I was first elected as a delegate to the General Conference in 1968. What a year to be a delegate. It was the Uniting General Conference, bringing together the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church. There was great excitement as a new Protestant denomination was emerging, one that would be the largest in the nation.
There was also excitement among delegates as they anticipated a new Church without segregated organizational structures—especially since the Central Jurisdiction, a racial jurisdiction among five geographical jurisdictions, would not be a part of the new denomination.
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