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What to look for at Annual Conference

by | May 31, 2013 | Not In USe

By Louie Lyon, Annual Conference Secretary

What-1In past articles you have heard me say that our 2013 Annual Conference Session will be a Conference Session that sees “Change.” In what follows I would like to share some additional changes you will see.

At this Annual Conference when you register you will notice that you no longer have a Lay Member Certification Card as your certification process has been handled through forms filled out at your local church conference. If there has been a change of Lay Member(s) since that election your pastor will need to have filled out new forms or bring your pastor with you when you register so that your pastor can verify that you are the church’s lay member who will represent the church. Also this year we will not use voting cards or colored cards that state how you are voting. You will be asked to either raise your hand or to stand by the Bishop without raising cards. If you would like to address the conference or the Bishop please raise your hand and Wait to be recognized by the Bishop who will tell you which microphone to go to.

A reminder to all is that this year we will not have reserved seating. You may sit where you choose and with whom you choose based on a first come first reserved seat. We will be seated at circular tables. There will be many different opportunities throughout Annual Conference for worship. Our Bishop would like to let everyone know that children are invited to attend all our worship services and to be a part of worship. Child care will also be available during worship times but one would need to reserve a spot for that prior to the time needed for childcare. We are also returning to what we used to do at Annual Conference and that is having a time for our Youth to hold and lead a worship service. That service will be held on Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. in the Media Center and we hope that all our lay members and anyone who might be a visitor to the Annual Conference Session would join us for a most uplifting worship time with our youth.

Another change this year is that the Celebration Banquet on Friday evening will be a time where our Bishop will hand out awards and we’ll celebrate the ministry of the church. Our retirees will be honored during the Friday afternoon Session of Annual Conference and not Friday evening at the banquet as in the past.

A big change this year is that our Pre-Conference Report is not being printed and mailed out to our Lay Members who attend Annual Conference. We have gone “green” and you will find the Pre-Conference Report on the Conference website:http://desertsouthwestconference.org/acupdates. If you have a laptop or tablet we invite you to bring it to Conference as you can just download the entire report on your laptop and not print it if you choose not to. Our meeting hall is set up for WiFi so you will be able to use your computers or tablets to access what is needed. If you do not have access to a device please let your pastor know and it will be the responsibility of your church to print out the Pre-Conference Report for you. Please speak to your pastor about this. At the time you register at Annual Conference you will be handed a thumb drive that will contain all the documents needed for Annual Conference.

Another change is in how the “Fixing of Appointments” will occur. As most of you remember in the past we have had our Bishop “Fix Appointments” at the conclusion of Annual Conference when a church’s name was mentioned then the appointed pastor(s) and their lay persons were invited to stand. This year our Bishop will “Fix Appointments” throughout the Annual Conference Session. I invite you to look at the draft Agenda on the Web Site to see when your district will be up for the Fixing of Appointments. When our Bishop calls the appointment and the pastors name only the pastor will be asked to stand so all can see that pastor. There are many in the audience who do not know all the pastors therefore we ask that only the pastor and not the lay person(s) from the local church stand to eliminate confusion.

Yes, it looks like this year’s Annual Conference will be an exciting time and I for one am looking forward to it.

Rev. Louie Lyon is the Annual Conference Secretary for the Desert Southwest Conference.

Rev. Louie Lyon is the Annual Conference Secretary for the Desert Southwest Conference.

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Author: DSC

The Desert Southwest Conference is a diverse and loving organization with open doors to a variety of people and partners in ministry. Celebrating our connection and diversity, we offer various resources. Content on this site includes information from other organizations that may not reflect the official policies or Social Principles of The United Methodist Church or the Desert Southwest Conference.

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