June 10-12, in Covington, Kentucky
The 2019 Kentucky Annual conference was held June 10–12 at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, Kentucky. The conference was presided over by Bishop Leonard E. Fairley, resident bishop of the Louisville Area.
The worship services all followed a Lenten theme beginning with an Ash Wednesday-themed opening worship. Bishop Fairley delivered the opening worship sermon where he compared the unease within the church to Good Friday. Bishop stated that “It may be Friday – but Sunday’s coming,” reminding us that we are Easter people and as such we believe in the mighty power of a Holy Resurrection.
The opening worship service included the imposition of ashes, which reflected the title of his sermon, “The Mark of Holiness.”
Opening worship was followed by the clergy executive and laity sessions.
Monday night was our Service of Ordination and Commissioning. The Pointe of Joy liturgical dancers provided a moving visual prelude. In addition to Bishop Fairley, four other bishops were on hand to witness and play a role in ministering to those being commissioned and ordained. Three of the visiting bishops had ties to Kentucky. They were Bishop Debbie Wallace-Padgett of the North Alabama Conference, Bishop Al Gwinn (retired) and Bishop Lindsey Davis (retired). The fourth visitor was Bishop Paul Leeland of the Western North Carolina Conference who delivered the sermon for the evening. His sermon was titled, “What Are We to Do?”
Addressing those to be ordained or commissioned directly, Leeland urged them always to be filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit and not to be overly concerned about other things.
Eric Richard William Hughes and Anna Merlo were commissioned on the deacon track. Seven were commissioned on the elder track. Those being commissioned as elder were Dennis Cotton, Sarah-Kate Cox, Zachary Davis, Daniel Henson, Christopher Lewis, Elizabeth Smith and Chay Smithson. One person, Michael Romans, was ordained on the elder track.
The average age of those being commissioned is 38 and the age of the ordinand is 36.
Tuesday began with a learning time by author and educator Tod Bolsinger, author of “Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory.”
Bolsinger argued for commitment to learning and acknowledged that it sometimes means losing something. The three hardest words to say are “I don’t know,” he told the gathering.
The day continued with the first day of voting for delegates to the 2020 general and jurisdictional conferences. For the first time the vote was taken by electronic balloting. Even with electronic voting, it was not completed until late in the day on Wednesday.
Here are the members of the delegation to the 2020 General and Jurisdictional conferences:
General Conference delegation
Clergy
Bill Arnold
Tami Coleman
Iosmar Alvarez
David Grout
James A. Williams
Laity
Alan Beuscher
Sandra Gray
Mark Stallons
Michael Watts
Bethany Harting
Jurisdictional Conference delegation
Clergy
Tom Grieb
Andrew Singh
William Moore
Kelly McClendon
Rebecca Heid
Laity
Maggie Mae Hoffman
Delace Canada
Elaine Daugherty
John Denham
Larry Wells
The alternates are: laity - Linda Underwood King, Jan Brown-Thompson, Adam McCormick; and clergy – the Revs. Matt Seel, Michael Sweeney and Esther Jadhav.
Tuesday morning 21 retiring clergy were honored. The 21 retirees represented 577 years of active ministry.
Tuesday afternoon was dedicated to going beyond the walls of the church and allowing God to use church members for his glory. Nearly 700 of the conference attendees served at 21 sites or projects doing the Lord’s work.
Tuesday night was used to worship and celebrate the mission and ministry of the Kentucky Conference. The service was rocking with the enthusiastic sounds of the Buechel UMC Swahili Choir, which set the tone for an upbeat night of worship.
During the Tuesday night service, the mission offering was collected. This year’s preliminary total for the offering is $73,649.41, and it will benefit Grace Kids: A Church for Children in Louisville, Encounter Missions in Paintsville, and a new refugee fund that will assist refugee communities across the conference in various ways.
Wednesday, the final day of conference, was a whirlwind of voting, but some time was reserved for worship. The first service of the day was a memorial service. That service honored 11 clergy and 14 clergy spouses who passed away in the past year.
The Rev. Tami Coleman preached the sermon. In keeping with the Lenten theme of annual conference’s worship services, the memorial service represented Good Friday.
Wednesday also included emotional and sometimes painful debate on a petition and resolution related to LGBTQ policy.
The resolution to be a church of open minds, open hearts and open doors was approved 409-285, but only after it was changed to remove language rejecting the Traditional Plan, which affirmed current church doctrine when it was approved at the special called 2019 General Conference.
The petition to remove incompatible language from the 2016 Social Principles failed 458-283.
The 2020 budget of $6.8 million was approved.
The second and final service of Wednesday was the sending forth. During the service, pastoral appointments for the coming year starting July 1 were read.
Membership stands at 148,807, down 996 from the previous year. Average Worship attendance stands at 46,826, down 2,446. Church school attendance stands at 20,972, down 582. Professions or reaffirmations of faith for 2018 was 1,489, down from 2017, which had 1,692 POF/Reaffirmations. Adults and young adults in small groups for 2018 was 28,997, down from 29,948 in 2017. Worshippers engaged in mission for 2018 was 20,400, up from 1,9517 in 2017.
The 2019 Kentucky Annual conference was held June 10–12 at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, Kentucky. The conference was presided over by Bishop Leonard E. Fairley, resident bishop of the Louisville Area.
