| Annual session provides Holy Conferencing opportunity  by DONALD S. STEWART JR. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, generations of Gods people who called themselves Methodists would journey to annual conference to do the business of the church. For many of them, the conference would begin with the singing of a Charles Wesley hymn. It is number 535 in our current hymnal. And are we yet alive, and see each others face? Glory and thanks to Jesus give for his almighty grace! What troubles have we seen, what mighty conflicts passed,fightings without, and fears within, since we assembled last! What was true when this hymn was written in 1749 is also true in 2003. This month when we gather at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C., for the 219th session of our annual conference, laity and clergy who have not seen one another for a year will celebrate the grace of Jesus Christ that binds us together. We have seen and experienced some very real troubles and conflicts in this past year. The sniper shootings in metropolitan Washington area, the war with Iraq, the micro-toxins that have crippled our conference center and our staff, and our own personal problems cause us great pain and suffering. Yet we also celebrate what happens when nearly 700 local churches join together to do effective mission in Gods world. We rejoice in the two new congregations that will be chartered this year. We appreciate the construction of two new lodges at Camp Manidokan. We give thanks for the hundreds of lives that have been saved by our Saving Station ministry in Baltimore and Washington. We praise God for monies raised for many diverse projects such as tornado relief in LaPlata, the Bishops Initiative for Children and Poverty, Africa University and the support of missionaries throughout Gods world. We bear witness to the effectiveness of our church in our successful efforts to defeat the slots and gambling in Maryland. We give God the glory as we gather at the National Cathedral when Bishop Felton Edwin May lays hands upon men and women into the ordained ministry of the church. All of these wondrous events, and many more, are part of what John Wesley, founder of our church, called Holy Conferencing. Wesley had seen the failure of the Church of England to provide fellowship and empower souls for Christ. When he organized American Methodism, he provided a structure that would show Christian connection among the people; intercourse in spiritual things; watching over each others souls; and bearing one anothers burdens. These goals are at the heart of our annual conference. We engage in the business of our annual conference to accomplish these Scriptural tasks and to organize ourselves to be Gods people in Gods world. In the Religion in America series, there is a book by Charles Ferguson on the Methodists and the making of America. The writer states, The Greeks had a word for it, but United Methodists have a pamphlet for it. The truth of that statement will be seen in the weight of your conference bag and the number of items in it. This is who we are as the people called Methodist. We are those who live by the gift of Gods grace. We also want to organize and share that gift in a holy and bold way with all humankind. Plan to come to annual conference in June with an open spirit of expectation and excitement about God in your life, the life of your local church and our life together as an annual conference. Participate fully in the life of the annual conference. My sincere hope is that you will see our gathering as a Holy Conference where we are true to God and to John Wesley. As the final verse of Hymn 553 reminds us: Let us take up the cross till we the crown obtain, And gladly reckon all things loss so we may Jesus gain! The Rev. Donald S. Stewart Jr. is Baltimore-Washington Conference council director. | 
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