AC Update - June 7, 2016 - Issue 6

AC Updates are sent every other week to members and guests of the Annual Conference session June 16-18, 2016 in Salem, OR. If you are not the member attending from your church, please let your district office know so we may send information to the right person. Thank you!

New! Check in on 2nd floor this year

When you arrive at the Salem Convention Center, come to the 2nd floor and look for the balloons marking the check-in area. Proceed to your district table where friendly faces will welcome you and hand you a packet of information and a name tag. If you haven't paid for your meals, or wish to order meals, we'll help you take care of that too. Check-in will be open 3:30-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 15, and again Thursday morning at 8:00 and 12:45-1:30 p.m. Due to advance ordering requirements, a limited number of meal tickets will be available at check-in for Friday and Saturday only.

Last chance to register online is today!

After June 7, the only way to register is in person at the Salem Convention Center. If you haven't paid for your meals yet, do so today using your confirmation email so you can breeze through the check-in process! Thank you!
Register Now.

UMCOR kits to be collected

Kits and supplies are being collected at Annual Conference again this year. Rev. Brian Diggs, Director of the UMCOR West Depot in Salt Lake City, has asked for school, layette and health kits. The UMCOR West Depot table will be combined with the UMVIM and Disaster Relief table in the Ministry Marketplace. Leave your items there and transportation will be provided to the depot.. For further information, contact Donna Waltman at dgwaltman@frontier.com or 503-622-3226. Open this link for details on kits.

Offering to support United Methodist Mission in Honduras

The offering at Saturday, June 18th's morning worship service will support the work of the United Methodist Mission in Honduras comprised of 20 congregations serving very poor urban and rural communities in this Central American country. The money collected will make possible the ministry of the Mission with people who feel forced to migrate out of their communities due to extreme poverty and the increased violence caused by the traffic of narcotics from Colombia to Mexico and eventually to the US. Your gifts will help in the establishment of a technical school that will provide skills to youth and young adults enabling them to find employment and avoid the need to migrate into another countries, including the US, to support their families. A journey that is costly, very difficult, and extremely dangerous. Also, it will undergird the ministry of the Mission in helping persons who are deported from Mexico and the US, to re-integrate into their communities and avoid the need to leave again creating separated families and dysfunctional neighborhoods.

Your offering will help the Mission to strengthen its proclamation of the Good News of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the Wesleyan tradition with its strong emphasis on personal and social holiness. Your generosity is greatly appreciated by your sisters and brothers of the United Methodist Mission in Honduras.

Lay Leader Mary Foote describes duties of Lay Members

For folks seeking a sneak peak or folks new to the Annual Conference session, Annual Conference Orientation will be held the night before the conference begins, Wednesday, June 15, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salem Convention Center, Santiam 1 room.
There are four basic duties of the lay member to annual conference:
1. Participate in the annual conference session and vote on all matters open to laity.
2. Interpret, with the pastor, the actions of the Annual Conference session to the congregation.
3. Serve as a member of the staff/pastor relations committee, church council, and finance committee.
4. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, report to the congregation in the week following the Annual Conference Session and to the church council within three months of the close of the session.
Read the rest of Mary's letter.

What to Bring to Conference

Printed materials from the Conference website or download to your portable device in advance. All members are encouraged to read the legislation before arrival to be informed of the issues and be prepared to vote.
3 ring notebook with dividers if using printed materials, plus a pen or pencil.
Checkbook or cash for offerings and shopping at the Cokesbury book store and Ministry Marketplace. Credit cards are accepted for registration and at Cokesbury.
Payment for meals and late fee if you have not already registered.
UMCOR kits from your church. Layette, School and Health kits are needed.
Sweater or light coat if desired. Plenary room temperature can be cool.

Useful Links

Full download is available in a single 100 page package with all reports and legislation.
Conference Schedule www.umoi.org/conferenceschedule
Download the full packet of legislation
Read or download the pre-conference reports
Salem Convention Center information
Salem Convention Center Maps and Driving Directions

Hotline

If you can't find what you need on the website contact Annual Conference Manager Sally Blanchard, at 503-802-9203 or sally@umoi.org. Messages are checked twice a day between 9 a.m.-5 p.m..

AC Update Archive

Missed an issue of the 2016 AC Updates? Read them here.