Saturday started really slowly, with business not kicking off until 2pm. So I spent much of the morning wanding around Plymouth. It was Armed Forces Day, and Plymouth is the largest Naval port in Western Europe, so there was quite a lot going on. I met up with two of the Children and Youth Team and the 3Generate reps to watch the veterans parade, and missed most of the Typhoon display.
After luch, Conference began properly with the handing over of power to the new President and Vice-President. This is one of the highlights of Conference for me, and this year was amazing! Mark Wakelin (the incoming President) made an amazing speak, I can't really sum it up, but you have to watch it on 'watch again' on the MethConf website (yes, we have watch again services!) I also finally met some one I have interacted a fair bit with on Twitter and Facebook, so that was lovely.
There was the usual opening of business stuff, followed by the Methodist Missional Society's AGM. There were some amazing stories from Methodists from around the world. One story, from El Salvador, bought me close to teared. I think I'm going to keep it for another blog post though, so watch this space!
The girlfriend and I headed out on another date, we planned to go to Pizza Hut (and use my discount), but the had obviously underestimated how busy they would be today (Plymouth was packed!) And had run out of pizza... Someone is going to be in trouble with Area Management! So I defected and we went to Pizza Express instead. It's obviously not as good though....
Then we went down to the Waterfront for the Youth meetup, which is always a great evening. Young (and a few young at heart) had a drink or two and chatted about all kinds of stuff. It was good to catch up with some old friends, meet some new people and talk methodism. I found out that the Youth President Elect used to refer to me as 'Super-Methodist' so I'm going to have to invest in a cape!
Sunday allowed another lie-in, before heading off for the Sunday Worship and receiving into Full Connexion. I loved the service, the music was amazing, some great hymns (not hummus as I accidentally tweeted). It is also very powerful when people's ministries are affirmed by a standinig vote.
Then I headed up to Newton Abbott for a friend's ordination. I was honoured to be there, at a celebration of years of hard work and the dedication of future ministry. It was also good to catch up with a few friend I hadn't seen for a while over the post-ordination cake.
The evening was a typical Methconf evening, sat with friends over food debating Methodist matters. I love that the discussions outside of busines hours are as important as those in, passions flow, knowledge is informally shared and there is no hard dwellings at the end of it. It's why I love the people we call Methodists. The night finished off with a 'drink' with a friend (drink is in inverted commas because the bar was shut), before a very soggy walk home.
My phone alarm has just informed me I have 6h28m before I'll be rudely awoken, so I think now is a good time to get some well earned rest before a long day of business tomorrow.
God Bless
Matt
Aka @thegingerMC
