Bishop Frank Beard writes in the upcoming August issue of The Current, drawing upon the work of one of his mentors, Dr. Robert Dungy, uncle of former NFL football coach Tony Dungy.

"Dr. Dungy would be embarrassed by the depths most of us go to excuse or explain our failures to the call and commands of Christ," Bishop Beard noted. "We offer perfectly good explanations for why we are doing, or are not doing, what Jesus clearly requires. The problem with always having an excuse or an explanation is that we seldom grow past our mistakes and failures. Instead of moving forward we get bogged down in mediocrity and we never grow past our failures."

The Alabama-West Florida Conference recently hosted a Celebrate UMC event at Auburn UMC in Auburn, Ala.

Rev. Tom Berlin, one of centrist leaders in The United Methodist Church, was the keynote speaker.

Bishop Bob Farr, episcopal leader of the Missouri Conference of The United Methodist Church, challenged those gathered for Annual Conference to a way to make the annual conference amazing.

Bishop Barr said the remedy was starting to listen to each other. "What if we stopped using this language and listened to each other? Our attitudes, life experiences, theology and biblical understandings might have to do with how we grew up, who we grew up around, who raised us and what we experienced along the way. 

Forms for charge conferences which will be held in the fall are now available through your Church Portal Page.

To access the documents, click on Church Portal on the IGRC Homepage or go to: https://www.igrc.org/churchportal to find the log-in page. Select your District from the dropdown menu. This will trigger a second drop-down menu where you select your Church. The passcode is the church's six-digit GCFA number which can be found on the monthly remittance form for apportionment payments.

In preparation for charge conferences in the fall, the Finance Office has prepared two pages of information that will assist you in your budget building for 2023.

A document outlining the Clergy Benefits and Costs for 2023 includes action taken by the 2022 Annual Conference with regard to minimum salaries for full-time elders and full-time local pastors.

A second document Important Numbers for Charge Conference provides additional information and background. The Apportionment calculations and the Charge Conference forms will be published in the next few weeks.

If you DO NOT place an order by July 31, you will receive your free copy of the Journal Yearbook in CD form rather than in printed form, unless you've opted out of receiving the Journal in the past in which case you will receive neither.

Applications are being sought for the vacant IGRC Director of Congregational Development position have been extended through July 31.

The position became vacant due to the appointment of the Rev. Mike Crawford as Spoon River District Superintendent July 1.