6 June 2009 by Glen Lauber.

It’s the last day and we have a lot to do. I had breakfast with Melissa in the staff dining room.

The UMConnection Daily on Friday’s events is available.

We approved the trustees report and then began to debate a resolution on dialogue on many aspects of sexuality. There were a few amendments proposed, some accepted, some rejected. The amendments are not yet available for me to report accurately.

There were proposals not considered because they were submitted late and we ran out of time. Had there been time they would have been considered.

I left at 10 a.m. once the business was concluded. Following the business was an observance for clergy and clergy spouses who died in the preceding year, and ordination.

It was a good conference. They are always exhausting, and sometimes it’s hard to see what was accomplished. There is a web page where one may review the entire conference.

That’s all for this year.

Glen

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5 June 2009 by Glen Lauber.

It’s Friday morning, and I am tired. Last night went late and, of course, it took me a while to relax in order to sleep. See the UM Connection Daily for today to get a synopsis of yesterday’s events and actions.

We will have to vote on the amendments, again, because a class of pastors, known as, “Local Pastors,” were allowed to vote and should not have been. It was a curious discussion about the amendments last night. Frankly, while I was out of the country I did not have the time or energy to study either the amendments or their background. I learned that they 23 amendments concerning church organization were proposed by the Council of Bishops. As a result, Bishop Schol offered remarks, with the consent of the body, on what the council says the amendments mean. It’s too much to go into here, but most of the amendments appear to increase flexibility for organizing the church around the world, not actually reorganize it. Those in opposition suggest that this will result in different regions adopting different doctrines. The bishop emphasized that those kinds of changes are reserved solely for the General Conference, and therefore no regional group could change them for their region.

Here are some snippets one should know, about which I am not writing:

·      This is the 225^th annual conference for this part of the church; that means the first one was held in 1784 (Lovely Lane, in Baltimore, creating the denomination)

·      Twenty-six pastors are retiring with 638 years of experience, include former Glen Mar pastor, Rev. Donna Martin

·      White House Religion Liaison, Paul Monteiro, spoke Thursday night and participated in a panel discussion on community ministry

Today we will here reports from the Discipleship and Stewardship parts of the conference (including voting on the budget) and celebrate our partnerships with parts of the church in Zimbabwe, Latin America, Korea, and Russia. Other legislation will also come before the body.

Well, nothing super remarkable about this morning. We heard an interesting discussion by Rev. Jessica Duckworth, a professor at Wesley Theological Seminary, about Young Adult Ministry (18-35). Andy was taking notes. One note I wrote was that churches with about 30% or more people age 35 or younger attract young adults.

Also, the body approved a motion to target the proceeds from the sale of a district superintendant parsonage to starting a new church, and Hispanic ministry.

We celebrated retirees, those who will be ordained Saturday, those who were commissioned and two new local pastors. We also celebrated those whose appointments were changing. That included John and Mary Ka.

One of the speakers today was Erin M. Hawkins, the General Secretary of the General Commission on Religion & Race, based in Washington, D.C. She spoke powerfully of story and the language we use to tell the story. She asks us to consider if our story as individuals and church hamper us or help us move forward. She also asks us to consider whether the language we choose to use in our stories reflects hope or hurt.

The budget (page 46) was adopted, but not before some strenuously urged adding some items in their personal agendas without a plan or suggestions from where the money would come. They were referred to the Council Finance & Administration, which will consider, in consultation with the bodies responsible for those programs what to do about the proposals.

We also approved, with some amendment, revisions to the policies that guide decisions on how many staff persons a church can afford (page 61).

It was a long day. Al and I had dinner at 8 p.m. and I was asleep before 9:30 p.m.

Glen

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4 June 2009 by Glen Lauber.

Well, here I am. It’s 7 a.m., Thursday, and I’m in the hotel lounge waiting for breakfast with Andy. Arrival at the Waterfront Marriott in Baltimore yesterday was uneventful. There are very few places in our region that can accommodate roughly 1400 people, and allow them to meet in one room and satisfy accessibility requirements, and some of those are prohibitively expensive.

