Bishop Julius C. Trimble is the Resident Bishop of the Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church.

Bishop Trimble has the personal mission to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential. It is his commitment to his personal mission that led Bishop Trimble to create the “To Be Encouraged” Podcast along with co-host Rev.Dr. Brad MIller.

Bishop Trimble says, “I am compelled by Jesus to share with you an encouraging word or two about Jesus, theology, the Bible, the pandemic, the environment, racism, voting rights, human sexuality, and the state of the United Methodist Church.”

To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble is to be published weekly and is available at www.tobeencouraged.com and all the podcast directories.

https://www.inumc.org/bishop/office-of-the-bishop/

Welcome to episode 103 of "To Be Encouraged," a special Town Hall edition where we discuss exciting transitions and critical discussions in the Indiana Methodist community. We're joined by esteemed guests Bishop Julius C. Trimble, Rev. Russ Abel, and Rev. Larry Whitehead to dive deep into the heart of all things regarding the United Methodist General Conference coming April 23-May 3, 2024.

In this episode, we bid farewell to Bishop Trimble and learn about the direction Indiana's United Methodist Church is taking. Here are three essential takeaways from our conversation:

1. Leadership and Vision for Indiana:

As Bishop Trimble retires, the search for a new bishop who shares the vision of missional appointment making, combating hunger and homelessness, nurturing local churches, and enhancing the bishop's educational role is paramount. With new leadership commencing on September 1, the Indiana conference places a strong emphasis on discipleship growth, mission engagement, and reinforcing church membership commitment. Our goal remains firm: to make the United Methodist Church synonymous with love, both domestically and worldwide.

2. United Methodist Church's Evolution:

This year's General Conference is a pivotal event for the church, especially in reevaluating the Book of Discipline. The Indiana delegation, including 16 primary and 6 reserve members, is steadfast in its advocacy for regionalization, allowing for a more globally and contextually aligned church. The legislation holds the potential to remove harmful language regarding human sexuality and aims for inclusivity and diverse theological beliefs. We also discussed significant legislative topics such as pension restructuring and missionary support budgets.

3. Community Engagement and Prayer:

We extend our thoughts and prayers to those affected by severe storms in Southern Indiana. This Town Hall reminds us of our sacred duty to be the church not only to our fellow members but also to the broader community. We encourage our listeners to utilize the resources available on the conference website to stay informed about the delegation and proposed legislation. The communication team will ensure real-time updates throughout the conference's proceedings.

As we transition and anticipate the General Conference, we stand united in the mission to multiply the love of Jesus Christ and propagate the good news of the gospel.

Let us know your thoughts on today's Town Hall meeting, and remember, "To Be Encouraged."

Episode 103 was Part 4 of a 4 Part “Preparing for General Conference” Series of Episodes. Please listen to the prior three parts of this series to prepare for the April 23-May 3 General Conference at these links:

Part 1 Episode 100: A Conversation with Rev. Russ Abel; Indiana Annual Conference Delegate to General Conference.

Part 2-Episode 101: A Conversation with Rev. Dr. Aleze Fulbright; Indiana Annual Conference Delegate to General Conference.

Part 3-Episode 102: A Conversation with Rev. Larry Whitehead; Indiana Annual Conference Delegate to General Conference.

Here are Links Regarding General Conference:

LINKS:

Indiana Conference UMC.

 UMC-http://inumc.org/

Northeast District - Indiana Conference UMC

https://www.inumc.org/districts/northeast-district/

General Conference UMC.

 UMC-https://www.umc.org/en/who-we-are/structure/general-conference

https://www.resourceumc.org/en/churchwide/general-conference-2020

I wanna turn this over to Bishop Trimble to open us in prayer and to

share an important message for us this evening. Bishop.

Thank you, Larry, and, thank you, Russ, for, joining us tonight.

And for all of you who are on tonight, it's it's my blessing and

my privilege to serve as your bishop and, to

have a conversation with you tonight, in preparation for

general conference. We wanna give thanks to God in

all C, and I wanna begin by, not only

offering a word of prayers we start, but reading,

from our hymnal, our United Methodist hymnal, hymn number

589. I'm just gonna read the first and last verses. The church

of Christ in every age, and it'll be part of our opening prayer

if you will. The church of Christ in every age beset by

change, but spirit led must

claim and test its heritage and keep on

rising from the dead. We have no mission

but to serve in full obedience to our lord,

to care for all without reserve, and spread his

liberating word. Let us pray. Gracious, loving

god, for the gift of this evening, we give you thanks and praise.

We ask your blessings and that you might watch over

those who have been impacted by storms and tornadoes in in

our state here in Indiana. And even as the

rain and storm weather continues throughout different parts of the

state. This is tonight in our conversation and our

questioning and curiosity, and we pray, oh God, that we

would continue to be encouraged to be faithful to the mission

of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the

world. All glory to you in Jesus'

name. Dearly beloved, the

Bible in first Thessalonians says rejoice always, pray

without ceasing, give thanks in all

circumstances, for this is the will of God in

Christ Jesus for us. Psalm 9:9,

verse 1 from the common English Trimble, I will thank you,

Lord, with all my heart, I will talk about your

wonderful acts. Greetings, beloved

friends. Thank you for spending some time with me tonight.

