The First Evangelist...the Woman at the Well

Bishop Violet Fisher speaks to my heart about our call...bearing the story of the Woman at the well as an example of one transformed to go and make disciples. She claims that this was our first evangelist - our first new church - started by her witness.
My heart stirs for this is MY call story. I was the woman at the well - the woman at the $1 wells I should say. And Jesus called me into this great commission - me - even me! Bishop Fisher reminds us that that no matter who we are - we are called by Jesus Christ - just as the unamed woman was -to share the good news with EVERY-ONE and draw us into the great Body of Christ. What believe this is that we must let Christ's water fill us as He calls us to drink it - fill up a cup, indeed fill up the bucket and take it out into the world. My prayer this morning - as we start to face the issues of Human Sexuality, Family and other matters at the heart, that we keep drinking the water and never forget that it will quench our thirst.
grace, Jan

Bishop Scott Jones to Preside the Floor this evening

Kansas folks- our Bishop will lead the precedings this evening beginning at 7:00pm. Those back at home can tune in on the live feed. Please pray for him as he guides us all in holy conferencing. PS: His son Arthur did a wonderful job presenting a petition concerning a study for the Global Nature of the Church.
PPS: We also voted last night to support the production of a new hymnal for the UMC. This hymnal may not be the "traditional" hymnal we tend to think of due to the possibility of technology and communications. Check out Adam Hamilton's blog to the right with a great commentary on the subject.

Grace and Peace! Jan

We just heard that some delegates have been voting on two machines....

Don't know how that affects the vote, nor how many have been doing this. Most votes have been by show of hand, but instead of standing vote with pages - they have now on tight votes moved toward using the machines. I think that technology is necessary - but do wonder how much can be truly monitered without actually "seeing" a show of hands or standing. It's pretty hard to raise two hands for a vote- that kind of sticks out!

President of Liberia - First Elected Female Head of State for Africa and Liberia to speak! Make sure to tune into the live feed!

She will speak at 4:00pm Central Time. Here's a short Wikipedia biography. Not added to this biography is that she is a member of the United Methodist Church.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (born October 29, 1938) is the current President of Liberia, Africa's first elected female head of state and Liberia's first elected female president. She was elected President in the 2005 presidential election and took office in January 2006.
Her grandfather was a German who married a rural market woman. The grandfather was forced to leave the country during the war in 1917.
Two of Johnson-Sirleaf's grandparents were indigenous Liberians. Her father, the son of the Gola Chief Jahmalae and Jenneh, one of his many wives, was born in Julejuah, Bomi County. As a result of her grandfather's friendship and loyalty to President Hilary Richard Wright Johnson and on the advice of the President, her father was brought to, his name changed to Johnson and he was given to the settler family, McCritty.
Johnson-Sirleaf graduated from the College of West Africa (Monrovia), a United Methodist high school. She received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. in 1964, an economics diploma from the University of Colorado in 1970, and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University in 1971. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated [1], a social action organization and the first collegiate sorority founded by and for Black women (1908).
On 5 November 2007, President George W. Bush awarded Johnson-Sirleaf the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award given by the United States.
Returning to Liberia after Harvard, Johnson-Sirleaf became Assistant Minister of Finance in President William Tolbert's administration. In 1980, Tolbert was overthrown and killed by army sergeant Samuel Doe, ending decades of relative stability. Doe was a member of the Krahn ethnic group and was the first Liberian president not to be descended from the elite ex-American slave community. For the next ten years, Doe allowed the Krahn people to dominate public life.
After the overthrow of Tolbert, Johnson-Sirleaf went into exile in Nairobi, Kenya, where she worked for Citibank. She returned to run for Senate in 1985, but when she spoke out against Doe's military regime, she was sentenced to ten years in prison. Released after a short period, she moved to Washington, D.C.. She returned to Liberia again in 1997 in the capacity of an economist, working for the World Bank, and Citibank in Africa.
Initially supporting Charles Taylor's bloody rebellion against President Samuel Doe in 1990, she later went on to oppose him, and ran against him in the 1997 presidential election. She managed only 10% of the votes, as opposed to Taylor's 75%. Taylor charged her with treason. She campaigned for the removal of President Taylor from office, playing an active and supportive role in the transitional government, as the country prepared itself for the 2005 election. With Taylor's departure, she returned to take over the leadership of the Unity Party.

Where have all the protests gone....long time passing....

“So…what do you think of General Conference this year?” is the question that is asked by many as we anticipate the deeper issues coming to the forefront of the floor. Those who have been before say that the atmosphere is much less divisive. The lack of protest attitude is missing up to this point – but is it missed? Will it show up? Or, are we really working together?

The votes for Judiciary Committee and University Senate seemed almost flawless, despite a few complications with the voting machines. The big surprise was how the results appeared centrist. Those chosen are fairly moderate even the Reconciling Movement as seen in their blog, seem quite pleased with the outcome.

Compared to other years – there are more performances and presentations. It could be said that the music is lulling the conference into a mellow mood. I mean how can you be agitated when choirs of children from Uganda sing about Jesus’ love? How can you feel anything but hope when you see a video about our work in helping victims from Katrina and how we continue to rebuild and bring hope to those areas?

So…. So far….so Mellow. Some may think this is good – others may be wary – but all agree this is definitely a different kind of General Conference.

Morning worship (notes only) and Elections so far..

Opening Worship – Native American drumming and musicExodus 16: 9-12Luke 11: 5-10Bishop Ernest S. Lyght – Sermon – Bread – The Prodigal Son – “Fresh bread for each meal…fresh meal on a daily basis” – God wanted to care for them during their need each day. God provided them with access to the promised land.. A future with hope!”Katrina report – acknowledged all that had helped with work teams, financial gifts, and prayers.

Voting on Judicial Candidates – (Lay) Angela Brown (483) Ruben Reyes ( 458) – elected(Clergy) - Kathi Austin Mahle (478) F Belton Joyner (451) William B. Lawrence (517)

Alternates (Lay) – Jay Arthur Garrison (596) William White (487) Raymond Mande Mutombo (439) Deanell Tacha (missed voting number) Thomas K Byerly(missed voting number)

Alternates – (Clergy) Joe May (670) James D Karblee , John Harnish, Rodney Wimoth, Vicki Woods, J Montgomery Brown
Nominated University Senate (by Plurality vote)..
Chief Executive officers of UM Related Educational Institutions - Maxine Clarke Beach, David Beckley..holding other positions relevant to academic or financial affairs or Church relationships – Charlene Black (PL) and Maxie Dunman (PL)

..holding other positions relevant to academic or financial affairs or Church relationships – Charlene Black (PL) and Maxie Dunman (PL)

Learning How To Vote with Machines

Due to new electronic voting - training is in order. Hopefully the machine will work for double-digits assigned to candidates. A dry run to test the machines is about to happen - hopefully they'll work or we'll be facing hanging chads!