Today there will be a meeting of all the clergy and a meeting of all the laity. Worship, a speech by the bishop on the state of the church, more worship, and a speech by Paul Monteiro, the president’s religion liaison. In addition, the conference will consider various pieces of legislation. We will debate and vote to ratify 32 amendments to the Constitution of The United Methodist Church approved by the General Conference of the church last year. Most of the amendments address the global nature of the church. At present the church in the United States dominates the church in other parts of the world. These amendments propose that there be a balance in the church around the world. While at first blush this might seem an obviously good thing to do, not everybody agrees. The arguments against it have merit.

For a review of conference preparations and pre-conference news, see the UM Connection Daily for Thursday.

I am not the only one here. Glen Mar sends four lay people to the conference as members of the conference. As such we vote our consciences for the good of the whole region. Why four? It’s not based on size relative to other churches, but rather on how many ordained clergy we have. Our ordained clergy are Andy, John, Al, and Ruth, who are members of the conference, not Glen Mar. Our lay members this year are: me, Dottie Byers, Karol Hess, and Lynne Phillips.

The laity session was so-so. The speaker, Joseph Robinson, Jr., was average. We heard the usual reports from the United Methodist Women, United Methodist Men, the Lay Speaking leadership and Young Adult Council. Nothing remarkable happened. Lunch was a nice fish dish.

Sadly, I will miss the entire afternoon while tending to family matters. I should be back for the evening session. Tomorrow’s conference daily newspaper should be able to fill you in.

Well, I got back in time for the elections of conference officers for the next year. Andy, Al, Dottie, and I went to dinner. After dinner we approved the consent calendar and discussed the 32 proposed amendments to the constitution. After an hour of questions and speeches we completed our ballots and adjourned for the night.

Glen

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3 June 2009 by Glen Lauber.

Last year I decided to get with it, and blog. I chose the Annual Conference of the Baltimore Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church. Take a deep breath before you say it. I will make the same attempt this year, trying to post each day’s events either that night or the next morning.

Two important publications for following events are the Pre-Conference Booklet and the Annual Conference Booklet. The second has updates from the first and material not found in the first.

It will be an important record for Glen Mar of this important convention. As Lay Members of the Annual Conference from Glen Mar, we are charged with keeping you informed about conference business. It is my hope that these blog entries will satisfy that requirement. I will also post links to each daily edition of the UMConnection, published Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

I’ll be in touch.

-Glen, Church Council Chair and Lay Member to Annual Conference

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6 May 2009 by Gail Carter.

You’ve been heard, and we want to hear more! 

A new communication feature is being initiated and you’re invited to participate.  This week, there will be an “Open Mailbox” situated in the Gathering Area.  It’s not fancy……just a white cardboard container with a blue mailbox printed on it.  The Open Mailbox blank forms will be in the mobile kiosk for you to jot down ANY question or ANY comment you would like to be addressed.

You will receive a response to your submission within 5-7 working days.  I will make every effort to empty the box at least twice a week and distribute your comments/questions to the proper ministry head for response.  In some cases, I may be able to respond myself, in which case you will be hearing from me immediately.

PLEASE take advantage of this opportunity!  There isn’t any excuse for concerns to go unheard or questions to be unanswered.  Remember that, no matter how insignificant you may think your ideas/concerns are, your voice is important.  Many times something that is important to you has not even been thought of by others.  So………..go for it!!!!  Any topic is fair game.  Let us know what is bothering you, what you’d like to see happen, what you’re wondering about, even rate your level of satisfaction with our new space.

We’ll be looking forward to hearing from you!!!

Gail Carter, Lay Leader

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14 March 2009 by Gail Carter.

