General Conference Delegation

In 1968, the UMC reported 11,000,000 members. In 2012, we will report 7,000,000 members/3,000,000 average worship attendance. We lose approximately 1500 members/week. In the 500 fastest‐growing counties in America, total UMC membership decreased 2265 persons. We do much we believe is good, but sometimes the enemy of the great we could do is the good things we settle for. While I was at Asbury, Maxie Dunnam spoke to us often about tipping points. The UMC has reached a tipping point: General Conference 2012. We must ask hard questions, make difficult decisions. We must, I think,

1) face the state of our church with brutal honesty and clear headedness, 2) be brave and bold, 3) align our resources around the local church to accomplish our top priority:

“Go, and make disciples,” our great commission, 4) streamline our bureaucracy, 5) shrink our infrastructure, 6) get monies that are misaligned or that are sitting on the sidelines into the

game, and 7) make wholesale and structural changes.

However, we MUST NOT abandon the beliefs that make us United Methodists, but MUST maintain a deep commitment to

1) Wesleyan/Armenian theology, 2) the EVANGELICAL MOVEMENT, 3) first, personal holiness and second, social holiness, and 4) our discipline’s current orthodox interpretation of scripture.

I am seeking to become a delegate to General Conference 2012 because I believe I am willing to ask questions others won’t, say things others won’t. I want to leave my children a UMC that is stronger and healthier than I found it.