Greetings from Johannesburg, South Africa!!!

Well, as you can see, we made it safely. Ragan and I arrived late Wednesday night (noon in Alabama—the time is 7 hours ahead of home)—first, a quick update for family and friends keeping up with our trip. If you are only interested in General Conference news, you can skip to the next paragraph. Yesterday (Thursday), we spent the morning visiting Lesedi Cultural Village and learned about the 5 predominant South African cultural groups. That afternoon, we visited a Lion and Safari Park. Today we visited the Cullinan Diamond Mine and, on the way back home, drove by several South African historical sites. Tomorrow Ragan has mission training in the morning, and then we plan to take a bus tour around the city. Ragan has a ton of pictures, so I’ll probably let her help me with a write-up on all the “fun stuff” later in the week.

Now on to General Conference!

I want to start this series of reports with a list of “things to watch for” at General Conference 2026. I’ll try to keep these as straightforward as possible without getting too deep in the weeds. I’ll have more time to do that over the next few days. However, if you have a question about what is going on, please feel free to drop a line in the comments, or if you have my contact info, send me a message, and I’ll do my best to point you in a good direction. So here are a few things you should be looking for:

• On the first day (Sunday), we will determine which, if any, of our “interim” bishops will be eligible to stand for election in 2026. Watch for amendments from the floor that could change how this happens.
  
• Later in the week, we will begin electing our bishops for the next six years. We will be using the process outlined at our Convening General Conference in 2024. Watch for a group to suggest changing the process for this year. Also, while it seems fairly clear who each area would like as their new bishop, look for some unexpected twists in the voting.
  
• A group of us is working on what we are calling the “Covenant Connection Petitions”. These are a series of amendments designed to strengthen the covenant that exists between the laity, the clergy, and the church as a whole. Watch and see whether these ideas make it out of committee and whether the General Conference likes the paradigm we are envisioning. Some parts of these petitions address current “issues” that need to be fixed. If the bulk of the work is not addressed, watch and see if our delegates come up with alternative solutions to these problems.
  
• Perhaps one of the most significant and widely publicized changes that might be happening is the adoption of revised statements of doctrine. PLEASE NOTE: This is not an attempt to change our doctrine, but to clarify our doctrinal stances and combine what are currently two doctrinal standards into one cohesive statement. Also, it should be noted that this was an assignment requested by the 2024 General Conference. Watch to see how much of the proposed doctrinal statements make it out of committee mostly untouched. Watch to see if additional proposed statements are added. Also watch to see if some delegates attempt to add amendments from the floor.
  
• There are quite a few amendments that address areas of local/regional standards as opposed to standards that are consistent across the denomination. This is not a simple area to resolve. On one hand, local churches should have autonomy to consider how best to do ministry in their context. However, allowing regions of the church to differ in standards leads to inconsistency, and as our own history has shown, it can lead to churches, pastors, and bishops not being held accountable for unbiblical words and actions. Watch to see how our delegates create legislation that allows for maximum flexibility AND maximum accountability.

But perhaps the MOST IMPORTANT thing to watch for is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Be sure to tune in to our worship services as we praise God and hear from gifted, Spirit-filled preachers who will open God’s work and challenge our hearts and minds. I’m telling you, this is going to be the best part of our gathering. Whatever “work” we accomplish will pale in comparison to the movement of the Holy Spirit when brothers and sisters from around the world worship God with one voice. This is why we formed the Global Methodist Church. May all that we do help us to make disciples and to spread scriptural holiness!