COLUMBIA (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Tim Townsend
Of the Post-Dispatch
COLUMBIA, Mo. - On Friday morning nearly 2000 delegates of the United Methodist church's Missouri conference gathered in a cramped hall at the Holiday Inn here to begin their annual meeting. Just like at a political convention, balloons rose toward the ceiling and banners proclaimed which division of the conference each group of delegates was from - Ozark North, Heartland South, Gateway Central, Mid State.
Most years, the usual business of the church - ordaining new pastors, passing budgets, launching new service programs - is done at the annual conference. This year was different in one respect. This year, delegates would learn how its leaders proposed to save the church from sudden financial ruin.
The conference's new bishop, Robert Schnase, began the meeting with a sermon and talked to the delegates, made up of equal parts clergy and laity, about what to expect from the weekend. "Some topics will be enjoyable," he said. "Others will be painfully difficult and make us feel anxious about our uncertain future."
In early May, a jury in a Springfield, Mo., civil court told the United Methodist Church in Missouri to pay Teresa Norris $6 million for failing to protect her from a violent man who also was her pastor.
Posted by kshaw at June 5, 2005 07:12 AM