Church
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Re: Pastors and Churches Endorsing Candidates
Posted same day on my Facebook Page I will speak briefly on the ability for houses of worship/religious leaders to now endorse candidates and move on. According to the report, when a house of worship “in good faith speaks to its congregation, through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with Continue reading
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July 8th, 2025 – Healthcare and Hope
This was originally posted on my Facebook on July 8th, 2025 Alright, now that we’ve acknowledged the realities of passing of the Trump administration’s Big Beautiful Bill, let’s talk about our role in what comes next with the realities at play. While the “Big Beautiful Bill” doesn’t outright target rural communities, we know that rural Continue reading
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Q&A With Dr J for the GMC Conference #1
Welcome to Global Methodist General Conference Q&A no. 1. I’ll answer the questions you gave me to the best of my knowledge and ability. 1)It seems like they are voting on things really fast without discussion, are they not allowing for discussion on purpose or did they have meetings ahead of time? If you are Continue reading
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Dakotas Conference Q&A Manipulation
I was messaged several times yesterday and now today about this event. The Dakotas Conference had Q&A sessions with delegates and their responses were consolidated and share via a Google Doc. However, there were still editing abilities available to those who viewed it. Someone viewed it, edited it with false information that seems to have Continue reading
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New YouTube Video: Key General Conference Legislation
In this video we dive into four areas of legislation that are coming up at General Conference 2020/24 this year. These include Regionalizing our Denomination, Revising the Social Principles, Removing Restrictive Language, and Clergy Formation. Get the look: https://www.bonfire.com/store/um-hist… Thanks to Kim Ingram for the use of her profile picture. Taylor Burton-Edwards for these articles: Continue reading
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YouTube: What does the General Conference Do? (Part 2)
https://youtu.be/3dUT_TGq8xsThis week’s video is part 2 of 2! I’m exploring what the General Conference does and what that might mean for local churches. Also, Taylor Swift might pop in for a second. Also, yelling. Continue reading
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“The Annual Conference is the basic body of the church…”
I do a regular Monday post about United Methodist Polity on my FB Page, but will be posting it here as well (and on the YouTube Channel) from now on. ¶33 is quite possibly my favorite section of the Constitution of The United Methodist Church. The paragraph solidifies our polity of connectionalism as one that Continue reading
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An accidental parable?
When we moved into our house in 2019, this shrub had been cut pretty far back and was unrecognizable. It didn’t have the blooms or the dried out flower/pods that follow. We considered digging it up. Then I said no, let’s give it year. Well, it came back. And each year, with some pruning, and Continue reading
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WNCC Petition 18: A reactionary historical repeat
I am headed up to Lake Junaluska on Wednesday, and I am glancing over the petitions again, and one comes back to me that bothers me. I am not usually one to encourage votes one way or another, but this one is something I passionate about, due to my work. Petition 18: Voting at Church Continue reading
Jonathan LeMaster-Smith 