The worship services all followed a Lenten theme beginning with an Ash Wednesday-themed opening worship. Bishop Fairley delivered the opening worship sermon where he compared the unease within the church to Good Friday. Bishop stated that “It may be Friday – but Sunday’s coming,” reminding us that we are Easter people and as such we believe in the mighty power of a Holy Resurrection.
The opening worship service included the imposition of ashes, which reflected the title of his sermon, “The Mark of Holiness.”
Opening worship was followed by the clergy executive and laity sessions.
Monday afternoon was the first plenary time where the agenda was set, the first reading of the budget was heard, and a standing rules change was approved and a petition and resolution concerning the human sexuality debate was addressed. The change to the standing rules would allow a change in the allocation of net proceeds from the sale of church property.
A motion was made to take the vote for the resolution and petition by paper ballot to preserve anonymity on the volatile topic. A lengthy debate took place but in the end, the vote was solidly in favor of a paper ballot. Due to time, the actual vote on the petition and resolution had to be moved to Wednesday’s plenary sessions.Monday night was our Service of Ordination and Commissioning. The Pointe of Joy liturgical dancers provided a moving visual prelude. In addition to Bishop Fairley, four other bishops were on hand to witness and play a role in ministering to those being commissioned and ordained. Three of the visiting bishops had ties to Kentucky. They were Bishop Debbie Wallace-Padgett of the North Alabama Conference, Bishop Al Gwinn (retired) and Bishop Lindsey Davis (retired). The fourth visitor was Bishop Paul Leeland of the Western North Carolina Conference who delivered the sermon for the evening. His sermon was titled, “What Are We to Do?”
Addressing those to be ordained or commissioned directly, Leeland urged them always to be filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit and not to be overly concerned about other things.
Eric Richard William Hughes and Anna Merlo were commissioned on the deacon track. Seven were commissioned on the elder track. Those being commissioned as elder were Dennis Cotton, Sarah-Kate Cox, Zachary Davis, Daniel Henson, Christopher Lewis, Elizabeth Smith and Chay Smithson. One person, Michael Romans, was ordained on the elder track.
The average age of those being commissioned is 38 and the age of the ordinand is 36.
Tuesday began with a learning time by author and educator Tod Bolsinger, author of “Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory.”
Bolsinger argued for commitment to learning and acknowledged that it sometimes means losing something. The three hardest words to say are “I don’t know,” he told the gathering.
The day continued with the first day of voting for delegates to the 2020 general and jurisdictional conferences. For the first time the vote was taken by electronic balloting. Even with electronic voting, it was not completed until late in the day on Wednesday.
Here are the members of the delegation to the 2020 General and Jurisdictional conferences:
General Conference delegation
Clergy
Bill Arnold
Tami Coleman
Iosmar Alvarez
David Grout
James A. Williams
Laity
Alan Beuscher
Sandra Gray
Mark Stallons
Michael Watts
Bethany Harting
Jurisdictional Conference delegation
Clergy
Tom Grieb
Andrew Singh
William Moore
Kelly McClendon
Rebecca Heid
Laity
Maggie Mae Hoffman
Delace Canada
Elaine Daugherty
John Denham
Larry Wells
The alternates are: laity - Linda Underwood King, Jan Brown-Thompson, Adam McCormick; and clergy – the Revs. Matt Seel, Michael Sweeney and Esther Jadhav.
Tuesday morning 21 retiring clergy were honored. The 21 retirees represented 577 years of active ministry.
Tuesday afternoon was dedicated to going beyond the walls of the church and allowing God to use church members for his glory. Nearly 700 of the conference attendees served at 21 sites or projects doing the Lord’s work.
Tuesday night was used to worship and celebrate the mission and ministry of the Kentucky Conference. The service was rocking with the enthusiastic sounds of the Buechel UMC Swahili Choir, which set the tone for an upbeat night of worship.
During the Tuesday night service, the mission offering was collected. This year’s preliminary total for the offering is $73,649.41, and it will benefit Grace Kids: A Church for Children in Louisville, Encounter Missions in Paintsville, and a new refugee fund that will assist refugee communities across the conference in various ways.
Wednesday, the final day of conference, was a whirlwind of voting, but some time was reserved for worship. The first service of the day was a memorial service. That service honored 11 clergy and 14 clergy spouses who passed away in the past year.
The Rev. Tami Coleman preached the sermon. In keeping with the Lenten theme of annual conference’s worship services, the memorial service represented Good Friday.
Wednesday also included emotional and sometimes painful debate on a petition and resolution related to LGBTQ policy.
The resolution to be a church of open minds, open hearts and open doors was approved 409-285, but only after it was changed to remove language rejecting the Traditional Plan, which affirmed current church doctrine when it was approved at the special called 2019 General Conference.
The petition to remove incompatible language from the 2016 Social Principles failed 458-283.
The 2020 budget of $6.8 million was approved.
The second and final service of Wednesday was the sending forth. During the service, pastoral appointments for the coming year starting July 1 were read.
Membership stands at 148,807, down 996 from the previous year. Average Worship attendance stands at 46,826, down 2,446. Church school attendance stands at 20,972, down 582. Professions or reaffirmations of faith for 2018 was 1,489, down from 2017, which had 1,692 POF/Reaffirmations. Adults and young adults in small groups for 2018 was 28,997, down from 29,948 in 2017. Worshippers engaged in mission for 2018 was 20,400, up from 1,9517 in 2017.
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