Indiana Delegation 2020
Bishop Julius C. Trimble blesses the Indiana Conference's delegation to the 2020 General and Jurisdictional Conferences of The United Methodist Church. (Photo by Daniel R. Gangler)
Special to United Methodist Insight
INDIANAPOLIS – The Room for All (RFA) Coalition swept both Indiana 2020 General and Jurisdictional Conference clergy delegation elections, Saturday, June 15 during the Indiana United Methodist Annual Conference at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis. The coalition is composed of members and participants of the Reconciling Ministries Network of Indiana, the Uniting Methodists of Indiana and The Methodist Reclamation Project, totaling more than 700 members and colleagues across the three organizations.
On the very first ballot cast by annual conference clergy members, the Rev. Russ Abel, senior pastor of Saint Joseph UMC in Fort Wayne and incoming Conference Superintendent of the East District of Indiana, set the stage for historic election results. Within a few ballots, RFA had elected a majority of the clergy delegates, but struggled to take the lead in the laity balloting.
Ian Hall, Director of Administration and Finance for the Indiana Conference, was the first coalition lay member to be elected following the election first of Chris Hancock. Several lay ballots later in the election of Jurisdictional Conference delegates, Shannon Priddy, national president of United Methodist Women, was elected. She was later followed by Kim Arnott, Indiana Conference Director of Lay Servant Ministries, and Albert Hidalgo, Jr., a member of the LGBTQ community, and the last Jurisdictional delegate to be elected. On the laity side, only two out of eight delegates to the General Conference, and only two out of eight delegates to the Jurisdictional Conference were elected.
All the RFA endorsed clergy candidates were elected to fully dominate the clergy 2020 General Conference delegation of the Indiana Conference. Coalition leaders then advanced the names of Chiyona Bourne, Meg Lassiat (an undeclared clergy candidate) and Dennis Adams, as reserved delegates. Surprisingly, these three also were elected, giving Indiana Conference centrists and progressives undisputed control of the clergy delegation majority.
For those who may not know, the 16 General Conference Delegates are joined by the 16 Jurisdictional Conference delegates for the North Central Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church.
In other business, the RFA Coalition’s motion to place a 12-month moratorium on the Traditional Plan delaying charges and possible church trials for violations of the United Methodist Book of Discipline related to homosexuality was ruled out of order by Bishop Julius Trimble. His ruling was challenged by a member of the coalition, but the majority of conference members upheld his ruling by a narrow margin in his favor.
The coalition helped pass on to the 2020 General Conference a petition correcting the Book of Discipline so that anti-LGBTQ language (the “incompatibility language”) would be eliminated if approved.
Here is a listing of the 2020 Indiana General and North Central Jurisdictional Conferences delegates. An asterisk designates a delegate who was endorsed and supported by the votes of the Room for All Coalition.
CLERGY in order of election
Elected to 2020 General Conference, Minneapolis Convention Center, Minn. May 5-15
Russ Abel*, Aleze Fulbright*, Ronnie Bell*, Lisa Schubert Nowling*, Rob Fuquay*, Jill Howard*, Duane Carlisle*, Larry Whitehead*
Elected to 2020 the North Central Jurisdictional Conference, Fort Wayne (Ind.) Convention Center, July 15-18
Chris Nunley*, Greg Pimlott*, Adrianne Curtis*, Matt Landry*, Derek Weber*, Marti Lundy*, Chris Tiedeman*, Daniel Cho*
Reserve delegates: Chiyona Bourne*, Meg Lassiat* and Dennis Adams*
LAITY in order of election
Elected to 2020 General Conference
Chris Hancock, Ian Hall*, Shirley Dominick, Leah Padgett, Michael Womack, John Lomperis, Shannon Priddy*, Amy Land
Elected to North Central Jurisdictional Conference
Kim Arnott*, John Shive, Brett Lloyd, Kenneth Einselen, Robert Muhlbaier III, Mary Fridlud, Nanacy Stauffer, Albert Hidalgo, Jr.*
Reserve delegates: Carolyn Johnson*, Marcus Jennings*, Nathan Lundy*
The 2020 Indiana Annual Conference Session will be held June 11-13 at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind. For more information about 2019 Indiana Annual Conference, visit www.inumc.org/ac19.
Daniel R. Gangler, retired United Methodist communicator living in Indianapolis