wfn.org | General Conference activities will be easy to follow from home

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Feb. 25, 2000   News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.     10-21-30-71B{096}

NOTE:  Editors may wish to use the General Conference logo with this story. 

By United Methodist News Service

United Methodists will be able to follow gavel-to-gavel activities at their
General Conference in Cleveland May 2-12, even if they can't attend in
person. 

Information will be available in a variety of formats and channels during
the church's top legislative gathering. Nearly 1,000 delegates - half clergy
and half lay - from around the world will be participating in the
conference, and more than twice that number of people will be attending as
visitors.

For those who can't go to Cleveland, information is as close as their home
computer or telephone.

People with Internet access may find information about the conference at
http://gc2000.umc.org, on the denomination's World Wide Web site.  

United Methodist News Service (UMNS), the denomination's official news
agency, will post more than 75 stories during the conference, one after each
major action or presentation. In addition, updates will be posted throughout
each day and a wrap-up story will be provided each night.  

Stories produced by UMNS are aimed primarily at the news media but are
available to any interested individual. Photographs, in addition to stories,
will be available online for the news media. 

All stories and daily summaries for the duration of the 10-day meeting can
be received automatically by e-mail. To subscribe to this free service, go
to http://umns.umc.org/gc2000news on the Web.  

Whether by e-mail or telephone, the staff of InfoServ will be available from
8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time (Monday through Friday) to answer questions
about any General Conference proposal. Daily recorded updates will be
available from InfoServ 24 hours a day. InfoServ can be reached by phone at
(800) 251-8140 or by e-mail at infoserv@umcom.umc.org.  

Both InfoServ, the denomination's information service, and UMNS are
administered by United Methodist Communications, headquartered in Nashville,
Tenn.

All petitions and proposals being considered by the delegates will be on the
General Conference Web site at http://gc2000.umc.org/petitions/  in April. A
Petition Entry and Tracking System (PETS) will enable people to see the
changes proposed for any paragraph in the Book of Discipline and to search
for petitions by source, title or disciplinary paragraph.

Those following the conference at their home or office can also subscribe to
the Daily Christian Advocate (DCA), a "Congressional Record" for the
conference with advance, daily and wrap-up editions.  

The DCA is produced for the conference by the United Methodist Publishing
House. In addition to the printed versions, available by mail, the DCA will
be available in April at http://gc2000.umc.org/dca/ on the Web. The DCA will
include news and photos of the conference, verbatim reports from plenary
sessions, proposals passed by legislative committees, and full texts of the
traditional episcopal and laity addresses scheduled early in the conference.

The Advance Edition of the DCA is available in two sections, totaling 1,148
pages. It includes all the legislative proposals and reports from study
committees and churchwide boards and agencies. Delegates will be working
through the proposals in 10 legislative committees during the first week of
the conference, and the items will be presented to the full assembly in the
second week.   

In addition to the Advance Edition, a 115-page Handbook for Delegates
provides a list of delegates, assignments to legislative committees, seating
assignments, the rules of order and the plan of organization.  

The DCA total package is completed with the 16-page Round-Up Edition, which
will have photos and capsule reports on all actions. A copy of this edition
will also be sent to all clergy in Circuit Rider, produced by the United
Methodist Publishing House.   

Daily Christian Advocate (800) 672-1789
	Advance Edition (sections 1&2) includes all legislative proposals
and is 
organized by legislative committees. Available now. $35 (Item No. 701327).
Handbook for Delegates includes names, addresses, and committee assignments
of all delegates, information about the conference and proposed rules of
order.
Available now. $7 (Item No. 701442).
Daily reports with binder will include General Council on Finance and
Administration report and Round-Up Edition. To be mailed by UPS on May 13.
$45 (Item No. 701624).
Round-up Edition (16 pages). To be mailed first-class on May 13. $3 each; 10
or more copies are $1 each (item No. 701681).

Other sources of news and information about the Cleveland assembly include
conference and area newspapers and Web sites, Interpreter magazine, Newscope
and the United Methodist Reporter. Pastors and select local church officers
receive Interpreter at no cost from UMCom. Others may subscribe by calling
(615) 742-5449 or by sending an e-mail message to interpreter@umcom.umc.org.

Newscope, a weekly newsletter produced by the United Methodist Publishing
House, is available first class, periodical class or e-mail. To subscribe,
call (800) 672-1789. 

The United Methodist Reporter is an independent newspaper published in
Dallas. In addition to its national print edition, it will be posting daily
reports on its Web site at  www.umr.org. To subscribe to the national
edition, call (800) 947-0207.   

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*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://www.umc.org/umns