These are not my words, but the word of the Lord if you read, study and learn what the bible says. These two resolutions promote sin and death and Gods word is to provide freedom from sin and prevent the deadly consequences of the homosexual lifestyle. God hates the sin, but loves the sinner and anyone living this lifestyle can be redeemed by God.
I recommend that you pass resolution #13. It promotes biblical teaching of the truth and is for preservation of the family as the foundation of our society. Ever notice that we were physically made in the image of God and create for a heterosexual life as man and woman. I do not want my children to be exposed to this lifestyle in public or at church because God’s word says its wrong. Its important for the UMC to understand that words do have consequences and we should not be cutting what the bible says out the church. Try to argue with the word of the Lord. Its very clear.
RS, don’t call it a “lifestyle”. That minimizes the issue and allows you to condemn people without saying that you’re condemning people.
God’s first law is to love the person. Full stop. NOT “love the sinner and hate the sin”. Certainly not “love the sinner but they’re more dangerous than terrorists”, which is what issue 11 decries. And certainly not “love the sinner but kick them out of God’s house”, which is what issue 12 fights against.
It always amazes me that this one issue can be such a stumbling block to the inclusive nature of the UMC. For no other “sin” do we preach separation from the church.
By now the vote is done, though I haven’t heard the results. I pray that the West Ohio Conference rose above the bigotry and rejection evinced by the 2008 General Conference.
Wednesday morning’s worship/teaching/indwelling of the Holy Spirit was the best experience I’ve ever had. It did more than simply inspire me, it propelled me. Wow! Kudos to those who invited and made sure Rudy Rasmus was here to let God use him in such a profound way!
It really was great, wasn’t it, Greg. I’d dug up a sermon of his online, so I kind of knew what we were in for, but Rudy really needs to be experienced live to “get” the whole package.
Oh, and the really loud cell phone during the amazingly quiet prayer? Directly in front of me. Thumbs up for not turning the thing off!
Matt and others,
I sensed some sarcasim in your posting. I am not sure at this point if that “loud cell phone” was mine or not but I know that I had been setting mine for vibrate because I had a step father in very poor health and was trying to keep in touch with family and his condition. It was obviously set on vibrate-ring by mistake, because it did ring before I could get one call during session. I apologize for the disturbance and ask that we realize all mistakes are not meant as rudeness. I had to leave shortly after that service to return home to be with my family and my step dad passing into God’s hands early that next morning. Love First sure has a lot of unknown facets.
Now that Conference is over, thank you for continuing to update the conference website in a timely manner. It’s very helpful to those of us preparing a report for our congregation.
Along that same line, do you know when the Recommendations as passed, including the two added at Conference will be added to the website?
I would love to hear about what other Lay Members are doing for their report. Thanks for a wonderful ministry.
Actually, I have question. I’ve searched about every page and search link of the WOC and I’m unable to find what the final total was for the
Love First Offering. Everything I find seems to speak about what will take place at the conference, and there’s no follow up–especially with regard to the Love First Offering. Can anybody help>
I haven’t been able to find anything either. I’m guessing there will be a big after-Conference post, but it’s almost a week later and I haven’t heard vote counts or seen amended recommendations.
I have found elsewhere that 11 and 13 were tabled, and that an amended 12 passed.
I’m glad so many people are looking through our website - it makes our efforts this year to try some new ways to keep you informed worth it!
We’re working hard to get the final tallies and final recommendations up on the website, but needed to wait until the official release of the information from various departments so that when we posted them we were confident they were accurate. The plan is to have a final tally for everything, the final resolutions, and a summary of conference posted by the end of the week.
Thanks for your patience, and keep commenting!
Lisa
The worship services were awe-inspiring as always. Pastor Rudy especially moved my spririt.
However, the most outstanding part of this year’s annual conference for me was the response to the “Love First” challenge - nearly 1/2 million dollars given by the disciples of our churches in love to others. That is something to celebrate!
This year’s annual conference was one of the best I’ve ever attended. The worship was excellent, music was superb, preaching was extraordinary, and the overall mood of people seemed to be much more relaxed and connectional than in previous years. Even with the “controversial” recommendations, we seemed to emphasize our togetherness rather than our separateness. Five stars to Bishop Ough and everyone who made this conference possible.
The final recommendations, the tally to date for the Love First Offering, and the text of the Episcopal Address have been placed on the NEWS link above.
Thank you, Lisa, and all others who are working hard to update the conference website and provide information to us.
I am not a Biblical scholar, only a church attendee for a very long time. I have never heard of Jesus “tabling” anything. He always faced the issues head-on. The Methodist Church needs to do the same on homosexuality. We are all sinners in God’s eyes. Homosexuals are the only group that I am aware of that have a bragging in-your-face attitude about their lifestyle. The remainder of us as far as I know are ashamed of our sins and make an effort to repent. We had a split during the 19th century over the great issue of that day-slavery. It’s time to take another stand on homosexuality. Time to get off the fence. Go one way or the other. WWJD?
Lisa, thanks for the updates. Any idea when we’ll have access to vote counts and such?
Donald, I agree to an extent. In this case, though, there were three recommendations that at heart were about the same issue, so tabling two of them to allow more time to spend on the third seems reasonable.
Of course, I’m one of those bragging homosexuals, and one who doesn’t think that the Bible calls homosexuality a sin to boot. So my call for the Church to take a stand has a different hope than yours.
For right now, the amended Resolution #12 is the only way to make progress until 2012 when the General Conference (I pray) finally does away with the shameful pieces in the Book of Discipline.
I will continue to hope and pray that pastors and layfolks in the West Ohio Conference obey Resolution #12, and use this year to refrain from judging, to welcome and love one another, and to study the available materials to gain new understanding of this important issue.
Matt, I’m not sure what you mean by vote counts and such. Can you elaborate for me and I’ll try to get the answer for you.
This is probably not the kind of comment you are expecting, but….I just attended a family reunion and I learned from my sister Mary Deem (Deacon in Troy, OH), that your bishop is Bruce Ough and that Bishop Rueben Job was a part of your Annual Conference this year. They served together in the South Dakota UM Conference Center in late 70s and early 80s while I worked across the hall as the SDUM Foundation Treasurer (before either of them were bishops and were known simply as Rueben and Bruce to all of us). I thoroughly enjoyed watched the address by Bishop Ough and wonder if you have a video of Bishop Job’s presentation. I would love to view it, if there is one.l