South Indiana Conference session promises to be more visual, more vital says planning committee chairman

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The South Indiana Conference session, to be held June 9-11 at Indiana University, promises to be more visual than ever, according to the Rev. William Keith Jr., Indianapolis East Direct superintendent and chair of the sessions planning committee.

"Our hope is that each group presentation will be one that is interesting, imaginative and inspiring."

- William Keith Jr.

Different than previous years, the Committee on Annual Conference Session plans to ask the South Indiana Conference to suspend the rules so all reports will be presented directly to the plenary session. Keith says, "we will not have legislative sessions on Thursday afternoon as in the past." Instead, each reporting group will be allotted a certain amount of time in the agenda. Not all reports will be presented, except in written form.

Keith said, "Our hope is that each group presentation will be one that is interesting, imaginative and inspiring." He told those asked to report, "We do not want reports read."

He said, "The idea is to give members of the conference exciting information to take back to their churches that will highlight the ministry and mission of The United Methodist Church in Indiana. We want to communicate ministry, demonstrate activity and involvement, and motivate our members to tell the story of the combined work of Christ's Church. Our goal is to accentuate the positive and productive programs of the conference, rather than be inundated with organizational detail, although some of that will be necessary."

The three-day conference schedule has been broken into six group presentations, each of which will be prefaced by a short Bible study led by Indiana Bishop Mike Coyner. Those areas include: administration, mission, connectional ministries, institutions, discipleship and awards presentations.

Keith also says that if there are some specific actions that must come to the floor of the conference to be acted upon, they may be included in these reports. At the close of the presentation all reports in each group should be moved to be accepted.

"If some member of conference wants to amend a specific report, then there must be 100 votes to remove that report from the Consent Calendar (as required by the Standing Rules) and then the amendment can be acted upon," said Keith.

The South Indiana Conference plenary session will open on Thursday, June 9 at 1:15 p.m. in the Indiana University Auditorium. It is scheduled to conclude with a plenary session on Saturday, June 11 before noon.

For more information about the South Indiana Conference session, log on to www.sicumc.org.

Last updated on 25 Apr 2008

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