Local church connection and district:
Duncan Memorial (Ashland)
Three Notch’d District
Guiding scripture leading into General Conference:
My life verse that has guided me since my call to ministry in 1972 has been Genesis 12: 2 where God gives Abram this blessing…”I will bless you…so that you will be a blessing”.
Favorite paragraph of the Book of Discipline (we all have one, right?):
Paragraph 103. Section 2 on our Doctrinal History. The key paragraph reads…” Beyond the essentials of vital religion, United Methodists respect the diversity of opinions held by conscientious persons of faith. Wesley followed the time-tested approach: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity.”
A brief statement on your call to serve as a delegate:
I experienced a “call” to work for the UMC to be an inclusive church when I was in seminary. I wrote a paper that argued that a correct biblical reading of scripture could not be used to exclude our gay brothers and sisters. In preparation for the 2015 Annual Conference, I co-wrote a petition calling for the removal of the incompatibility phrase from the BOD. While my experience as a pastor, a DS and a Conference staff person leaves me with lots of ways to serve at the General Conference, my primary call to serve is to work to make the UMC a fully inclusive church.
Specific prayer request(s) for the work ahead:
That I will be a blessing to the work of the United Methodist Church so that all will be welcome.