Is there anyone not affected by the economic downturn??  If you’re looking for a new job, or just afraid you’re about to lose your current one, I’ve found some really helpful websites to investigate!  Are you in a technical field?  Try krop.com or dice.com.  How about available executive positions? Go to theladders.com, 6figurejobs.com, or vault.com.  If you have a finance background, there’s careerbank.com and efinancialcareers.com.  The health care industry posts jobs on biospace.com and healthcareerweb.com.  Not into the 9-5 grind?  Hourly jobsare listed at snagajob.com and employmentguide.com.  Other sites include idealist.org (non-profs), jobing.com (regional opportunities), workinretail.com (obvious), and vetjobs.com (veteran’s skill sets desired).   If all else fails, try findarecruiter.com, i-recruit.com, or onlinerecruitersdirectory.com.  They’re all worth a shot!!  Good luck

If you’re hearing a “call” to serve on a new Glen Mar team, consider the Finance area!  Don Lee is our new chair of Stewardship and would certainly be happy to hear from you.  There are a couple of new finance areas also:  Planned Giving/Endowment Fund and Alternative Fund Raising.  Jeff Carter will be implementing these two very important facets of our ministry base soon and is currently looking for folks to serve.  Please consider giving Jeff a call at 410-531-6563 if these areas are of interest to you.  The Church Endowment Fund will provide opportunities for expressions of gratitude and discipleship and is established to provide permanent financial support to expand Glen Mar’s mission statement.  The Alternative Fund Raising ministry will coordinate timing/rollout of alternative fund raising venues and explore grant-writing options for Glen Mar. 

Speaking of jobs - - we’re all going to find it hard to say goodbye to John Nupp at the end of June; however, we do have the joy of welcoming Mary Ka Kanahan (yes, “Ka” is spelled correctly - but sounds like “Kay”!!!) into our midst on July 1.  Mary Ka will be our new Associate Pastor, taking John’s place.  She is currently at Pleasant Grove UMC in Reisterstown where she serves as pastor.  She actually began her ministry journey at Bethany UMC  as Lay Ministry Coordinator, helping members of that congregation identify their spiritual gifts and guiding them into laity service.  Following that assignment, she led a coaching ministry in Ellicott City where she specialized in growing spiritual leadership in individuals and organizations by helping them define their ministry and stewardship goals.  Her most recent assignment, before Pleasant Grove, was at Asbury UMC in Washington, DC .   Mary Ka has two sons, one (Brian) at Howard Community College and the other (Matthew) at Mt. Hebron High School.  She will celebrate her commissioning to the Baltimore Washington Conference this coming June.  Her qualifications are a perfect match to the requests we outlined to the Bishop earlier this year.

And in other news……………if you’re looking for some funny church stuff, check out Rev. Dean Snyder (pastor of Foundry UMC in DC) on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  His appearance was in conjunction with the BWConference’s welcoming campaign surrounding the inauguration of President Obama, and his report on the First Family’s search for a new church.  Find it at thedailyshow.com - -  - click on “videos”, then select “Jan. 28, 2009″ in the timeline. 

Keep your eye out for upcoming Glen Mar University offerings!!!  One of them is going to be a Sign Language Class.  WooHoo!  Really looking forward to that.  Continue to check out the entire website for program updates and what else is going on around GMC.

Peace to all of you during this Lenten Season!

Gail Carter, Lay Leader

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13 February 2009 by Gail Carter.

We’ve got lots of things coming up during the season of Lent!  Our Lenten Initiative Bible Study begins during the week of 2/23.  You can find out more by checking out the Community Life page here on the website or by contacting John Nupp at john.nupp@glenmarumc.org.  There are service projects attached to this bible study, so we’re not only serving our congregation, but the community in general.

On February 17, there will be a kick-off meeting for the new Special Needs Ministry.  This is a new and much-needed addition to our list of small group opportunities that will not only raise awareness, but assist us as we become more and more inclusive as a large church.  Email Donna Stinchcomb at donna.stinchcomb@glenmarumc.org to get involved in this worthwhile and exciting ministry group.

