Tag: Voting

I am honored to serve my second year as the Keith Church lay leader.

What exactly is a lay leader? An effective lay leader, as defined by the UMC Discipleship Ministries, functions as the primary representative and role model of Christian discipleship and faith lived out in the church and in daily life. The lay leader works with the pastor to fulfill the mission and vision of the congregation.

Another important function I fulfill is to serve as one of the two lay voting members of Keith Memorial UMC at the Holston Annual Conference; 2019 was a voting conference.

After devoting 2018 Annual Conference to orienting myself to the Holston Conference leadership and organizational structure as well as to the daily agendas, worship services, and business meetings, I arrived at the 2019 Conference, held June 9-12, eager to be participatory.

Pastors Dave, Andrew, and fellow laity Tim Womac and I met for a pre-conference briefing. We were eager to present our church offering of $1343 towards opioid recovery efforts as well as delivering our 92 health kits for residents of Zimbabwe, yet Pastor Andrew’s commissioning on Wednesday, June 12as provisional member was even more exciting. We also previewed the process of voting for delegates to General Conference 2020 and to Southeast Jurisdictional Conference 2020.

Tim and I prepared to vote for six lay delegates to General Conference (GC) and six for Jurisdictional, plus two alternates,from a slate of 28 nominated laity. Dave and Andrew would vote for their six clergy delegates to GC and six clergy delegates and two alternatesto Jurisdictional from approximately 600 Holston Conference clergy! 

In advance of Annual Conference, the pastors, Tim and I received the Holston Conference Book of Reports, published annually, which includes official voting instructions along with brief biographies of the 28 laity nominated in advance of the conference. These biographies and photos of the nominees were very helpful as Tim and I deliberated.

The theme of the 2019 Holston Conference was Healing Hands, and our hands were very busily engaged praying, writing, applauding, greeting, cupped for Communion, and VOTING. 

The Sunday afternoon Laity Session in Stuart Auditorium commenced with instructions on voting with pre-printed ballots to be read by a Scantron machine. Holston Conference opted for the public school testing standby in order for both laity and clergy to elect our General Conference delegates efficiently.

More nominees for Lay Delegates were made from the floor during the Sunday Laity Session, and twelve more laity were added to the 28 already nominated. Tim and I now encountered a slate of 40 potential lay delegates to pray for and discuss. 

Voting commenced on Sunday evening following opening worship, where we listened intently to Bishop Taylor preach for Pentecost, “We gather more aware of the differences than ever before. God does not love us ‘if.’ God loves us, period, and God invites us to embrace that same love for all his children.” 

Our first ballot vote, in which 543 valid lay votes were vast, resulted in no laity elected for GC although vote “leaders” emerged, several of whom had served the Holston Conference as lay delegates to the special called General Conference in February 2019.

Keith Church’s Rick Lay serves as our Hiwassee District Lay Leader, and he certainly experienced a fascinating first time as teller and counter of ballots. Laity ballot two, on Monday, resulted in no election, and finally in laity ballot three 24-year-old Emily Ballard was elected with 322 votes to be our first lay delegate to General Conference 2020 and to serve as the laity leader. On ballot four, Conference Lay Leader Del Holley was elected.

After three days and 13 total ballots, which included hundreds of ballots counted by hand as the Scantron machine “malfunctioned” on Monday, the laity elected all six of its representatives to General Conference by Wednesday, the final day of conference. 

All 40 of the lay nominees remain on the ballot throughout voting. We were reminded multiple times to NOT vote for laity who had already been elected. As there is no “winnowing” of nominees, the voting process is lengthy and can become frustrating, but the process assures full representation of all 40 nominees. No nominee feels slighted or excluded from the voting.

The Jurisdictional voting process for six laity transpired more swiftly on Wednesday afternoon but was also multi-ballot. The Holston Conference elected two high school students to the Southeast Jurisdictional laity delegation, 17-year-old Reagan Kelly and 16-year-old Nate Roark, to serve along with four other lay delegates and alternates. And, of course, our congregation is very proud of our own Pastor Dave for his election to Jurisdictional as clergy.

I mention the young representatives in particular as during my childhood in the UMC I did not witness youth or young adults in leadership positions. My adult professional life has centered on the education of adolescents and young adults, and I was filled with hope for the future of the UMC that the Holston Conference’s first elected lay delegate to GC 2020 is a young woman. I pray this inspires our youth and young adults to become more engaged in the life of Keith UMC as well.

Sydney Varajon, a young adult from our own congregation, served as an at-large lay delegate from the Hiwassee District and participated in all lay voting also. 

During Del Holley’s Lay Leader Report, he implored us to “choose the path of devotion. Recommit yourself to sharing the good news of God’s love, claim the power of the Holy Spirit, that the Kingdom of God may come upon the earth.” 

Tim and I are grateful that our clergy and congregation entrusted us with the privilege of representing you at 2019 Holston Annual Conference, and we are well pleased with the six lay delegates we participated in electing for GC 2020, who will comprise the 182 Southeastern delegates. General Conference 2020 will host 862 total laity and clergy delegates from the entire UMC.

The words of Revered Leah Burns from Second UMC of Knoxville resonated with me throughout conference: “My story is peace…not as the world gives, but as Jesus gives. Peace is what Jesus gives.”

(For UMC history buffs: Rev. George R. Stuart, for whom Stuart Auditorium at Lake Junaluska is named, married my husband Stuart’s 3rd great grandfather’s daughter Zollie Sullins. Rev. Dr. David Sullins was then president of Emory and Henry College. George R. Stuart is the origin of my husband Stuart’s first name. Stuart is not a direct descendant of Zollie but of her brother William Blair Sullins.)