Here’s a report on hightlights from the Conference.

• Restructuring. At the business meeting, delegates approved a reconfiguration of the governing structure of our denomination. The primary purpose was to consolidate various boards into a single Governing Board, to reduce expenses and create clarity in strategic decisionmaking.
• Progressive Evangelical Network. Pastor Jeff convened a meeting of 55 leaders from MCCs who share our church’s approach to ministry. The group decided to become an official network within MCC, and plans to meet and communicate regularly to share resources and to speak with a common voice on matters of denominational direction.
• Found Pearl Press. Our church’s publishing ministry, Found Pearl Press, was a featured sponsor of General Conference. From a booth in the Expo Hall, we offered a whole range of resources for other churches, including our newly-published Discipleship 101/102 workbooks. Our booth attracted strong interest and we sold about $1,600 of our resources to interested congregations. We want to express deepest thanks to those who volunteered countless hours at our booth: Curt, Melissa, Carla, Julie, and Brent. Pastor Jeff dialogued with renowned Christian singer and songwriter, Ray Boltz, about distributing his newest album via Found Pearl Press.
• Africa Meeting. Pastor Jeff convened a meeting of African leaders to discuss how to best share our church’s book on homosexuality and the Bible — The Children Are Free — in Africa, where the need for an affirming Gospel message is so critical. Leaders from Kenya and South Africa will be taking the lead in coordinating the printing and distribution of our book in Africa.
• Australia Meeting. Pastor Jeff met with the pastor of Crave MCC, Sydney, Australia, to discuss how we can support their growing ministry. Crave MCC is a congregation of about 60 young adults who minister in a style similar to our church and already use our Discipleship materials. Crave MCC is not only interested in broadening their use of our materials, but also contributing materials of their own to the work of Found Pearl Press.
• Partnership with The Fellowship. “The Fellowship” is a group of about 20 Christian churches that work together in coalition. Their congregations are predominantly African American and LGBT. MCC and The Fellowship are exploring forming an intentional partnership. Key leaders and many congregants from The Fellowship were present at Conference, so everyone could become better acquainted and explore what a partnership might look like. Discussions are going very well and will likely lead to some type of formal agreement in the near future.
• Award for our Church. Jesus MCC was given one of MCC’s two highest honors, the Excellence In Ministry Award, in recognition of our innovative work in creating Discipleship resources for MCC congregations.

MCC’s next General Conference will occur in Chicago in 2013.

That same weekend, Rev. Wilson will be a featured speaker at a conference here in Indianapolis sponsored by the Evangelical Ecumenical Women’s Conference.  For more about the Conference, pick up a brochure at the Info Desk or visit the website: A Place at the Table 2008.

Metropolitan Community Church’s 23rd General Conference was held July 2-6 in Scottsdale, AZ at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. Although the Princess is a very large hotel and conference center, almost all of the MCC conference events were held in one main building, thus minimizing the walking between daily events — a good thing when it is 117 degrees outside!

The conference was well attended, with about 1,400 people present. That makes this the largest General Conference to date.

Events included workshops, plenaries, a business meeting and daily worship services. Along with the business meeting, I attended workshops such as: The Human Rights Church, Hope for Our Bodies: Living Longer, Feeling Better, and What is the Emerging Church? I also listened to plenaries with the titles: A Conversation about Jesus and Justice, The Fellowship of Those Who Suffer, and Thriving with HIV—What Does It Mean for MCC? A nice addition to the “Jesus and Justice” plenary was the presence of Jay Bakker (son of Jim and Tammy Faye). It was nice to hear about his story of feeling like an outcast after his parents humiliation and how that made him come to understand how people in the LGBT community can often feel.

The business meeting involved two major issues: the elimination of the Vice-Moderator as a separate MCC position in the Board of Elders (coinciding with Don Eastman’s retirement), and the motion from the Board of Elders and Board of Administration to adjust tithing from the local churches. The change states that beginning January 2008, the minimum amount to be remitted by local churches as a tithe shall be 13% through December 2010, and then be decreased by 1% per triennium until reaching 10%. Both of these motions passed.

The conference included a tribute to Vice-Moderator Don Eastman, and Don provided a message for the closing Worship on Friday evening. He has been a key leader in MCC for over 30 years. Although he is retiring, he will still provide consultation services to the denomination from time to time.

In closing, I wanted to say that I attended my first General Conference in 2001, and overall, each one has improved over the one before. Everything from the topics chosen for discussion, to the preparation and conference layout seemed well thought-out and organized. The next General Conference will be in 2010 (they’re held every three years). If recent years have been any indication of what is to come, I expect an excellent conference and record attendance in 2010.

General Conference has both a business component and an information-sharing component. On the business side, voting delegates from churches across the globe review the operations of our denomination and vote on important matters. On the information sharing side, General Conference provides a wonderful opportunity for MCCers to connect and share vital information via workshops, worship services, and informal networking.

Four folks from Jesus MCC attended last week’s Conference: Pastor Jeff, Curtis Boyd (our Lay Delegate), Julie Benson (our Worship Minister), and Brent Walsh. Since Pastor Jeff serves as Chair of our denomination’s Board of Administration (BOA), this past week was an especially busy week for him.

The BOA is responsible for the financial and business affairs of MCC, and has been working hard to restructure MCC’s finances. Several months ago, they completed the sale of MCC’s headquarters building in Los Angeles. The building has appreciated significantly since it was purchased about ten years ago.