And my purpose tonight, as you may have already guessed,

is to encourage you, to keep the mission of the

church before you. Trusting our God who is

faithful and calls us into the ministry of love and sharing the good

news of Jesus Christ. Thank you for

being the church in Indiana. Thank you for going to

church. Thank you for supporting your church and supporting

the work of the church at large. Thank you

for all of the ways in which you touch the lives of the communities

that you serve, where you live, and where you do ministry as

laity and clergy in the Indiana conference.

In 1742, John Wesley in his character of a

Methodist writes, he he describes Methodist this way,

Methodists are those who have the love of God shared abroad in their

hearts by the Holy Ghost. John

Mott says the supreme purpose of the church is to

make Jesus Christ known. Jesus Christ

trusted. Jesus Christ loved, obeyed, and

exemplified in the whole range of life.

And from our book of discipline, it's paragraph

120, where the mission of the church

is clearly stated to make disciples of Jesus Christ

for the transformation of the world. And this is what follows that.

Local churches and extension ministries of the church

provide the most significant arenas to which

disciple making occurs. As

we prepare, for this long

delayed general conference, I want

you to be reminded how important it is for us to keep the main thing

the main thing. You have heard me say before and I will

continue to say it. One of the first priorities of the church is

to be people of prayer. In fact, Jesus

said my house must be a house of prayer.

I believe general conference is very important, but

not nearly as important as what is already happening in our

congregation and our communities across the state of Indiana.

No are not nearly as important as what will continue to happen

after general conference. It is important,

and we are sending a delegation from Indiana who will be

full participants in the gathering in Charlotte. Some of you may

come as observers and visitors. So for

the next several minutes, I want us to

talk briefly about the working of general conference. How

does it work? What impact it might have on my local church or ministry?

And and and for you to hear from your bishop, my

hopes for general conference, and some of the key issues and

opportunities that are in front of us. But after we have a time

of of hearing about the working of general conference,

you'll have an opportunity as Larry Whitehead will lead us in a time of questioning

and curiosity that you may ask me questions, and we may be able

to respond to those questions. But I wanna save a little time at the

end to share about our future work here in

the Indiana conference. And with that, I'm gonna

ask Larry now to begin the slide

presentation, which will be very brief. And I wanna give thanks to the

reverend Russ Abel who has utilized this presentation

as is responsible for this slide portion of the presentation.

He's done a much more extensive presentation than I will do, and I'm

gonna lean on him to do some fill in. But we wanna leave the bulk

of the time for you to actually ask questions, make comments, and lay

and lift curiosities as we pray that the technology

will will work properly before us.

So the general conference. Let's talk about

general conference. Next next slide.

Right now, what I see is Bishop's

webinar.

Can we move the

presentation along the slides? If

not, uh-uh.

Well, we knew it worked once. We're gonna try it again.

Alright. Let's try.

Here we go. We're gonna just keep it, right where it

is instead of trying to go full screen.

Okay, Bishop. It's it's

there we go. Okay.

The general the the general conference,

are you able to go to the next slide or is it acting up?

Hey. General conference is the ledge highest legislative body of the United

Methodist Church. It meets every 4 years,

and it will be meeting later this month in Charlotte, North

Carolina. It's the only group that can make decisions for the

United Methodist Church. It is the body, the legislative

body, that makes changes in our book of

discipline, which reflects both our laws

and our practices in the United Methodist Church. So the last

actually published edition of the book of

discipline resulted from the 2016

general conference. It's made up of 50% laity,

50% clergy. Bishops preside at general

conference but have no voice or vote. It's made up

of delegates from across the globe, the United

States as well as those persons who are coming from Europe, the

Philippines, and from Africa.

General conference has been postponed.

We were scheduled to have a general conference in 2020.

So the general conference that we're currently gonna have beginning later this

month is actually to postpone 2020 general

conference being held in 2024.

2019, the council of bishops call a special session of

the general conference. At that general conference, one

of the highlights, if you will, one of the premier

pieces of legislation that came out of that was paragraph 2553

that resulted in churches being able to disaffiliate.

After this general conference in 2024, there's a possibility

that we may have another general conference call in 2026.

But as of right now, we are preparing for the general conference that we'll

meet in Charlotte, North Carolina,

later this month. 862 delegates from

54 annual conferences in 130 different

countries. Russ, I'm gonna call on you now just to say a word

about our delegation. How many people are in our delegation, And

what else can you say about this gathering that's gonna happen,

in just a few weeks? Thank you, Bishop, and

thank you everybody for joining in. And we we as a delegation

appreciate your prayers and support. Our delegation

is filled with incredibly faithful people, who have worked

have worked and will continue to work really hard, preparing,

spiritually and, in all ways

for general conference that's upcoming. We

have 16, delegates to

general conference, 8 clergy and 8 lay. We'll

also be taking, 6 reserved

delegates, 3 lay and 3 clergy in

in the event that, one of our delegates

or several of our delegates fall ill or just need

a break. So we'll be fully fully staffed

for general conference. We have additional delegates who will be

serving at jurisdictional conference. So all of the general

conference delegates and reserves Julius another set of

people will be serving at jurisdictional conference.

We're we're United, for, for the opportunity to serve in this

way and looking forward to it. As I said, we feel like we've worked

hard to prepare. We've looked at a lot of different

pieces of legislation as a group. Each of us have

assignments to read particular parts what

of, legislation to prepare.