United Methodist Communications is offering a free online course in Web Mininstry.  Go to http://web.umcom.org or contact Cheryl Hemmerle at 888-278-4862, or training@umcom.org.  The leadership at Glen Mar is making strides every day to fine-tune and contribute to our website to make it not only more user-friendly, but a valuable tool for information and recruiting.  If you are tech-savvy and have ideas about our website, you may consider starting a Web Ministry Group here at Glen Mar.  A great example of how it’s done can be found at http://ginghamsburg.org/.  This is just one church (in Ohio) that’s had success with a web ministry.  You can contact me (layleader@glenmarumc.org) or John Nupp (john.nupp@glenmarumc.org) with your thoughts.

Check out the Sanctuary Choir offerings on March 29th.  They are combining with Severna Park UMC to present portions of Messiah at the 9:30 service.  Portions of that offering will be presented at the 8:00 service with a small ensemble.  On March 22, Glen Mar’s choir will travel to Severna Park UMC for the same program.   Ash Wednesday - February 25 - will be another service offering beautiful music and handbell pieces.  Singers are always welcome to come join the choir for rehearsals!  Contact Carrie, our Minister for Music (carrie.grams@glenmarumc.org).

Don’t forget to come out on Tuesday, 2/24, for the Pancake Supper/Silent Auction, sponsored by the Youth Ministry.  This is always a fun night!!!  Check out the Youth Webpage for further info.

We’re still investigating possibilities for offering another service.  Have an idea or request??? Register it with Mandy Sayers (mandy.sayers@glenmarumc.org), she’ll be glad to hear from you!!!

Blessings to all in this season of Lent!

Gail Carter, Lay Leader

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27 January 2009 by Jeff Carter.

As discussed in my article in the November Messenger, Conference Apportionments are based on applying a “benevolence factor” to the prior year “total operating expenses” of each member church. Included in the operating expenses are Pastors’ salary and expenses, Church Programs, and Church operating costs. For example, Glen Mar’s “apportionments” for 2008 were $186,347 based on a benevolence factor of approx. 23%.To the credit of the leaders of the Conference, they have realized the burden that apportionments have put on its member churches over the years, and in 2006, the Conference committed to reduce the benevolence factor to 19.5% by 2012. However, recognizing that some congregations were struggling with these commitments during these tough economic times, the Conference felt it could not wait until 2012 to make the reductions. Today they notified all the member churches today that the benevolence factor for 2009 has been reduced to 19.5%.

So, what does this mean for Glen Mar? Originally for 2009, with the benevolence factor set at 22%, our apportioned giving was $194,493. As a result of this change, Glen Mar’s Conference Apportionments will be $172,393 ($14,393/mo) in 2009 - a reduction of over 10 % from the original amount. As we face a challenging economic year in 2009, this reduction is certainly well received and we are grateful to the Conference for its commitment to the health and ministry of its member churches.

To review the complete letter from the Bishop’s office , click here.

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24 May 2008 by Glen Lauber.

Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center, Oxon Hill, MD

May 24, 2008

Good morning from the shores of the Potomac River. We finished business this morning, resolving two leftovers from Friday and two potentially controversial issues all in the spirit of holy conferencing. The conference wrap-up is available on the conference website.

First, Bishop Schol presented a compromise on the BOOM nominations issue (see entry from day 2), which was accepted by the body. The BOOM executive committee and the cabinet agreed to add four more members.

Once that was settled balloting for endorsing a candidate for bishop commenced (see entry for day 2 on issues opened that day). Using the process agreed to on Friday, four nominations were made from the floor. Members of the conference voted for either the delegation-endorsed candidate, four candidates nominated from the floor, and “no nominee.” With 66 percent required for endorsement, a candidate was selected on the third ballot. The Rev. Peggy Johnson of Christ UMC of the Deaf in Baltimore (the delegation’s choice) will be the candidate for bishop from our annual conference when the jurisdictional conference convenes in Harrisburg, PA in July.

What remained were three petitions: a motion to change the pension system, one to encourage support of pregnancy centers, and another to support the continuation of dialog teams on sexual orientation and gender identity (see the pre-conference journal pages 58-60). The pension resolution failed and the other two passed with small amendments.

