Full day today. We were up early, started worship at 8 am…the sermons are on a downhill slide…I look for someone to step up soon.
HUGE NEWS!! We had the elections for the Judicial Council this morning. The super-conservative group Good News was endorsing two incumbents…and neither was elected! It was unbelievable. The entire Judicial Council is back in the hands of reasonable people. This represents a major backlash against this group that so dubiously broke faith with the denomination by allowing a pastor to deny a gay man membership in the church.
We tried not to gloat after the elections, but people were all amazed at how overwhelmingly they did not win. So decisive the vote, one of them made the 6th alternate (like we need 6?) And the other one did not even make that. Wow!
We spent 15 hours today in plenary with a shortened lunch and a shortened dinner break. We had a deadline of dealing with ALL petitions that had financial implications by this evening. Then the finance committee met at 11:15 pm to construct a budget. Apparently we are having trouble staying within the $642 million cap…we even postponed a petition that would have required us to stay under it…just in case. I spent about 4 hours on the floor this evening filling in for one of our delegates…the fatigue is incredible and you have to do a rotation to be able to think clearly.
Lots of petitions, motions, amendments, questions, points of order, etc. It was Robert’s Rules of Order heaven…or hell…depending on your theological leanings. We ended today on page 2,050…that is not a typo…and we are only on day 6!
Also, my petition to require the Judicial Council to recuse themselves from conflicts of interest was referred to the Judicial Council to review its constitutionality. So, I had to write a Judicial brief today to say why I think the petition is constitutional. They will hear the case tomorrow and probably announce their decision by Thursday morning. Is anyone concerned that this is the only judicial administration in America that does not have a recusal policy?
Please note I have added two blog links on the right panel of the blog page. One links to Jan Todd and Stephanie Seth’s blog…they have pictures of conference. And Eduardo Bousson has a blog that he is doing by video. He’s a pastor in Atchison and my roommate here. If you are receiving the emails, you have to log onto my blog on the webpage to view thier links…sorry!
I will keep you posted.
enjoying your reviews of GC. I am an elder in campus ministry at the University of Memphis—you know, the team that handed Kansas the championship! heard about your blog from a friend and fellow Methodist clergy–Gordon Pruitt. Thanks for your humor and your short, to the point summaries. i’ll keep looking in.
Thank you for taking the time to do this blog. It’s great, and a little mind-boggling, to hear what is going on. Can’t imagine how you keep track of all of it. Keep up the good work!
Rev. Mark,
Praise God the General Council is back in the hands of reasonable people! I know many issues divide the United Methodist Church, but one fraction should not dominate the course of the Church.
Thanks for keeping us updated and get some sleep (you are making me tired just seeing the posting times).
Rob
Yes! (Judicial Council news)