CONVO XVII
Bishop James L. Davis, CONVO Chair
Bishop Clement W. Fugh, Legislative Committee Chair
December 3 – 5, 2015
Westin Hotel, Atlanta Airport Atlanta, GA
Theme: First Things First!
Scripture: “Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.” St Matthew 6: 33 (NLT)
The paradigm for CONVO XVII “Christ Centered,” following a three-fold process for accomplishing our objectives:
- Identify problem areas.
- Provide biblical and theological foundations as a foundation for developing a formula to address the problems.
- Arrive at theoretical solutions that can be incorporated in legislation, if need be, that allows the Church to live out its mandate.
You are invited to submit your suggestions using the survey form below. You may view the submissions of others here.
CONVO XVII Reports / Presentations
Click links below to view Reports / Presentations from the meeting:
Hotel Information
- Westin Atlanta Airport, 4736 Best Road, Atlanta, GA 30337 (404) 762-7676
- Group Rate: $154/night (single/double occupancy)
- To make a reservation click this link.
- You may also make a reservation by calling 888-627-7211 and asking for the AME Church CONVO group rate.
Event Agenda
Thursday, December 3, 2015
- 10:00 a.m. Opening Devotion and Meditation
- 10:30 a.m. Opening Plenary Welcome and Felicitations Keynote Address Respondent CONVO Directives
- 12:00 Noon Lunch
- 1:30 p.m. Breakout Groups A and B
- 3:30 p.m. Breakout Groups C and D
- 5:30 p.m. Dinner on Your Own
- 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Breakout Group E
Friday, December 4, 2015
- 9:00 a.m. Devotion and Meditation
- 9:30 a.m. CONVO Directives
- 9:45 a.m. Closing Plenary Reflections/Summations from Groups Discussion – Questions and Answers
- 11:45 a.m. Wrap-up and Charge Adjournment
- 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Drafting Committee
- 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Drafting Committee
Saturday, December 5, 2015
- 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. Review of Work and Submission of Final Draft
Probing Statement
In reflecting on CONVO XVI, November 17-18, 2014 in Nashville, TN, we had a powerful experience. We prayed and dialogued as the Lord unfolded our agenda on drafting legislation that point us toward reaching consensus. We worked together, employed our complementary gifts and witnessed God leading through those various gifts.
Using as our springboard the 2014 Theme, Let’s Do It Together & Let’s Do It Now! I want to take us further into the journey. I am excited to serve with the team for CONVO XVII. I believe the best days are just ahead as we seek God and let Him lead us in our deliberations and decisions that will best serve the people.
As I began thinking about ways to engage the team in reflecting, creating guidelines, and setting boundaries for our work, John Maxwell’s book, How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life, kept invading my thoughts. At one point in his writing he said something to the effect that, Successful thinkers always manage to Keep First Things First. My over-arching question to you is what should be our First Things? Once more the Words of our Creator resound loudly and clearly in Matt 6:33 (NLF). “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”
It is apparent to me that carrying out the mandates of the Great Commandment, and the Great Commission should be our first; and everything else is an addendum.
As we very well know, The Mission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is to minister to the spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional, and environmental needs of all people by spreading Christ’s liberating gospel through word and deed…to seek out and save the lost, and serve the needy. Our Church’s mission articulates the message of evangelism and discipleship.
Given our society’s religious, social, political, economic, and technological landscape challenges, there is need to engage in parallel discussions regarding (a) the Mission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the world; the Method for governing our community of faith; (b) to seed these deliberations with some pointed questions that impact our goal to address the big picture – the present and future – through church legislation both locally and globally.