If if you want some casual reading, you you could,

you can, access that. There's only 1,008,

pieces of legislation proposed, so, you know, you'll be done about

September, something like that. But,

if you have any questions ever, don't hesitate to ask any of us on the

delegation. And, just a real quick word, Bishop, if I could have

just a moment more. I wanna

acknowledge that we've had a lot of people who served faithfully on our

delegation, who for many reasons have stepped off

the delegation. And so I wanna acknowledge them and,

express her appreciation for their service as well. So,

we're looking forward to it. We feel like we're prepared, and we appreciate your

prayers. Thank you, Russ. You'll be

able to go to our website and see the names of those

persons who are representing in the or who not

representing but who've been voted but from, from the lay and clergy of

Indiana to go to general conference. So who are the laity and

clergy in the Indiana delegation? That information will be

available, on our website as well as there's, I believe, a

way for us for people, to access the

legislation in in in case they really wanna read read particular

pieces of legislation or petitions that are coming to general conference.

Yeah. Absolutely. You have full access to what we have access to.

If you were to search, Christian

daily Christian advocate, just the just

those words all, you know, with a space between each one,

you'll come up with a with a page that'll give you several options.

If you choose the UMC resource page, it'll take

you directly to the Advanced Daily Christian Advocate. There

should be, plenty to read there, but you have full access.

General conference which meets every 4 years

typically sets the official policy, speaks for the denomination,

and has power to revise the book of discipline and the book of resolutions.

It's comprised, as we've already stated, of laity and clergy from

every annual conference, every missionary conference, and provisional conference

around around the world. The book of discipline, the

book of law and beliefs describing how United Methodist seek to be

disciples and how we hold one another accountable for our common

heritage, our missional focus, and our connection on

nature. It's more than business. So when we

gather at general conferences, vibrant worship that

reflects the diversity of United Methodist across the globe.

There's opportunity to experience, highlights

of mission and ministry across the globe. There's an opportunity for

building relationships with people from all over the place and to make

priorities as a denomination is how we will impact the world,

how we will actually participate in transforming the world with

the gospel. So next slide. There's some important

legislation that's coming. First of all, it will take place in in

Charlotte, but there's some key legislation, that's

coming. You may have questions about this. This would this would

really, be a good point to encourage you to to make sure

that you check, valid resources and sources of

information. So often we get a lot of our input, from

places that are not what I call valid information. Sometimes I hear people say, well,

I hear that the United Methodist don't believe this or don't believe that. I

said, where did you get that from? Key

legislation that's coming before general conference. These are

just some of the some of the key legislation. Regionalization,

removal of harmful language, revised social principles,

and a general book of discipline. I'm gonna

read and this this is, I'm reading from United Methodist

news source. So you can, Google United

Methodist news service, United Methodist news. There have been several recent

articles, of information about upcoming general conference.

For example, regionalization. Regionalization,

this this legislation and there's a series of pieces of legislation

that would help make this happen would restructure the denomination

with the goal of putting equal footing, putting on equal footing the

church in the United States and the central conferences including

Europe, Africa, and the Philippines. Each region, if I

understand this correctly, would have duties and powers to pass

legislation for greater missional impact in their

own respective regions, their own respective context and

regions. There's more, actually, there's a lot

more written about regionalization that you can read about. I'm trying to

find my my my information C here.

And I'll

ask ask Russ to weigh in on that. I don't see my piece on regionalization,

but that's one of the key pieces that's before us.

Yeah. Regionalization, like the bishop said,

is, is sort of a way to align the US

United Methodist Church with how, the United

Methodist Church outside the US has been operating for a while. For

for me, one way to think about it is a regionalization

allows for contextual, interpretation

on particular things in regard to the United Methodist

Church. So it's not, it's not a matter of

everybody makes up their own rules, but it allows for some context

to be sort of context driven,

adjustments or ways to live into the book of discipline.

Let me add to that. This is from the in 2019,

the Christmas covenant team, a group of conference leaders wrote

a regionalization legislation inspired by a

vision. The vision was a church that connects globally,

engages engages in mission together, respects

contextual ministry settings, celebrates the diversity of

god's creation in its many beautiful expressions, and

values mutuality, empowering relationships in order

to strengthen our core mission of evangelism, discipleship,

and social witness for the transformation of the world. This government

particular petition was submitted to the general conference by the

Philippines annual conference, in February of

2020. So that legislation, along with

newer legislation that has been submitted, is now in the hands of of

the delegates. Worldwide Regionalization,

proposes the formation of 8 regional conferences. Each will

have authority to maximize their effectiveness of their mission

and ministry by adapting portions of the book of discipline

based on their context and culture.

What are the other, pieces of legislation?

Well, there's a general book of discipline. I'm gonna

read a a portion of this. Adding

to the urgency for regionalization is the work the standing

committee began in 2,012. This is work that began in 2,000

and 12 general conference to determine what in the book of discipline

applies to all regions and what can change.

That work remains ongoing, but the standing committee is

asking annual conferences around the globe to provide feedback.

