What happens at SEJ Conference this week?
July 11, 2016
Basic Schedule
Here is a quick synopsis of what will happen at the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference this week:
The official dates for Jurisdictional Conference are July 13-15, 2016. However, delegates and others are already gathering at Lake Junaluska for meetings and opportunities to meet with episcopal nominees. Check the schedule for the entire week.
At 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday (July 12) there will be introductions of all of the nominees in Stuart Auditorium, and then following lunch, each of the nominees will visit the various delegations in a “Round Robin” session.
(There will be livestreaming of all sessions on Wednesday through Friday)
The first official session of Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference will begin Wednesday (July 13) at 9:00 a.m. in Stuart Auditorium. The first business session is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. and the first ballots for new bishops will be cast in that session. There may be up to four ballots cast prior to lunch break on Wednesday.
Between ballots there are business items and reports from committees and various groups across the jurisdiction. Many of the agencies and schools across the jurisdiction give presentations to keep the delegates and observers informed of the work of the church in our region.
Balloting is expected to continue until lunch on Thursday (July 14). After the election of five new bishops, the Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy will meet with all of the bishops and will make assignments for the 2016-2020 quadrennium.
The announcement of these assignments is scheduled for 8:45 p.m. on Thursday evening. We will post that information on the conference website as soon as possible following that announcement. There will be follow-up stories and media when available.
Receptions will be held by each of the Annual Conferences at Lake Junaluska for the new and returning bishops at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday evening.
The consecration of bishops is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. in Stuart Auditorium.
Participants
There are officially 376 elected delegates to the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference representing 15 annual conferences (13 episcopal areas) and nine states, including: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
There will be reserve delegates and observers from across the jurisdiction/denomination present as well.
Important Documents of Jurisdictional Conference
All of the delegates to jurisdictional conference have been reading the Advance Daily Christian Advocate (ADCA) (this was revised on July 1, 2016).
They have also been reading all of the bios and responses to questions from the episcopal nominees which can be found here.
Episcopal Nominees
- Bryan, Lawson (Alabama-West Florida Conference)
- Fairley, Leonard (North Carolina Conference)
- Graves, David (Holston Conference)
- Grieb, Tom (Kentucky Conferencce)
- Haupert-Johnson, Sue (Florida Conference)
- Howell, James (Western North Carolina Conference)
- Lewis, Sharma (North Georgia Conference)
- McClendon, Tim (South Carolina Conference)
- McCracken, Sky (Memphis Conference)
- Scott, Robin (North Alabama Conference)
- Smith, Ted (BMCR of Virginia Conference)
- Sparks, Stephen (Mississippi Conference)
- Stuart, Farley (Red Bird Missionary Conference)