WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2007
MORNING SESSION
Gathering music was led by Cynthia Wilson.
Clergy Ballot #9 was announced and there was no election. There were 107 Ballots cast, 2 invalid, 105 valid, 53 needed to elect. Lay Ballot #8 was announced. There were 257 Ballots cast, 8 invalid, 249 valid, 125 needed to elect. There was no election. Clergy Ballot #10 to elect 5 and Lay Ballot #9 to elect 1 were cast.
The Bible Study was led by Dr. Marjorie H. Suchocki.
Dr. Carl Rhoads made several announcements.
Spiller Milton, Retired Ministers Home Board member, called to the attention of the Conference the Board’s report on pages 139–140 of the Pre-Conference Report. He stated that there are homes vacant in Bossier City, Natchitoches and Ruston. The Board was currently renovating a home in Hammond. He reminded the Conference that Sunday, September 9, 2007 is the day for Churches to receive an offering for the Retired Ministers Home fund.
Mrs. Mary Fisher was welcomed and recognized as being one of the oldest delegates to the Conference at 104 years old.
Pete Aguila began the session with prayer.
Rev. Jan Holloway, Chair of the Committee on the Journal, reported that she had reviewed the minutes for Tuesday, June 5, 2007 and moved their adoption. The motion was seconded and it carried.
Lay Ballot #9 was announced. There were 342 Ballots cast, 7 invalid, 335 valid, 168 needed to elect. Terrel DeVille was elected with 183 votes. Clergy Ballot #10 was announced. Carol Winn Crawford with 71 votes and Pat Day with 68 votes were elected. There were 126 Ballots cast, 2 invalid, 124 valid, 63 needed to elect. Clergy Ballot #11 to elect 3 and Lay Ballot #10 to elect 5 were cast.
Bishop Hutchinson introduced and welcomed Sharon Zehner who is a full deacon in the process of transitioning from deacon to elder.
Carolyn Dove moved that the Resolution on Risk Reduction in the Area of Child/Teen Abuse be brought back to the floor. The Resolution is found on page 57 of the Pre-Conference Report. The CMT had withdrawn the Resolution on Tuesday. The Bishop said that the Resolution would be addressed when the Ministry Team presented their report.
Rev. Lloyd Rollins, of the Africa University, offered greetings to the Annual Conference.
Dr. Carl Rhoads presented a two-part report of the Committee on Nominations. The Conference was directed to turn to pages 146–147 of the Pre-Conference Report. He noted two changes: Board of Trustees, change Richard C. Humphries from Monroe District to Lake Charles District; and Wesley Center Board of Trustees, change Tamara de Graffenried from Lake Charles District to Shreveport District. A motion was made to adopt the report with these changes. The motion passed unanimously. The second part of the report was the 2007 Nominations of Agencies and Institutions. There were several changes made and the report was approved.
Dr. Pat Day presented Report #2 of the Council on Finance and Administration. The Conference was referred back to Report #1, page 3 of the Pre-Conference Report, Item 13. A motion was made to approve Item 13 as stated. The motion was seconded and passed. Report #2 is found on pages 4-5. CFA is recommending the return of the Conference Benevolence budget to the pre-Katrina/Rita level of $900,000 as reflected on page 5. Several increases and decreases were discussed. The budget was approved.
Rev. Gene Finnell addressed the question of why the Resolution on Safe Sanctuaries was removed from consideration. He explained that there was a need to clarify some of the wording of the Resolution. The CMT expected to be able to resolve the technical concerns and present the Resolution at the next Conference. The spirit of the resolution will be continued until next year with training sessions and workshops. Any further questions should be directed to Tom Dolph. There was a recommendation that workshops be held in each district. Several questions and comments were made.
Clergy Ballot #11 was announced. There were 166 Ballots cast, 3 invalid, 163 valid, 82 needed to elect. Larry Miller was elected with 87 votes. Clergy Ballot #12 was taken to elect 2.
Rev. John Deschner gave Report #2 of the Committee on Petitions. Petition #1 regarding Early Retirement for Clergy was presented by Dr. Jack O’Dell. The Petition requested that the penalty be removed for early retirement and that clergy be given the option of early retirement at 20 and 30 years, instead of 20 or 35 years. It was reported that the Board of Pensions voted non-concurrence. Jack O-Dell moved that the Petition be amended as follows: delete the words “shall be amended” to “be it resolved”. Dr. Carl Rhoads responded for the Board of Pensions against the Petition. There was a motion to table Petition #1 until the Board of Pensions could further study the Petition. Motion was seconded and Petition #1 was referred.
Doug Ezell recognized the retirement of Colleen Jordan, who has faithfully served five Lake Charles District Superintendents over the past eighteen years.
