General Conference 2010 - #6

I caught the last 20 minutes of the morning worship. Wow! That young black preacher, (Steven Riley, pastor of the Port of Spain church, Trinidad) “tore up” (that’s an idiom for “awesome”) the Word! I was on my feet praising Jesus! I then went and met the Chinese delegation and chatted a bit with them, and let them know that my daughter-in-law is from their country. Because of the family relation, I feel a bond with Chinese. Lots of Church Manual business today; but they got through much of it without discussion or controversy. One proposal that took up a bit of time was over how often the local church business meeting should be held. It was recommended that it be at least once per year. Some wanted it at least 4 times, and some 2 times. Both were defeated after a long debate. The other long debate was over the proposal that Union Executive Officers be allowed to attend the local church business meeting. Some wanted other officers in the Conference or Union to be able to attend. Many of the amendments were defeated. Finally the amendment that included “or designee” was voted. The significant moment in the Nominating Committee Report came from the floor. There was again a concern that there were no women in the report this morning. The chair of the committee responded that the Nominating Committee had made the decision to intentionally consider women for all positions being decided on. More people are coming in for the last weekend, so the bleachers are filling up each night. And lots more reconnections with old and recent colleagues: http://www.wallawalla.edu/campus-life/spiritual-life/gallery/general_conference_2010. Inter American Division reported tonight. And as always the parade was colorful. We have 3,328,229 members in that Division! It is the largest in the world.