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Kingswood United Methodist Church, 5015 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, GA 30338, 770-457-1317
2001 Annual Conference Report Of Kingswood Lay Delegate: Tom Cooper
Along with Jimmy Moor and Carolyn Clifton, Gary Fuller and I had the honor of being your representatives to the 135th North Georgia Annual Conference, which was held June 12th to 15th in Athens, GA.  Richard Layfield was also a delegate-at-large for the Atlanta-Roswell district.

On Tuesday night, Carolyn was ordained an Elder in full Connection.  A sizeable group of Kingswood members came to Athens that night to participate in the worship service and celebrate with Carolyn.

In addition to the business of the Annual Conference, there was exciting worship, Holy Communion, Bible study, prayer, the renewal of old friendships and the beginning of new ones.

There is much good news to report. In 2000, the Conference had a net gain of over 6,000 members, including nearly 8,000 new members received on confession of faith. Membership in UMYF programs increased 14% last year.  Recognizing the vital nature of youth programs, the Conference is developing a training program for youth leaders.  Our own Tina Pinkston has assisted in developing this training.  At the missions worship service, over $216,000 was received from the churches of the Conference for Transitional Housing, with more money expected to be contributed in the coming weeks.  Transitional Housing provides temporary housing, counseling, and other assistance to families within North Georgia who are homeless, want to work to become self-sufficient, but need temporary assistance.  This ministry served over 600 people in the last year, and the money raised will allow a significant expansion of this ministry.

One of the joys of being at Annual Conference is getting a glimpse of the many areas of evangelism and service provided by the North Georgia Conference.  For example, Action Ministries has provided help and hope to over 100,000 hurting people in the past year.  They were enabled to do this by the faithfulness of United Methodists.  Methodists helped by contributing to our churches so the churches could pay their apportionments which provide vital financial support to Action Ministries.  And, over 16,700 volunteers provided more than 171,000 hours of hands-on support.  And, Action Ministries is just one of the many organizations and agencies in the Conference providing ministry and witness to the lost and hurting around us.

Ministries such as this are going on all around us, but we need more communication so that the Kingswood member in the pew knows more about them.  When there is a controversy in the church, it seems to end up on the front page of the Journal Constitution, but when we have a success, we not only don't tell the world, often we forget to tell each other.  This not only means that we miss the opportunity to encourage each other about what the Lord has done through us and praise Him for that, but many of these ministries need the prayers and talents of Kingswood volunteers.  But if we don't know about them, we can't respond to them.  I hope during the coming year that we will find ways to keep you better informed about the work the Body of Christ is doing all about us.

Last, but by no means least, I am happy to report that the Bishop has reappointed Jimmy and Carolyn as our pastors in the coming year.

Tom Cooper

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