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)
June 9, 2026
9am EST
Voting Members Present: Tim Beardsley, Mary Blagojevich, Beth Ann Cook, Elie Diko, César Gazza, Jeff Greenway, Joy Griffin, James Kawadza, Chipau Audu Kilyobas, Bridget Kirk, Carol Loeb, Norma Morrison, Nicolas Munongo, Mack Parker, Bill Patrick, Stacy Taylor, Jay Therrell, Molly Williams
Non-Voting Members Present: Laura Ballinger, Ginger Barbee, Rhonda Bourgeois, Dianne Burnett, Lyndsey Clark, Mike Grant, Tom Lambrecht, Lamar Oliver, Mike Schafer, Becci Wood
Not Present: Sterling Allen, Shalom Azabe, Tsvetan Iliev, Tesia Mallory, Davies Musigo, Charles Puno
Opening Prayer: Lamar
Minutes: Motion by Carol, seconded by Chipau to approve minutes from May 12. Approved 15-0
Connectional Council Report, Mike Schafer:
• Nothing from the Connectional Council
• Continuing to guide Episcopal Election process. Interviews will begin soon.
Event Project Manager, Becci:
• Over 1068 confirmed registrants. 1136 total invitations out. Working to make sure all are registered and there are no open invitations.
• Met with IVTM, Tom, Lyndsey, Dianne and worship team
• Deadline for any Logistical supplies is the end of June.
• Medical insurance for all is very costly. Non US have some coverage in the event and travel insurance. Discussion - but no action taken.
• Ebola update/statement - will be sent to all participants; Becci will make contact with our South African doctor for a statement.
• Deadline for Hybrid decision is July 1 - to give plenty of time to prepare; but this will need to be flexible as South Africa could close to other countries. Becci has started to look at locations in the Congo for delegates to gather.
Assembly of Bishops, Bishop Greenway:
• Nothing from Assembly of Bishops
• Asked if the speakers will have a clock that will countdown the time allotment. Lyndsey will speak with IVTM about this.
Worship Team, Tesia:
• Meets tomorrow
• Working on stage layout
Legislation, Tom:
• VIA Email: Feedback from several conference superintendents requesting specific changes to the membership of the legislative committees.
Toby Chastain (North Alabama) from Social Witness to Ministry (requested by his CS based on Toby's involvement in the Ministry and Higher Ed Commission's petitions). Brian Ebel (Mid-South) from Judicial Administration to Ministry (requested by the chair of the Ministry and Higher Ed Commission because she is not a delegate and needs official representation of the Commission in the legislative committee)
This opens up the need for a clergy person in Judicial Administration. Nathan Fugate (Allegheny West) from Constitution to Judicial Administration. Nathan has been heavily involved in church law issues for many years and consented to this change.
John Wayne McMann (Trinity) from Social Witness to Doctrine and Sacraments (requested by his CS because John Wayne was designated in his delegation to spearhead the doctrinal issues and petitions)
This created a surplus of clergy in Doctrines and Sacraments.
Timothy Turner (Trinity) from Doctrine and Sacraments to Ministry. Ministry was actually his first choice, but he deferred to others on his delegation. He prefers the switch and is from the same conference as John Wayne.
John Wayne's move also created a need for clergy in Social Witness. Lois Odukunyi (Afrika Makarishi) from Local Church to Social Witness. Social Witness was her second choice and she consented to the move. There were only three possible clergy to make this move, and one had already declined.
Since we discussed Jason Burnham (Trinity) moving from Judicial Administration to Superintendency in our Commission meeting, I offered Jason the possibility of arranging a switch for him. He declined and chose to remain in Judicial Administration.
VOTE via email: Approved
• Virtual legislative committee meetings are being scheduled for orientation, parliamentary procedure review and election of officers (presided by a bishop). • Pre-Conference workbook translation being completed; may need more money for diagrams; Will be online July 1.
Petitions, Lamar:
• 471 petitions; 449 will go before General Conference
• Translation of petitions in process
• Only invalidated 6
Agenda, Norma:
• Emailed the current agenda; It’s getting fuller by the day; Function sheet which Becci put together has more details and is an internal document; the agenda will go on the website soon.
Finance, Molly:
• Finance Team recommendation:
The finance team moves that we increase Ginger Barbee's contractual payment by $6,000n (allocated over the next 2 months), to be funded from the contingency. This request originally came from Becci, and both Mike Schafer and I have discussed the need as well. Ginger has been contributing significantly more hours than originally anticipated (20 hour work week), and we believe her compensation should reflect that commitment. Her current contract is for $18,000, and we'd like to increase it to $24,000. Approved 14-0
• Budget: seeing some significant differences; asking that all team leads look at their budget by the end of June and see where there may be differences, so Molly can refine the budget.
Sponsorships, Mack:
• No report
• James - question as to which sponsors/exhibitors may be shipping items to Johannesburg, when and what? (Seedbed, TMS Global) James has information on recommended shipping companies. Mack and Becci will look into this.
Missions, Tim:
• Working on Walther group requests - those supplies that cost will be covered by the grant.
• Meeting later today - discussing covenant agreements, safety
• Meeting with Walther group on June 11
• James/Transportation need to know the number of persons for each day and which Mission experience. Stacy and Tim are working on the count.
• $43,385 has been raised. Jay is confident we will raise the $90,000; Africa conference contributing as well.
Housing/Logistics, James:
• August 1: Printing deadline; what is the anticipated number of pages of the petition book? - Lamar will let James know; Mission Experience has printing needs - Pat will let James know.
• Designs requests go through Communication team link - these designs will go to James by July 1.
Translation/Interpretation, Bill:
• Episcopacy meeting with KUDO went well. KUDO rep made some notes for changes, etc.
• Becci is scheduling a meeting with Translation, KUDO and IVTM • Working on the 10 minute training presentation for Sunday morning. • For Legislative Committee virtual meetings: Dianne, Tom and Bill will meet to discuss
whether to use ZOOM/Wordly or KUDO; Tom requested Becci to provide the list of languages needed, and list persons/language by Legislative Committee. • Very important when using KUDO translation that everyone slows down and allows all persons to read the translation and then to process. This was one of the feedbacks from the episcopal meeting.
Communications, Dianne:
• Working with Tom on the distribution list to communicate to delegates. • Connectional Conversation for delegates is scheduled
• Use Communications request form for any design/communication needs. • Podcast episodes are scheduled
Hospitality/Volunteers, Stacy:
• Working on training and making sure everyone is registered.
International Relations, Elie:
• Nigerians - all have submitted VISA applications
• Waiting for agreement from DRC
• Question regarding a location for persons to leave luggage at the airport if they are traveling elsewhere and then back. James will look into this.
Credentialing/Registration, Carol:
• Working on checking references for the observer applications - extra 100 people • Wristbands - color and number - will meet with Becci
Prayer, Laura:
• Fine tuning prayer room schedule
• 40 day prayer guide begins mid July through August 23
New Business:
• Thank you to the team leaders for taking the time to meet in Chicago. • Nominations are in for the next General Conference Commission, with Bridget Kirk nominated as chair.
Next meeting: Tuesday, June 23, 2026 at 9am EST
Motion to adjourn by Jeff, seconded by Bridget Approved 14-0
Meeting closed in prayer by Bridget.
Minutes submitted by Stacy Taylorze this text with bullets, italics or bold, and add links.