April 27 (5th day):  Hello beloved BUMC!  Woke up late as alarm was set for week days!  Rushed to convention center for a short huddle and prayer with IN delegation.  There was an amazing bell choir during worship and thought of our own bell choir - love!  
During plenary we voted on the consent calendar which included the revised social principles by 92%!!  The rest of the day was committed to the work in Committees. Since local church was already done and no other petitions got referred to us, I had the rest of the day off!! Who hoo!  But what I have heard is that all 14(?) committies finished their work.
Recall that there are over 1000 petitions.  The work of the committee is to review and take preliminary action.  When there is significant approval, they go to the consent calendar for bulk approval at plenary.  All other petitions go to the plenary individually and that where things can get really drawn out and full of drama. That will start Monday!

So here is what I heard:  All of our creation justice legislative priorities passed through committees except for the divestment of Fossil Fuels. All of the petitions to remove discriminations against LGBTQ+ people and petitions repealing the traditional plan have also passed through committee with high margins of support.  This all still seems very hopeful!  Today(Sunday) there is no General conference work. I will be going to 11am service at First UMC with Duane Carlisle to hear Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth preach.

April 26 (Day 4): Hello beloved BUMC!  I am writing this on Saturday morning as Friday was a pretty emotionally exhausting day.  A couple highlights: Worship was “rousing” and uplifting with Bishop Sharma Lewis of Mississippi encouraging delegates to leave room for the Holy Spirit in their deliberations.  During plenary we voted to allow reserve delegates appointed later to have full credentials.  The Connectional Table leadership encouraged hope reminding all that the UMC has always been and will be a witness of Christ’s enduring love in the world.  We then broke for legislative committees- so peaceful start and then…. In our local church committee we had a delegate from South Carolina speak against a motion to include sexual orientation as a protected group in hiring.   He used a very old and tiresome analogy to homosexuals being predators like pedophiles!!  That was hard to hear. Fortunately the next speaker a pastor from Virginia rebuked him very strongly.  Later on we defeated this motion after I also spoke against it since our goal is to get to neutral and not set up the Central Conferences with too much a burden when it comes to ratifying regionalization.  It is all crazy connected and hard to take the high road for the long game. Later I heard that there were other committees that had some divisions in The Coalition.   A lot to process and a lot of nuances.  There were hurt feelings that harmful language was being sacrificed for regionalization.  The Queer Delegate Caucus regrouped until late at night to reestablish the goals and to ensure the Coalition is aligned.  There was a lot of hope in the pain…. If that makes any sense.  The Indiana Delegation also got together for a fun light-hearted dinner - so needed that.  Saturday awaits with more voting and legislative work.  (Also see Additional Comment from MainStream UMC posted below.)

April 25:  Hello beloved BUMC!  What a day!!  Woke up early to learning that there will be a petition for regionalization today.  Much earlier than anticipated- likely to build on the momentum.   Bishop LaTrelle Easterling (Baltimore-Washington Conference) preached a powerful message against rape and violence to girls, women and LGBTQ people (yes calling them out).  We cannot blame the victims!   We must dismantle systems of patriarchy and domination.  Everyone is wearing black to celebrate the strength of these women.
Bishop David Wilson (Great Plains Conference) the first Native American bishop to preside today.  Wow!  Just passed consent calendars by huge majority that had petitions allowing regionalization to come to floor.  86% to 89% !!!  Huge!  A separate petition also passed by a large margin of 78% in favor for regionalization!  The Eurasian Conferences got the  go-ahead to form their own church.  Their Bishop went to seminary with Rev. Dr. Cyndi Alte.  It was so bittersweet but inline with self determination and regionalization.  Late in the afternoon we finally met in our committees - my Local Church committee was really slow in even starting looking at petitions.   But we did address 7 out of the 30 pieces of legislation.  I have heard rumors of really good news on Revised Social Principles being approved by committee AND removing the harmful language also being approved by committee.  This will both come before the plenary in the next few days or next week.  I continue to be optimistic that we are forging a new inclusive church where ALL MEANS ALL.  A large group of UMC delegates protested against the war in Gaza.  I wish I had gone but was at a laity appreciation dinner with some of my Indiana delegates (it was good to connect with them).
Unfortunately, our work for a more inclusive world is never ending.  Several members of the queer caucus were harassed by a “corner preacher”.   Pretty sure that this was not the Holy Spirt at work here.  Fortunately no one was hurt and security is aware.   Such ugliness!
Our work is not done!