Dr. Martha Orphe presented the Report of the Mission Zone. Pastors serving in the Mission Zone were asked to come to the stage and were given a standing ovation. Dr. Orphe personally thanked each Pastor for their service and she thanked the Bishop, the Cabinet and the Conference for their support. Churches that have re-opened were acknowledged and members were asked to stand. A short video was shown.
Clergy Ballot #12 was announced. There were 184 Ballots cast, 2 invalid, 182 valid, 92 needed to elect. Donald Avery was elected with 94 votes. Lay Ballot #10 was announced. There were 407 Ballots cast, 44 invalid, 363 valid, 182 needed to elect. Rachel Scott with 243 votes and Jared Williams with 208 votes were elected. Clergy Ballot #13 to elect 1 and Lay Ballot #11 to elect 3 were cast.
Danny Gleason announced that a golf tournament would be held on October 1, 2007. It will be called the Rita/Katrina Golf Scramble and will be held at the Bluffs. The money raised will be used for Rita/Katrina Storm Relief.
Dr. Carl Rhoads made several announcements.
The Session was adjourned for lunch.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2007
AFTERNOON SESSION
Following lunch, Rev. Cynthia Wilson, accompanied by Mr. John Paul McGee, led the worship, “Dancing in the Light of God.” Youth delegates led some of the “young at heart” delegates (and the Bishop) in dancing and singing.
Bishop Hutchinson reported on Laity Ballot #11. There were 397 Ballots cast, 27 invalid, 370 valid, 185 needed to elect. Joyce Robinson with 194 votes was elected. Clergy Ballot #13 was reported. There were 172 Ballots cast, 2 invalid, 170 valid, 86 needed to elect. There was no election. Bishop Hutchinson called us to prayer for the upcoming ballot. Laity Ballot #12 to elect 2 and Clergy Ballot #14 to elect 1 was taken.
Mrs. Carolyn Dove opened the afternoon session with prayer.
Rev. John Deschner presented Petition 4 on the subject of church membership. This proposal proposes the addition to the Book of Discipline ¶217 the following: “Local church membership is open to all persons who repent of their sin, which includes but is not limited to racism, heterosexual sexual relations outside the marriage bond, and homosexual practice.” Rev. Woody Hingle spoke in favor of the petition stating that greater clarity is needed in the Discipline as to what constitutes “sin”.
Rev. Donnie Wilkinson called for a Point of Order. He moved that the Rules of Order be suspended to limit debate to 3 for and 3 against with a three-minute limit each. Motion was seconded and carried.
Rev. Alfred Bakewell spoke for the Board of Church and Society that the verbiage “repent of their sin” is sufficient. Rev. Emile Tosso spoke in favor of the petition. The petition highlights the sexual practices of today’s culture. Mr. Richard Buras, Zwolle, spoke against the verbiage that specifically lists sins. Sin is sin. We do not need to start categorizing sins. Rev. Scott Adams, St. Timothy on the North Shore, spoke for the petition, which he says is about repentance from sins and these particular sins have come to the forefront of our lives because of the culture of the day. Rev. Fred Wideman, Trinity, Ruston, spoke against the petition, because Biblically there are many other sins not listed and theologically it raises one sin as more important than other sins. Mr. Malcolm Bass, West Monroe, speaking for the petition, stated that this does not lift these sins above other sins, but requires that unrepentant sinners, who openly continue to practice these sins, should not be allowed to infiltrate the church. This would indicate that these sins are perceived as OK. Rev. Hingle appreciated the maturity the conference has shown in this discussion. Bishop Hutchinson called for the vote. The petition did not pass.
Bishop Hutchinson called us to celebrate that we have risen above our goal for the Global Aids Fund with current gifts of $127,268 and stated that he believes the total will rise when all funds are counted.
Rev. Darryl Tate presented the Report on the Katrina/Rita Response. A PowerPoint presentation was shown.
Bishop Hutchinson and members of this conference, you will find our report in the Pre-Conference Report on pages 63-65.
Our ministry began after the wake of the two hurricanes (Katrina and Rita) and two floods in the aftermath of these storms. In the first nine months after these disasters, we focused on a three part plan. The first part was to bring relief to 1/3 of our annual conference; the second part was to organize both the relief and recovery ministries; and the last part was to focus on the long road to recovery that will take both time, volunteers and funding.
In the last twelve months your recovery ministry has been focusing on the long term response. In this response we have accomplish much in the name of The United Methodist Church.
The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Ministry is functioning through six stations and two sub stations. At all our stations and substations our purpose is clear: to serve our client base which is approximately 10,700 families.
