*AC09 Thursday
The first clergy and laymembers and visitors to the 2009 North Alabama Annual Conference began to gather on the campus of ClearBranch United Methodist Church at noon on Thursday, June 4 for the family picnic.
Methodists of all ages enjoyed the picnic time as a chance to visit with old friends and to begin to make new friends. The youngest Methodists in the crowd also got to enjoy fun activities such as a story teller, a bouncy castle, face-painting, putt putt golf and other games. An afternoon shower didn’t dampen the fun.
During the afternoon Mission agencies and other ministries opened their displays for members to visit and learn.
At 4 p.m. several hundred members gathered in the Worship Center for the Constitutional Amendments discussion. This year each United Methodist Annual Conference will vote on 32 Amendments to the United Methodist constitution proposed by the 2008 General Conference. The afternoon discussion was a time for members to ask questions, share their opinions and hear the thoughts of other. Annual Conference full clergy and lay members will vote on the Amendments Friday afternoon.
Thursday ended as North Alabama United Methodists gathered at Huffman UMC for the annual Memorial Service during which they remembered the clergy and clergy spouses who have died since last Annual Conference.
Dr. Mickey Morgan gave a sermon titled Passing on to a New Generation. Bishop Willimon led an Act of Remembrance during which the name of each person being remembered was called.