That afternoon, 18 women and men were ordained as Elders (like Andy and John) and one woman was ordained a full member Deacon (like Al and Ruth). There were also 15 provisional members who were commissioned (people working toward ordination).

The next session of annual conference will be held June 4-6, 2009 at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore.

By and large, this was one of the better annual conferences. It was a good moment for holy conferencing. The bishop set the tone from the start of the conference that gave the Spirit priority over agendas. That became evident this morning when all the controversial issues came to a head. Tomorrow I might have some reflections to share.

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23 May 2008 by Glen Lauber.

Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center, Oxon Hill, MD

May 23, 2008

Greetings from Prince George’s County. Today was mostly about reports and some legislation from the two major organs of the annual conference, Discipleship and Stewardship. You can read the conference daily newspaper covering today’s events on the conference website. Some things I mention below may require further elaboration, but I wanted to keep this under 50 words. If you are curious about any of these things I suggest searching the conference website.

There was more than usual discussion over the nominations report (officers of the annual conference are elected for a quadrennium). The report was accepted except for the part covering the Board of Ordained Ministry (BOOM), which oversees the ordination of clergy. The BOOM slate was referred to the conference cabinet and BOOM executive committee for resolution by tomorrow.

You may be interested to know the Al Hammer will serve on BOOM for the first time, and I will start my second term as a member of the Board of Laity, and my first as an lay alternate member of the Committee of Clergy Investigation. Ruth Bell will serve on the Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministries, and John Nupp will chair the Commission on Disability Concerns. Andy Lunt will serve as an alternate on the Committee on Administrative Review.

In legislation, the conference agreed to continue the study of male-female clergy “Remuneration, Mobility and Retention” inequities. The conference did not approve making the Safe Sanctuaries Committee permanent.

Also, the conference approved the 2009 budget of $18,829,745, an increase of 2.97 percent (see more in the Pre-Conference Booklet). The conference receives money from local churches through apportionments. A church adds up how much of their operating budget was spent on themselves (not mission or ministry, but salaries and utilities, for example). Then that figure is multiplied by a “benevolence factor.” The result is what they pay to the annual conference. The benevolence factor for 2009 was set at 22 percent, reduced from 22.5 percent for 2008. Glen Mar Church is paying $186,348 in apportionments this year, based on 2006 data.

The conference conducted a comprehensive study of the apportionment formula and will report its findings at a special session of annual conference in the fall. They were also instructed to explore the rising costs of utilities and how they affect apportionments.

The last bit of business surrounded the process for endorsing a candidate for bishop from our annual conference. Every four years new bishops are elected to replace retiring bishops. Each annual conference may nominate or not nominate somebody for consideration. Normally, the delegation of people elected last year to represent the annual conference at worldwide and regional quadrennial meetings select somebody, that person is presented to the annual conference for endorsement, and that person is endorsed. This year, there was interest in nominating people from the floor (perfectly legitimate), but the process to handle this was unclear. Considerable time was spent today perfecting the process. We decided to start nominations and voting tomorrow.

In other events, we celebrated the full inclusion of the Bermuda churches, Centenary UMC and Marsden UMC, into the Northeastern Jurisdiction, following action at the 2008 General Conference; and as two new churches in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, and Bishop Schol led a participatory exploration of the history of the church through small groups answering, “What would be some key markers or milestones for the Baltimore-Washington conference and what have we learned from them?

There was an update on Nothing But Nets. The conference distribute more than 7,100 nets in Zimbabwe and raise thousands of dollars more for the next shipment of nets. Also, the Rev. Byron Brought campaigned for stopping slots in Maryland when it comes up as a referendum this fall.

Members of the conference shared a number of things about the conference’s stewardship efforts for which they are thankful. Among the causes for gratitude were: loans and grants given to local churches, the HOPE Fund, the United Methodist Foundation; and the fact that this is the 11th year that the Baltimore-Washington Conference has paid its full apportionments to the General Church. The day was capped off by a multicultural festival celebrating the conference’s diversity, which includes Hispanic, Korean, Russian, Deaf, African-American congregations.

It was a long, good day. Reflection will come later.

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