Whatever happens with regionalization and the work of the general conference,

there will be parts of the discipline that will continue to apply to all

United Methodists. That includes the denominational's

doctrinal standards, its constitution, its view on

the ministry of all Christians and social principle, which contains the

denomination's social witness. So

the hope is that we will have a smaller, book

of discipline, a a general book of discipline that applies to the whole

of the church even even if we do eventually pass

regionalization. The revised social

principles is another key pieces of key legislation.

Going back to John Wesley public support for laborers and

opposition to slavery, the people called Methodist have

always drawn on their faith to stand on issues of their day.

That tradition has continued to the first social creed

in 1908 to today's social principles.

General conference is the only body that can amend this part of the

discipline, but delegates this year will have the chance to vote on a

whole slate of revised social principles submitted

by United Methodist Board of Church and Society. This work

began in 2,012 with general conference approving a

petition from 3 central conferences in Europe to make

the social principles more globally relevant, theologically

founded, and succinct, not as lengthy as it

previously had been.

There are different places in the book of discipline and I'm not multiple

pieces of legislation. The rest you might be able to help me with this when

the question around removal of harmful language.

So including in the social principles, but there are other places in

which there are pieces, of their multiple pieces of

legislation or petitions that would change the work

different wording in the book of discipline. So those are some of the things that

are before us, but you may wanna weigh in on that because that's been

one of the things that people have talked about over multiple

general conferences about language and the discipline that we

cannot all agree on agree upon? Yeah.

I'd be I'd be glad to. Maybe maybe a couple of general comments first.

Keep in mind that, when I talk about a

1,008 pieces of legislation, you may be like, what?

Why? Well, each petition can only address

1 paragraph in the book of discipline.

So think about all the places, for example,

a the paragraphs where that would be listed. So that's kind of part of the

reason that there's there's so many. Secondly, keep in

mind that general conference is also a

deliberative body. And so, it's

it's very common for legislation to be amended on the way.

So what we're presenting to you now is kinda what's going in, to

the factory. What comes out may look a little different. So, just

keep that in mind. Removal of harmful language is is the

the phrase that's being used to talk about human

sexuality. And basically the

what we're what the legislation is before us is asking

is for all of the prohibited language

in regard to homosexuality, and LGBT

ish people, for that just to be removed.

So the removal of prohibited language, but it it

is not seeking to, put in

affirmative language. So in in my way of understanding

this, what this does is it creates space

where, folks and churches,

pastors who who, seek to do,

gay weddings or, be ordained as as

an openly gay person. It creates space for them to do that while at

the same time, it doesn't, force everybody to do

it. So it allows us to to continue in kind of a big a

big tent, big tent manner.

These these are all 4 are important pieces of legislation,

and we have been working together as a group on the on

these. The general book of discipline, we haven't worked as much with

because there's some some chance that it may not come

before us fully this time. Maybe just another season

of input and then come to us at a later date.

So, is that enough on removal of harmful

language, Bishop? That's enough. We'll we'll

probably, you know, address it if questions come forward or people make

comments. What'd you say, Bishop? That's enough? Yeah.

That There's a lot of prisoners who wanna say that to me a lot of

times. I guarantee you. You're you're

not the only one. So so friends, again,

I I wanna leave the bulk of this time to get

some exchange of comments and questions. Obviously,

there's we are a Methodist. We are, a denomination of

conferences. So at the local church, we have,

our local annual charge conference or church conference,

which is presided over by our conference superintendents or district

superintendents. It I mean, June

this June, we will gather at St. Luke's United Methodist

Church in Indianapolis for our annual conference.

But that will happen after the the postponed

general conference. And after our annual conference in

June, in case you haven't had an opportunity

to conference enough, there will be a jurisdictional

conference in South Dakota. That's the conference in which,

I along with at least one other bishop, will be

formally retired. So your bishop will be

retiring at the jurisdictional conference,

this July. The primary task for jurisdictional

conferences are to elect bishops. We will not be

electing bishops at this jurisdictional conference, and I

believe denominational across the church, there will

be, probably no elections in

the US because we had elections of bishops

in 2022, and we are do we

are awaiting elections to take place in in Africa

where they where there are several places where we have interim bishops.

So having said that, that that we are part of the north central

jurisdiction, and, we had that slide up,

and and we are the Indiana conference. One of the things

that will be celebrated, if

you will, and prepared and and acknowledge that jurisdiction conference

is the fact that some of our conferences will

become part of 1 Episcopal area. But

we can save that for a later conversation if you desire.

Indiana is 1 is a is a one Episcopal area,

served by 1 Bishop. But, several of our conferences

have already Minnesota and Dakotas have been a one

Episcopal area served by 1 Bishop, separate at conferences

but served by 1 bishop. And this is true across the church, across

the globe, as well as in other jurisdictions as well,

where we may have 1 bishop who serves more than 1 annual

conference. Now let's pause now, friends, and

this is an opportunity to, Larry, for you

to lay back in and give an invitation for people to

send forth some questions, some curiosities as one of

my cabinet members like this likes to put it in

that in that wording. What are your questions or

curiosities? And, we certainly aren't gonna

close this time without also asking what are your prayer concerns.

Basically, I have a question that, asking will the names of the delegation

be resent so that we can be in prayer for them? I

believe you answered that in that. Those are available on our on

our conference website, and and those are those are

are readily available there so that, that and and so you can

not only pray for them, but ask questions of them, the ones that that you

may know or or or want to contact.

