Election

6 Ballots and we have a bishop. Paul Leland, from North Carolina, was elected this morning with 2 more votes than the number needed.

As a fellow delegate said, there is a sense of relief when the process is over, no matter how it turns out. It's always disappointing when "your" candidate isn't elected, but I think somewhere deep inside none of us expected that Lynn would be elected. However the turn out, I do think that Paul Leland has good possibility. I liked what he said Tuesday in the round robin sessions, some of the answers he gave and points he made. But, I liked our bishop four years ago, too, so I'm hesitant to even give my own opinion on what kind of bishop he'll make. None of us really know.

So, now we turn to the other business of the Jurisdictional Conference. What would that other business be? Well...that's a good question. We're all kind of wondering the same thing. Bishop Whitaker told me this morning that the Consecration service will not be moved up because there is a consensus among the Council of Bishops that all newly elected bishops will be consecrated on the same day across the country. That's kind of cool, I can understand that. But the agenda committee reported this morning, and didn't really make any changes. We're thinking we can at least move things together and get longer meal breaks. Someone did request from the floor that we try to finish our business this afternoon and tomorrow morning and take tonight off. We'll see! I think it's possible.

We do have other business. We've been doing teaching sessions, which have been pretty good, except for the first one. It was really boring, given by a professor of theology. I think he tried to cram an entire college course into an hour. Michael was able to summarize his points into about 5 minutes. The second was very interesting, given by a historian and theologian. I didn't pay close attention because I was doing a sudoku, but what I heard was good. We're in the middle of the third right now, being given by Bishop Carder, so of course it's good! But I'm blogging and not paying close attention, either.

Almost time for lunch. The youth and young adult addresses are this afternoon. I'll post about them later!

Holy Cow...We ARE moving into the 21st Century!

This is from this umc.org website:

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1st Ballot

Okay...so we're back after lunch. We've had a showchoir singing and dancing for us. They're not that good in the singing area, but their dancing is pretty good, and man are they having fun! It's a choir from a church, and there's a bunch of them. It's really cool to see a church with that kind of ministry.

I think it's time to hear a ballot. The first was taken, and it was supposed to be a write in. But they listed all of the declared candidates in alphabetical order and we filled in the box next to the name. Interesting...I thought the first was to be a write in so that no one had preferential treatment by having their name listed first. Maybe they can't read people's handwriting?

Lunch was glorious! We ate boxed lunches outside by the lake. It was beautiful! I avoided Cokesbury, so I wasn't tempted to buy anything. The plan is Italian for dinner. Yum!

More later!

Juridsuctional Conference: Day 1/2 and 1

The conference actually started today, but yesterday we had a "round robin" meet and greet with each of the episcopal nominees. I was interested that my impressions of the candidates changed between their presentations to the large group and then their q&a with each individual conference.

So far, it's been really good. We're staying at Providence Lodge with Michael, Margaret, Sarah and Elizabeth, and Beth and Debbie. We're having a good time! The only person missing is Mark...he decided he didn't want to take the time off work for this. Can't say that I blame him, but I wish he was here! Last night we went to a cookout for the delegation and then played games (Nert? New to me! and Apples to Apples). This morning we walked around the lake with the Williams. It was a beautiful morning.

Stuart Auditorium has air conditioning! I'm kinda upset...because now it's freezing in here. And we've lost that "nature" feel. They have all the windows closed and signs all over saying keep the windows and doors closed. It's crazy.

Okay, we're moving to a service of preparation for electing a new bishop. Let the fun begin!

Nashville Sounds

So, the women's ensemble that I sing with sang the National Anthem at the Nashville Sounds Game Sunday night! It was very exciting. About 300 groups auditioned to sing, and only about 50 or so were asked! We were pumped. Even with the Sounds' losing season and a small crowd, it was still the biggest audience we've ever sung for!

4th of July weekend was awesome! Mark and I went to Nashville Shores with Linda and James Thursday after work. That was the first time we'd really gotten to hang out with them, and we had a really good time! Nashville Shores was packed with people. We made it down two slides in two hours. Definitely overcrowded. But Linda found a great place to watch the fireworks over the lake, and that made the whole day worth it! Afterwards, we went back to Linda and James' house and hung out for awhile, just talking. It was really good!

Then Friday was the big family picnic. I overate - though I did better than usual. All of the family was there, and we got to meet the new baby Liam - he's so precious! That night we saw the downtown fireworks. Once again, Mark's dad was awesome at finding just the right spot at just the right moment. We had a great view, and then a perfect shot to get out of downtown without getting stuck in the traffic!

Saturday was a day at the Caboose. It poured rain for about 3 hours, which stunk, but it really cooled things off. We went to the Soda Pop Junction for lunch - I always love that place.

And then we ended the weekend by singing at the Sounds' game! It was a really good weekend!

This week I'm working VBS at church. Our church goes all out for VBS - completely transforms the entire children's wing and about half of the rest of the church. As one of our pastors said today, it's not decorating, it's remodeling! This is the second year I've done VBS, and I really hope to get more involved in future years. Decorating would be so much fun, but they always do it while I'm working. But at least my work will let me off to do VBS!

Truth

So, gavin posted this quote on his blog from another website: "Truth comes from being involved, and not from observation and speculation."

The first thing that came to my mind was the quote from our bishop: "this is not a vision, this is just an observation."

And I wonder how different our conference would be if our bishop was actually involved in youth and children's ministry, instead of just observing, and telling others what to do.

And I wonder what I only observe, and try to speak truth to, without actually being involved. What am I involved in? For so long, I was completely involved in youth ministry - as a youth. And then I was completely involved as a college student in my college. But I feel now that I'm not really involved in anything. I'm not devoted to anything. I feel almost guilted into everything I'm doing - none of it is by choice. I work because I have to make money, not because I enjoy what I'm doing. I sing because I have a good voice and have been made to feel a sense of responsibility about that, not because I want to be involved in choirs. I even scrapbook out of a sense of responsibility to make money and provide an avenue for getting more supplies. I haven't actually made a scrapbook page for myself in at least six months.

So, without being involved, to what can I speak truth? And am I supposed to become involved in the things I'm already doing, or do I need to find new things that I'm passionate about to become involved in? And what would those things be?

Maybe my goal for the rest of this year will be to become truly involved in something, so that I may speak truth.

What are you involved in? What can you speak truth about? And not just what do you do...what are you passionate about? Everyone should have something, whatever it may be.

It Begins Today!

Well, actually yesterday, but the actual business of our conference starts today. I'm so proud of my conference for setting up wireless in the church where we're meeting!

The biggest thing to me to come up this week will be our petition regarding the Programming Positions of the Conference. Since it's a resolution, we don't know when it will come up, but I'll be sure to post when it does!

So far this morning, we've had the report of the Standing Rules Committee, and are now on the CF&A report. Interesting to note...we had to suspend the standing rules so that we could hear the report of the Standing Rules because they didn't get their report in on time. We have a rule that reports have to be in at a particular time to be included in the Pre-Conf. Journal (or Pre-Conf. CD this year), and they didn't make it. Ha! I just thought that was kind of funny. Evidently that will be happening a lot.