• Approved a 2005 budget of $14.88 million, a 2.9 percent increase over the previous year;
  
• Approved a 2005 past service retirement rate of $425 per year of approved pre-1982 ministerial service, an increase from $411 the past year;
  
• Held an ordination, commissioning and licensing service for 17 new probationers, six deacons in probationary and associate membership, 23 local pastors, and one elder whose orders were recognized;
  
• Held a celebration service for 21 retiring clergy members;
  ! Held a memorial service for 21 clergy and 14 clergy spouses who died in the past year;
  
• Awarded ?Change for Children? grants ranging from $4,000 to $1,000 to 17 ministries;
  
• Conducted 13 workshops and two chat rooms attended by 720 members;
  
• Voted to accept recommendations of task forces for Hispanic/Latino ministries, prison ministries, and Wesley Foundations, indicating a stronger emphasis on those ministries;
  
• Voted to designate $54,114 in the 2005 budget to benefit Holston's five Wesley Foundations;
  
• Approved resolutions to discontinue St. Andrews United Methodist Church, Chattanooga District, and Washington Chapel UMC, Kingsport District, and to arrange for the sell of abandoned Fleming UMC, Wytheville District;
  
• Approved a ?Safe Sanctuaries? resolution requiring churches to adopt a child and youth abuse prevention policy.
  
• Recognized the Rev. Mary Virginia "Dindy" Taylor, Cleveland District superintendent, and the Rev. Jerald Russell, senior pastor at Fairview United Methodist Church, Maryville District, as candidates for bishop;
  
• Recognized that membership stands at 168,121, down .05 percent from the previous year. Worship attendance stands at 73,835, down 2.4 percent from the previous year.
  

The Africa University Choir participated in opening worship and speakers during the four-day conference included Bishop Jonathan Keaton of the East Ohio Conference and physician Jack McConnell, founder of the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic in Hilton Head Island, S.C. Also making appearances were missionaries Peter Pereira of India and Bill and Maria Humbane of Zimbabwe.

The children's ministry team announced the launch of "Grand Camp," which will promote reading to children.

The Holston Conference Foundation announced four new 25-year endowments to mark the Foundation's 25th birthday. The $25,000 endowments will each benefit camping and retreat ministries, missions scholarships, a ministers' aid fund, and the Wesley Institute (continuing education).

The conference's extended cabinet presented 40 new hymnals to the Rev. Paul Griffith, prison chaplain at Keen Mountain Correctional Center in Tazewell District. The cabinet's gift was inspired by a recent visit to the prison, where inmates used hymnals from the 1960s.

Conference members presented Harry Denman Evangelism awards to the Rev. Carol Ferguson, pastor at Mosheim UMC, Morristown District, and Ronnie Collins, lay member at First Hillsville UMC, Wytheville District. The Francis Asbury Award for fostering higher education was presented to Fred Kellogg, professor at Emory & Henry College, Emory, Va.

Several testimonies were presented as part of the "Amazing Grace" theme. Former clergy member Gil Smith told of his abuse of prescription drugs and alcohol and surrendering his ministerial credentials in 2000. Today, Smith leads a ministry for people suffering from addiction. "Celebrate Recovery" is based at Cokesbury UMC, Knoxville Dsitrict, and offers worship and support for more than 300 every Thursday night.

In another testimony, the Rev. Judith Anna read poems written by a frequent participant in "Strength for the Journey," Holston's camp for HIV victims. "Too weak now for church hopping and knocking ... Aren't I, too, a candidate for God's grace and mercy?... We came wounded and found a safe place." During a tender last-day presentation, the father and uncles of the Rev. Rick Howard, who died in May at age 47, sang "God Gave Us the Song." ("How can you sing when things go wrong? God gave us the song.")

"John Wesley wanted Annual Conference to be a place of grace," an emotional Chamberlain said after the Howard brothers' song. "And if you haven't found it here, I don't know where you're going to find it."


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Bishop's Perspective

Cover Stories:
6,000 Kits Dispatched to Africa
and
Safe Sanctuaries Resolution


Inside:

Lake Highlights

Summer Reading

National & World News

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