Our clients represent the “least, last and lost” and no preferential treatment is shown to members of our denomination. We are utilizing the CAN (Coordinated Assistance Network) database to track the progress of each client’s recovery. Our case manager supervisors and operations coordinators participate on a consistent basis with area Long Term Recovery Committees and roundtables to secure all available assistance for our clients. We have closed approximately 5508 cases to date and have more than 5100 cases active and pending. A Compassionate Care Calls program has begun which allows volunteers to serve from various areas around the country to make a personal contact with those who are waiting own ability to assist.
Each station provides full case management service and assistance and is supported by the construction efforts of volunteers overseen by operations staff.
To date, we have overseen the efforts of more than 1734 teams and 32,000 volunteers. In the past year we have hosted teams from all 50 states. Sixty-three United Methodist Annual Conferences have deployed teams to Louisiana. Our volunteer numbers continue to increase and indicate a multiyear commitment from other churches and companies. In both March and June, 2007 we hosted more than 3,900 volunteers who were our workforce for the rebuilding efforts. Of our remaining cases, the best estimate shows that we have 650 homes still to be gutted, and 1025-1150 rebuilds or major repairs still to be accomplished This unprecedented volunteer response represents more than 1.7 million hours of work. These volunteer hours equate to an in kind donation of more than $32.5 million.
In the next five slides we see our volunteers serving our clients with gutting, trash removal and helping to get our clients’ homes ready for rebuilds.
Volunteers not only have come from United States, but we have volunteers from all 20 countries: Armenia; Thailand; Korea; Virgin Islands; Japan; Oman; Nigeria; Tanzania; Kenya; South Africa; Indonesia; Denmark; England; Finland; Germany; Holland; Ireland; Italy; Norway; Scotland.
Through our Case Managers, which are the best MSW in all of Disaster Recovery Ministry, we have served 16,870 clients in leading them in writing their own Recovery Plans. With the help of our construction personnel and volunteers we have gutted more than 3,000 homes, providing more than fifteen hundred major repairs and have finished this past conference year 465 rebuilt homes. In the next seven slides you see the before pictures of homes ready for rebuilds and the finished homes that were readied for our clients.
The next seven slides show homes that were among 465 rebuilds completed the past year. Each client upon the completion of their home has it dedicated.
Every one of us grieved in April the killing of 33 students at Virginia Tech. Here in Louisiana we felt the same grief, especially at our Westbank Station where they had hosted Virginia Tech work teams. Two of the 33 students that were killed were among our work teams that came to help us in our time of need. In their honor we are dedicating two rebuilds this fall in memory of Ryan Clark and Leslie Sherman. We thank the Westbank Station for making this memorial possible.
We are working in collaboration with Women’s Division of GBGM, UMCOR and the Annual Conference with the renovation at St. Mark’s Community Center and the Dulac Community Center. With a special grant from UMCOR we were able to renovate the interior of St. Mark’s for volunteer housing. In collaboration with the Women’s Division of GBGM, UMCOR and the Annual Conference, we will be moving into a brand new elevated building at Dulac which will be able to house eighty volunteers. We hired John Paul McGuire to be the station manager to host and lead the volunteers to help the clients in the Dulac Community. He is doing a wonderful job in leading and building relationships between the center and the community.
With the help of our Administrative staff and our Manager of Volunteers, we have a tool called a Communicating Recovery packet. This is a tool for personnel going out to tell our story to the large community outside Louisiana. Over the past year we have CDs, DVDs and a special edition of the Louisiana NOW that is circulated throughout the world. In the area of Disaster Preparedness under the leadership of Rev. Freddie Henderson a training session was held in February for all District Coordinators and the team. In the fall of this year, during Charge Conference, every congregation will receive a CD on Disaster Preparedness to prepare them for any disasters.
Pastors will receive a copy of the new DVD, “Why is Volunteering So Important Two Years After the Storms of 2005”.
With the help of Director of Communications Betty Backstrom, Dr. Orphe and I led the first Speaker training session. At this session tools were given to tell the story. The Mission Zone is helping to rebuild ministry and your Disaster Recovery Ministry is helping to Rebuild communities.
In the fall of 2006 the Disaster Recovery Staff offered a spiritual retreat that was led by Rev. Judy Nelson. The Retreat focused on “Our Journey Together”.
As we begin our third year as your Disaster Recovery Ministry, our goals are as follows:
Completing the new volunteers’ housing facility at Aldersgate in Slidell. The facility will be able to house 200 volunteers, warehouse, office space and training center for future disaster training. UMCOR is helping to fund a portion of this project. Other funding is coming from private donors.
Over the next few months we will consolidate services and stations in the New Orleans area. With the help of our Manager of Volunteers we will continue to increase the number of returning teams and new teams.
