As deputies, bishops, and guests continued to pour into Salt Lake City’s Salt Palace Convention Center all day Tuesday, happy encounters of old friends were happening all over the place as people rushed from registration to the exhibit hall to committee meetings to after-hours events.
Someone joked that “Great to see you! Love ya! Gotta go!” should be the motto of General Convention. If friends were lucky, they were able to make a quick plan to meet later. Otherwise, they lived in hope of finding time to catch up.
While the numbers of days that General Convention lasts have shrunk, the amount of work has not. So days begin before 7 pm and end well after 10 pm. People learn to pace themselves early on.
Every three years, The Episcopal Church has a governance meeting called General Convention. Well, it’s more than legislative activities. According to Fort Worth deputy Katie Sherrod, “it’s combination of family reunion, tent revival, legislation session, county fair, liturgical fashion show, and giant sing-along.”
The Episcopal Church’s General Convention is the bicameral governing body of our church. It comprises the House of Bishops, with upwards of 200 active and retired bishops, and the House of Deputies, with more than 800 clergy and lay deputies elected from the 108 dioceses and three regional areas of the church. The Episcopal Church Women will hold their triennial meeting concurrent with General Convention.
Our bishops and deputies from the Diocese of Fort Worth will be there to participate in the decision-making of the church, from selecting the next presiding bishop to detailed committee work responding to resolutions to grappling with the recommendations of the Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church (TREC).
Meet our deputation to the 2015 General Convention and our delegates to the ECW triennial meeting
House of Bishops: Rayford High, Scott Mayer
House of Deputies – Lay: Marti Fagley, Kathleen Wells, Katie Sherrod, Brent Walker; Alternates Bob Hicks, Norm Snyder
House of Deputies – Clergy: Carlye Hughes, Curt Norman, David Madison, Hope Benko; Alternates Jordan Ware, Amy Haynie
Several our deputation members are serving or assisting on legislative committees:
Hope Benko is serving as assistant secretary for Evangelism and Communication
David Madison is on Dispatch of Business
Katie Sherrod is on Governance and Structure
Brent Walker is on the Special Legislative Committee on Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Jordan Ware is on the Episcopal Church – United Methodist Dialogue Committee on Full Communion
Kathleen Wells is on Constitution and Canons and the House of Deputies Resolutions Review Committee
Rayford High is serving on the Church Pension Fund committee
Please pray for Bishop High, Bishop Mayer and the Fort Worth deputation as they attend General Convention and the ECW triennial meeting.
Front row: Katie Sherrod, Marti Fagley, Amy Haynie, Hope Benko. Second row: Norm Snyder, Joan Hicks, Cynthia Eichenberger, Sandy Shockley, Jordan Ware, Kathleen Wells, Rayford High. Back row: Scott Mayer, Bob Hicks, Louis Eichenberger, Janet Waggoner, Curt Norman, Brent Walker, Carlye Hughes, Wallis Ohl, David Madison.Carlye Hughes, Cynthia Eichenberger, Curt Norman, Rayford High, Scott Mayer, Katie Sherrod, Janet Waggoner, Hope Benko, Brent Walker
You’re invited
You’re invited, too, to come along to General Convention – at least virtually. Subscribe to email updates on this site. We will have links to other websites here, and social media will provide the opportunity to encounter a wealth of information, most searchable on your favorite social sites and apps with the hashtag #gc78 (for General Convention) and #diofw (for the Diocese of Fort Worth). You’ll find links to the General Convention website and to our deputation blog on the front page of our diocesan website.
O God of peace, you have taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, into your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
