Wednesday Evening    Conference concluded with the traditional passing of the gavel to the new Moderator, and the consecration of the new Moderator and Moderator-elect. We traveled a little over halfway home before stopping at about 9:00 PM. Nadine has joined Kent & I for the trip home abd we are all very tired. We should be home in the middle of the day tomorrow.

This Conference was a hard work session. The two year Special Response process for controversial subjects drew to a close on the latest round of questions related to Human Sexuality and the Church's position, instruction and rules about various aspects of that subject. The 1983 paper on Human Sexuality from a Biblical Perspective was reaffirmed, and the Query and Statement that had been forwarded to the 2009 Annual Conference were returned. The Church's membership is still not of one mind, but we have asked everyone to continue to treat all with respect, continue our conversations about these matters - emphasizing our care for one another and our common commitment to both Christ and the Church.

A new request for guidance about responding to environmental issues and climate change was accepted and passed to the Washington Advocacy Office and other agencies including New Community Project for suggestions of what we can do to better care for the earth and mitigate our human impact on the environment.

Many other details will be shared later in a reporting to the Church by Kent and I.              Pastor Tim

Tuesday Evening   The motel's internet service was down and I could not post an update.

Monday lunchtime means Intercultural Ministries Luncheon! I played with Bitterweet Gospel Band again, & Nadine's friend Darla Deardorf was the presenter. Darla is a faculty member at Duke as Professor of Intercultural Communications.

I'll post more later.  Monday, 2:30 PM.       Pastor Tim

Saturday afternoon Kent and I arrived at De Vos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids. We set up the equipment for MCA's display and then checked into our respective hotels. We began running into friends almost immediately. Nadine says, "Hi!" Kendall Elmore says, "Hello!", too.

The music in Saturday evening's worship was exceptional! This year's organist is also providing some special music on piano - and it sounds like very fast & happy jazz but with familiar hymn melodies. The moderator's sermon (Robert Alley)was great!

Sunday's worship service opened with a bang - a video Call To Worship that said, "No matter who you are; no matter where you're from; no matter what you've done - you are welcome at God's table." But it used the many languages of the Brthren in the Americas - English, Haitian Creole, Spanish, and Arabic (Brooklyn First Church of the Brethren has an Arabic language fellowship serving Christians originally from throughout the Middle East). Craig Smith was the preacher, and I reccomend you watch his sermon posted as a webcast on the Annual Conference website.

The rest of the day was all work, processing the information from participants in the Special Response proces for the query and the statement relating to human sexuality.