Dear Lay and Clergy Members of the 2022 Annual Conference,
Happy New Year!
Our 2022 Annual Conference Session, set for June 5-8, will be here soon! The Conference Program Committee, the Local Arrangements Team, and the Northwest District are excited about welcoming everyone to our venue, The Columbus Convention & Trade Center in Columbus, Ga. The theme for this year’s Annual Conference is “Great is Your Faithfulness.” We look forward to being led by our Episcopal leader, Bishop David Graves.
We know that you are actively making your plans to attend, which is why we sent an email to delegates on December 2, 2021 with information about hotels. If you are a new delegate, we hope this earlier email was forwarded to you by the previous delegate. If you have not yet made your hotel reservation, you will want to do that as soon as possible.
Today we want to provide you with information regarding a few additional matters. We hope after reading this email you will reach out to us with any remaining questions. We look forward to a great conference and your participation.
Grace and Peace,
Meredyth Earnest
Conference Secretary
Safety of Members and Guests The safety of our South Georgia Conference family continues to be our top priority. The program committee and conference staff are monitoring the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and are prepared to make format adjustments should they be warranted. The 2022 session will implement recommended health protocols in order to provide the safest conference experience possible for delegates.
Schedule (*SUBJECT TO CHANGE) The 2022 Annual Conference Session will begin with an Opening Worship Service on Sunday evening, June 5, at 7:00 p.m. Conference will conclude with the Sending Forth Service on Wednesday, June 8. Our goal is to conclude the conference by lunchtime on Wednesday. Below is a tentative schedule of events. A more comprehensive and detailed schedule will be provided in the spring of 2022.
Sunday, Jun 5, 2022
Registration Begins (3:00 PM)
Opening Worship Service (7:00 PM)
Monday, Jun 6, 2022
Morning Worship
Laity Session
Clergy Session
Business Sessions
Methodist Home Barbecue
Ordination/Commissioning Service at St. Luke UMC (7:00 PM)
Reception for 2020, 2021, and 2022 Ordained and Commissioned Ministers
Tuesday, Jun 7, 2022
Morning Worship
Business Sessions
Retiree Recognition
Memorial Service (2:00 PM)
Business Sessions
Wednesday, Jun 8, 2022
Morning Worship
Business Sessions
Fixing the Appointments/Sending Forth Service
Hotels Hotel room blocks are open. Valley Hospitality in Columbus has secured more than 600 rooms at a discounted rate for our event.
Valley Hospitality has created a website just for South Georgia Conference United Methodists to make booking your hotel easy and streamlined. For those who prefer to make reservations over the phone, they have provided the phone number for each hotel on the website. Click here to view the list of hotels.
If you have any questions or issues booking rooms for your group, please contact their Concierge Service Team at (706) 489-4037 or concierge@valleyhospitality.com.
Resolutions March 1 is the deadline for all Resolutions to the South Georgia Conference. The Resolutions Committee will consider only those resolutions received by March 1. For information on how to submit a resolution visit www.sgaumc.org/resolutions.
Childcare Childcare will be available for infants through elementary age students. More information will be available in the coming months.
Banquets If you have a group that would like to plan a banquet or special event during the conference, contact Lisa Marie Ming at lming@stlukeum.com or 706-256-1017.
Displays Display spaces are available to groups and agencies related to the South Georgia Conference. Display spaces for United Methodist Church agencies cost $75 without power and $80 with power. This is the cost passed on to us by the Convention Center. Other non-UM agencies and vendors also have the opportunity to set up displays. Please see the display policy for those prices and conditions. The display policy as well as the registration form to reserve booth space can be found at www.sgaumc.org/displays. Reservations for the space must be made by the May 1 deadline.
Change in Lay Member There is one lay member per appointed clergy at each charge. If there has been a change in the lay member(s) representing your charge, please make sure to share the change with Meredyth Earnest at meredyth@sgaumc.com or let your district office know. Lay members should be entered into the church dashboard no later than May 1, 2022. Only credentialed delegates will be able to vote at the session.
Registration The registration fee for all clergy and lay members to Annual Conference is $20. Retired clergy not serving a church are exempt from this fee. You will pay the fee via check or credit card when you register at Annual Conference.
Expenses / Per diem Clergy and lay delegates who represent a local church shall have their expenses (including registration) paid by the local church (this includes retired clergy who are serving a church). Lay delegates who represent an organization and Extension Ministers shall have their expenses paid by the organization they represent. Retired clergy not under appointment and clergy on medical leave shall receive a per diem of $65 per day for each day attended. Lay members who do not represent a local church or conference organization shall receive a per diem on the same basis.
Receiving Delegate Communication As a delegate to Annual Conference, you will receive important communications leading up to Annual Conference. The purpose of these communications is to inform you of the matters you need to know about the ministry of the church, its organization, and any decisions you will be asked to make during the conference session. All communications related to the 2022 Annual Conference Session will be disseminated through email.
Most of the business items for the conference session are contained in the Book of Recommendations and Reports (BOR). Inside the BOR you'll find a complete conference agenda, driving and parking information, helpful conference information, detailed reports from conference ministries, pension and benefits recommendations, conference budgets, and much more. One of the purposes of the BOR is to allow you to read the resolutions, recommendations, and reports before you come to conference. A good delegate is a prepared delegate! The BOR will be made available this Spring in two ways: as a downloadable PDF file at no cost on our conference website; and/or as a professionally-bound, printed copy. Ordering information for printed copies will be provided when the BOR is published.
Please visit www.sgaumc.org/annualconference often as we approach annual conference. Some reports that do not make the BOR publication deadline will only be available on the website. These reports will be important to have during the Annual Conference session. Prior to arriving in Columbus please either download onto your digital device or print all the materials you want to have with you during the Annual Conference business sessions.
Voting Rights, Who’s a voting member? Below is a description of who can be lay or clergy members of the annual conference and vote. Your official name tag, which you will receive at registration, will let the tellers know of your eligibility to vote.
Lay Members of the Annual Conference: Lay membership for the Annual Conference session shall be composed of: the Lay Members elected by their charges, at-large delegates of the district selected by their district superintendent, the Conference Lay Leader, Conference President of United Methodist Men, Conference President of United Methodist Women, Conference President of the Council on Youth Ministries, Lay Delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conference, Diaconal Ministers, Lay Staff of the Conference, Lay Chairpersons of Conference Committees, Commissions, Councils, Teams or Boards, District Lay Leaders, District Presidents of United Methodist Men, District Presidents of United Methodist Women, District Presidents of United Methodist Youth, and one youth and one young adult by each District.
Clergy members of the Annual Conference: Clergy membership for the Annual Conference session shall be composed of: Full Elders, Full Deacons, Associate Members, Provisional Elders, Provisional Deacons, Full-time Local Pastors, Part-time Local Pastors, Retired Elders, Retired Deacons, Retired Associate Members, and Retired Provisional Members who retired before 2013. The Discipline also allows for Retired Local Pastors who have been serving under appointment leading up to Annual Conference to serve as clergy delegates and vote.
Voting membership for the Clergy session shall be composed of: All clergy members of the Annual Conference and the lay members of the Board of Ordained Ministry (BOM) may attend the Clergy Session. However, only ordained clergy in full connection and lay members of the BOM may vote at the Clergy Session.
Questions For questions regarding the business of Annual Conference, please contact Meredyth Earnest at meredyth@sgaumc.com. For general inquiries, contact Kelly Roberson at 912-270-6172 or kelly@sgaumc.com.
