LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (June 11, 2018) -- Del Holley, Holston Conference lay leader, delivered his annual report today in Stuart Auditorium.
"A couple of months ago, I was at a meeting at the Conference office in Alcoa, and the conversation finally turned to the question-of-the-quadrennium: 'What will happen in St. Louis next February?'
As it frequently does, the discussion became a mathematics exercise – if we do this, we’ll lose this many – we all know how these debates play out. During a lull in our exchange, however, one of the people at the table asked a remarkable question:
'What if we quit talking about how many we are likely to lose, and prayed that God would let us keep them all?' I wrote my version of the question on a sticky note at the end of that meeting: 'What if all United Methodists across the connection prayed that we would not lose one person?' I have been carrying that note with me for the past two months."
Download complete report, below.