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By Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff

Meeting in Special Session Jan. 17, members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference voted overwhelmingly to approve the building of a new Conference Center in the Maple Lawn community in Howard County, near US Route 29 and I-95.

The new $6.9 million, 30,000 square-foot facility will be about 13 percent smaller than the current conference headquarters, seven miles away in Columbia. The lease on the current center expires in September.

In a detailed report, Charlie Moore, president of the conference Council on Finance and Administration (CFA) reported that buying land and building a new center, rather than continuing to lease space, would, over 20 years, create a $3.9 million or 17 percent savings in apportioned expenses.

In addition, Moore reported, CFA projects earning a net equity value exceeding $10.5 million after 20 years.

The proposal to build in this location was created by a 13-member conference task force, chaired by the Rev. Byron Brought.

The task force considered 19 possible sites that could be leased and nine sites for purchase. MacKenzie Realtors did not even show task-force members the property at Maple Lawn, because it was "out of their price range." But the developers were eager to have a religious community in their new neighborhood and offered the conference a 30 percent discount, Brought reported.

During the special session at Metropolitan Memorial UMC in Washington, D.C., the Rev. Lori Hoffman Hays of St. James UMC in West Friendship asked that the proposal for a new Conference Center be delayed until June, when the conference meets in its annual session.

In her substitute motion, Hays proposed that postponing a decision would enable a new task force to consider the creation of regional or district centers in existing church buildings and the possibility of purchasing a small center for administrative staff and meetings.

This substitute motion did not pass.

However, two amendments raised from the floor were adopted.

The Rev. Charles Harrell of Trinity UMC in Prince Frederick asked that money for the new center not be borrowed from the reserve put aside for retiree medical expenses and that any borrowing from conference reserve funds be paid back at appropriate interest rates.

The Rev. Kurt Van Gilder of Magothy Church of the Deaf offered an amendment that the new building comply with the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, from which the church is legally exempt.

Task force members estimate that it will take 18 to 24 months to buy the land and complete the building.

A report on the progress of the new center is expected to be delivered to the annual conference when it meets in June. Details of the center and its financing can be found at

www.bwcumc.org/conferencecenter

At the special session, two reports were also given on financial matters.

John Derrick, chair of the sub-committee on Connectional Giving, reported on its work to assist local congregations in realizing the importance of connectionalism and the essential role apportionments play in the life of the church.

Moore, on behalf of CFA, reported that in an effort to help local churches in ministry in these difficult economic times, apportionments will be lowered this year by about 10 percent.

The decrease, which will require about $1.8 million be cut from the conference budget, will assist the conference in meeting its goal of reducing the benevolence factor to 19.5 percent.

The benevolence factor is a percentage of a church's budget used to determine how much churches will pay in apportionments. Reducing the benevolence factor has been an on-going goal of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. In 2005, the benevolence factor was at 24.8 percent. Conference members adopted the objective of reducing the benevolence factor to 19.5 percent by 2012.

Cuts from 2006 to 2008 saved local churches $3.86 million in apportionment payments, Moore said.

This year's cuts, Moore announced in a letter to churches sent out after the session, will bring the benevolence factor to 19.5 percent.

"We're not just doing this to make it ‘easier' on local churches," said Bishop John Schol. The cuts are an acknowledgment that churches need the money and know who in their communities most stand in need of God's care.

"This is a recognition that you have a challenge before you," the bishop told the church leaders. "Use this gift to further the Kingdom of God."

In other action, the bishop prayed for the Rev. Edgardo Rivera, a Guide on the conference staff who will be leaving to serve on a tour of duty as a chaplain in Iraq. The bishop also delivered a homily that called upon United Methodists to choose courage over fear, poise over chaos and wisdom over quick fixes.