GC77: House of Deputies supports Youth Ministry

Thursday was a busy day in the House of Deputies. Our opening legislative session at 8AM was a short one-hour of getting all 800+ deputies organized and ready to tackle the hundreds of resolutions expected to be addressed, debated, and voted upon during the remaining eight days of General Convention.

One of our first actions in the morning session was to elect a new Vice President of the House of Deputies. Upon the recommendation by Bonnie Anderson, President of the House of Deputies, we elected the Very Rev. H. Scott Kirby of the Diocese of Eau Claire to fill this position, which has been vacant since Brian Prior became bishop of the Diocese of Minnesota in 2010. The remainder of this organizing session was to elect a Secretary for the House and several other officers that will be required for the House to operate efficiently.

Bonnie Anderson also made that statement this morning that “I won’t be the electronic police,” in response to concerns regarding the use of electronic devices during the Convention (particularly in the House and on the floor itself). Deputies were asked to remain focused upon and attentive to the business of the House, and not let technology interfere with that focus (or the attentiveness of their colleagues).

This year more than in the past three Conventions I have attended, it is easy to see the explosion of electronic devices being utilized. There are plenty of deputies with tablet devices like the iPad, laptops, and smartphones. And with so much Convention content being published online at generalconvention.org, and so many people who are live-tweeting and blogging, it will be an interesting experiment.

Then we broke for our first Eucharist at Convention. It is always an awesome thing to see over 1,000 Episcopalians gathered together to proclaim the Good News and celebrate at the Lord's Table.

In our afternoon legislative session, one of our first resolutions of note was C100, which calls for restoring the $300,000 in funding for the triennial Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) to the Youth Ministries budget. ENS writes, "The every-three-year gathering of youth of the Episcopal Church had been slated for elimination in previously released draft budgets. Several young deputies, along with members of the Official Youth Presence, described the impact attending EYE had on them and its value in energizing a new generation of leaders for the church. Deputies voted to direct the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance to place the funding in the youth ministries budget."

As a Youth Minister, this was a significant win for me. I have personally experienced how the spirit, fellowship, and witness that happens during EYE impacts the lives and spiritual formation of youth in our Church. There are usually 1,500 youth from across the Episcopal Church gathered during EYE, which offers a wide variety of workshops, programs, and formation opportunities as well as plenty of time for fellowship, worship, and fun.

The decision is not set in stone yet, however, The resolution still has to go to the House of Bishops for their consideration. I fully expect that they will concur with the House of Deputies. Then, the larger hurdle will be within the PB&F, where although they are being 'directed' to restore the funds, they have to 'find' those funds (likely at the expense of other budgetary line items). It remains to be seen whether PB&F will be successful. We won't know that until next week. I pray that they see the wisdom of the vote today and find the means to implement it.

Location:Indianapolis, IN

GC77: Ready, Set, Go for Day 1

The morning started with a 3.2 mile run with Joshua, Mallory, and Sarah. We met at the White River Trail at 5:30am (it was still dark outside and 75F). It was a nice 39-minute run, while we watched the skies brighten to start the day. Mallory and I ran together while the two speedsters leapt ahead. It was fun to run with Mallory, and grab the chance to chat about our lives. We ended the run with a 6:30/mm sprint to the end.

Then, after getting all cleaned up, I had the pleasure of meeting up with my Mom. First, we visited the House of Bishops Secretariat, then the Exhibitor Hall, and finally to the hotel to share a meal together. Mom had to leave for MIchigan afterwards, so it was a treat to be able to eat and talk together. She will be back here on Saturday for the duration.

Then I rested a bit before heading over to the Westin Hotel to listen to testimony at the Program, Budget, & Finance (PB&F) committee meeting at 12:30pm. Many Chicagoans testified before the Committee, requesting that funds be reallocated for key ministries like Youth and Young Adult Formation programs, the Episcopal Youth Event, the official Youth Presence at General Convention, etc.

One person testified saying "If it takes a village to raise a child, then the whole church needs to be engaged and funded to support young adult ministry programs, particularly those young adults who are not touched by campus ministry programs" ( for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being to attend a non-traditional college).

Every penny we take away from youth and young adult ministries represents a person who may not receive our message of hope -- people who need to hear the good news but who may have never heard it, or worse, may have heard a distorted version of His Word.

We heard story after story about how the drastic, sometimes draconian cuts in the proposed budget will impact the effectiveness of our ministry and mission as a church. The Bishop of El Salvador made an impassioned plea saying he "had no words" to explain the devastating impact the cuts would have upon South American dioceses. "Cuts have been made to our budget since 2007. We cannot continue like this."

The meeting room was way too small for this gathering, with people sitting on the floor (like I did) to people outside the room several rows deep who were trying to peer in and listen to what was being said. I am told that subsequent meetings will be held in larger space. I surely hope so.

After the budget hearing, we moved to the Convention Center to the House of Deputies where we listened to presentations by both the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies. Both deputies and Bishops attended this joint meeting, followed by orientation meetings to explain the rules of order, how to use the voting technologies, etc. This instruction is very useful, particularly to new Deputies who may not be familiar with how legislation is handled in a body of our size.

By the time we concluded, it was 5:00pm and I had been awake for 12 hours. But now the fun part of the day began. Joshua, Lee Gaede, and I went to the baseball stadium next door to the Convention Center and watched the Indianapolis Indians dominate a game, winning 5-1 with four home runs during the game. We sat in a block of seats reserved for Convention Deputies and had a great time. It was 104F when the game started, so we were quite thankful that we were sitting in a shaded section of the stadium!
After the game, we went to Champions for dinner (they make an awesome Cobb Salad) and then visited our Deputation Hospitality Suite. We had quite the discussion about Palestine and the Peace and Justice issues involving the Middle East and our country's actions regarding that region.

Then Pat Abrams and I left to go to the Deputies of Color meeting at 10pm. This meeting was also quite interesting as discussions surrounding the budget cuts and certain resolutions, and how they will reduce the effectiveness of the larger church in its Anti-Racism commitments -- its ability to conduct trainings, encourage diversity, and hold diocese accountable to their efforts to reduce institutional racism. It seems that the church has fallen back upon its commitment to addressing institutional racism in recent years and this is unfortunate. Funding for anti-racism trainings may now be delegated to the Provinces rather than Dioceses, which I do not believe will lead to adequate oversight, accountability, or consistency in implementation.

Today was a very long day. I am almost too tired to blog (so if my words are not as cogent as they ought to be, I apologize). I am heading to bed now so that I can get some sleep before tomorrow's 5:30am run. Thursday will be a full day of legislation, hearings, committee meetings, and our first Eucharistic celebration as a convention.

May the fun begin!

Location:Indianapolis, IN