Meeting Minutes List

Describe the item or answer the question so that site visitors who are interested get more information. You can emphasiGeneral Conference Commission (GCC)
May 12, 2026
9am EST
Voting Members Present: Sterling Allen, Shalom Azabe, Beth Ann Cook, Elie Diko, César Gazza, Jeff Greenway, Joy Griffin, Tsvetan Iliev, James Kawadza, Chipau Audu Kilyobas, Bridget Kirk, Carol Loeb, Norma Morrison, Nicolas Munongo, Bill Patrick, Charles Puno, Stacy Taylor, Jay Therrell, Molly Williams
Non-Voting Members Present: Laura Ballinger, Ginger Barbee, Rhonda Bourgeois, Dianne Burnett, Lyndsey Clark, Mike Grant, Tom Lambrecht, Tesia Mallory, Lamar Oliver, Mike Schafer, Becci Wood
Not Present: Tim Beardsley, Mary Blagojevich, Davies Musigo, Mack Parker Opening Prayer: Joy
Minutes: Motion by Beth Ann, seconded by Jay to approve minutes. Approved 13-0
Event Project Manager, Becci:
• Over 1000 registered. 1200 registration invitations still open. Hoping to have those resolved by the end of the week, in order to open registration to general attendee observers. This link would be put on the website and registrations would be accepted on a first come first serve basis.
• In person team leads meeting May 26-28 in Chicago. James will Zoom in, since his VISA was denied. Elie is still waiting on his VISA interview. (Prayer for Elie!) • If you haven’t booked your flights to Johannesburg - please do so soon! • Stacy asked if we would be vetting the observers. This led to discussion. There may be some persons coming to advance personal agendas. Do we want to ask Conference Superintendents to verify standing of a person before registering? The logistics of this are quite challenging - even for just 125 persons.
• Motion by Carol, seconded by Chipau that we vet everyone who registers. Beth Ann offered an Amendment to this motion to strike the word “vet” and insert “screen” and add that any registrants be a member of GMC in good standing or credentialed through an organization. Seconded by Sterling. The amendment passed 14-1-1. Motion as amended passed: 12-2-0
• Mike G recommends that Becci, Ginger, Rhonda, Carol and Bridget work to create a special form and to communicate this screening process.
• Questions from Laura regarding volunteers and hotels. The volunteers have been emailed a link to choose their hotels. (Check junk if not received!). If a room is already reserved - a hotel confirmation email should have been received. There are other lodging opportunities available - but the GMC is not managing these.
Connectional Council Report, Mike Schafer:
• Nothing from the Connectional Council
• Working with the Global Episcopacy Commission regarding nominees. Connectional Conversation coming up next week.
Assembly of Bishops, Bishop Greenway:
• No report. Thanks for working so hard to make General Conference appear to run seamlessly. The hope of the Bishop’s assembly is that we’ve positioned ourselves to encounter God and that we are all holier than when we arrived. Hoping that the BOD becomes smaller, not bigger, and that we all can be comfortable with ambiguity
- which is part of a movement (not an institution.)
Worship Team, Tesia:
• 90% of all worship orders completed
• Working on which songs will be translated and into which languages - and placed in the book of worship onsite journal, rather than the pre conference journal. • Excited about an arrangement of And Can It Be for opening worship with unique cultural expressions.
• James has selected vocalists, per Davies request. He will communicate this to Davies and Tesia.
• Acquiring communion elements is all set
Missions, Tim: (Jay)
• Adding a school supply distribution and prayer ministry for Thursday, September 3 at 11am at The Saviour Place Glenesk Global Methodist Church, a little less than an hour away from the Sandton.
• Should be budget neutral - but will affect transportation - which will have to be arranged and paid for.
Finance, Molly:
• No report
Sponsorships, Mack:
• No report
Housing/Logistics, James:
• Negotiated with Gautrain to advertise the GMC at the airport and Central Station and set up welcome desks.
• Storage facility has been located. Need to know by JULY 1 if you have items to store. Coordinate all of this with James.
International Relations, Elie:
• Still navigating VISA procurement for Nigeria; DRC should be all set.
