31 May Final Day of General Conference

Interpreter Jorge Botero (left) and Gonzalo Alas, superintendent of the work in El Salvador, during the prayer for the El Salvador churches.

The close of the General Conference meeting.

The Mill Crossing worship team.

During the Mill Crossing service.

Juanita Chavez, superintendent of Honduras Conference, preached at Mill Crossing.

Liz Cudney, co-pastor of Mill Crossing, having some fun.

The 2013 General Conference is the 51st edition, going back to 1815. For most of that time, it was held every four years. And always in the United States. The only exception was the 1925 General Conference, which convened in Kitchener, Ontario–the site of the 2013 edition. (The 2010 General Conference, of course, was held in Honduras.)

Day 3 of General Conference began with more reports about national conference missions efforts. By noon, they adjourned. Rev. Martin Magnus, a retired minister in Ontario who has been a voting delegate to various General Conferences over the years (and is the father of Canadian bishop Brian Magnus), closed the conference in prayer.

The conference then moved into executive session, which consisted of the highest leader from each national conference (in other words, about half of the delegates).

After lunch, the delegates took an afternoon excursion to a local Christian media company and then to CH Global, the organization with which we partner in various ways in Jamaica.

The evening service was held in nearby Cambridge at the Mill Crossing United Brethren church. This church began in 2005 as a daughter church of Parkwood Gardens UB church in Guelph. Neil and Liz Cudney co-pastor this church.

The beautifully renovated part of an old industrial building. It has the feel of a coffeehouse–very intimate and relaxed.

The Mill Crossing music team led in worship, and did so superbly (with Pastor Neil playing mandolin and banjo). Each of the General Conference delegates were given the chance to introduce themselves and say something to the congregation (which included people from several area United Brethren churches). Then Mill Crossing gave each person a gift, and prayed for them.

Juanita Chavez, superintendent of Honduras Conference, preached, with the help of interpreter Jorge Botero. She sang a song in Spanish toward the beginning, and then concluded by leaping into the deep to sing “Shout to the Lord” in English. She did well, and was helped by the congregation joining her.

Ice cream cake was served afterwards.

On Saturday, a missions conference for all of the Canadian UB churches will be held in the morning and afternoon at Stanley Park UB church in Kitchener. Most of the General Conference delegates will have the chance to speak. Should be a fun day.

31 May General Conference: Day 2 Report (May 30)

Bishop Phil Whipple reporting on the work of the US National Conference.

At the falls (l-r): Daniel Ko (Hong Kong), John Pessima (Sierra Leone), Winston Smith (Jamaica), Isaac Nugent (Jamaica), Phil Whipple (USA).

Bishop Brian Magnus with delegates at the front of the Grace church.

Denis Casco (right) and his translator, Jorge.

Day 2 of General Conference began with the final country report–the United States (they went in alphabetical order). Bishop Phil Whipple touched on these areas:

• How the cluster system has evolved since being instituted in 2005.
• How they station pastors.
• US church plants (he mentioned 7 churches).
• Changes at Huntington University.
• Leadership development effort – the UB history course, other courses, and summits for youth, worship ministers, and associate passtors.
• The 26 proposals for revising the Discipline, coming before this summer’s national conference.
• Pastoral licensing changes.

Brian Magnus, chairman of the General Conference, then led the delegates in discussing the only major decision to come before the delegates. It involved the UB National Conference in the Philippines. Unanimous action was taken. More will be said about this later.

Brian Magnus then turned to national conference reports about mission efforts. Canada and Honduras reported on what they were doing. Rev. Oliam Richard, superintendent of the UB churches in Haiti, had arrived the night before. He told about the work in Haiti as part of the report of Canada, which oversees the Haiti mission district. Honduras also reported. And then it was time for lunch.

After lunch, the delegates climbed aboard a luxury tour bus and headed to Niagara Fall, about two hours away. The foreign visitors could not be allowed to get this close to the falls, one of North America’s premier natural wonders, and not see it. The trip included a ride aboard the Maid of the Mist, a boat which approaches very close to the Canadian horseshoe falls. The wind and dense spray left everyone quite wet.

Four of the UB churches in Canada are in the Niagara area (or at least on that end of Ontario). The bus took everyone to the Grace UB church in Sherkston, where a delicious meal awaited. Then the evening service was held there. Persons came from all four of the nearby churches.

Grace has been a strong missions-minded church over the years, producing a number of missionaries (Olive Weaver, Shirley Fretz, Ruth Benner, and others) and faithfully supporting the work of United Brethren missions. In that respect, Grace has few peers in the denomination. Pastor Dan Nickless said they view themselves as a sending church, having raised up so many missionaries and pastors since the church began in 1897.

The Grace worship team led the congregation in singing a number of the great hymns–“Amazing Grace,” “It is Well,” and others. As he did the previous night in Guelph, Bishop Magnus introduced all of the General Conference delegates, bringing them to the platform for everyone to see. The Grace missions team then joined them and prayed over the delegates.

Denis Casco, bishop of the Mexico National Conference, spoke. The conference’s intrepid translator, Jorge, got quite a workout. Denis and Jorge are both kidders, with wonderful senses of humor, and they are probably not good for each other. Denis switched back and forth between English and Spanish, seemingly trying to catch him off guard, and the audience loved it. A lot of laughter occurred during this service.

But it was also a powerful message. Bishop Casco spoke on the simple topic of “Love,” which he had found to be one of the most difficult topics to preach on. Throughout the message he referenced Archie Cameron, a Canadian whose love for a distant people caused him to spend his life in Honduras, where his influence led numerous people to Christ–including Denis Casco himself.

After the service, the delegates boarded the bus for the trip back to Kitcheer, arriving at Emmanuel Bible College around 11 pm. It was a long day, but a good one.