The Western Pennsylvania General and Jurisdictional Conference Delegation met on Saturday, December 7, 2019 at the Slippery Rock United Methodist Church.
During the opening worship service, delegates paused to remember the lives of the Rev. Paul Taylor, retired Pittsburgh District Superintendent, and Brady Hunker, a college student who was active with the Conference Youth Ministry Team. Memorial services for both were being held the same day.
Alyce Weaver Dunn, Chair, presented an invitation to attend a General Conference informational meeting on Saturday, January 18, 2020 in Aston, PA. Several Conferences had been working together to have an informational meeting and decided to open the event up to all delegations in the Northeast Jurisdiction. Although the event conflicted with a scheduled delegation retreat, the delegates decided to attend the informational meeting and adjust their upcoming meeting schedule.
Janet Lord, Co-Chair of the Episcopal Nominations Team, shared information about the interview process to help discern a Western PA episcopal nominee to endorse.
Upon recommendation of the Jurisdictional Nominations Team, the delegation elected the following persons to serve on the Northeast Jurisdictional Nominations Committee in July 2020: Rev. Alyce Weaver Dunn (clergy); Sherry Meterko (lay woman); and Jerry Rectenwald (lay man). Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi will serve on the WPA team in the Nominations process.
The delegation had a working lunch as Bob Zilhaver, Secretary, shared an educational presentation “Jurisdictional Episcopal Nominations, Elections and Assignments.” Tracy Merrick led the closing worship which focused on the discipline of discernment.
The four delegation committees --Episcopal Nominations; Jurisdictional Nominations; Spiritual Life; and Hospitality -- then convened to continue their work.
The next scheduled delegation event is Saturday, January 18, 2020 at the NEJ General Conference Informational Meeting. The next scheduled delegation meeting is February 15, 2020.