Troy Annual Conference
June 10-13, 2009, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Members gathered at the Saratoga Springs City Center in New York for the 177th session of Troy Annual Conference. With a theme of “God is Still Creating,” and surrounded by images of acorns, seedlings, trees and seed pods, members both grieved and celebrated the transformation that they will undergo in the next year.

The June 10-13 session was the last full conference session held by Troy Annual Conference. Next year, a one-day conference session will be held on May 22 at Christ United Methodist Church in Glens Falls, N.Y. At the conclusion of that session, Vermont United Methodist Churches will join the New England Annual Conference, while the Troy Conference churches in New York will become part of the new conference in Upstate New York. The new conference in upstate New York will then meet on June 19 for a Uniting Conference session.

In her sermon at the June 10 memorial service and communion, the Rev. Rebecca Clark, who was ordained an elder on June 13, talked about endings being part of beginnings. “We can’t have a time to be born without having a time to die. We can’t have a time to plant, if we didn’t have a time to pluck...The lessons of Ecclesiastes is that each thing has its time, its season ...Seeds are the last thing discarded by a dying plant; they appear to be without hope, dead to the world ... So, too, with our loved ones that we lose.

“This death is not what it seems to be–it is not a burial; it is a planting, it is transformation,” she said.

Speakers for session included:

• Bishop Susan W. Hassinger of the Albany Episcopal Area, who led three Bible studies centered on God’s creation and re-creation,
• Bishop Marcus Matthews of the New York West Area, who preached the June 13 ordination service and who will become the resident bishop of the new Upper New York Episcopal Area next year,
• Bishop Peter D. Weaver of the Boston Episcopal Area, who brought greetings from the New England Conference,
• The Rev. Larry Hollon, top executive of United Methodist Communications, who spoke of the new Rethink Church public awareness campaign and expressed his appreciation that the Upstate New York conference will be a test market area for the 2009-2012 quadrennium; and
• Bishop Marie Jerge of the Upstate New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

All 32 Constitutional Amendments passed by the 2008 General Conference were approved with a two-thirds majority.


Troy Conference members also:

• Approved a proposed 2010 total budget of $2,193,609, an increase of $71,000 over the 2009 budget. Conference Treasurer Bob Heron and Ted Vickery, Chair of the Conference Council on Finance and Administration reminded members that while the 2010 budget was a 12-month budget, Troy Conference would cease to exist as of June 30;
• collected a special offering for the Central Conference Pension Initiative, raising $3,261 on Thursday evening, which, when combined with the offering at Clergy Session held on May 26 and contributions made after Thursday, totaled $6,146 for the initiative. Another $2,788 was raised during the Ordination service and would be shared between the Wyoming Conference Haiti Partnership and the Nicaragua Covenant Relationship of the New England Annual Conference.
• Celebrated the ministry of 11 retiring clergy and the commissioning of William Delia as a probationary elder and Insook Do as a probationary deacon;
• Ordained three Elders—Yohang Chun, Rebecca Clark and Pamela Mikel Hays;
• Approved the creation of a Sexual Misconduct Response Team; set terms of office and term limits for conference boards and agencies; approved a resolution calling for justice in corporate executive compensation packages; approved a resolution on Safe Sanctuaries; and tabled a resolution on Theological Diversity;
• Approved Troy conference membership on the Joint Distributing Committee, which addresses the equitable distribution of the conference’s pension assets between the New England Conference and the new Upstate New York Conference; and elected four trustees;
• Presented the Denman Evangelical Award for both laity and clergy to Walk to Emmaus; the Outstanding Achievement in Web Ministry to Trinity United Methodist Church in Montpelier, Vt.; the Stimmel Peace with Justice Award to Allan Randall of the Church of the Covenant in Averill Park, N.Y.; the Small Membership Church Award to Argyle United Methodist Church in New York; Skye Farm and Covenant Hills Camping Volunteer of the Year awards to Oakley Neitzer and Dave McGowan, respectively; and the CORR-ageous Award for Racial Justice to Mildred Mason, outgoing chair of the Conference Commission on Religion and Race; and
• Heard stories of witness and ministry from churches throughout the conference, as well as from Joe Ford, a Rensselaer resident whose home was devastated by floods last summer and has since been completely rebuilt by 76 Troy Conference Volunteer-in-Mission.

—Sandra Brands