Well, we've yeah. We certainly wanna make the names available for prayer.

Russ Abel, who's on on the your screen now, is the chair of the

delegation, but we certainly wanna make, make it our

our business as a clergy and laity to pray for those persons who are

going to general conference and to pray for the general conference.

Again, a reminder, if you have questions, type those.

There's a a q and a tab or a,

Trimble of your of your screen. If you type in your

question there, we'll, we'll get right to it.

And somebody please type in a couple of questions to make sure that it's working

okay. Our farmers.

Bishop, we have a question, that that I believe

you've said something about managing expectations around general

conference. Would you like to say more about that?

Well, I I often say that, you know, general conference is

extremely important, but not the most important thing that we

do as a denomination, in my opinion, or,

or certainly, those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ.

So say for example, some things could some things could take place and

Russ can help help me explain this one as well. Some

things could take place at general conference that would require additional

work. So the annual conferences might have to vote on, if

there are constitutional changes. And that means not just

our annual conference, but every single annual conference might

would have to vote on anything that would be a constitutional change every

single annual conference across the globe, and that would

take some time. You know, not months, but probably, you

know, would be a a year if not more than a year for that

process to unfold. Managing expectations. Sometimes we

go in the general conference or in a a particular conference and

expect, you know, great change and we don't

experience that. And sometimes God can be doing a mighty

thing and we may

and said the children matter across the globe, and we're

gonna do everything we can as a denomination to relieve the

suffering of children? But I also would say

that our work, our commitment to Christ, our witness,

should not be predicated on maybe a particular

outcome for general conference. I have a colleague

who's now deceased who used to say general conference is a bit

overrated. I think some of the highlights for me over

these years of going to general conference has been worship

and also engaging with people from across the globe who

also believe in the flame and the cross and who also follow Jesus

Christ and wanna make disciples, start new ministries,

and share their understanding of fresh expression of ministry across the

globe. So in that sense, God will still

be God at the end of general conference. We still, you know, the

the the heavy work has already taken place. We are east of people. We're

just a few days removed now from the celebration of the resurrected

Christ. So, our work for general

before and after general conference will remain, the same.

Thank you, Bishop. We've got a few, we've got a good good number of questions

coming in. Okay. Now we know it's working. We know it's

working. This question is, who will be our

bishop? Well, right now, I'm your bishop. Don't try

to replace me too quick.

Some somebody somebody hopefully better looking and,

in July. And, I think we had those dates up. What were the dates?

July 11th to 13th, that might be. I guess, July 11th to

13th. So by the end of that time,

our bishop the bishop who will be assigned to Indiana will be announced by

the jurisdictional committee on Episcopalcy. And that

person I'll have an opportunity to help welcome that person to

Indiana as I was welcomed by Bishop Mike, when I

came, to Indiana. So part of the role of the the

the active bishop is is to welcome the

incoming Bishop, and that also will be the role of we have a

transition team that's already in place, and we have the

conference episcopacy committee that also has a role in welcoming

a new bishop. Bishop,

we have a a question about where can I find the

legislation for general conference? I I think we've answered that

once, but we need a reminder. We'll be glad to yeah. We wanna make it

easy and, Larry, we can follow-up to try to make make it easy for people

to go on our website as well as Russ gave a couple of

resource, UMC resource, resource C, United

Methodist News Service, and is it daily Christian Advocate?

I if I I said that right, we'll we'll try to make

that information available, to you as well.

Question is, will some of the general conference delegates be scheduled

to meet in districts to talk about what happened at general

conference? Wow. That's an interesting question. Well, there

will be a report at annual conference, a brief report.

So there will be a brief report and hopefully they'll pro maybe provide

an article. The, our communications team will be at

general conference and we'll be doing some live reporting from

general conference. And I don't wanna I don't

wanna speak on behalf of Russ or or or whether I don't know

if they I don't know if we built in a process for them to do

district meetings or not. I can't speak for that.

Well, I I can I can speak toward it? So,

so even before general conference, there's still

opportunities to, to to hear about what's what's

happening, what's going on. Reverend doctor Elise Fulbright and

I, have been doing and and have one more

scheduled something called in the know that we're doing

hosted by, Justin Cason, who's amazing. And

that is on April 16th at

6 o'clock. It'll be on Facebook live. If if you just check out

the, the conference Facebook page, you'll be able to find it

there. And Louise and I will just spend some time answering questions and and

sharing updates. We also plan to do

2 in the know presentations from general

conference. So each of the Wednesday nights of general

conference will will come to you and will say what we've seen

so far, where where things are, and, again, take some questions.

These are these are relatively short, 30 or 35 minutes or so,

but, we wanna make sure everybody has the information. After

general conference, the the Sunday immediately after general

conference, May 5th, we'll be doing another session,

Elise and I, and that will be to say here's what

happened. And our goal in this is

simply to get good information, current information,

accurate information in front of people, and as soon as we

can after general conference. So I think it's I think

those are some opportunities. Other delegates may well be available.

I I appreciate that question. We have one more meeting

before general conference and we'll make that part of our discussion that

that day of how do we report, and I'd be I'd

be glad to take that on. So thank you.

