This is going to be a long post, and I'm sorry for that. There are two sections though, so some of you won't care about all of these sections. The first is my reflections after attending Annual Conference this year. The second section is the official report from the Annual Conference, with more technical details. You can jump to which section you want to read.

We started conference off with an evening of fun and no agenda. We gathered at a local park and played games, fellowshipped, and ate ice cream. This really set the tone of everything, keeping things unified and lighthearted, even when dealing with heavy things.

We received many powerful messages through the Bible Studies brought by Dr. Shively Smith. You can watch her teachings in the playlist below. With the theme being "Come, Holy Spirit, Come," she focused on the Holy Spirit. I took away 2 quotes that really stood out to me:

"If [The Holy Spirit] doth not now bear witness with thy spirit, that thou art a child of God, O that he might convince thee, thou poor unawakened sinner, by his demonstration and power, that thou art a child of the devil! O that, as I prophesy, there might now be "a noise and a shaking;" and may "the bones come together, bone to his bone!" Then "come from the four winds, O Breath! and breathe on these slain, that they may live!" And do not ye harden your hearts, and resist the Holy Ghost, who even now is come to convince you of sin, "because you believe not on the name of the only begotten Son of God." –John Wesley, Awake, You That Sleepest (1742)

"The Holy Spirit has enabled men to speak with tongues, and to prophesy; but the light that most necessarily attends it is a light to discern the fallacies of flesh and blood, to reject the irreligious maxims of the world, and to practice those degrees of trust in God and love to men, whose foundation is not so much in the present appearances of things, as in some that are yet to come. The object which this light brings us most immediately to know is ourselves; and by virtue of this, one that is born of God, and has a lively hope may indeed see far into the ways of Providence, and farther yet into the holy Scriptures...." –John Wesley, On the Holy Spirit (1736)

There was so much unity this year. We had youth getting calls to ministry, the front of the room flooded with people at the end of ordination because they felt God calling them to something, and joy everywhere you went.

The 2024 session of The Florida Annual Conference was held June 6-8 at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. This year’s theme was “Come, Holy Spirit, Come.”

The Florida Conference is proud to announce the launch of a grant program made possible by this year’s Annual Conference Offering. Through these grants, churches in the Florida Conference will have the resources to initiate or sustain feeding projects specifically tailored to address childhood hunger. Click here to donate.

The Conference approved an overall budget of $10,496,599 for 2025, which amounts to a reduction of $3,574,598 from the previous year’s budget. Additionally, Conference Treasurer Craig Smelser reported that:

• 257 churches gave 100% of apportionments in 2023.
• Overall, 93% of the apportionment budget was received from local churches.
• Conference expenses were up approximately $270,000 in 2023 in comparison to 2022. Most of that increase was due to the impact of inflation. We also committed through the 2023 apportionment budget to increase our investment in the Warren Willis Camp and Conference Center as we renewed our efforts to reach the next generation with good news of Jesus.
• The 2025 budget is another 22% lower than the 2023 budget resulting in an Annual Conference budget that is 35% lower than in 2023.
• The Ministry Protection Committee will be forming a Sustainability Task Team to make recommendations to ensure the future of the program.

View additional budget and apportionment details in the workbook on pages 101-114.

Click here to view a list of local pastor appointments by district as of July 1, 2024.

This year, Alice Williams completed her four-year term as Conference Co-Lay Leader. The laity of the Annual Conference elected Warren Pattison to serve as the new Conference Co-Lay Leader along with Derrick Scott, III, who retains his position.

Bronwyn Bedient, Lisa Lopez and Tamra Fitzgerald were elected to serve as lay delegates to the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference July 10-12, 2024, at Lake Junaluska, NC. They will each serve a four-year term and will also be entered into the pool for consideration to become delegates to the 2028 General Conference.

Nine people were licensed as local pastors; two were commissioned as provisional elders; one person was ordained as a deacon; and nine were ordained as elders. Click here to view their names. To watch video of the services, click here.

The following churches are celebrating milestone anniversaries:

• 200 Years: Trinity, Tallahassee (NW)
• 150 Years: Mandarin, Jacksonville (NE); Emmanuel, Palatka (NE)
• 125 Years: Mt. Carmel, High Springs (NW); Hyde Park, Tampa (GC); Terra Ceia (SW)
• 100 Years: St. John’s, Miami Beach (SE); Allendale, St. Petersburg (GC); Wesley Memorial, St. Petersburg, (GC)
• 50 Years: St. Paul’s, Ocala (NC)
• 25 Years: Hope, Cape Coral (SW); New Life Community, Jacksonville (NE)

The Conference voted to approve the discontinuance of Banks, Archer (NC); Sumterville (NC); and Olympia Heights, Miami (SE).

The Service of Remembrance for the clergy and clergy spouses who died in the last year featured a sermon from Rev. Vidalis Lopez. View the service here.

The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women requested that all annual conference sessions across the church be monitored by the annual conference COSROWs for inclusiveness. Click here to read the report of the Florida Annual Conference monitoring team.

The Conference noted the long and dedicated service of 29 pastoral leaders who move on to retirement. They combined have served for more than 516 years. Click here to view a video of the service.

The next Annual Conference is set for June 5-7, 2025, in Lakeland, FL.
Complete coverage of this year’s Annual Conference event is available at flumc.org/news.
Full ministry reports are included in the 2024 Annual Conference Workbook here.