Are you sitting comfortably? Then let's begin!

I'm a lifer -- born, raised, baptised, married, had my kids baptised, and serving as a minister in The United Church of Canada. Notice the capital "T" on "The?" Only lifers know you're supposed to do that! The "The" is part of our official, legal name as approved by an act of Parliament, so there!

I was commissioned into the diaconal minister of The United Church of Canada by Toronto Conference in 1986, and I've served at every level of the church almost constantly since.

Most recently, I've been elected by Maritime Conference to serve as ministry personnel representative to the General Council Executive, which means I was a Commissioner to the most recent General Council meeting (GC40) at Kelowna, BC in August 2009. I also chair the Pastoral Relations Committee in Valley Presbytery, but will be phasing out of that over the next year. GCE rep is enough, since it also automatically puts you on your Conference Executive, as well as on a General Council Committee. I'll be on the GC Nominating Committee, so if you want a job, let me know! Lots of benefits, no additional pay.

This is my first blog of any significance, and I intend to use it to post my impressions of what goes on at the General Council level of our church and how we collectively "discern the way" of how we should be going. I've been pretty unhappy with what I perceive to be some mis-steps over the last few years, and I'm hoping to gain some insights into this. GCE had some hard decisions to make, and I have to believe that they were made faithfully. However, the communications around those decision was horrible, and I still believe that wider consultation would have produced a more acceptable result. Friends are already warning me that GCE is like the Borg -- I will be assimilated! We'll see, and I'm looking for your help in resisting, however futile!

Stay tuned!