We'll have some report, to it in our in our normal

communications through the through the conference in terms of what happened at

general conference and what impact that may have for for our local

churches and the work of our annual conference. Bishop,

we can relax. This one comes to Russ. Is the India

this is a multi, fact, multi, level

question, so I'm gonna keep so just wait. I'll I'll tell you when you can

answer us. Is the Indiana delegation of 1

mind regarding regionalization? Is our delegation

supportive of regionalization, or what hurdles or challenges

are present before the denomination that might halt

regionalization to pass general conference?

Well, thank you for that question. Of

one mind is a high bar in in any circle

of conversation in our world today. I don't know if we're of a one mind.

I would say from the conversations we've had around regionalization that

there is strong support in our delegation for regionalization.

There are delegates who continue to have questions or

concerns. You know, we wanna make sure

that we're not missing any unintended consequences

of regionalization. So I'd say there's strong support.

We, we've talked a lot about

regionalization, and, I feel like it I feel like we're pretty

well versed on it. And so we trust everybody

to, follow god's leading in that, but there's strong

support. And I might continue on just a minute beyond the

question, Larry. Bishop mentioned the the extra work

that could happen. Regionalization is one of those things that would

require a constitutional change, and so it would need to

be part of that ratification process. And the ratification process, as

Trimble conferences

vote on it, But the the specifics of it

are that, it takes 2 thirds

of the aggregate votes of all annual conference

members for it to pass. So not 2 thirds

of annual conferences, but all the people who vote around the world, 2

thirds of those folks have to support it.

It's probably important if these are areas of passion for

you around the the pieces of legislation with constitutional

change, it's probably important to watch the percentage by

which it passes. At general conference,

if something passes at 52% yes,

48% no, then you might wonder will it have a difficult

time reaching that ratification point. So,

that's that's just kind of another little piece. And and finally, in this

segment, while I have the mic,

if you wanna reach out to the to the delegation, it's

incredibly easy. We have an email address that goes to all

delegates, at once, and that's a great way to contact

us and it's very simple. It's 2020

INUMC Delegates

atinumc.org. So just bomb

that out, and, we'll be glad to respond. We'll figure out who's the

best person to respond to it, but feel free to reach out in that way

as well. Thanks, Larry. Thank you,

Russ. We have several people have

asked, how can we follow general conference work while our delegates are

there at general conferences? So a live stream, with the will

it be email? And I would tell you that that the answer is

yes to all the above. There'll be our our,

our conference communications team, it will be live

on-site. They will be providing video updates that'll

be sent out by email. They'll be sending that out on our Facebook

page. They'll be communicating that in a variety of

different ways, as well as on if you,

log on to our conference website, there will be a link

for the livestream. And so you will be able to access

livestream throughout the the general conference, through

through by and there'll be a few pro I imagine

I I suspect there's a different way to get that that that, that link, but

that'll be one way to get the link through our conference website.

Question. Besides harmful language and human

sexuality, what are 2 or 3 other major items on the agenda?

And I think, to some degree, Bishop has answered that. Russ,

would you like to add any others to what, what,

the others that Bishop has has, has already named?

Yeah. I would actually. And it in a general

sense, pay attention to the next tier. Right? So we we there's

always, like, a tier of things that that gets all the attention, all

the oxygen, but, you know, pay attention to the the other things as

well. One of the things that's come before us are

several, pieces of of proposed legislation

that would change,

voting eligibility for local pastors,

change some other things regarding local pastors in terms of transfer between

conferences. I think that's really important legislation as we recognize

the reality of our of our setting now. So pay attention

to that. And and there are, I I would say, very

few very few of the peaceful legislation are not important.

Right? So they they affect some people. But I think that in

regard to ordain ministry,

that legislative group, I think that's a really important thing to watch.

That would be, and correct me if I'm wrong with, one of the

important things that will happen is the passing of a budget, which is about

us with this being a postponed general conference, we have

not, passed a general conference budget

that helps provide funding for the worldwide work of the

church. For example, the General Board of Global Ministries and other general boards and

agencies. I'll use the General Board of Global Ministries as an

example for there's over 100 countries that we

have missionaries doing work in various places, and

part of that work is support a significant part of that work is supported by

world service dollars or dollars at annual conferences contribute

to the general church for the general work that we do across the globe.

We expect a significant reduction in

our annual conference apportionment.

So our conference time, the expectation we will expect

is gonna be significantly lower in part because there

was already a proposed reduction for the 2020

general conference that has been postponed to 2024. There's been

a significant, decision by

GCFNA in connection on table coming to general conference

for reduction because we've had disaffiliation.

Significant number of churches are no longer in the United Methodist

Church, hence our hence our contribution

to world service, a portion dollars, is reduced.

So reduced budget will be good. That'll be that has to be approved by

general conference in order for us to know what how how

much money we have to support bishops, how much money we have

to support general boards and agencies, and much of the work that we

do, not only in the US, but across across

the globe. There is legislation. I don't know the particular

petitions, because this question has come to me personally

around, is there because paragraph

2553 C sunset it, will there be

other legislation coming to general conference? I haven't seen these

particular pieces, but my understanding there will be some

for some some various pieces of legislation that will

seek to maybe not be 2553, but have a have a similar

effect of providing a pathway for churches

to, lead United Methodist Church. Am I

correct on that? I've read at least 5, and I think there are more.

