Dear Friends in Christ Jesus:
Annual Conference 2009 is now over. It is history. But I believe that it will continue to inform our common life and witness for some time to come. I want to thank you for several things:
1. Your wonderful warmth, welcome and hospitality to Cynthia and me as well as to the guests of the conference session.
2. Your overall attentiveness to the work of the conference. You gave yourselves deeply both in worship, theological reflection, reports and decision making. Ours was worshipful work.
3. Your dignity, respect and demeanor in debate on sensitive and important issues before us.
4. Your great generosity in giving. You went over the top in offerings planned and unplanned.
5. Keeping the mission of the United Methodist Church, the Four Foci and the theme of the conference session in the mix of all we did.
6. Seeing beyond the immediate to claim the promise of the future.
We have some important challenges ahead of us. Those challenges create unprecedented opportunities for us to be the church that God yearns for and that the world needs. I am excited about both the challenges and the opportunities. I look forward to communicating with you about both in future issues of The Current, through email and on the conference web site. In the meantime “be of good courage and god will strengthen your heart”. I remain
Your servant for the sake of the Gospel,
†Gregory V. Palmer