The delegate body of the 2012 Annual Conference has acted on a query about elections. The body adopted a recommendation from the Standing Committee of district delegates that “the query respectfully be returned and that the 1979 statement, ‘Call to Accountability,’ be reaffirmed.”

If Annual Conference is to survive and thrive, planners will need to make some changes according to a Revitalization Task Force report. One of the most significant is that economic realities will limit the number of future Conferences held west of the Mississippi.

Gilbert Romero and friends made wonderful, foot-tapping-good music as diners arrived at the Intercultural Luncheon July 9 in St. Louis. Lots of energy and welcoming hugs were passed among friends, new and old.

Delegates engaged in a first reading of a proposed revision of the denomination’s ministerial leadership polity, paving the way for a year of study and potential approval at the 2013 Annual Conference. If approved, the new polity would replace previous ministry polity documents and be implemented beginning January 1, 2014.

Election results were announced today during the Annual Conference business session. Agency appointees also were confirmed by the Conference.

On Monday morning, July 9, the following vision statement was adopted by the delegate body for denomination-wide use: “Through Scripture, Jesus calls us to live as courageous disciples by word and action: To surrender ourselves to God, To embrace one another, To express God’s love for all creation.”

Bits and pieces about the day on July 9, 2012, at the Annual Conference in St. Louis

CODE, the Council of District Executives, held its first ever Annual Conference dinner, July 9. Craig Smith, chair of the executive committee and executive minister for Atlantic Northeast District, opened the meeting stating that the dinner was to be a “Celebration of Leadership.” A highlight of the dinner was a new award for pastoral excellence.