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On my first Sunday with you, I quoted the hymn, “This is a Day of New Beginnings” for our benediction. The last two verses say this:
“Then let us, with the Spirit’s daring, step from our past and leave behind our disappointment, guilt, and grieving, seeking new paths and sure to find Christ is alive and goes before us, to show and share what love can do. This is a day of new beginnings. Our God is making all things new.”
To close our time at Annual Conference, we sang this hymn. It was a fitting and appropriate ending to a hope-filled, encouraging, and even joyous Annual Conference.
To be sure, we had to leave behind disappointment and grieving from just a few weeks ago when we said good-bye to 193 churches who disaffiliated at the called session of conference on May 21. That meant, when we gathered in Tifton this past Sunday, many old friends and familiar faces were gone. At times, there was grieving and sorrow at the splintering of what was our shared ministry.
But, as it says in scripture, God turned our mourning into dancing. We celebrated the good things happening across our Annual Conference, marked the accomplishments of our ordinands who said yes to a life in ministry despite this season of disaffiliation, gave awards to churches who are doing incredible work, heard about the plans the conference has for moving forward in ministry by planting churches and taking care of our clergy’s mental health, and gave thanks to God for the leadership of our bishop who has provided a steady hand and peaceful presence. As the hymn says, we found that “Christ is alive and goes before us to show and share what love can do.”
We also conducted the business of the annual conference and did so without acrimony but, rather, in a spirit of collaboration. That business was marked by effective leadership from many Mulberrians! Gail Springstead and Russ Barber represented us well as our lay delegates. Payton Stone served as a teller, helping especially with the delegate elections. Cater Thompson continued in her role as Conference Chancellor, where she does exemplary, often behind-the-scenes, work. I went from never having spoken before the annual conference to giving nine different presentations, while also serving as Assistant Conference Secretary.
And, we celebrated Dana Goshorn’s election as a lay delegate to Jurisdictional Conference! She will represent the annual conference when the Southeastern Jurisdiction convenes in July, 2024. She is one of only eight laity from across the Annual Conference to have this honor.
We were also blessed to have several friends and fellow Mulberrians come to visit us! The picture included here captured as many as we could gather!
Finally, and most importantly, we spent much time in prayer. The bishop set the theme for this year’s conference as, “When They Prayed.” We heard preaching on the importance of prayer, we had several prayer moments spread out across the business of the conference, and spent time praying together.
I invite you to learn more about conference by visiting sgaumc.org/annualconference. There, you can read daily recaps and watch a video sharing highlights of our time together. Should you have any questions, please reach out to myself, Payton, Russ, or Gail.
This session of conference indeed marks a day of new beginnings. We experienced together how God is making all things new.
Ted
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