This is the day that the LORD has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

We began our day with worship and Bishop Scott Jones preaching. I must admit to you, that I’m not sure I can adequately give you an account of everything he said. I’m going to need to go back at some point and listen to it again. His scripture text took hold of me. It was from Exodus 13 where the Israelites were leaving Egypt. God didn’t take them the short way…but the long way around the promised land. And I got to thinking about all that God has done in my life over the last 5 years. God has been so faithful. Even during the struggle and trials, he has been there for me. 

After his sermon, the entire conference worshiped, and prayed, and we celebrated Holy Communion. We went WAY over time…but it didn’t matter. The Spirit was moving and many of us went to the altar. It was a time of repentance, a time of thankfulness, and a time of joy in what God has done, is doing, and will do in our lives and through his Church. As much as opening worship on Friday was a joy to experience, this morning was my favorite part of our gathering so far. Lord, bring us MORE moments like that!!!

We spent the rest of the day in committee meetings. All of the committees EXCEPT mine completed their work before dinner. We worked for another 2 hours after dinner and still have 2-3 petitions to address at some point. However, we will be moving to Plenary sessions tomorrow. Petitions that pass in committee with a vote of 90% or higher go on the “consent calendar”. This is a group of petitions that we assume do not need discussion and will pass easily. Petitions can be pulled off the consent calendar at the request of 10 or more delegates. If they are removed, they can then be discussed on the floor. I expect there will be many items on our consent calendar tomorrow, but I also expect to have several petitions to discuss. I also expect that we will start with hearing about the work from our Episcopacy Committee first as we need to discern if or how we will elect Bishops at THIS General Conference. I have heard some of the language that is being proposed, and I think it creates some interesting options. I am curious to see what we end up adopting as our final resolution.

You should be able to begin watching our proceedings live tomorrow at 8:00 am our time. I hope to have a big report tomorrow as we should complete several items of business that will be “official” by the end of the day. I’m gonna go now and watch the service and Ben’s sermon from this morning at Russellville First. Stay tuned, and keep praying!