LAKELAND — From the "No More Playing Church" training experience to debate over conference finances and the structure of the Conference’s Council on Ministries (CCOM), much of the attention of the 976 clergy and 969 lay delegates to the Dare to Share Jesus 2000 Florida Annual Conference Event May 30-June 2 focused on the future.

The "No More Playing Church" training experience was a new day and a half-long event featuring three keynote addresses by nationally-recognized church leaders. The Rev. Jessica Moffatt, pastor of First United Methodist Church, Bixby, Okla.; the Rev. Dick Wills, pastor of Christ Church United Methodist in Ft. Lauderdale; and Dr. Robert Franklin, president of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, shared their personal insights on what it means to be the church in modern society.

The training also included a ministry expo featuring 14 Florida Conference churches and seven workshops led by church leaders and consultants from across the country. Topics included sharing Jesus through personal faith, hands-on mission, worship, small groups, vision, leadership and spiritual formation.

While delegates were challenged to strengthen the church in its mission, they were also asked to address the conference’s financial strengths and weaknesses.

Despite a 1999 budget deficit of $777,021, the conference is financially strong overall, according to Dr. Randy Casey-Rutland, interim conference treasurer; Dr. Charles Courtoy, executive director of the conference’s Office of New Church Development and Church Redevelopment; and Mary Alice Massey, conference lay leader. The three presented an unscheduled update on the conference’s financial situation to help address delegates’ concerns.

Among the strengths, Courtoy said, are the net worth of the conference’s assets, which has doubled in the past 10 years, and the soundness of the pension and self-insurance programs and the New Church Development and Preachers Relief Board funds. "We are a strong, wealthy annual conference, but we have a problem with cash flow in one area," Courtoy said.

Citing a long-term history of not paying apportionments and growing medical and fixed costs, Casey-Rutland said the conference needs to improve its budgeting process and find new sources of funding that do not rely on apportioned giving, including a capital campaign. "If things continue as they are, we will likely find ourselves in the same position and in the same circumstance," he said.

Morgan Wright, president of the conference’s Council on Finance and Administration (CFA) and member of Cason United Methodist Church in Delray Beach, presented CFA’s proposal to schedule a special one-day session of the annual conference this fall to approve the conference’s budget and address other issues submitted by CFA.

The Rev. Jim Harnish, pastor of Tampa’s Hyde Park United Methodist Church, proposed an amendment to Wright’s motion that called for a Strategic Ministry Finance Task Force to "look at the entire missional life of the conference" and "offer a systematic process…to support the vision the bishop gave us." Harnish’s motion included a suggested list of people to serve on the task force, which would exist only until the 2000 budget session.

The Rev. Barbara Awoniyi, pastor of Calvary United Methodist Church in Tallahassee, objected to the proposed list of members because it did not include a representative from the Tallahassee District. The Rev. Bob Temple, retired, said he was not in favor of a redundant task force that duplicated the efforts of CFA and the CCOM or was appointed without going through the Conference Committee on Nominations.

Frank Furman, a member of First United Methodist Church, Pompano Beach, said the task force is needed to bring a new perspective to an old set of problems by considering conference structure and mission rather than just finances.

Although Harnish’s amendment was defeated by a one-third to two-thirds margin, the CFA proposal to have a one-day budget session was approved by a large majority.

Conference delegates were also asked to approve a three-part plan by the conference Insurance Committee to address the $59 million unfunded liability in the conference’s health insurance program. The plan proposed using $600,000 from the earnings generated by the Ministerial Reserve Pension Fund (MRPF) in 2001 and increasing that by 7.9 percent annually, charging each retiree enrolled in the conference health insurance plan a $10 monthly premium and an additional $10 monthly premium for enrolled spouses, and apportioning $120,000 annually under the title Ministerial Retiree Benefits Fund.

The Rev. Ron Thomas, pastor of Sebastian United Methodist Church in Sebastian, questioned the proposal’s impact on clergy recruitment. "We accept limits on our income, we agree not to access secondary income…a fully-funded retirement is a recruiting tool," he said.

The Rev. Gene Rutland, a retired pastor, said retirees are living longer now than in the past and their medical expenses have increased. "The future is very different from the past and we’re going to have to fund it one way or another," he said. "This plan is very reasonable."

The Insurance Committee’s proposal was passed.

Bill Walker, director of the CCOM, proposed three changes to the standing rules that would impact the current structure of the CCOM. The first would allow the Health and Wholeness Task Force, currently under the Mission Ministry office, to become the Health and Wholeness Ministry Team of the CCOM. The second would split the Events Ministry Team into the Camp and Young Adult Ministry Teams. The third would create a Camp Facilities Committee responsible for supervision of property maintenance, construction, renovation and repair of the conference’s various camp facilities.

Robert Grizzard, chairman of the Standing Rules Committee and a member of First United Methodist Church, Lakeland, said the changes were submitted too late for the committee’s consideration and would be voted on this year only as recommendations. The committee will review and vote on them at a later date, he said.

The conference voted its approval of all three recommendations, amending the Events Ministry and Camp Facilities proposals.

The Rev. Pam Cahoon, executive director of CROS (Christians Reaching Out to Society) Ministries in West Palm Beach, made an amendment to the Camp Ministry Team proposal requiring that at least three of the nine team members be women or non-Anglos. The amendment to the Camp Facilities Committee resolution required the committee to obtain approval for all capital improvements in excess of $25,000 from the conference board of trustees.

Leland McKeown, a member of First United Methodist Church, Brooksville, objected to increasing user fees at the camping facilities to pay for repairs and renovations. "I’m afraid the camp program will dwindle because people can’t afford to go there anymore," he said. His amendment calling for the bishop to appoint a committee to develop alternative means of raising funds for capital improvements and repairs was approved.

The conference honored the life and ministry of Dr. Oswald Bronson, a United Methodist lay person and president of Bethune-Cookman College (B-CC). Bronson was presented with a lifetime membership in the Florida Conference United Methodist Men, a gift from the Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, a silver platter commemorating his 25 years as president of B-CC and the 2000 Francis Asbury Award for his contributions to United Methodist ministries in higher education.