Selling the building has allowed the BOA to: (a) reduce expenses (earthquake insurance alone cost $60,000 per year!); (b) eliminate virtually all debt; (c) create an emergency cash reserve; and (d) establish MCCs first-ever endowment fund, which spins off income to support ministry outreach. The BOA’s actions were enthusiastically received by delegates at General Conference. If you would like to read Pastor Jeff’s full report to General Conference, you can get it here. By sharing some of the time of our Pastor with MCC, we are helping our entire denomination move forward.

Beyond business matters, General Conference provided opportunities to share information and network. Brent Walsh attended meetings of the Trans Affinity Group and is now working on a team to help MCC congregations become more welcoming of transgender people. Our Worship Minister participated in the Conference music program and gathered innovative worship ideas. Each of the four who attended were able to talk to MCCers doing incredible work in difficult parts of the world. For example, Pastor Jeff began gathering information from a native Nigerian Pastor who has planted a brand new, successful MCC in Nigeria, one of Africa’s most homophobic nations.

In addition, the Pastor of a brand new MCC in Brazil is passing through Indianapolis after Conference to visit our Church and is here worshiping with us today! He is being hosted by Adriano Zachariadhes and Jason Trusty, who visited his congregation last year. All of this information will be shared with our new Missions Board, as we evaluate how we can do more to share the love and teachings of Jesus with the world.

At General Conference, Pastor Jeff presented two featured workshops sharing details about Jesus MCC’s Discipleship Program. Attendance at these workshops exceeded capacity! People are hungry to hear what is happening in our Church — the world’s fastest growing MCC over the past decade — and apply that information to their congregations.

General Conference is a time to remember that we are part of an incredible MCC Movement that is sharing the Gospel with people across the globe who have long been neglected by other churches. We are blessed to have such a high calling!

The BOA is responsible for the financial and business affairs of MCC, and has been working hard to restructure MCC’s finances. Several months ago, they completed the sale of MCC’s headquarters building in Los Angeles, which has appreciated significantly since it was purchased about ten years ago

Selling the building has allowed the BOA to: (a) reduce expenses; (b) eliminate virtually all debt; (c) create an emergency cash reserve; and (d) establish MCC’s first-ever endowment fund. The BOA’s actions were enthusiastically received by delegates at General Conference. You can read Jeff’s full report to the Conference.

Our Church is part of a denomination called Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC). MCC consists of 240 congregations located in the United States and 15 other countries. Our denomination arose out of the gay and transgender community in the late 1960s at a time when there were no affirming churches. As a result, MCC has always had a profound commitment to “tearing down walls and building up hope.”

We are striving to tear down the walls that keep people away from God — and each other. We are seeking to awaken spiritual hope, especially among those not welcome in other churches, encouraging all who wish to build a deep relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Our denomination is led by two Boards — a Board of Elders and a Board of Administration. The Board of Elders is charged with spiritual oversight, while the Board of Administration is charged with finances and business matters. Pastor Jeff serves as Chair of the Board of Administration, giving us a front-row seat for supporting and influencing the future course of MCC. Last week Pastor Jeff attended almost 60 hours of meetings of both Boards in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He reports that wonderful progress is being made on the following fronts:

Evangelistic Outreach and Justice
MCC is currently making monumental efforts to “tear down walls and build up hope” in Eastern Europe and Latin America. In both these areas, gay and transgender people face ferocious persecution. The churches that dominate in these cultures make conservative churches in our country seem mild by comparison. For example, a recent protest march in Eastern Europe organized by MCC had to be protected by legions of state police. As young gay and transgender people marched in solidarity — a first in that culture — churches along the way tolled “death bells.” That’s the attitude in Eastern Europe — death to those who are gay and transgender. Because of MCC’s pioneering justice work in these cultures, many gay and transgender people are giving Jesus a second look, and church planting opportunities are arising faster than we can keep pace.

Church Revitalization
Over the past 35 years, MCC has been among the fastest growing Christian denominations. For the past five years, however, growth has slowed dramatically. The rapid growth of our own church stands in marked contrast to what most US-based MCCs are now experiencing. In response, MCC’s Boards have launched efforts to identify congregations that are serious about wanting to make progress and providing “best practices” consulting and resources to help them do so.

Resource Development
As a young denomination, MCC is just reaching a place where it can begin providing effective training resources across the denomination. Pilot projects have been launched to prepare customized curriculum for children and youth within MCC, and to provide training on a whole host of critical subjects via web cast across the globe.

Financial Stability
Because we are still a relatively small denomination, and because historically little attention was paid to business practices, our denomination has struggled financially. Over the past several years, MCC’s two Boards have launched an intensive effort to upgrade the quality of how we do business. The goal is to maximize the ministry value gained from each dollar donated. Enormous progress is being made. For example, all key MCC staff now operate under detailed strategic work plans, relationships are being built with key prospective institutional donors, and the finishing touches are being put on an MCC endowment program that will be managed through Merrill Lynch. For the first time in its history, MCC will have planned giving and endowment programs.

We here at Jesus MCC are proud to be part of a denomination that is doing such critical work in the world, and we are glad to share some of Pastor Jeff’s time to help shape MCC’s future. Each month our congregation sends 15% of what is collected in our general offerings to support the ongoing worldwide work of MCC. That means a portion of each dollar you give here on Sunday is spreading hope, justice, and the message of Jesus Christ in places like Eastern Europe and Latin America. May God bless our continuing work together!