CLEVELAND — Two members of the Florida Conference’s delegation to the United Methodist General Conference May 2-12 served in key leadership positions during the denomination’s top legislative body.

Mary Alice Massey, head of the Florida Conference’s delegation and a lay member of Southside United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, was elected chairwoman of the Agenda and Calendar Committee May 2.

A major part of her responsibility was determining each day’s agenda and which matters went before the conference, based on input from chairpeople of the 10 legislative committees.

"What I am here for is to enable the [presiding] bishop to move the business of the conference along in an orderly fashion," she said. "…the number of petitions, who presents and in what order."

Massey also had responsibilities as head of Florida’s delegation, including making sure all of the conference’s seats were filled, approving delegate substitutions and keeping the group informed about any items of concern.

The Rev. Charles Courtoy, director of the Florida Conference’s New Church Development and Church Redevelopment office, was elected chairman of the Conferences Committee, which dealt with petitions affecting the make-up and administration of district, annual, jurisdictional, general and central conferences.

Courtoy’s and Massey’s elections were unopposed, and various caucus groups, including the Commission on the Status and Role of Women and Good News, supported Courtoy.

Issues the Conferences Committee considered included youth representation at annual conferences, who should be allowed to vote at annual conferences and the petition forwarded from the Florida Conference changing the formula for determining the size of general conference delegations.