This month I am offering you what I saw as some of the more interesting and meaningful moments for me during East Ohio Annual Conference.

The theme of this year’s conference was "Hope and Healing." Most reports and special events revolved around these points.

During Bishop Hopkins' presentation on Monday afternoon he mentioned having recently been in Ho Chi Minh City (ex Saigon), Viet Nam for the dedication of the new conference center for the Viet Nam Conference of the UMC. He said that while the church still has some difficulties there, it is recognized by the government and is "above ground." He also gave the numbers of membership and congregations. I don’t recall exact numbers, but they were around 5000 plus members in 100 plus churches. I thought this very good news with regard to "hope" and "healing."

Later that same afternoon the Bishop led the conferees in a time of confession and repentance of sins and shortcomings. When the Bishop took to his knees and confessed his personal shortcomings out loud before nearly 1600 conferees, it was easy for us to follow suit in small groups. A bagpiper processing down the center aisle of Hoover Auditorium playing Amazing Grace concluded this moment with the conferee’s spontaneously singing along.

For my Day Apart session on Wednesday afternoon I attended a presentation about "Discipleship/Leadership Development in the Local Church." The less charitable might call the presentation I witnessed an infomercial. It was about a development course entitled "The Cable Network" (Creating Active Believers for a Life of Excellence) crafted by the leadership at Faith UMC near Mansfield. I think it’s a program worth looking at and I gave them my information with the idea that I will attend and experience some classes in order to make a better report to Killbuck United Methodist Church and any other interested parties.

The Service of Sending Forth on Thursday afternoon began with Centering Liturgical Dances by the University Circle UMC Liturgical Dancers. A thirteen-member team began with a beautiful and moving interpretation of a Spiritual, "Lord, I Need a Healing." They concluded by dancing the entire life of Jesus to a rhythm narration of the same. I was very caught up in the moment emotionally and spiritually and wish that of all the Conference moments I witnessed, you could have had the chance to see that one also.

Thank you for allowing me to attend once again; an extremely large and heartfelt THANK YOU to all who helped make it possible.

Love, Vic.