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Annual
WV Methodist Conference to be Held at Wesleyan June 9-12
released:
05/27/05 |
 |
 The
West Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
will hold its 160th Annual Session (37th since merger) on the
campus of West Virginia Wesleyan College from June 9 through
June 12. Presiding at his first session in West Virginia will
be Bishop Ernest S. Lyght. Bishop Lyght will preach on “Celebrating
God’s Abundant Gifts” during the opening Communion
celebration Thursday. He also speaks during the Sunday ordination
service.
Another featured speaker will be guest preacher Bishop Neil
L. Irons. He will address the theme “Living as Stewards:
God’s Abundant Gifts.” The Elkins native and former
member of the West Virginia Conference has titled his Thursday
evening message “Gifts of the Spirit.” Friday he
will deliver a sermon entitled “God’s Gift of Creation.”
Bishop Irons served Huntington First Evangelical United Brethren
Church, Chapel Hill United Methodist Church (UMC), Buckhannon,
and the Romney District before being elected to the episcopacy
in 1984.
Other preachers speaking at the Conference will be the Rev.
Loretta Isaiah, pastor at St. Andrew UMC, St. Albans, and the
Rev. Ken Ramsey, pastor at Wesley UMC, Morgantown. Rev. Isaiah
will speak on Friday evening while Rev. Ramsey will deliver
his sermon “God’s Gift of Children” on Saturday.
There are several events planned for the Annual Conference.
On Friday morning, President William R. Haden and his wife Betsy
Flanagan will host the United Methodist Conference Alumni Breakfast
at his home at 7 a.m. All Wesleyan alumni attending the conference
are invited to this event. A Children’s Conference entitled
“What Gifts Has God Given to You?” will be held
for children birth through eighth grade. The Conference has
also invited churches to bring flood buckets and health kits,
which will be shipped to the United Methodist Committee on Relief
for use during disaster relief.
The West Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist
Church is the basic organizational body in the United Methodist
Church. It includes all United Methodist churches within a geographically
defined area. Annual Conference membership consists of equal
numbers of lay and clergy members and at least one layperson
from each pastoral charge is to be a member. Annual Conference
members are responsible for the program and administration of
the work of the annual conference and its local churches.
Wesleyan will host over 2,500 members and guests during the
Conference. For more information about the Annual Conference,
please contact Angela Gay Kinkead at (304) 473-8007.
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