Hello North Georgia. I’m Brian Tillman, your director of inclusion and advocacy and the co-director of connectional ministries. I’m here to make you aware that the nominations process is open now (February 1) until March 1, 2024, to submit nominees for service to the conference on boards and committees.
We are in search of highly skilled disciples of Jesus to serve in areas of great importance to our conference. Over the past few years, there have been several changes to the process that resulted in a more inclusive collection of disciples being nominated and now serving the conference. They are an incredibly gifted group and we are grateful for their service. We are hopeful that more new, skilled, and inclusive disciples will be nominated again this year that represent the great diversity of this conference.
I once heard someone say that diversity is about counting people; Inclusion is about making people count. In North Georgia we want to be inclusive in every board and committee because we believe we are better when all of God’s children are represented, welcomed, and included at the table.
Let me be clear, we want gifted people regardless of demographics AND we want people who are currently underrepresented in our Conference leadership like those who are in in-town, suburban, and rural areas, folks who are Latin, Asian, members of the LGBTQ community, and who are First Natives. With your help, our conference leadership can be made up of the best people from all over North Georgia who represent many different communities and groups.
Each year we evaluate the process for potential improvements.
One of the changes this year is a requirement for those being nominated to have a recommendation from their pastor, church lay leader, district superintendent, or district lay leader. Another change this year is that those who are selected to serve will be required to complete the implicit bias training course online prior to Annual Conference in June. This comes from a standing rule addition that was voted on and approved with 87% support at the June 2023 Annual Conference after the recommendation of our Reparations Task Force.
To help you better understand our nominations process, we have created a brochure that tells you all about the process, about the various ways and opportunities to service, and even includes a description of our boards, a brief description of the skillsets needed to serve, and a general idea of how often they meet.
We know North Georgia is gifted with skilled United Methodist laity and clergy. I hope you will help us find the right people to lead our conference and perhaps you are one of those people.
For more information, please visit our Nominations page online at www.ngumc.org/nominations and help us spread the word that we are looking for disciples to help us be the church God is calling us to be.