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June 15, 2016

In the News

Full Recap and Bulletin Insert coming this Thursday! Stay tuned to www.awfumc.org/2016annualconference for an informative bulletin insert. It is printer friendly and we encourage you to share it with your local congregation this Sunday. A full recap article detailing all actions of the conference will also be posted on the home page by Thursday. 

Business Session: Various reports were presented from the Journal Committee, Board of Pension and Health Benefits, Council on Finance and Administration, Equitable Compensation and the Cabinet. Dr. Matt Mobley recommended on behalf of the Committee for Equitable Compensation that minimum salary be $36,500 (no change from last year).

Districts Task Force: As a result of a motion from the floor of the 2014 Annual Conference, a task force was formed to explore the number of districts in the Alabama-West Florida Conference. Dr. Shirley Woodie recognized those on the committee and updated the conference that they have have examined many factors such as the number of churches and clergy in each district and how many districts are in other conferences. The group obtained systematic and broad-based input from clergy and laity in the conference via an online survey. Early on they concluded that a reduction in districts would not be beneficial for our conference. They also looked at increasing districts to allow superintendents to be chief missional strategists. The conclusion was that eight districts was adequate. Their focus was improving current structure and taking fuller advantage of programs our conference has available (COT, Antioch Project, ACE, MissionInsight, etc). They have listed 14 items they recommend to strengthen the work on pages 43-44 in the Brochure of Reports. A motion was made and approved that a status report will be given in 2017 on the progress. 

Resolutions & Petitions: Rev. Sean Peters, on behalf of the AWF Board of Church & Society, spoke to the voting body inviting anyone to be part of discussions and a task force in regards to A Resolution Supporting Harm Reduction for LGBTQ Teens that was refereed to their committee yesterday. They will report back at 2017 Annual Conference. Another resolution was presented today to the voting body. A Resolution Concerning Healthcare for the Poor in Alabama in 2016 was approved by the delegates

Approved Budget: The conference established a $10,952,221 million budget for mission and ministry for 2017, a 0.4 increase from 2016.  

Statistician's Report: Membership stands at 139,871 down 47 members from the previous year. Worship attendance stands at 62,646 down 1%. Native American and Hispanic attendance increased by 4% and 5%, respectively. Some areas that showed increases were confirmation preparation participants, small groups, VIM (Volunteers in Mission) teams and participants and persons served by community ministries and outreach. Children, youth and adults in Christian Formation increased again this year. There was a 2.86% increase in missional giving, which was at it highest level since 2001.

Courtesies and AppreciationDr. Wesley Wachob of Pensacola FUMC entertained the audience with his delivery of courtesies and appreciations as he recapped the 2016 Annual Conference Session. He also thanked those who were instrumental in leading the event. 

Sending Forth: Each district superintendent read aloud the appointment changes within their respective district. The District Lay Leaders prayed after each district was presented. The Bishop then set the appointments. 

2015-2016 AWF Conference Clergy Appointment Book: The clergy appointments may be found online here. A friendly URL has also been established: www.awfumc.org/apt2016

2017 Annual Conference: The 2017 session of the AWF Annual Conference will be held June 4-7, 2017, at Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church in Montgomery, AL. Montgomery First United Methodist Church will host the Service of Commissioning & Ordination. We express our sincere appreciation to both of these staffs for hosting us this past year.

Special Offerings Update: We continue to celebrate the missional offering for AWF Disaster Response & Recovery at Opening Worship of $40,356.82. You may donate online here if you have not yet contributed to this worthwhile offering. Over $2,200 was collected at the Service of Commissioning & Ordination for the Ministerial Education Fund. Thank you for your generosity!

UMCOR Relief Kits: 2,929 UMCOR kits were collected over the course of the annual conference. Thank you for your donations and to the youth who received these supplies! 

Miss OneClick here to view each of the daily e-mails sent during the 2016 Annual Conference.  

Post Annual Conference SurveyClick here to take the survey. This year's version is shorter–we want to hear from you!

Get a Copy: CD and DVD copies of many portions of annual conference are available for purchase. Click here for the order form

Multimedia

Photos
View photos from the 2016 Annual Conference session (added daily, all photos by Luke Lucas). 

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Stay connected throughout Annual Conference at www.awfumc.org/2016annualconference.

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