Legislation, Tom:
• Episcopacy election procedure: Each episcopacy area will interview as many candidates as they wish and choose their top 5. There may be some nominees who are not selected. Any of the 24 nominees can receive votes for any episcopal area.
For additional information - watch the Connectional Conversation on May 18 at 8:00am CT
• Translating Languages for Pre-Conference Book and Petitions: The Legislative team proposes we have a two-tiered approach to translation in the following languages.
Tier One – English, French, and Spanish
Full AI translation with human translator proofreading (@7 cents per word) Full design layout of Pre-Conference Workbook
Tier Two – Amharic, Kiswahili, Korean, Russian, and Thai
Full AI translation, but no human translator proofreading (much less expensive) Word layout of Pre-Conference Workbook with a nice cover (half the cost of the full design)
• This does not include Portuguese - Only one person requested Portuguese, but also selected Spanish
• Motion to amend this proposal by Beth Ann, seconded by Sterling that we add Portuguese to the translation to Tier One (AI and human). Not approved 8-9-0 • Recommendation from Legislative Team: Approved 16-0-0
• Proposed list of Legislative Committees
The values used in assigning the 420 delegates to committees in order of priority are: • Honor the first choice of the delegate (or if not, at least one of their three preferences)
• Maintain the requirement that committees be no less than 35 members, nor more than 70. The average number if all the delegates were divided equally among the committees would be 52.5 members per committee.
• Maintain the requirement that no more than 55 percent of the committee membership be either lay or clergy
• Honor the goal that non-U.S. membership on a committee range from 30 to 45 percent (based on the non-U.S. delegates being 38 percent of the total delegation) • Try to spread annual conference representation across the committees • Motion to amend by Sterling, seconded by Jay, to move Jason Burnham (Trinity) from the Judicial Committee to the Superintendency Committee and move Lynall Lloyd (West Plains) from the Superintendency Committee to the Judicial Committee. Not passed 4-10-4
• Proposed list of Legislative Committees recommended from Legislative team: Approved 14-0-2
Petitions, Lamar:
• 461 total petitions received. Expect around 450 to be up for review. 50% were from a group, 94 were from individuals. The team will be working to categorize petitions into the proper Legislative area. 90% have the cosigners response already. “Debate is not division, it’s discernment”. “The future is bright, I’m proud to be Global Methodist.” ~ Lamar Oliver
Agenda, Norma:
• Emailed the current agenda
Hospitality/Volunteers, Stacy:
• No report
Communications, Dianne:
• Working on episcopacy commission’s announcements.
• Connectional Conversation regarding Episcopal elections with Jason Burnham is scheduled.
• Will be strategic in rolling out information regarding General Conference.
Prayer, Laura:
• Many thanks to Dianne, Tom and Lamar
• Prayer guides are moving along
Credentialing/Registration, Carol:
• No report
Translation/Interpretation, Bill:
• Should know if we will need hybrid in month or so when Nigeria’s VISA situation is clear.
• Looking for tech people to help with KUDO during the Episcopacy call on May 30. • There will be a training with KUDO on May 16.
• Currently using KUDO for Episcopacy meetings, and mostly using captions, because of the 5 second delay while listening to the translation. KUDO will be used for live translations in Johannesburg. After General Conference, the decision will be made to continue using KUDO or Wordly.
New Business:
• Date for next meeting
• Becci asking for clarification on the addition of a Mission Experience, and if the money raised will cover, or if we are asking for money from the budget. Money raised should be enough, it is not the plan to move money from the budget. Beth Ann suggested we continue to appeal to local churches and conferences to give to the Mission Experience fund.
• Motion by Stacy, seconded by Beth Ann that we do not allow any additional program components after June 9. Approved 13-1-0
Next meeting: Tuesday, June 9, 2026 at 9am EST (due to the in person team leader’s meeting on May 26).
Motion to adjourn by Beth Ann, many seconds. Approved 14-0
Meeting closed in prayer by Mike G.
Minutes submitted by Stacy Taylorze this text with bullets, italics or bold, and add links.