Okay. So And that was one of the

questions. So thank you, Bishop. You took care of that. I would add to that

list of one of the things that's, legislative pieces of legislation is

coming from, Westpath to restructure the way

that, pastor, clergy pensions will be

structured. It offers a a a different approach.

It does not diminish, the the the benefit,

but just change restructures the the approach and and, so

that that's one thing that will be coming as well.

Bishop, one of your fan this comes from one of your fans. I'm absolutely

certain. The question is, will Bishop be preaching at

general conference? No. Not unless

not unless they called me from the bullpen.

The preachers at general conference have been pre have already been

selected. I was not one of those preachers, but they'll

be excellent

and Bishop Jonathan Holston from South Carolina was chosen

by his peer by by the Council of Bishops to

give the episcopal address, and there'll be Bishop preaching,

I think, every day, at general conference. I will be speaking

at United Methodist Global AIDS Conference the day before

general conference starts. So if people come to

Charlotte and and come to I think it's gonna be its first

UMC char Charlotte. We have a breaking barriers conference

for for the global United Methodist Global AIDS Committee, and I will be

speaking, preaching the opening service there.

Mister, we've got, we're getting to toward the end of our time. We wanna make

sure that you've got plenty of time to, to, to give

us some parting words, but I have just, we have time

for 2 more questions. One of them is, is there a

petition to remove the language that United Women in Faith

shall be a part of each local church?

I think that goes to Russ. Stop me on

that one. So Yeah.

I don't know. I don't I

have not heard anything about that. I've not seen

it, but

it's not a part of my legislative group. So really briefly,

all the pieces of legislation are split into

areas of common interest, and we each have

an area that we then read thoroughly. It's not it's not in the

area that I'm serving. I I I've not heard anything about that,

but that doesn't mean there is one That's worth researching.

We'll make a note of that because I and I I understand

the question and the person that asked her because currently in our book of

discipline, that is that it you know, u UMC,

United Methodist Women, it's it's mandated in terms of

local church. Correct

me if I'm wrong on that. Terms of life.

That's correct. There shall yeah. Some places that book Shelby. Is

gonna say there may be or they shall be. There shall be.

So, I don't know the answer to that, but that is where the fact that

the question came up means that there's the possibility that there there may be a

piece of legislation related to that. You said one

more question? Or One more question, Bishop. Is it

and I think that, Russ may wanna weigh in on this too. Is

it possible that there would eventually be one general book of

discipline with several subsidiary versions?

And would these subsidiary books of discipline be in

regional or jurisdictional focus?

I think that's it sounds like a a a way a

different way, maybe a better way of explaining what I think the pathway

of of the of the, book of discipline

is going the head in the in that direction, the, general book of

discipline. What you just described sounds like what may be

the pathway. And I think Russ mentioned this earlier, but I

don't I don't know that this is gonna be completed work at this

general conference. That that would because that involves

involves another the standing committee, and and so

it could be completed work for 2026 general, but I

don't think it'll be completed work for 2024, general comments.

If I could So only sure. Then we're gonna I'm gonna sneak one

more in. Go ahead. I I would say,

I completely agree with what the bishop said, but I feel

caution. I feel caution about how we make

definitive statements or even assumptive statements because

people then take that and say, oh, well, you know, I was on a

webinar and there's gonna be 17 different books of discipline. I heard

it. You know? So, I I I think that

we'll still have a book of discipline Yes. If regionalization

is passed, and parts of that book of discipline will be

able to be contextualized. But That that's the

best. Yeah. That's that's yeah. Yeah. We've we've been

in that movie before, haven't we? We've been in that movie before. I thought

I said it. I thought that's what I'd say. One more question.

One more question, Bishop. And you you touched on it before, but I

think you but I'm gonna invite you to this this this

question came in. You are

retiring. What does that mean for us

in Indiana?

Well, it means, bishops bishops

bishops retire and we have a mandatory retirement age. That

means that you will be receiving a new, new Bishop.

And, that was part of my closing comments. So I think if

you want me to go go right into that. Absolutely.

Okay. Let me let me let me address that in the sense of the power

talk about the priorities for the Indiana conference, post general conference.

So so what are my expectations about general conference? Well, I think

of focusing on the church's mission and building closer

connections and communities rather than getting caught up in the mechanisms

of the church. We really need to lean in, friends, on our

communities and our closer connections.

And we your your current bishop and your future bishop

will certainly make a priority along with the cabinet of

making good matches of of of clergy with congregations

and communities. We've been doing that, missional appointment making. That

won't change regardless of what happens at general conference.

Missional appointment making, finding good matches of

of clergy who can serve, who can love the people and preach the gospel.

Working to end hunger and homelessness worldwide. These are things I hope will

come out come out of that. Giving the local church more

loving attention as the primary place to fulfill the mission

of making disciples. Transforming the episcopacy,

C I know this is a conversation currently going

on in the council of bishops and in the north central

jurisdiction, transforming the episcopacy to increase

the bishop's teaching role. So hopefully,

your new bishop will have more time to do what we're what I'm

doing tonight. Having conversation using different

platforms. I'm preaching this coming Sunday in Gary

and the Sunday after that in Evansville, but your bishops

will be able to embrace their teaching role as

spiritual leaders and and be relieved of so so many administrative,

problem solving burdens, a lot of which Larry

Whitehead has to deal with. So and we are

also I'm also hopeful about the removal of harmful language in the book

of discipline. I'm hopeful about

that. I'm not predicting what will will not happen,

but it doesn't matter what the language is in the discipline as much as it

matters with what kind of hospitality people experience in our

churches, in our communities, and from our leaders. So people

sometimes wanna debate about words in the book, but are

not given enough attention to the experience people have when

we encounter them in the community or when they come into our congregations,

into our churches. Amen, somebody. Amen.

