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Clergy and lay members from 689 churches continued to reclaim the enthusiasm, faith and accountability of the early Methodist Church, while tackling many of the challenging issues of the day, when they met for the two hundred and twenty-third session of the Baltimore-Washington Conference May 24-26.

Bishop John R. Schol in his state of the church report encouraged those gathered by highlighting how they were furthering the conference vision/mission of being like Christ as they call, equip, send and support spiritual leaders to make disciples and grow 600 Acts 2 congregations by 2012. Bishop Schol reported that 135 churches had achieved all three fruits that the conference is measuring based on Acts 2:41-47.

In his state of the church address, Bishop Schol reported that 93 percent of conference churches had borne one or more of these three fruit. However, he cautioned, increasing professions of faith and worship attendance are challenging goals. In 2006, more than 280 churches experienced decline in these areas and was felt by the loss of 746 worshipers. (Last year, conference worship attendance went from 74,008 to 74,754.) For the tenth year in a row, the conference paid 100% of its apportionments to the denomination

'Looking at the numbers is important,' the bishop said, 'but not as important as the people the numbers represent - people whose lives are changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.'

Meeting for three days of holy conferencing in Washington, D.C., the members worshiped and studied together, heard reports on the discipleship and stewardship efforts of the conference, witnessed the ordination of eight Elders and two Deacons, the commissioning of 12 probationers and elected 16 General Conference and 16 Jurisdictional Conference delegates.

While the business of the conference was enacted in several plenary sessions, spiritual expression played a vital role at the session. The event opened with music led by Mark Miller, who will also lead the music at the 2008 General Conference. He shared the stage with potters creating at their wheels. Bishop Sally Dyck of the Minnesota Area, built on the metaphor of the potter during her sermon in the opening worship. 'A good potter makes a mark on the pottery once it is completed,' she said, asking, 'Can anyone see God?s pottery mark on you?'

Members also participated in lively morning Bible studies. The first was led by Hot Metal Bridge, a congregation from Pennsylvania that was started in a tattoo parlor. Its pastor, the Rev. Jim Walker urged members to put aside programmatic religion and express their faith in 'authentic and intimate relationship.' The second Bible study, led by the Rev. Kevin Smalls and several young adults of the conference, focused on the need for churches to find new and innovative ways to meet the needs of this age group. In keeping with the annual conference?s theme of 'Develop Your Faith,' almost 1,000 Sunday School teachers and small group leaders from throughout the conference were also honored for their ministries.

In a series of ballots, conference members voted to elect eight clergy and eight lay delegates to the 2008 General Conference, the legislative body that sets the policies and priorities of the denomination every four years, and the same numbers of clergy and lay delegates to attend the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference, which elects and appoints bishops.

Conference Lay Leader Delores Oden will lead the delegation. Other laity elected to the General Conference delegation are: Sandra Ferguson, Mary Baldridge, Keya Belt, Sherman Harris, Ruth Dixon, Sharon Darlyn McCrae and Michael McCurry. The clergy delegates are: Laura Easto, Joan Carter-Rimbach, Joseph Daniels, Peggy Johnson, C. Anthony Hunt, Bruce Birch, Mark Derby and Cynthia Belt.

Members also heard a statement from the Rev. Drew Phoenix, a transgendered pastor, who was recently reappointed to St. John?s UMC of Baltimore City. Bishop Schol indicated that there is no policy on transgendered clergy and shared after consultation with the pastor and the congregation, Rev. Phoenix would be reappointed. Both the congregation and pastor asked for the reappointment and indicated the congregation has grown over the last three year?s under the pastor?s leadership.

Following Phoenix?s statement, Bishop Schol told the annual conference members that 'Many people would say let?s just try and sweep it under the carpet. In this conference, we?re people of integrity and I give thanks to God for that.' The bishop encouraged United Methodists to learn more about transgender issues and to be in conversation and prayer about them.

In legislative actions, conference members:

• Adopted Safe Sanctuaries procedures for the conference to protect youth and children in conference-sponsored programs and missions from sexual abuses and a requirement that all local churches develop comprehensive policies that also protect children and youth involved in their ministries.
• Voted down a proposal submitted by 11 conference churches that the Baltimore-Washington Conference petition the General Conference to delete the sentence in the Book of Discipline that 'The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers[s] this practice to be incompatible with Christian teaching.'
• Adopted a $33 million operating budget for 2008 and decreased the targeted benevolence factor to 22.5 percent, which is expected to lower the amount of apportionments churches are required to pay. As part of the discussion on the budget, the bishop and Council on Finance and Administration agreed to devote additional conference resources to the further development of young adult ministries in the conference. 
• Approved a petition to General Conference to officially make Bermuda part of the Northeastern Jurisdiction (the Baltimore-Washington Conference oversees two congregations in Bermuda);

Members of the conference also collected $169,427 for the Hope Fund, a two year campaign to address crises in Zimbabwe, AIDS ministries, and the rebuilding of churches damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Twenty pastors, representing 611 years of ministry, retired this year. They were recognized by the conference, as was Bishop Ki Bok Lee, his wife and 10 others visiting from The Methodist Church in South Korea, with which the conference has a partnership.