Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church

Live From Fort Worth: 1:15 p.m. (CST)

April 30, 2008

The General Conference just broke for lunch. Before lunch, there were several passionate speeches on the floor related to Petition 80845, "Opposition to Homophobia and Heterosexism." The petition was approved.

These petitions were not approved: Petition 80960, "Civil Rights," and Petition 80966, "Committed Unions."

Other homosexuality-related legislation is expected to be considered this afternoon. You can watch it live here, or you can watch this space for UMNS news stories late this evening.

About 10:30 last night, Bishop James Swanson addressed the General Conference in his role as chair of the Board of Trustees for the Board of Church and Society. His topic was Petition 81078, "Accountability" as it relates to the GBCS and building trust language. The petition was "postponed indefinitely." (See Swanson's words in this transcript, page 2508.)

I'll be back later. In the meantime, you can find lots of news and resources at gc2008.umc.org, or you can see all of The Call's on-site coverage so far at gc2008.holston.org.

--Reported by Annette Spence (e-mail me)