Friends, the first day of General Conference has concluded. There is very little business to report today – in truth, only one major item of substance. However, there is MUCH to report about the worship we experienced this Sunday Morning.

Those who know me well are aware of my love for the hymns of Charles Wesley. They are part of our heritage, and they speak to our doctrine and theology in a way that moves the mind and the heart closer to God. This morning, along with other songs of praise, we were blessed to worship through new arrangements of two of his most important hymns. The first was And Can It Be, which is a powerful expression of God’s saving grace. The other was And Are We Yet Alive, which Charles wrote specifically for use at the gathering of Methodists at Annual (and later General) Conferences. (See links above for clips of the songs). I have to admit my “methodist-nerd” heart was overjoyed at being about to sing these songs of our faith with brothers and sisters from around the globe.

Then Bishop Kenneth Livingston opened up our conference with an amazing message as he proclaimed God’s Holiness and called us to put aside our own agendas and seek to be transformed into what he wants us to be. You can watch his message HERE. Oh, and ALL of the Worship services and main sessions of General Conference can be viewed HERE.

After worship, we have several procedural votes and training on how to use our voting devices. The one important item we addressed was determining which of our interim bishops would be able to stand for re-election. In 2024, our goal was to elect 6 part-time bishops who would assist Bishop Webb and Bishop Jones in their work. These bishops would be elected for only 2 years and would not be able to stand for re-election. Our goal was to ensure these servants were not politically driven but missionally focused. However, our delegates agreed to a compromise: up to 3 of the interim bishops could stand for re-election if approved by the 2026 General Conference by a 75% majority. Today, we voted to allow Bishop Carolyn Moore and Bishop John Pena Auta to stand for re-election this year. They will join a pool of 19 other elders who have been nominated to serve, and later this week we will be electing 8 of them to serve for the next 6 years as bishops of our general church. The rest of our day was spent in legislative committees. While each of these accomplished significant work, there is still much to do, and all of it will still have to come before the general body before it becomes part of our Book of Doctrines and Disciplines.

Tomorrow will be a full day of legislative committee work, so since I will have little if anything to report, you will probably see a post about our “fun days” from last week. Now it’s time to get some rest! May the LORD be with you!