Words from Pastor Gina

      Annual Conference is always a time of blessing and exhaustion.  As usual, Wednesday afternoon kicked off the Conference with separate clergy and laity sessions.  During the clergy session, we celebrated the coming together of clergy colleagues, greeted and voted to accept the incoming class of elders and deacons to be ordained, memorialized those who had departed this life, and heard witnesses to ministry from several people serving God in different clergy capacities—as elders, deacons, and local pastors.

      In addition to reconnecting and visiting with many clergy friends I have made over the years, I always enjoy the worship services at Annual Conference.  When about 3,000 voices join together to praise God in song, I get goose bumps.  The bishop is a fantastic preacher and always challenges us to grow closer to God and to find new ways to communicate God’s love to others.  He reminded us--and the 17 new ordinands--that, “It’s not about us,” but about God and other people.

      We come together each year for the purpose of, as John Wesley put it, “Christian conferencing,” sharing one another’s burdens and victories.  I felt a pang of remembrance of last year’s closing of the Tennessee church, when we had the celebration of “completing the course of ministry” for seven churches in our Conference.

      Between the reconnecting and worshipping times, we “did business.”  We read and voted on resolutions brought before the body of clergy and lay people.  The most important and time consuming issue is usually the budget for the coming year.  While expenses, of course, go up, the Conference makes a concerted effort to keep spending down.  I hope others will try to come to Peoria to get a taste of Conference next year.

 In His Precious Name,

Pastor Gina

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