“My sisters and brothers I want you to be encourages as we serve the Lord with Gladness,” said Bishop Julius Calvin Trimble as he greeted the assembled clergy of the Iowa Conference for their annual session. “Annual Conference is an exciting time to be be Bishop” he noted “and I can tell you’re excited, too by the way you’re filling this hall.”
“This is a time when we will be giving thanks for the service” of some thirty-seven clergy who will be retiring. “We’ll will also be blessing and celebrating those who have completed educational and denominational requirements,” he added.
“We are the family of God,” he declared. “We are one family in the Iowa Annual Conference. Whether we know each other real well or whether we’re just acquaintances and colleagues in ministry or whether it’s been a generation before yours, or not, we are part of the same ministerial family. Because we are part of the same ministry family, the ministry of presence is as important as the ministry of the spoken work.”
“Many people are experiencing transitions,” Bishop Trimble noted. “If my numbers are correct there are eighty-six moves that will take place, across seventy-five full-time appointments. We covet prayers from the community of faith and clergy session for all who will experience a time of transition in their families.”
Bishop Trimble then welcomed Central Texas United Methodist Bishop Mike Lowry, who was the keynote speaker for the clergy session and who will be the preacher for the Opening Worship service for the Annual Conference session
Click here for a photo gallery from the Clergy Session