Even as they pray for grieving families and a traumatized community, many in the church are also asking in the words of Psalm 13: “How long, Oh Lord, how long?”

“Our hearts are broken for the people of Uvalde, Texas,” said Bishop Robert Schnase, whose area includes Uvalde, in a May 24 message. He leads both the Rio Texas and New Mexico conferences.

United Methodists across the U.S. have faced similar violence many times before. Less than two weeks ago, a gunman killed 10 people in a racism-fueled mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store, and another gunman killed one person and injured five others in an attack on a Taiwanese Presbyterian church in California.

The slaughter at Robb Elementary in Uvalde now joins the list of deadliest school shootings. United Methodists also responded in 2018, when a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and in 2012, when a shooter killed 26 people — including 20 children — at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Education Week reports that so far this year, there have been 27 school shootings with injuries or deaths.

On Thursday May 19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control moved the COVID-19 Community Risk Level from Medium to High for four counties in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference: Peoria, Tazewell, Ford, and Champaign Counties. The CDC has three community risk levels, with High as most severe. You can see the data tracking and read more about the metrics here: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker.

Because the location of our 2022 Annual Conference Session is within Peoria County, this will result in changes to our safety practices at Annual Conference. If the COVID community risk level for Peoria County remains High on June 9-11, then the Committee on Annual Conference Sessions will be asking all of our in-person participants to wear a well-fitted face mask while indoors. If this change in risk level or masking recommendations results in you deciding to change from in-person to online participation, please follow the following guidelines prior to May 27 to make this change in registration:

Persons wishing to switch their registration from being on-site to virtual as a result of the possibility of masks needing to be worn: Go back to your confirmation email that came upon registering for Annual Conference. There is a link that says VIEW CONFIRMATION where you can view or manage your registration. Click it on, select Edit Form at the top, go to the question dealing with Conference location, make your change and hit the Submit Registration button at the bottom of the screen. Any changes need to be made today prior to the May 27 cutoff. Otherwise, you are locked in to your selection. Contact Paul Black if you have any difficulties in making the change.

The Pre-Conference workbook's Legislative, Information and Reference sections was posted online on Monday, May 2, and was sent via email to voting lay and clergy members that have provided an email address. Supplemental legislation was posted May 18. All of these items may be found in the Annual Conference Downloads Page.

Registration for the June 4 clergy session is open through June 1. Register at: https://igrc-reg.brtapp.com/ac2022clergysession

Clergy session will be June 4 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Melvin Price Convocation Center at McKendree University in Lebanon. The clergy session will also be a hybrid event.

Today is the last day to register for the June 9-11 session at Peoria and it is also the last day for purchasing special meal tickets. Clergy need to register for both the clergy and the plenary sessions. Laity only need to register for the June 9-11 session. Registration for the June 9-11 session is at: https://www.igrc.org/ac2022registration Registrations after the deadline will need to be on-site in order to participate and vote.

By waiting until after the deadline, no further changes can be made and those choices are locked into place. The online credentials are unique for each individual, so if you share the information, you may be locking yourself out of the meeting room. And, as in previous years, if two persons are sharing a connection for viewing, that connection is limited to one vote. it is possible that the other individual could join on a cellphone or tablet with their own credentials so that the voting box comes up on their screen, enabling both persons to vote.

As part of our preparation for the upcoming 2022 Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference session on June 9-11, all lay and clergy Annual Conference members and interested guests are welcome to participate in a Pre-Conference Briefing.

You may view the online briefing from earlier in the month at: https://www.igrc.org/ac2022briefing.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your District Superintendent, the host church, or IGRC Director of Connectional Ministries, Curtis Brown (cbrown@igrc.org).

One of the great traditions of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference is celebrating our generous special offerings. These are opportunities for our churches and members to show their faith and encourage the good work that our church is doing in the name of Christ. At this year’s Annual Conference Session we will have four special offerings:

Opening Worship: Our Conference Our Kids fund for spiritual development

Laity Session: John Kofi Asmah School in Liberia

Friday Morning Manna Offering: Tom Brown Scholarship at Wiley College

Ordination Offering: Bishop’s Trip for Ordinands

Each of these special offerings represent a ministry that is deeply interconnected to the mission of the churches of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference. These ministries have impacted hundreds of lives and involved many of our churches, our pastors, and our leaders throughout the years. Offering checks can be made payable to Illinois Great Rivers Conference, with the offering name in the memo line. Offering opportunities will also be available through an online donation portal at: https://igrc-reg.brtapp.com/AC2022SpecialOfferings

Attendees to the 2022 Annual Conference are urged to have congregations collect items for the Midwest Mission Distribution Center. A trailer will be located at the Peoria Civic Center to accept those donations during the Annual Conference.

MMDC will be operating a drop-off site at Annual Conference. The trailer will be parked on the corner of SW Monroe and North William Kumpf Blvd. You are also welcome to drop your items off at one of the permanent collection sites located at Coal City UMC, Peoria: Forrest Hill UMC, Shiloh UMC, and Mt. Vernon West Salem Trinity UMC

Items most needed are:

Supplies can be collected and brought to Annual Conference or you may contribute to Advance Special #6620 and bring your offering with you.

Parking will be managed by the Peoria Civic Center – no parking passes will be sold through IGRC. The Peoria Civic Center has two convenient parking lots located right next to the facility.

The Peoria Civic Center Fulton Lot is located on the corner of Fulton Street and Monroe Street.

The Peoria Civic Center Marquee Lot is located off Kumpf Blvd. There will be plenty of designated handicap parking spaces available, if needed. The daily rate for parking at each of these lots is $7.

Special meals are somewhat more limited this year as there has been a significant price

increase due to the Civic Center closing its catering service. All catering for special meals is with a third-party vendor.

Concessions will be open within the Peoria Civic Center and there are several restaurants within walking distance from the Civic Center. The Annual Conference agenda has also been adjusted to provide two hour meal breaks instead of the standard 90 minutes.

Instead of planning a meal at Annual Conference this year, the chairs of the IGRC Church & Society, Commission on Religion & Race, and the Commission on the Status and Role of Women have published a list of local restaurants for your consideration. You may download the list at: https://qrco.de/bcyK1I. The address, approximate travel time, cuisine, hours, website, and whether the restaurant is owned by persons that Black, indigenous, people of color or women. Please consider putting your dollars to work in the community by choosing local establishments rather than national chains during your time in Peoria. Donations to local charities working on racial, climate, and gender justice will be made from each of the committees in lieu of hosting a speaker this year. If you have any questions, please reach out to Christina Krost at christina.krost@gmail.com.

In addition, the IGRC chapter of the Wesleyan Covenant Association will host a breakfast on Friday, June 10, from 7 to 8 a.m. at Peoria First UMC. Cost is $5, payable at the door. Pre-register at the following link: https://fumcpeoria.wufoo.com/forms/q15f5l1p010uvac/

The Conference Prayer Team is organizing a Prayer Vigil that will be conducted from three hours prior to three hours after the Clergy Session on Saturday, June 4, and again, beginning at 7 a.m. on June 9 and continuing until 3 p.m. on June 11.

Attendees as well as guests, visitors and persons in IGRC congregations are invited to take one or more of the 15-minute time slots with the goal of bathing the Annual Conference session in prayer.

Sign-up will begin on Monday and room will be available for as many as three persons to sign up for any one time slot. Once those slots are filled, the time slot will disappear.

Applications are being sought for the vacant IGRC Director of Congregational Development position through June 24.

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