So you will get a new,

bishop. That person will start September 1.

My term, my time ends as the active bishop

assigned to Indiana at the end of August. So August is

it 31 days in August or 30 days in a 31 days in August.

But you will know we will know who our new bishop is in

July. That person, he or she, will be

assigned at the jurisdictional conference in South Dakota, and that

person will, the people who are interested is gonna be the first

ones to welcome, and those from those of us from Indiana will be able to

welcome that person, that leader, that new bishop who will be

coming to love you and preach and provide episcopal

leadership along with the clergy and laity of the Indiana

conference. What are the priorities for our conference post general conference?

Discipleship growth. Discipleship growth

is nurtured when we prioritize prayer. I often say the

first business of the church is pray, but we can't just pray.

Engagement with our mission field and taking seriously our church membership

as found in the book of disciplines there at paragraph 2017.

And, actually, I had it I had it

paragraph 2017, it says, when persons unite as professing

members with the local United Methodist Church, they profess their faith in

God as father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and Jesus Christ, his

only son, and the Holy Spirit. Thus, they make known

their desire to live their daily lives as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Anything you hear is contrary to that we are disciples

of Jesus Christ, and we affirm the Trimble

God is not the truth. We believe in Jesus'

divinity and his humanity. We believe that Jesus Christ

was crucified, dead, and buried, and rose from the dead.

And we celebrate that on Easter. To renounce the spiritual forces of

wickedness, this is familiar. To accept freedom, the power to give,

God gives us to resist evil and justice and oppression

oppression. To confess Jesus Christ as savior, put our whole

trust and grace in Jesus as Lord. To remain faithful

members of Christ's holy church, to be loyal to Christ to the

church, do all in their in our power to strengthen his

ministries. Part of our commitment is is Jesus follows

in the United Methodist Church is to do everything we can to

strengthen the ministries of the church so that we might impact

the communities that we live in. To receive to to

faithfully, prioritize in this ministry

by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our

witness. Julius said in the gospel of Matthew that we are to

go forth and make disciples to share the love of Jesus Christ.

What about transition? Well, transition is already will begin to

happen after general conference and after annual conference. I will be

presiding at annual conference and we'll be celebrating, our

ministry together and all of the new fresh expressions of

ministry that we're excited about it annual conference,

and we'll do further preparation and further transition to a new

bishop. What wisdom do you have for our churches and

conference life? I'm quoting now from Paul Chilcote

and his book, Multiplying Love, which some of us,

did a 4 week book study during Lenten during the Lenten season.

He says this question. What if the United Methodist Church

was known for being the most loving church in the United States of

America? And I and I would add in the world. Let me repeat that. What

if the United Methodist Church was known being the most

loving church in the United States of America and the world?

That's from Paul Chirico multiplying love.

Our our our primary goal is to multiply the love of Julius

Christ because Jesus saves, and we have a

chance to profess the good news of the gospel.

With that, my friends, I want to close this. Any closing comments

from Larry or Russ before I close with the word of

prayer and and again thanking the churches and individuals.

Did we hear from anybody that was watching in the group? We

did. We have 20 people that are watching from Epworth

Church in Indianapolis. Rodney Creedon is their pastor, and,

they have gathered to watch, together. We didn't have anyone else to

check-in, but in closing comments, I'd suggest to you, Bishop,

that we have a number of people who have thanked you and thanked Russ

for for the work that you've done this evening and and before

this. They're they're appreciative of this time together and a

reminder then also of this those who have been affected by

the storm damage in Southern Indiana, that will keep them in our

prayers. But thank you both for the great work that you've done with

us, for us this evening and for your vision for the

and your continued leadership, in the Indiana conference. Thank

you, friends, and thank you for being the church, and for the ways in

which you welcome and and love the people. As Bishop

Bob Farr said of just a few weeks ago, you know, we have 2

mission fields. The people in the church and the people outside the church,

and we need to make sure that we're connected with both with those of us

who are inside of the church, the church community, or those of us that are

outside the church. And I believe as long as we do that, the the

4,000,000 Julius people in Indiana that don't have a spiritual home

will be able to see the flame in the cross and to see a United

Methodist Church in their community and and and find a place

where there is a welcome. Let us pray. Thank you, friends, and

god bless you and be encouraged. Lord god, we thank you for this time tonight,

and we ask that you would continue to lead us and guide us along

the way. Bless those who've been impacted by the storms

tonight. Watch over them. Keep folks safe, Lord,

and provide, provide help where there's help

needed immediately. Bless those who are sick and those

who may be without a church home, those who are struggling,

and maybe need confirmation that god loves them, lord. Let us

be that instrument of peace and grace and reconciliation that's so

desperately needed in our hungry world. Bless us not that

we may brag about our blessings, but that we might be a blessing to

somebody else. In Jesus' name, we pray. And

good evening, friends. God bless you.