wfn.org | Fire, flood, storm do not stop pre-conference briefing

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

Jan. 18, 2000	News media contact: Joretta Purdue·(202)546-8722·Washington
10-71BP{017}

NOTE: This story may be used with a related report, UMNS story #018.
Conference editors may want to use the General Conference logo with this
article. A photograph is available.

CLEVELAND (UMNS) - Fire, flood and snow had some United Methodists wondering
about plagues and punishments at the Pre-General Conference News Briefing
Jan. 13-15.

The event is held every four years to help United Methodist communicators
and heads of delegation prepare for the General Conference that follows a
few months later. This year's briefing drew 300 people. General Conference,
the church's highest legislative gathering, will be held May 2-12 in
Cleveland.

The day before the briefing began, annual conference volunteers were
assisting United Methodist Communications (UMCom) staff in stuffing
registration packets and making nametags when a fire alarm sounded. The
sight and smell of smoke pouring out of the vents over the nearby elevators
sent them scurrying down 22 flights of stairs to the street.

While they had visions of their work being destroyed by the sprinkler system
if not the fire itself, they watched the Cleveland Fire Department bring in
more and more equipment. Finally after watching for about a half hour, they
adjourned to a restaurant for lunch and the opportunity to rest their weary
legs.

Returning to the hotel, the group found that the lobby was undamaged and the
elevators were working. On the 22nd floor, the ceiling had been pulled out
in places, and workmen were at work in closet-sized areas. The sprinklers
had not been activated, but acrid smoke made the work area unpleasant. And
the bathrooms had no water.

Hotel staff offered alternate workspace on the sixth floor. As UMCom staffer
Charlene Ridenour was bringing down some of the last items, the elevator
stalled between the 21st and the 18th floors. She was rescued eventually by
someone from the hotel's maintenance staff but only after a scary 15- to
20-minute wait.

Ridenour, who was coordinating the event for United Methodist News Service,
wondered aloud if she would need to move the briefing to another hotel
because of the lack of water. But the water was eventually restored, a
missing box of supplies was found, and the work team adjourned for dinner.

Then shortly before 5 p.m., disaster occurred when an 80-year-old, 36-inch
water main erupted. Streets, underground parking and basements were flooded
by 25 million gallons of water. The whole area was without water. The hotel
distributed bottled water. Some briefing registrants arriving at the airport
were told they could not get to their hotel because so many streets were
blocked.

Phone service inside the hotel was disrupted, so room service was closed.
None of the pay phones worked. Calling out was reduced to one cell phone at
the front desk.

Ridenour was again trapped in a recalcitrant elevator - this time with a
grouchy elevator repairman. 

While several registrants ate a late dinner in the hotel restaurant and
speculated about how they could manage without water for bathing  - not well
- the water service was restored to the hotel. Because a boil order was
issued for several square miles, registrants continued to drink bottled
water, and Cleveland closed its schools for the following day.

Attendees who arrived the next day, Jan. 13, were not spared either. Heavy
winds caused some of the airplanes carrying communicators and delegates to
be diverted. One group made it to Cleveland but could not land, so the
travelers went to Cincinnati and were bused in - a five-hour ride.

This year's briefing program moved away from the traditional format of
agency and caucus representatives telling about program proposals. Longer
but fewer sessions focused on major issues such as the Connectional Process
Team (CPT) recommendations for a global church. Bishop Sharon Brown
Christopher of the Illinois Area, the Rev. Minerva Carcano, Dallas, and the
Rev. Marcus Matthews, Columbia, Md., presented a brief overview of the CPT
report, which may be read at www.umc.org/cpt/report.

They were followed by a response panel of communicators that included
Cynthia Astle from the United Methodist Reporter, Linda Green of United
Methodist News Service, the Rev. Tom Slack from the West Ohio Conference and
Anne Whiting, editor of the Michigan Christian Advocate.

Four people joined together to explain the Act of Repentance and
Reconciliation that will be a feature of this General Conference. They were
the Rev. Bruce Robbins and Ann Marshall, staff executives from the
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Cooperation, and the Rev.
Rhymes H. Moncure Jr. and Ruth Daugherty, members of the commission. Through
the act, scheduled for May 4, the United Methodist Church will officially
apologize and repent for racism within the church throughout its history and
that of its predecessor denominations.

The Rev. Scott Field of Good News, the Rev. Jeanne Knepper of Affirmation
and the Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett of the United Methodist Board of Church
and Society addressed the issue of homosexuality. Fassett reminded the
delegates that they are the General Conference, the only body that speaks
for the church, and warned, "We run the risk of extraordinary examples of
intolerance" in the way homosexuality is dealt with.

While remaining quite civil, the other two panel members stressed their
organizations' perspectives. Field said Good News reaffirms the Book of
Discipline's standards on sexuality, wants an appeal process for
complainants to use if a bishop dismisses a complaint, and wants changes
that would permit congregations to leave the United Methodist Church and
take with them the property they hold in trust.

Knepper said Affirmation seeks the removal of the Discipline's language that
says homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, along with the
removal of the "special prohibition" on ordination, the study of
homosexuality and the celebration of homosexual commitments. Her hope, she
said, is that all the church will focus on Jesus' statement that the most
important thing for believers is to love God and to love their neighbor as
themselves. 

The homosexuality session was preceded by an issues fair, which provided
agencies and caucuses space to display and distribute their message within a
ballroom where breakfast was served.

Worship services were provided by people from the Ohio East Conference and
concluded with a highly symbolic "Clown Communion" by the Cleveland Praise
Ministry.

# # #

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