February 23, 2019
“It was important for the United Methodist Church to come together and spend intentional time in prayer and fasting before we begin the legislative work. I, along with many other bishops and delegates, will be fasting during the lunch hour. I am grateful for many dedicated United Methodists in our conference that are taking time out of their busy weekend to pray for our delegates and leaders.”
-Bishop David Graves, Alabama-West Florida Conference
General Conference Begins with Prayer and Fasting
Today marked the beginning of a significant time in the life of the United Methodist Church. Bishops, media, observers, and a total of eight hundred and sixty-four delegates gathered in St. Louis at the America’s Center Convention Complex for a Day of Prayer. The day was organized by the Praying Our Way Forward team, led by Bishop Deborah Wallace-Padgett and Bishop Al Gwinn. This initiative began in 2016 and included bishops, annual conferences, and expanded to include the entire denomination. The Alabama-West Florida Conference honored this time in September of 2017 by writing prayers and asking local churches to ring bells at 5:23 one evening signifying today’s date, February 23. More here.
AWF Pastor Serves on Committee of the Calendar
Rev. Ashley Meyer, associate pastor at Cokesbury UMC in Pensacola, FL, is serving as Assistant to the Coordinator of the Calendar. This role is part of the Commission on the General Conference. This is Ashley's third general conference in a leadership role. This staff is headquartered in the former visiting team locker room where the St. Louis Rams previously played! You can see how she customized her space. This is an unusual space for general conference but Meyer and the commission committee members are making the most of it. We are grateful to Rev. Meyer for taking time away from her family and local church to serve in this capacity.
ADCA and Agenda
Advance Daily Christian Advocate: Today's ADCA may be found here.
Tomorrow's agenda is below:
7:30 – 8:30 A.M.
Opening Worship
8:30 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.
Morning Session 1
Roll Call/Bar Reports (Commission on the General Conference, Committee on Agenda and Calendar, Administrative Committees)
Break
Morning Session 2
Council of Bishops and Commission on a Way Forward Report
12:30 – 1:30 P.M.
Lunch
1:30 – 6:30 P.M.
Afternoon Session 1
Break
Afternoon Session 2
Worship
6:30 P.M.
Adjournment
As a reminder, The Commission on the General Conference has devised a process for determining the order in which legislative proposals will be considered by the single legislative committee during the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference. Petitions that compose a plan will be considered together as one unit. Petitions that are not part of a plan will be considered individually. On the first official day of the session, February 24, plans and petitions will be listed one at a time on the video screens in numerical order by petition number(s). Delegates will then be able to indicate whether they consider each a high priority or a low priority by pressing either 1 or 2 on their device. This process is not a final vote, but rather a prioritization of the proposals. More here.
Multimedia
Photos: View photos from 2019 General Conference here.
Saturday, February 23, 2019
All photos by Luke Lucas.
Live Stream: Click here to access the live stream.
Social Media: Follow the action on social media through these channels.
Hashtags: Use #umcgc and #gc2019 to join the Facebook and Twitter conversations and tag your Instagram photos using #umcgc.
Stay connected throughout General Conference at https://www.awfumc.org/delegation.
