Annual Conference Update

By Jeff Webb
Day Three: I See Your Raise

I've come to the conclusion that this year's Annual Conference is a slow burning one. The business sessions and worship services, while good, are not quite as energetic or passionate as they seemed in years past, but that's okay. After tonight's worship service, with an awesome message delivered by Bishop Nhiwatiwa and powerful music performed by the praise band, things really do seem to be heating up.

Like yesterday, I started today with an early morning jog around the track. Then, I headed over to the dining hall for breakfast, where I also checked my mailbox and--surprise, surprise--I had an envelope from none other than Dr. McNamara herself. I opened it to find two graded Irish literature exams and my paper on Samuel Beckett. Good stuff.

I went to the morning Bible study at 8:30AM in the Chapel. It was led by Ms. Harriet Olsen, who spoke about Acts 1 and asked the people in attendance, "If you could serve as an eyewitness for Christ, what would you report on?"

The business session began at 10AM. After a laity address delivered by 16-year-old Mark Evans, who shared his experiences about volunteering in the Dominican Republic and at Spring Heights church camp, the Conference moved on to vote for our first set of resolutions.

One particular resolution, "Support of Comprehensive Immigration Reform," should have caused some debate, but it did not. Surprisingly, the resolution was adopted with little opposition. Who would have thought Christians could actually agree on something from time to time?

At the evening worship service, Bishop Nhiwatiwa challenged the congregation, asking, "Are you the Church?" and instructing us to "go and tell in Jesus' name."

Near the conclusion of the service, Bishop Lyght offered up a prayer for the unchurched before dismissing the congregation by saying, "Our service has ended, but our service begins."

Bishop Lyght also invited people to stop and have ice cream on their way out of the Chapel, as tonight was the annual ice cream social sponsored by the Conference Youth.

Tomorrow, which is the last day for business, proves to be very interesting. We will be voting on a set of constitutional amendments that will probably be cause for some discourse, so that should be fun.

Once again, morning prayer and Bible study is in the Chapel beginning at 8:30AM. Business starts at 10AM.

Shalom.