Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church

Live From Fort Worth: 3:15 p.m. (CST)

May 1, 2008

This morning, the assembly discussed at length Petition 80821, "Worldwide Nature UMC," which is another issue stirring passion among some Holston delegates. The General Conference voted not to refer it until General Conference 2012, but to address the petition this afternoon. The update is forthcoming.

Also this morning, 15 minutes of "witness" (singing, praying) were permitted to United Methodists who oppose yesterday's votes to retain Book of Discipline language concerning homosexuality. Reactions by Holston delegates seemed to range from stoicism to tears.

(Visit the UMNS photo gallery for photos. For audio and video files,visit gc2008.umc.org and look under "Multimedia.")

After the protest, Holston shared a celebration with the entire assembly, when the Rev. Randy Frye announced that Holston Conference would contribute $20,000 toward a friendly competition among conferences to raise the largest amount of money for Nothing But Nets. The contest "prize" is a basketball donated by Bishop Thomas Bickerton.

Frye said the contribution was in addition to $81,000 already raised by Holston youth. He also said the $20,000 -- which is the largest amount contributed so far -- is given in honor of Pat Summitt, a member of Seymour United Methodist Church in the Holston Conference, and coach of the eight-time national champion Lady Vols basketball team.

It was a uniting moment for the Holston delegation and the rest of the General Conference, as the assembly stood to cheer and applaud Summitt and Holston's gift.

More later. Be sure to see the ongoing coverage at gc2008.umc.org and Holston's cumulative coverage at gc2008.holston.org.

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