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BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF

On March 1, the Connectional Table, made up of leaders from conference committees, heard about several "soulful" ministries unfolding throughout the region and considered petitions that will be considered at the May session of annual conference.

Describing "soul" as the heart and mind working together, Bishop John Schol commended the 37 African-American pastors from the Baltimore-Washington Conference who returned from a trip to New Orleans as "trail blazer to reawaken what is happening," in the rebuilding efforts and enlisting their churches for partnerships with churches in the area.

Other soul-full ministries highlighted by the bishop include:

• The conference's ministry plan for Baltimore, which Governor Martin O'Malley sent to the President's Faith Based Initiative office as a plan for all of Maryland;
  
• The fact that there are now five clergywomen among those earning the top 15 salaries in the conference, when as recently as 2003, there were none;
  
• The new off-site congregation being started by Bel Air UMC;
  
• Hispanic ministries along the
  I-270 corridor;
  
• Plans for a young adult study of "the Wesleyan Way," scheduled to begin in October, as part of the Immersion Series outlined in the conference's 10-Point Plan.

In other action, the Connect-ional Table members considered and approved, with minor changes, several petitions that will come to annual conference.
Among them:

• Establishing a cemetery reserve fund to help maintain abandoned Methodist cemeteries;
• Providing support for pregnancy centers;
  
• A continuation of the LGBT (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender) Dialogue teams;
  
• Setting the equitable compensation as minimum full-time clergy compensation for 2009 at $35,577, a 3.3 percent increase;
  
• Updating COSROW's clergywomen's study every five years with an increase in the budget requested and a clarification of accountability; and
  
• Requiring that churches update their Safe Sanctuaries policies every year.

A recommendation regarding health insurance rates for retired clergy with at least 30 years of service, submitted by the Rev. Richard Davis, was rejected, with a vote of non-concurrence, on the basis of "inaccurate assumptions."

All concurred recommendations will be reviewed at the Pre-Conference Briefings May 10, and voted on at the annual conference session when it convenes May 22-24.