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BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

A proposed Leadership Council for the Baltimore-Washington Conference to equip and support lay and clergy people for the Discipleship Adventure is expected to produce fruits that rival those of the first century church described in the Book of Acts, the Rev. Wayne DeHart told annual conference members May 27.

The Rev. Wayne DeHart, dean of the Cabinet, delivers part of the Leadership Council report.

'We have a compelling vision and we have an effective strategy; if we can simply muster sufficient teamwork and rely on the motivation of the Pentecost Spirit, there is no limit to what we can do in the name of Christ,' DeHart said.

As dean of the Cabinet, DeHart believes that the Baltimore-Washington Conference is a 'formidable force,' with 200,000 members who have pledged their prayers, presence, gifts and service to the United Methodist Church, 892 Elders, Deacons and local pastors, and 1,200 lay speakers. Each week, 80,000 people, on average, gather to hear the Word preached, to pray and to praise God in 694 churches. 'Can you imagine what we could accomplish if we were working together as a team,' he asked the conference members.

The Leadership Council, which will draw together the boards of laity and ordained ministry, the Orders of Elders and Deacons and the fellowship of local pastors, along with the Commission on the Status and Role of Women, the Committee on Episcopacy and other groups, will support leaders, coordinate efforts around a variety of issues and challenge various ministry areas to even greater effectiveness.

Among the challenges facing the conference on the Discipleship Adventure, DeHart said, are insuring that appointments will be seven to 12 years in length, evaluating clergy and churches on how well they make disciples, and reorganizing the conference staff to resource pastors and congregations in peer/learning groups.

Other challenges include: further clarifying the role of Deacons; developing a pastoral and congregational transition seminar for pastors and congregations experiencing a change of appointment; and providing better utilization of intentional interim pastors.

To help meet these challenges, the bishop and Cabinet will meet with pastors and Staff-Parish Relations Committees this fall to share how they will make appointments using a pastor's and congregation's track record over the past three appointments.

Helen Fleming, left, is introduced as the new bishop?s assistant.

In addition, the Leadership Council will explore other issues like clergy housing as it relates to parsonages and housing allowances. In the Baltimore-Washington Conference, Bishop John R. Schol explained, 60 percent of pastors have housing allowances. In the West Virginia Conference, none of the pastors do.

Resourcing the leadership of the Baltimore-Washington Conference will mean considering the gifts, challenges and circumstances that are unique to these people in this time, the bishop said. In other action during the Leadership Council report:

• The work of COSROW and the Study of Clergy Remuneration, Mobility and Retention, which was adopted by the conference on the consent calendar, was praised;
• At the request of General Conference, delegates voted on eight constitutional amendments;
• Lay Leader Delores Oden reported on the Board of Laity's work to help people in local churches identify and affirm their gifts and to move beyond fundraisers into ministries that affect people's hearts;
• The Rev. Eugene Matthews was announced as the new dean of the Cabinet and;
• Nancy Drake, administrative assistant to three Baltimore-Washington Conference bishops, was honored upon her retirement.