All consuming mounds of papers

I thought when this project began that I would have more time to reflect and write (obvious by my creation of a blog). As it turns out, I am just being consumed by papers. 

There is the ADCA (contains all the legislation), the Book of Discipline, Robert Rules book, the rules for General Conference just to get us started. Then there all the mailings: the magazines, the hand written letters, materials for agencies, materials from caucuses, materials from annual conferences. Finally there are all the emails: emails from my committee, from individuals, from my delegation.
 (Oh and on top of this is my home work for my graduate degree)

As you can see I spend most of my time reading all these materials, and it has left me little time to record my own reflections.  Perhaps the real truth is that I have little time consider what my reflections are.

As the General Conference is about 19 days away, I know that soon will be the moment to pack in all the studying. To just stop reading, and start reflecting. A time to begin forming what I want to say.

Also a time to begin packing, because I always find packing for two weeks to take more effort than my regular weekend trips.

Even though my room is a covered in papers and the time is getting shorter, I hope that soon I will arrive at that moment of peace. Where I know I have done all I could prepare, and it is time to just dive in. Like the moment just before a major test, when you must be satisfied with the work you have put in to get you through. 

I pray that I will be as ready as I can be.

Conference Calls, Team 'Practice' and Our Friend, Robert

The United Methodist Church introduced me to the joy of conference calls. Initially it was my teammate and co-competitor, Rachel „strangely-warmed“, who seemed to plan her weekly plans around her various board calls. Now, however, I find my own evening plans strangely scheduled around such calls. Since the beginning of January, Monday 5pm EST (11pm here in Germany!) has become an hour set aside for (holy) conference calls with the other members of the Common Witness Coalition.

Now, I have never met the majority of the people who are on these calls, but I must admit, it is quite a cool feeling to be connected with people all around the world, of different ages and all with different regional accents. And at least in my mind, these calls have taken on the feeling of ‘team practice.’ Yes, we are all involved in differing committees or ‘events,’ but we meet once a week to share how we have trained for our individual events in the past week and then together refine the basic skills that we will all need as a team to do well in our individual events, and inevitably, to win as a team.

This past Monday, we trained our basic skills and knowledge of Robert’s Rules of Order, another frequently mentioned and implemented, but seldom explained, phenomenon of the United Methodist Church. Of course, Robert and his rules are often brought up within the circles of Methodist nerds who enjoy discussing legislation and church politics. And now, yes, the basic rules and parliamentary procedure church make sense and I appreciate both the sense of logic that they follow and the sense of order that they hopefully produce. However, the plan of organization and the rules of order for the 2012 General Conference remain a bit above my head. And yes, likely in practice they are clear. But, beyond my experience in church council meetings and at the Student Forum, I haven’t had to learn or obey these Rules from our friend, Robert.

Clearly, I still have a lot to learn. Back to studying.

Meet the Players

It is time to meet the players of the Metho-decathlon

Coming all the way from Berlin, Germany - Miso (Michelle) "Fresh Meat" Dromgold. Miso will be serving as legislative monitor with Love your Neighbor Coalition, in the Church and Society 1 section.

Traveling the short jaunt from Washington DC is Rachel (Rae) "strangely warmed" Birkhahn-Rommelfanger. Rae is a delegate from the Northern Illinois Conference, where she hopes to return to after finishing her seminary degree.  She is prepared to be buried under a mound of legislation.

Hailing from the people's republic of Berkley and Pacific School or Religion is R. Warren "Crusher" Gill III, serving as legislative monitor with Love your Neighbor Coalition, in the General Administration section.

Keeping Score

This blog is about the preparation, surviving and recouping from the 2012 General Conference. For those who are unfamiliar with General Conference in the United Methodist Church it is a time when delegates (lay and clergy members of the church who are elected from their respective regions of the world that have UM churches) can speak on behalf of the church. General Conference is the only time that statements or decision can be made on behalf of and with the official seal of United Methodism.

 As of today (Feb 25) there are exactly 60 days until all the official event begins. That means that for those who are attending this epic event, it is time to begin training.

How does one train for two weeks of legislative dialogue, inspiring international worship, listening to committee and commission report and the most rigorous networking meals imaginable?  Well that has taken a lot of soul searching to decide on the best strategy, and it begins with a very basic rule: study for 1-3 hours a day.

One must commit and record their study time daily (now the real goal each day is the three hour mark but as a seminary student with a job I am being realistic). If one completes three hours of study they can sleep happy and will commended by their allies. If one does not study they will feel the stress of unknown knowledge begin to overwhelm them as the 60 days until the conference turns to 50, 40, 30, 10, 2 days.

Additional points can be given for learning an activity that you can do while sitting through the plenary session (when the reports are given and votes happen).  Also credit goes to people who work on their skill of speed walking, and sitting for long periods of times.  A mastery of Robert's Rules of Order gains you the role of head of your metho-decathlon team (and most nerdy points).

I am sure that over the next 60 prep days the scoring will get flushed out. For now know that 1-3 hours a day is the goal.  You can check back here to see here if I am achieving this goal, and to hear about any strange things that happen to me in my preparation.

Next Post: Meet the Players.