It didn't suck too bad!

Well its Father’s day and I am in Seattle, in a parking lot outside Quest church waiting for the gathering to start. I have been in Tacoma for the last 4 days attending the Annual Conference of the Pac NW United Methodist Church.

For those of you who know me other than from this blog, you know that Annual Conference is my least favorite time of the year. First of all, it is always the week that ends in Father’s day, Second, it’s always the same week of my wedding anniversary. (oops maybe I better switch that to #1 , sorry Jennifer I love you where did the last 15 years go!) Third, our conference doesn’t always play well together. I have seen delegates throw papers in the air and storm off the conference floor. I’ve seen people belittled in official statements and many unofficial ones. One year I had a lay woman sit across a table and cry as she said, “I didn’t know the church was like this!” Not our finest moments. I’ve seen our pastors remain firmly seated arms crossed and scowls on their face while a colleague received awards for their work for the kingdom of God because they were either “conservative” or “liberal”, again not our finest moments.

It saddens me that my qualifications for a successful Annual Conference is to be able to say at the end “well, that didn’t suck too bad”

I probably should have prefaced all of this by saying even if we all got along well, and played nicely, I would not like annual conference. Administration and “holy conferencing” are not my gifts for ministry. My image of Hell is spending eternity in a small room with clergy who have Robert's rules of order memorized, eternity would be spent debating if a motion is debatable because the motion is for non-concurrence. (my blood pressure went up just typing that )

Well, I can whole heartedly say “It didn’t suck that bad”. As a relative newbie to our conference (11 years), which is an issue unto itself, I have noticed a change in the tone and climate in our conference meetings. I was surprised to see us spontaneously offer prayer for our bishop and his wife as she faces major surgery in the coming months. We laid hands on each of our clergy as their appointments were read and prayed for God’s work to be done through them in the places they serve. We spoke as we do every year about the problems we face and the statistics that show measurable decline in many areas, BUT our board of congregational development (of which I am secretary) presented the Conference with a new policy we will be operating under in an effort to help developing congregations and move forward in starting new congregations within our conference. It was well received by the delegates, although I must admit somewhat guardedly, due to some history many delegates have with congregational development and redevelopment.

For a Pastor who is far to young to be a cynical as I am, it was good to see us begin to turn a corner in our life together and our service to God. Please pray for us as we live out this call together.