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By Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff

At the annual conference session next May, members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference will vote to select eight clergy and eight lay delegates who will represent them at the 2008 General Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Members will elect an additional eight clergy and eight lay delegates to represent them at the 2008 Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference, which will elect and assign bishops. An additional four clergy and four lay delegates will also be elected as reserve delegates to the Jurisdictional Conference.

The number of General Conference delegates from the Baltimore-Washington Conference is down by two this quadrennium due to a decline in reported local church membership.

The formula for determining the number of delegates from each conference is outlined in paragraph 502 of the United Methodist Book of Discipline. According to this formula, the total number of delegates is set at 1,000. One clergy delegate is elected for each 26,000 members in a conference?s local churches.

In 2005, the Baltimore-Washington Conference had 200,010 members in its local churches, down 7,947 members from 2001.

Conference secretary, the Rev. Al Clipp, recently released a series of gbwc_superuserelines for those who wish to be considered as delegates during the balloting process at annual conference, to be held May 24-26 in Washington.

Letters outlining these gbwc_superuserelines will be sent to clergy and lay members to annual conference.

According to Clipp, those lay people who wish to become nominees or to nominate other laity should send typewritten statements before April 1 to Conference Lay Leader Delores Oden at 330 Baltimore Annapolis Road, Severna Park, MD 21146.

According to paragraph 36 of the 2004 Book of Discipline, each nominee must be a member of a congregation of the Baltimore-Washington Conference and a professing member of The United Methodist Church for at least two years prior to the election. Each must also be an active participant in The United Methodist Church for at least four years prior to the election.

Statements sent to Oden should include each nominee?s full name, address, phone numbers, home church and district, and an explanation in 100-words or less of their qualifications and relevant experience. Information concerning the nominee?s gender, ethnicity and any handicapping conditions should also be included.

A copy of this statement should also be mailed to Clipp at 304 S. Alabama Ave., Martinsburg, W.Va., 25401-1910.

An alphabetized list of the lay nominees and their biographical information will be included in the packets lay members receive at annual conference.

Every clergy member is entitled to be considered as a delegate for General Conference. Nominations will not be made for ministerial candidates. Rather, members may submit petitions of support for prospective clergy delegates.

Any clergy member wishing to be considered as a prospective delegate may submit a petition of support bearing the endorsement of at least 10 Elders from the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

The petitions are available on the conference Web site at (www.bwcumc.org) and from Clipp.

Those clergy for whom the petitions are submitted, can provide a 100-word or less statement of their qualifications and relevant experience before April 1.

Those clergy who wish their names to be placed on the ballot should notify Clipp in writing before April 1.

The Rev. Mark Smiley will oversee the election of delegates at the annual conference session.

For more information, contact Clipp at or Oden at (410) 647-0218.