Greetings from Saint Louis! The weather is pleasant. People are filing in from all over. The theme is “Jesus is coming. I will go.”
The sound quality in the press box is roughly one step lower than Charlie Brown’s teacher (Miss Othmar). Hopefully, it will improve.
2:30 PM Thursday. Mark Finley is giving an address. About 70% of the delegates are here. Ramon Canales followed, asking people to pray for the Holy Spirit. He asked that the Lord would take away any evil thoughts and political maneuvers.
Erton Kohler and Ted Wilson spoke. Kohler is explaining the procedure of the meeting. Each conference has two delegates. 1/3 of 2,809 delegates are needed for a quorum.
Wilson asked Stele to declare the Session open. He did . . .
Vote to accept new Union Conferences and Union Missions — 1740 yes, 8 no votes.
Todd McFarland was selected as Session parlimentarian — 1754 yes, 23 no votes. Speeches will be limited to 2 minutes, or 3 minutes for people needed interpretation. There appear to be about 1,000 delegates missing or not voting.
Tim Standish raised a question about too much power in the church resting in the hands of a few. Artur Stele reminded the delegates that he likes to keep the meeting on schedule for supper. The Session Agenda has not been voted yet. We appear to be skipping around the agenda at this point. Not following a particular order.
One delegate raised a concern that the Church Manual was not used in the right way. Too complicated, and too few people understand it. Valid point, it seems.
Standing committees were voted and passed by 1700 +/- to 215 opposed….
Todd McFarland announced a credentialing problem for voters that they were working on…
Motion to adopt Agenda….discussion . .. delegate from Australia read a long amendment, saying that there are pressing items that are not on the agenda. Stele and McFarland ruled the motion out of order.
Her motion is to set aside 3 days for delegates to vote on serious issues confronting the church. It was rejectedby the chair.
Yuliyan Filipov - made a motion to discuss the 2015 vaccine statement. Said peer reviewed science is often wrong. Motion was seconded . . discussion ensues.
Another delegate calls for the church to quit making statements without input from the session body, and to withdraw as an NGO of the United Nations.
GC delegate at large says Adcom has authority to make decisions for the church between sessions.
Ted Wilson came to the microphone (shades of 2022?). He blamed resistance to GC’s Covid position on misinformation. Re-affirmation Statement addressed issue with Covid. 2015 statement had nothing to do with Covid. He said that science is not equal to the Bible and the Church does not take that position (actually, on the 2015 vaccine statement,they do). Says we are informed by peer reviewed science (that’s not how the statement reads, however). He defended the 2015 Statement. We advocated vaccinations, and reaffirmed in 2021 for Covid. The church recommended covid vaccinations. Quotes Reaffirmation Statement . . . says GC did not mandate jab. True, but that isn’t the issue, I believe. He defended ADCOM.. Changed focus to mission. Refuses to discuss the vaccine statement. Defends relationship to United Nations. No sympathy manifested towards those who were harmed by the vaccine position. Cites conspiracy theories as raising this issue and says only a tiny minority of the church is concerned about it. Long speech..
Call the question. Cease discussion . . .
1790 yes
144 no
Now the vote on adding the 2015 Vaccine statement to the agenda . . . Julien Filipov’s motion.
310 yes
1662 no
Mathematically, 310 votes represents 3 to 4 million church members. Hardly an insignificant minority.
Tiffany Steinwig appealed the chair’s decision to rule her motion out of order. Stele concluded there was no second to the appeal so they moved on.
Ingrid Wijngaarde…reminds us of our need for liberty of conscience. Motion to postpone Agenda . .
Motion to not accept the agenda…rejected by chair. Stele mentions dinner again. Asks delegates what they want to do.. Juan Prestol calls the question…. Vote to stop debate. Vote to approve agenda - passed by raising yellow cards.
Nominating Committee approved by ballot card.
See you tomorrow!
There will be daily updates tomorrow, Sabbath and Sunday.
There will be a Fulcrum7 meet & greet with corn chowder, chips and salsa and other snacks from 4-7 PM on Sabbath. Location will be announced, we will have name tags for people who attend.
Walk with the King and be a blessing!