Bishop Goodpaster opens General Conference

     It is an exciting day for millions of United Methodists around the world, about 8 million of us in the United States and around the world, as we focus our attention on the opening of General Conference in Tampa, Florida. Our bishop, Bishop Larry Goodpaster from the Western North Carolina Conference preached today at the opening worship service at 4:00pm to encourage United Methodists around the world to follow Christ...immediately. Thanks to the live feed through the General Conference webpage, you can follow General Conference online as well when they are in session as some of General Conference will be broadcast over the internet live by streaming. The link to the General Conference webpage is gc2012.umc.org . When you get to the website, click on streaming and you will be able to follow what is going on as it unfolds. The meeting has about 988 delegates, about half clergy and half laity, and these delegates represent the United Methodist Church from around the world. For the next 10 days, these delegates will vote on over 1000 pieces of legislation that after approved will become our new 2012 Book of Discipline.
     Bishop Goodpaster urged each of us to remember how the first disciples responded as they worked by the sea when Jesus came by and invited them to come and follow him and he would teach them to fish for people. Unlike the first disciples, Bishop Goodpaster noted that some of us would want to first refer that to a committee for four years to study the idea and then get back to us. The tongue in cheek referral to a committee is a long standing practice in the United Methodist Church. It is true that we have a committee for just about every task in the life of the church. Sometimes ideas die in the committee and they never come to pass. The first disciples did not hesitate to drop their nets that they were mending and step right in behind Jesus and follow him. Bishop Goodpaster noted that these men were fisherman by trade and that they used their nets enough that from wear that would have to be mended. It is through General Conference that the United Methodist Church sets aside time to mend our nets, he noted. Likewise as the first disciples were busy doing their job, which was fishing, they cast their nets out into the sea and when they brought in the nets, they brought in an assortment of creatures of all kinds that lived in the sea. Bishop Goodpaster noted how differently we fish today for Christ, by fishing for people one at the time, and then for people just like us, whatever "us" looks like. Another point he made for the church today was that to follow Christ does mean that we will have to get off the pew to follow Christ and to be like the first disciples, our response should come with commitment to the cause of Christ, and to be willing to drop what we are doing as they did. Immediately.
     I hope that you will go to the webpage for General Conference listed above, make an effort to see what is being discussed and remember to pray daily for the leadership of the Holy Spirit to be with each person participating and voting on our behalf. Thanks to my laptop and my cell phone, I made a picture of the bishop as he was preaching to share with you today. The word he left us with regarding what to do about the invitation to follow Christ was an urgent call for response, immediately.