It’s official: the Western Jurisdiction got its representation back on the Judicial Council this morning. Angela Brown, a member of the Cal-Nevada conference (and an assistant District Attorney) was one of two lay delegates elected. The other, Ruben Reyes, is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Phillipines.Three clergy delegates were also elected: The Revs. Kathi Austin-Mahle of Minnesota; Belton Joyner of North Carolina, and Bill Lawrence, Dean of Perkins School of Theology at SMU in Dallas.
All five newly elected Judicial Council members were part of the 12 persons nominated by the Council of Bishops for consideration; additional candidates were nominated from the floor. In addition, they were all described by various groups within the church (Black Methodists for Church Renewal, Inter-Ethnic Strategy Group, MFSA and others) as being fair-minded, process-oriented persons who would be led by the Spirit and not by a proscribed agenda.
Interesting that of the 5 Judicial Council members whose terms were up this GC, only two people – Keith Boyette and Mary Daffin -- sought re-election. Boyette's voting numbers were never competitive; Daffin was elected as the sixth of six alternates. Dr. James Holsinger, the current Judicial Council President (and Bush’s controversial nominee for Surgeon General ) was not renominated.
From a UMNeXus posting:
Conservatives in the United Methodist Church suffered a resounding defeat April 28 as incumbent Judicial Council members were replaced by new members nominated by the Council of Bishops.
Observers termed the vote a major victory for moderate forces in the church after eight years in which candidates backed by conservative UM caucus groups have held sway on the church’s “supreme court.”
“I think we just took back the denomination,” one observer was heard to remark during a break in the proceedings.
1 comment:
Hot Dog! Let's hope it is a sign of many changes in the coming years. It's time moderates take back our country as well!
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