April 24: Hello beloved BUMC!  This morning we were greeted with yet another Daily Christian Advocate describing agenda updates and various petitions that have been approved for review and approval (consent calendar).  We started with worship with a lot of Methodist praise music (great songs but a bit too loud for me).  Oh and the conference space is freezing (I should have grabbed one of the prayer shawls!).  The plenary session was chaired by Bishop Laura Merrill from Arkansas Latina woman - in Spanish!  Pretty cool.   Bishop Holston (South Carolina Annual Conference) provided a fiery reflection of world news vis-à-vis what the UMC is doing.  Emphasizing “this is who God needs the church to be”.  “Let’s go!”  The cool thing was that it was rumored that he was going to “blame” the progressives for causing the church division- the Holy Spirit must have “touched him” since he left all of that out.  I suspect he was reading the room and was coached by other Bishops.
There were two amazing addresses by youth.  Alejandra Salemi shared that the youth were in pain due to the church divorce and need to live as Jesus called us to be as we look to the future as a global church that welcomes all (she encouraged all of the delegates to vote as if the next 7 generations would be impacted by our decisions).  She called out queer liberation and this is not the “last frontier of justice”.  She also shared her powerful story about her own mental health and that the church is also called on to help in this area. She wrapped up affirming that a new era of heaven on earth will come!  The second youth from Sierra Leone - Senesie Rodger’s lesson was that division is intertwined in the history of our church and growth for change.  We should not fear it!  Reconciliation is also part of our history. The young are more diverse than ever.  We must use rational thought to make decisions   He reminded us to lead with the Wesleyan Quadrilateral - emphasizing the importance to balance rational thought with scripture and tradition and experiences.   Lastly, he reminded us that God speaks in the whisper - will we be able to hear it as “we be still … and know that I am God”?  A key highlight of the morning for me was when the Standing Committee of Central Conferences made a very strong pitch for regionalization and new Book of Discipline that recognizes we are no longer a U.S. church with missions but rather a world wide church with regions who know their areas best.  They challenged us to write a new BofD with adaptable and non-adaptable sections.  A group from the Connectional Table spoke to creating a path toward the next expression of UMC.   As you can see there is a lot of momentum for the 3 Rs.   After lunch we broke into our legislative committees where the work starts.  We chose a chair, vice chair and secretary.  These roles are really key to driving toward transformation.  Most roles appear to be filled by progressives and centrists!  Our “local church” committee has about 50 people with at least 15 from Russia, Poland, Philippines, Congo, Sierra Leone, and South Africa.  Those not in committee leadership were able to wrap up the day by 4:30pm.  So grateful - so I took a nap!  Transformation is hard work.  Lol

April 23: Hello beloved BUMC!  Day 1 of GC was pretty extraordinary!  I did wake up early (6:00am) to get to the gym since I knew there would be a lot of sitting.  And there was!  We had a long orientation session, followed by lunch.  During lunch I met with the Queer Delegate Caucus - which is  62 open queer people who love the church.  There was a lot of joy and optimism.  We then had our opening worship service with a sermon by Bishop Bickerton (Resident Bishop of the New York Area) that was so encouraging  (he was on fire) - calling for a revitalized church that essentially “seeks, welcomes and values ALL”.   It was so cool to say the Our Father in so many languages - I have such a growing appreciation of how the UMC is worldwide!  During our first plenary session we voted on the rules of order and setting the bar (which is declaring who can vote).  I did learn that there are 751 register delegates out of a possible 862.   Several delegates from central conferences outside of the U.S. were not able to join for multiple reasons (left the denomination, expired passports, delayed visa by their own country, or simply a lack of response).   There was a motion to recognize that we need to do better - but also acknowledging that this GC is valid.  Caught up with Bishop Lanette Plambeck of the Dakotas and a seminary college friend of Pastor Cyndi Alte!  Love her!  I had dinner tonight with delegates from Poland, Switzerland, Illinois, Texas and Indiana.  Heading to bed with continued hope for a better church.

April 22: Hello beloved BUMC!  I was so moved by your prayerful send off and messages of support on Facebook.  Today Monday (4/22/24) I registered and got my voting card.  There is some serious security and confirmation of who enters the conf center and who votes.  Also picked up my translation device - note how many languages (9)!   This evening I went to an Earth Day Celebration at First UMC (sat with Rev. Duane Carlisle) and then to US Coalition for passing the 3 Rs strategy meeting.  The 3 Rs are: 1.) regionalization, 2.) remove the harmful language, and 3.) adopt the revised Social Principles.  There were over 200 delegates in the packed gym as we discussed recent poll information- this gave me great hope for our church!

1.) Global Regionalization.
2.) Passage of the Revised Social Principles.
3.) Removal of harmful language and policies toward LGBTQ persons in the Book of Discipline.

Clergy Delegates (8): Russ Abel, Aleze Fulbright ,Lisa Schubert Nowling, Greg Pimlott, Rob Fuquay,  Adriane Rockhill, Duane Carlisle, &  Larry Whitehead.
Lay Delegates (8): Christopher Hancock, Kenneth Einselen, Albert Hidalgo, Alisa Isaacs-Bailey, Kim Arnott, Nathan Lundy, Shannon Priddy, & Carolyn Johnson.

Dear Friends,  
Day 4: It’s actually happening.  The harmful language that has targeted our LGBTQ siblings for the past 52 years is being voted out in committee after committee.  And the margins are astonishing. None of us in our coalition imagined the kinds of votes we are seeing right now.
• Yesterday, the Revised Social Principles passed in committee with no amendments and 75% approval. This removes the harmful phrase “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching” that has been haunting our church since 1972.
• The committee in which I serve, Faith and Order, voted today to delete all of ¶304.3 that states in part “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals may not be ordained.” Further, the deletion was amended to make it effective at the close of this General Conference, rather than waiting until Jan, 2025, which is the usual procedure. The vote was an astonishing 43 to 9. It will go on the consent calendar next week unless someone pulls it off.
• Financial Administration removed the funding bans that in 2016 made it impossible to fund programs to prevent the suicide of LGBTQ youth. Seriously. Gone. The vote was 56-8.
• The remaining regionalization petitions passed overwhelmingly and are on the consent calendar.
• The subcommittee for the Conferences committee bundled and rejected all the disaffiliation petitions and voted to repeal ¶2553. The vote was 20-2. It will go to the full committee on Saturday. This is the Wesleyan Covenant Association’s (WCA) only priority and they may not even have the votes to keep it off the consent calendar. Either they have no friends left in the UMC or they have thrown in the towel. Clearly, all their talk about Africa wanting disaffiliations is as ridiculous as we thought.