June 21, 2002

Edition

LAKELAND — While delegates to the 2002 Florida Annual Conference Event spent time focusing on new hope, they also spent time on the business of the conference, including setting a budget for 2003, amending the conference’s standing rules and debating resolutions.

Delegates approved several resolutions, including:

giving permission to the conference trustees and Commission on Finance and Administration to borrow $500,000 for the purchase of 19.1 acres of land adjacent to the Warren W. Willis youth camp in Leesburg,

approving the design of the Florida Conference Heritage Center and authorizing conference trustees to begin accepting construction bids,

calling for the Florida legislature to provide DNA testing to convicts who believe it will prove their innocence,

calling for increased sales tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products to help combat use by teens,

supporting any referendum effort to curtail or eliminate environmental tobacco smoke,

allowing a representative of the Walk to Emmaus ministry to participate on the conference’s Discipleship Ministry Team,

encouraging all United Methodist churches with preschools to become active in the United Methodist Association of Preschools,

opposing Internet gambling, and

calling the Florida Conference to pray for peace, especially for people involved in conflicts in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Delegates referred a resolution dealing with fistula, a medical complication in some deliveries, abortion, and the United Nations Population Fund to the conference’s Church and Society Team for further review and discussion.

Delegates also updated General Conference election procedures, established a Clergy Housing Committee to update conference parsonage standards, and changed the name of the West Palm Beach District to the Broward Palm Beach District.

Delegates approved an $18,031,535 conference budget for 2003, which is a 3.85 percent increase over 2002. The budget was amended to increase the Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry’s budget to just over $1.4 million and allow lay volunteers to be reimbursed at a rate of 36.5 cents per mile, instead of the Internal Revenue Service’s allowable charitable rate of 14 cents per mile.

The Conference Capital Commission, created by the 2001 Florida Annual Conference to study the conference’s capital needs, recommended the conference work with the Florida United Methodist Foundation to raise the money needed to fund requests from throughout the conference. The commission reported it has received more than $22 million in requests, but has not evaluated or prioritized them. Its recommendation, which was accepted by the conference, extends the commission’s work for one more year and establishes a development office within the Foundation that will raise capital funds on an ongoing basis.

Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker ordained 10 elders, three deacons in full connection, three associate members and eight probationary members. One person was consecrated as a diaconal minister, nine local pastors were licensed, and two local pastors were accepted as transfers from other denominations.

Three new churches chartered:

Grace Community United Methodist Church at Fish Hawk in the Tampa District,

Lakeside Fellowship United Methodist Church in the Orlando District and

New Covenant United Methodist Church in the Villages in the Leesburg District.

Eight churches were discontinued voluntarily, and one was involuntarily discontinued.

The conference accepted several offerings. The “Special Kind of Love” offering to benefit the Council of Bishops’ Initiative on Children and Poverty and Hope for the Children of Africa totaled more than $42,000. Whitaker said 25 percent of this offering will remain in the conference. The other 75 percent will go toward the conference’s promise of $50,000 to the Angola East Area of the United Methodist Church.

The conference’s lay delegates gave approximately $3,400 toward the Heritage Center. During the ordination service, delegates gave more than $4,600 for ministerial student scholarships. Delegates also gave approximately $7,300 to the Children’s Harvest, which will be used to purchase paper for the Methodist Church of Haiti and disposable gloves and diapers for the conference’s outreach ministries.

LAKELAND — Each year, the conference recognizes clergy and lay persons who have shown leadership in the areas of evangelism and education.

The Grindheim-Sims Award is presented to the pastor of a congregation with 250 people or less who shows gifts in winning persons for Christ, according to the Rev. Dr. Roger Swanson, former director of Operation Evangelization. This year’s award was presented to the Rev. Calvin McFadden, pastor or Tallahassee’s Ray of Hope United Methodist Church.

The Denman Awards are presented to one clergy and one lay person who has demonstrated excellence in evangelism ministries. The laity award was presented to Karen Taylor, executive director of Celebrate Jesus, and the clergy award was given to the Rev. Jorge Acevedo, Grace United Methodist Church, Cape Coral.

The 2002 Frances Asbury Award for extraordinary contribution to United Methodist ministries in higher education was given to the Rev. Austin Hollady, a retired Florida Conference elder. Hollady served for 33 years as director and minister of the Wesley Foundation at Florida State University.

The Eulalie Ginn Outstanding Leadership Award was given to Adam Kincaid, a student with Florida States University’s Wesley Foundation. The Rogers P. Fair Pre-Ministerial Award was given to Michelle R. Blume, a student at the University of South Florida.

The Alice Lockmiller Award for excellence and creativity in Christian education was given to Sherri Lingle, a member of Christ United Methodist Church, Lakeland.

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© 2002 Florida United Methodist Review Online