In the next two weeks we will host another Speakers’ Bureau in Baton Rouge to increase the voices and faces within the Disaster Recovery Ministry and the Mission Zone
In October another Spiritual Retreat entitled “Streams of Living Water” under the leadership of Shannon Sandifer and Jane Knight will be offered.
LA VIM and Disaster Recovery Ministry will offer “Takin’ it to the Streets” in Abbeville, Lake Charles, and New Orleans.
Today we are saying thanks to the following personnel leaving the Disaster Recovery Ministry:
Rev. Marva Mitchell is moving back to the Mission Zion; Rev. Judy Nelson is developing a special project; Rev. Walter Parker, Jr. is moving back into the pastoral ministry; Joyce Robinson who has been serving as our FEMA Liaison since October 2005, Randy Morgan who has served as our Southwest treasurer and Kathy Masey who has served as our Church partnering coordinator will be leaving these positions.
Rev. Connie Thomas is returning to the Mission Zone.
We welcome into the Disaster Recovery Ministry the following personnel: Althea Fontenot, Director of Case Management; Rev. Rick Miller, Director of Spiritual Care; Rev. Wayne Taylor, Resource Manager; Rev. Yvonne Dayries, Manager of Volunteers; and Rev. Curtiss Eden, Hospitality and Volunteers Coordinator.
We want to thank the churches who have helped our stations and substations in their work. We could not have done our work without your help.
Dr. Richard Burnham brought greetings from Texas as the Beaumont District Superintendent. Shortly after he began his work in Beaumont, Hurricane Rita also devastated his area. Stories such as ours in Louisiana are being reinacted in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. We all are moving forward in the cause of Jesus Christ.
In closing, we would like to thank the staff of Dr. Carl Rhoads, III, Executive Director of Administrative Services for all the work they have done for the recovery ministry.
Bishop Hutchinson this is the report from your Disaster Recovery Ministry. I move its approval. The report was received.
Rev. Darryl Tate presented a DVD to be used to recruit volunteers. It ends with an original song by Ben Meachum, who performed it live for the Conference
Rev. Cynthia Wilson was thanked for her excellent musical leadership at the Annual Conference as she departed for travel home.
Bishop Hutchinson reported on Clergy Ballot #14. There were 136 Ballots cast, 1 invalid, 135 valid, 68 needed to elect. There was no election. A motion was made that in the next clergy balloting, the highest vote would be the Jurisdictional delegate and the next two persons receiving the highest votes would be the Alternate delegates, accepting a plurality vote as opposed to a majority vote. The results of Laity Ballot #12 were reported. There were 367 Ballots cast, 29 invalid, 338 valid, 170 needed to elect. Pete Aguila with 179 votes and Fred Loy with 176 votes are elected. A motion was made that in the next laity balloting, the highest two votes would be elected as the two Alternates, accepting a plurality vote as opposed to a majority vote. Both motions carried. Bishop Hutchinson prayed for the next balloting.
Bishop Hutchinson lifted Rev. Wilbert August, Sr., Rev. Marguerite Rheams, Rev. Wishy Nolan, and Diane Brossette for prayer. Prayer was also requested for veterans, and our service men and women. Prayer was offered for these.
Mr. Buzzy Anding will chair the General and Jurisdictional Delegation. Delegates were asked to meet in Room 1 immediately following the close of Conference.
Dr. Pat Day, Rev. Betsy Eaves and Mr. Benny Vaughn thanked the Baton Rouge District and churches for their excellent leadership during this Annual Conference. They issued the invitation for the 2008 Annual Conference to be held at Centenary College June 1-4, 2008. The invitation was accepted with a resounding “Amen!”
Bishop Hutchinson thanked the Worship Committee, Agenda Committee, the staff, Donald Cottrill, Carl Rhoads, Kathy Moore, Rhonda Whitley, and Patti Perkins. Kathy Moore made all of the banners, altar worship centers, and arranged flowers, for both the River Center and the Memorial Service. She received a resounding ovation.
Bishop Hutchinson fixed the appointments as listed in the Louisiana Right Now, Wednesday, June 6, 2007 edition.
Mr. John Paul McGee provided music.
Bishop Hutchinson announced the final ballots. Laity Ballot #13 was announced. There were 350 Ballots cast, 18 invalid, 332 valid. Tim Hebert with 169 votes and Fane Peeples with 140 votes were elected as Alternated to the Jurisdictional Confeence. Clergy Ballot #15 was announced. There were 148 Ballots cast, 7 invalid, 141 valid. Danny Gleason was elected as Delegate with 120 votes and Juliet Spencer with 110 votes and Ramonalynn Bethley with 94 votes were elected as Alternates to the Jurisdictional Conference. All Delegates were called to the stage for prayer.
The Service of Sending Forth and Deconsecration of Space adjourned the 2007 Louisiana Annual Conference.
