6/07/2008

Getting ready to go



Saturday morning.


Delegates are arriving today here at Shingle Creek, the site of the Wesleyan General Conference.


The classy hotel is significantly nicer digs than the conference sites of the 50's (Frankfort or Fairmount Camp meeting grounds or Winona lake conference grounds) or 40 years ago when the Wesleyan Methodists and Pilgrim Holiness merged (Anderson College) or even the post merger Methodist conference site at

Lake Junaluska. Wesleyans are now hotel people, not camp meeting folk. Even our youth conventions happen at classy hotels.

Rooms are fancy and feature wide screen LG TVs and there is one channel featuring back to back World Hope videos. Internet access here costs an extra 10 bucks a day and is not available next door in the convention center which mystified younger folk who consider Internet access an entitlement like air to breathe.
Some have grumbled about Wesleyans going to fancy hotels like this in the face of world needs, but most of those are not delegates coming at the denomination's expense. Actually the planners claim the total net cost here was actually cheaper. (All delegate travel and on-location expenses for general conference in TWC is borne by the headquarters budget not the various districts sending delegates).
The hallways and reception areas are full of folk meeting old friends. Dress so far is Florida-casual, though I saw three ties already, but one was on a candidate and the other two were old men.
Actual registration begins this afternoon, though many are already checked into their rooms already. The exhibits hall opens this afternoon at 4PM.
The First legislative Session begins at 6PM tonight when Earle Wilson delivers the "Pastoral Letter" which is the closest thing Wesleyans have to a papal statement.
COMING UP
Today--GBA meeting... there is wind of at least one "late memorial" being brought by some GBA members to eliminate the Yes-no vote for GS and go back to the open ballot method--no word yet on its fate.
1 Pm Monday--elections begin
I will be doing real-time text message from floor on the results of the voting on officers as well as the memorials-- see below the summary list of memorials with numbers and (if you are really interested) print out a copy of the official memorials from the site I list below)
OK going out into the hallways to sniff around....
--Keith Drury 11Am Saturday

9 comments:

theajthomas said...

Hi Keith - I'm super excited to be able to follow general conference this way. Thanks in advance. I'll be at camp (ironically in Indiana) next week and I'm hoping I can get web access there so I can keep up with everything. Have you considered adding RSS capability to this blog so folks can subscribe?

Beth said...

What happened to the GC "newsroom?" Guess we don't need reporters like Bob...Alan...Jim - or busy typists like me anymore, huh? Sometimes I miss those days, but I'm glad you're still reporting and "sniffing around the hallways." ;) Glad to get a glimpse of what's happening through your updates. Thanks for doing this!

Stevan said...

AJ -
This blog DOES have an RSS-feed:

Click here -
http://wesleyanstuff.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I'm reading the updates through Google Reader already!

-Stevan

Keith Drury said...

Yeah Beth--those were good old days... now "everybody's a reporter" I guess ;-)

Akan and Bob are here--who was Jim?.... Watkins?

theajthomas said...

Stevan - I'm an idiot. I was looking for the classic RRS logo and missed the painfully clear link in the description. I'm sure that could be a sermon illustration...

Beth said...

Yep, Jim Watkins...I was thinking he was there, wasn't he? Maybe he was the one who ran to Kinko's every night at midnight when we had everything ready!

Kathy (Pearson) Troyer said...

Pastor Drury,

Not being disrespectful...
I have a question re: the statement:
"All delegate travel and on-location expenses for general conference in TWC is borne by the headquarters budget not the various districts sending delegates."

So, where does TWC get the money for these conventions?

Keith Drury said...

Phil & Kathy, good point-- they get this money from the districts and local churches...

what I meant was that the "extra expense" of not going to a camp meeting location did not cost districts more money since the tax had already been collected...and going to Fairmoount camp would not haev saved districts and local churches any money since the headquarters already collected the taxes and would then have only freed the money up for spending on something else at headquarters...

So you are right, maybe vee more radical yet... perhaps we should say the money comes from local laity since local churches and districts really don't have money-they get it from laity-- even ministers really dont contribute, for all they do is give back money they got from the laity... so you are right.

Kathy (Pearson) Troyer said...

Pastor Keith, thanks for your response. You are one of the Wesleyans that I really look forward to hearing from/reading about. Always making us think! Thanks - enjoy the rest of your summer!