AC elects all 32 delegates to GC and JC2020

By Jessica Brodie

GREENVILLE—Annual Conference has elected all 32 of its delegates, plus alternates, to the 2020 General Conference and the 2020 Jurisdictional Conference.

Voting took the better part of four days to complete, starting Monday afternoon and ending late Thursday morning. While the body successfully elected three early in the process—the Rev. Ken Nelson and Dr. Robin Dease were elected on Clergy Ballot 1 and the Hon. Jackie Jenkins was elected on Lay Ballot 1—Voting issues plagued Annual Conference for a portion of Monday and Tuesday. Both clergy and lay ballots revealed a large number of invalid votes.

Conference Secretary the Rev. Ken Nelson said the reasons for invalid write-ins varied. Some did not fill out a full ballot, some had only the name of the nominee but not the number, some had number but not name, and for some the name and number didn’t match. For electronic, invalidity appeared to be mostly human error.

South Carolina Bishop Jonathan Holston quipped in the morning as the body waited for laity results to properly sort and repost, referring to his opening sermon on holding onto hope in spite of tough times, “We are pursuing truth while we are enduring patiently, hanging on the God’s promises while we overcome a little adversity.”

However, by the third ballot, the issues seemed resolved and the body went on to elect all of its delegates without problem.

(See full slate, below.)

Many applauded the diversity of the slate of delegates, which the Rev. Wendy Hudson-Jacoby was is representative of the people of this annual conference. Of the eight clergy elected for General Conference, four are African American, one is Korean American and five are women. Of the eight laity, two are African American and three are women.

“We are setting an example for the Southeast and our entire connection about what it means to send representatives who look like our area,” Hudson-Jacoby said.



General Conference Clergy

1. 
   
2. Rev. Ken Nelson
   
3. Dr. Robin Dease
   
4. Rev. Keith Hunter
   
5. Rev. Susan Leonard
   
6. Rev. Emily Sutton
   
7. Rev. Will Malambri
   
8. Rev. Tiffany Knowlin
   
9. Rev. Karen Jones
   

General Conference Laity

1. 
   
2. Jacqueline Jenkins
   
3. James Salley
   
4. Michael Cheatham
   
5. Herman Lightsey
   
6. Chris Lynch
   
7. Martha Fridy Thompson
   
8. David Braddon
   
9. Emily Evans
   

Jurisdictional Conference Clergy

1. 
   
2. Rev. Tim Rogers
   
3. Rev. Cathy Mitchell
   
4. Rev. Fran Elrod
   
5. Rev. Connie Barnes
   
6. Rev. Mary Teasley
   
7. Rev. Kathryn Hunter
   
8. Rev. Elizabeth Murray
   
9. Rev. Richard Reams
   

• 
  
• Alternate: Dr. Stephen Love
  
• Alternate: Rev. Sara White
  

Jurisdictional Conference Laity

1. 
   
2. Betty Void
   
3. David Salter
   
4. Valerie Brooks-Madden
   
5. Marlene Spencer
   
6. Jennifer Price
   
7. Tony Watson
   
8. Lou Jordan
   
9. Doug Coffeen
   

• 
  
• Alternate: Marvin Horton
  
• Alternate: Vicki McCartha