Candidates invited to Laity Assemblies

30 laypeople endorsed
for election as delegates
to General Conference

Participants in this weekend’s Laity Assembly in Kerrville should get the first opportunity to meet endorsed candidates for laity delegates to next year’s General Conference.
Southwest Texas Conference Lay Leader Jay Brim has invited laypeople seeking election to attended the gathering, which begins today and runs through Saturday, at Mount Wesley Conference Center.
The candidates can also attend the March 2-3 Laity Assembly at First UMC, Kingsville, Brim said. They are to be introduced as well during the June 6 laity session of the Southwest Texas Annual Conference meeting in Corpus Christi.
Thirty laypeople had submitted “Questionnaires for Prospective Lay Delegates to General Conference” to Conference Secretary David A. Seilheimer by a Feb. 1 deadline. Those questionnaires provided information about each candidate and carried a written endorsement from his or her congregation.
Seilheimer is to compile those questionnaires into a voting guide for distribution to elected laity members of the June 6-9 annual conference session.
During the June meeting, representatives of the region’s 347 congregations are to elect delegates to the 2008 General Conference and 2008 South Central Jurisdictional Conference.
Southwest Texas is expected to pick 12 General Conference delegates—six laity, six clergy—and 12 more jurisdictional conference delegates. That would give Southwest Texas 12 laity and 12 clergy representatives at the jurisdictional meeting. The
conference is also expected to elect eight reserve jurisdictional conference delegates—four laity, four clergy.
The exact number of delegates is still unknown, however, pending a Judicial Council decision in April on how many votes the new Ivory Coast Conference will get.
Any layperson who has been a member of a Southwest Texas Conference congregation for at least two years and an active member of The United Methodist Church for at least four years can be elected a General or jurisdictional conference delegate.
Only laity members of the annual conference session vote laity delegates to the General and jurisdictional conferences.
Only deacons and elders in full connection vote for clergy delegates.
The General Conference, the denomination’s top policymaking assembly, meets every four years. The 2008 session is to run from April 23 through May 2 in Fort Worth.
The jurisdictional conference, which elects and assigns bishops to serve in eight South Central states, also meets every four years. The 2008 meeting is scheduled for July 13 through 18 in Dallas.
That Dallas conference is to assign someone to replace Bishop Joel N. Martinez in the San Antonio Episcopal Area. Martinez is to retire Aug. 31, 2008.
The 30 laypeople listed in the voting guide—down from 43 four years ago—have declared their interest in representing Southwest Texas at these meetings and sought the backing of their congregations.
The Board of Laity developed the two-page questionnaire to provide information about endorsed candidates. Southwest Texas Conference Standing Rule 61 says the voting guide from Seilheimer “is the only way the annual conference will assist in publicizing lay candidates.”
The list of 19 men and 11 women includes candidates from six of the seven districts. The breakdown is:
> Austin—11.
> Corpus Christi—3.
> Kerrville—2.
> McAllen—3.
> San Angelo—3.
> San Antonio—8.
Twenty-four candidates identified themselves as Caucasian, two as African American and three as Hispanic. One candidate didn’t specify.
Sixteen candidates classified themselves as older adults (older than 61). Eleven said they were adults (31 to 60). Three listed themselves as young adults (19 to 30).
The list of endorsed candidates included four of the six General Conference laity delegates elected in 2003 for 2004, three of the jurisdictional conference delegates and three jurisdictional conference reserve delegates.
Missing from this year’s list are:
> Martha B. Etter, University UMC, San Antonio, a General Conference delegate in 1992, 1996 and 2000 and a jurisdictional conference delegate in 2004.
> Jerry Heare, First UMC, Austin, a General Conference delegate in 1992 and 1996 and a reserve jurisdictional conference delegate in 2004.
> Michael Mumme, now a probationary elder and pastor of Faith United Church, Woodsboro, a jurisdictional conference delegate in 2004.
> Ralph Thompson, Wesley UMC, San Angelo, a jurisdictional conference delegate in 2004.
> Ilda Vasquez, First UMC, Weslaco, a General Conference delegate in 2004 and a jurisdictional conference delegate in 2000.
> Barbara Ford Young, St. Paul UMC, San Antonio, a General Conference delegate in 2004 and a jurisdictional conference delegate in 2000.
One of the most familiar names on the list may be Don Hand, Highland Terrace UMC, San Antonio. He was a General Conference delegate in 1972, 1976, 1984, 1988 and 1992. He was a jurisdictional conference delegate in 1980, 1996, 2000 and 2004.
Byrd Bonner, Travis Park UMC, San Antonio, who didn’t seek election in 2004, has returned to the list this year. He was a General Conference delegate in 1996 and 2000 and a reserve jurisdictional conference delegate in 1992.