Excitement at Annual Conference

The summer adventures ahead seem much more real after a weekend at the Missouri United Methodist Annual Conference. The weekend was filled with powerful worship, an exciting afternoon with mini-mobile camp, and observing the inner-workings of the Methodist Conference during business sessions. A message at the beginning of the conference from Rev. Charity Goodwin inspired everyone in attendance to reclaim the flame and approach ministry through the Wesleyan way by working through the Holy Spirit to transform the community.

For the camp staff and youth delegates this meant collecting family food boxes for Festival of Sharing and packing food kits for Rise Against Hunger. Bringing action to the weekend was critical to having a larger purpose for the meeting.

Reclaiming the flame was also exemplified by demonstrating the camp experience and setting up the Spark mini-mobile camp equipment for pastors and families to try. This was the perfect opportunity for pastors who already are scheduled to host the camp to get a feel for what it will look like at their church. But also pastors who are thinking about hosting a camp had the chance to ask questions and start thinking about how they could join the ministry.

After the vote a few years ago to sell the Conference owned camp properties, there was concern that kids wouldn’t have a place to go and the benefits and memories made at summer camp would become a thing of the past. But this myth has since been proven wrong with nearly double the numbers of campers enrolled at mini-mobile, mobile and core camps.

Annual Conference was the perfect opportunity for camp staff and clergy to get excited about the summer and the way God will be at work in the coming months.