2019 Red Bird Missionary Annual conference

The 51st session of the Red Bird Missionary Annual Conference was convened by Bishop Leonard Fairley on May 11 at the Annville United Methodist Church in Annville, Kentucky. The theme for this year’s annual conference was “See the Possibilities: Holy Imagination.”

The session opened with the Memorial and Communion Service at Annville United Methodist Church, where clergy, mission institution employees and volunteers, and conference laity who died this past year were remembered. Fairley preached the message titled “Life’s Afterglow” and the music for the service was led by Garrett and Donna Brown.

With the tap of the gavel at 10:32 a.m., Fairley opened the business session of the conference as the conference reconvened in the reconfigured sanctuary of Annville United Methodist Church. The roll was called by conference secretary, the Rev. Robert Amundsen followed by greetings and announcements shared by conference superintendent, the Rev. Karen Stigall.

Following the preliminary motions and other orders, Amundsen read the voting instructions and the setting of the bar for elections of 2020 General and jurisdictional conference delegates. Amundsen was elected General Conference clergy delegate on the first clergy ballot, The Rev. Jim Savage was elected jurisdictional conference clergy delegate and alternate to General Conference on the second clergy ballot. The Rev. Dan Griffiths, retired, was elected alternate clergy delegate to jurisdictional conference on the second clergy ballot. Marilyn Osborne was elected General Conference lay delegate on the second lay ballot, Cindy Stamper was elected jurisdictional conference lay delegate and alternate to General Conference on the fourth lay ballot. Tim Crawford was elected alternate lay delegate to jurisdictional conference on the fifth lay ballot.

The conference statistician, Shirley Walker, came forward and shared conference statistics celebrating that membership had increased by 16, the number of baptisms was the same as the previous year, and the number enrolled in confirmation classes increased by one.

Following lunch, the clergy and laity sessions convened and both meetings went well. The business of the clergy session included a farewell to the Rev. Phil Godbey, as he and his family are transitioning to the Kentucky United Methodist Children’s Home in June. Fairley spoke about General Conference 2019 and reminded the clergy to keep sharing the transforming power of Jesus Christ and to preach Jesus only. 

During the laity session, the laity studied Scriptures about witnessing to others in ministry, to be evangelists. Once the afternoon plenary session began, Fairley asked the Rev. Reed Brock to come and share about the history of Annville United Methodist Church. Brock shared that this was the church’s 25th anniversary year.
 
Fairley then spoke to everyone about GC2019. He said that people on both sides of the human sexuality issue were hurt. He shared that no matter how we feel about it, we are still to be about the work of Christ and to be a passionate, spiritual disciple. We need to keep preaching the Gospel. He reminded those gathered that God’s imagination is bigger than ours. Again this year, the tradition of recognizing the clergy spouses took place and the spouses (or clergy for spouses not present) received a plaque called Wings for Red Bird with the logo of Red Bird Missionary Conference.
 
During the report from the conference council on finance and administration, a vote on the budget recommendations for 2019 was approved. This marked the seventh consecutive year for a positive budget. Also during this report, Fairley recognized all of the conference churches for paying their 100% apportionments.

Fairley opened the floor to receive invitations to host the 2020 annual conference. Henderson Settlement and Hope United Methodist Church offered to host next year’s annual conference with help from other churches. The invitation was accepted to have the 52nd session of annual conference at Henderson Settlement and Hope United Methodist Church next year on May 29-30, 2020.
 
The change in dates is due to the regular scheduled General Conference in Minneapolis, which will take place from May 5-15, 2020. The annual conference business session concluded at 2:38 p.m.

Dr. Melba McCallum, a deaconess from the North Carolina Annual Conference, preached at the mission night service where over $5,200 was collected for the new conference “Feeding the Hungry” initiative. She reminded us that we have the opportunity to have holy imagination and that Jesus wants to touch the misery of our society. He calls us to physically touch those who are struggling in life around us. This year’s Harry Denman Award for Evangelism recipients were Elaine Landis (laity), who in ministry with her late husband, the Rev. C. Robert Landis, has served in Red Bird for almost six decades, and a three-way tie for the clergy with the Revs. Jack Short, Robert Amundsen, and David Gross.
  
Twelve of our conference churches and outreach centers were recognized for their giving to the six Special Sundays and 11 of our churches and outreach centers were recognized for their second-mile 5-Star Giving. The appointments were read at the end of the service. Following the reading of the appointments, Fairley issued an invitation to ministry. One young man, from Annville United Methodist Church, came forward. The conference then came and surrounded him in prayer, led by the Rev. Kevin Burney, assistant to the bishop. 

— The Rev. Robert Amundsen, conference secretary