June 16, 2016

Annual Conference Day 1

The 48th Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference began Thursday with a welcome from Native American drummers, two key elections and an opening message from Bishop Hagiya.

Joshua Bynum, Outgoing Associate Lay Leader; Mary Foote, Outgoing Conference Lay Leader; Incoming Conference Lay Leader, Jan Nelson; Incoming Associate Conference Lay Leader, Emilie Kroen

In the laity session, on Thursday morning Jan Nelson was elected as the Conference Lay Leader for the 2016-2020 quadrennium. Her term will begin July 1, 2016. Nelson is a retired middle-school math teacher who was also elected as the Lay Delegate to General Conference.  She lives in Salem and is active at Morningside United Methodist Church. The laity also elected Emilie Kroen of Tualatin as Associate Lay Leader. Emile Kroen has been serving as the Imagine No Malaria Steering Committee chair for the Greater Northwest Area.

Rev. Donna Pritchard   Conference Endorses Pritchard The conference also voted to endorse Rev. Donna Pritchard as a candidate for the Episcopacy. Pritchard, Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Portland, Oregon, was also a candidate in 2008. She was elected as the Clergy Delegate to General Conference in 2008 and 2016. The Western Jurisdictional Conference will elect one bishop when it meets July 13-16 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Hagiya Offers Opening Worship

In his opening message, Bishop Grant Hagiya outlined the values illuminated by the conference theme – Keeping Sabbath: Resting, Rejoicing, Returning – saying how each of these areas is an important component to effective leadership. You can watch the opening online.
 

Conference to hold Walk of Remembrance

The Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference will take time out of its annual gathering to remember those killed and injured in the Orlando Night Club attack early Sunday morning and to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ community that is so often a victim of hate.

Attendees of the conference, representing 200 churches in Oregon and Southern Idaho, will gather on the plaza of the Salem Convention Center at 8:00 p.m. on Friday to hear words from Bishop Grant J. Hagiya and other church leaders. Then they will lead a candlelight walk to express their concern for all people and all of God’s creation.

“The purpose of the walk is to stand as a witness to God’s love for all of God’s children,“ Hagiya shared,  “and to stand against gun violence and voices that attempt to set some part of God’s creation apart or say that some people are less worthy of God’s love.”

Local church members and the public are invited to join with the 500 plus conference attendees at the event.