Day 0, 1, and 2

I wondered if I was ever going to make this post! After what felt like nonstop work since I arrived Monday afternoon, I have a chance to catch my breath, collect my thoughts, and share them with the church I serve! A few highlights and thoughts from the first couple days of the 2020 General Conference, being held in Charlotte, NC in 2024:

After a challenging arrival (the hotel I am staying in changed ownership the day I checked in), I made it to the Charlotte Convention Center by 6 pm for a meeting with all conference marshals and pages. After a few PowerPoint slideshows to orient the group, we walked the cavernous footprint of the convention center.

After an hour of touring the facility, we were put to work preparing the space for the delegates: distributing approved materials to conference participants’ desks is one of the page’s primary responsibilities.

After a quick stop at a local grocery store, I did not get back to the hotel room until after 10 pm. I was thankful for Molly's stuffed animals - Floyd and Rocky - to have waited up for me! 

Returned to the convention center bright and early at 7 am! I am close to a stop on Charlotte’s Light Rail system, so I do not have to worry about driving in and out of a bustling downtown area. Plus, the stop I use has a “Custom Feature” of “seating”, so it’s almost too good to pass up (seriously, “seating” is listed as a “Custom Feature” on the website…who knew?!)  

My assignment had me seated at the front of Section A for both the morning and afternoon sessions. 

There are four sections - A through D - holding the 862 delegates from 133 worldwide annual conferences. More on the multicultural aspect of the meeting in a bit.

During the delegates lunch, we handed out more materials to the delegates' seats. After what seemed to be a very chaotic and haphazard session, we all realized - the pages, marshals, and those leading and supporting the other support functions for General Conference  - it has been 5-plus years since we’ve done this! So it’s almost as if we’re all relearning as we go. We all show one another, and ourselves, grace as we enter into this process. Yet the chaos limits us to a 20-minute lunch of a pastry, banana, and coffee from the Whole Foods across the street...!
The afternoon session started with opening worship, with the outgoing Council of Bishops president, Resident bishop for the New York Annual Conference Thomas Bickerton, sharing an inspiring word about the work that is before the delegates and our denomination. You can watch a few moments of his message, and a summary of the day’s events, here.
But what I will take away from the first day of General Conference is when we were preparing our hearts to take Holy Communion. The presiding elder - Bishop Bickerton - invited those of us gathered to say the Lord’s Prayer “in our heart language”, which for the body gathered, included at least 10 different languages that are being officially translated at General Conference. I share the video of the Lord’s Prayer here, but it does not do it justice from where I was standing: I almost couldn’t hear my own voice through the cacophony of languages sharing in the prayer Jesus teaches us! It was certainly a Pentecost moment for me!

Arrived back at the convention center again at 7 am…took advantage of the “Custom Feature” seats at the light rail station 🙂
My assignment was up on the stage where all the bishops - both active and retired - sit for the plenary proceedings. BISHOPS ARE NEEDY…or, at least they were this morning: I got four translation headsets, two coffees, and searched for one cane in my time with them! But I did visit with our previous bishop here in Arkansas (Gary Mueller), met and visited with another lovely retired bishop (Ernest Lyght), and watched our current bishop (Laura Merrill) serve as the presiding bishop at the morning plenary session!  

A couple things I want to share with you all from the morning’s proceedings:
1 - the Young Person’s address mid-morning was POWERFUL! A young man from Sierra Leone who was unable to travel to General Conference due to visa issues shared a strong, STRONG message of hope for all who listened to his recorded message. It has not been posted yet on the website, but I will share it if/when it becomes available!
2 - as part of the Episcopal Address, Bishop Jonathan Holston of the South Carolina conference, shared various ministries making an impact across our worldwide denomination. One ministry that stuck out to me was Spotlight Academy of the Arts, a ministry of Highland Park UMC in Dallas, that equips and empowers disabled community members to participate in an annual musical, short film, or rock concert. It reminded me of when I was a chaplain for a mental health nonprofit that held an annual talent show: the smiles that were on those who were in the Spotlight Academy of the Arts video were similar of those who participated in the talent show. What a gift it would be to be a part of something like that!
That's all the news from Lake Wobegon...I mean, Charlotte. Will check in more regularly over the next week and a half. Feel free to reach out to me via email!