Dear people of the California-Pacific Annual Conference,

I am here in Charlotte, NC as one of your lay reserve delegates. I am loving seeing Cal-Pac friends, old and new! There are many people from our conference here in Charlotte, serving the church in a variety of ways. We are serving as delegates, reserve delegates, members of various committees, monitors for the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, supporters of the General Board of Global Ministries, advocates and resource persons for the Hawai’i Acts of Repentance legislation, supporters of the Korean Ministry Plan, Love Your Neighbor Coalition volunteers, chaplains to LGBTQIA+ people, and more!

I am enjoying the opportunity to serve near Rev. Kalesita Tuifua of Knollwood UMC. We are both from the North District but have not gotten to know each other well. Rev. Kalesita is serving the church as a monitor for the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (GCSRW) in the Faith and Order legislative committee. I am sitting in that committee as an observer for the Cal-Pac delegation (and Western Jurisdiction), and Rev. Sione Tuipulotu of United with Hope UMC in Long Beach is observing the committee for the Inter-Ethnic Coordinating Committee. All present benefit from hearing the reports that Kalesita and the General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) monitor, a clergyman from Florida, share with the committee each day. For example, they encourage committee members to speak more slowly to allow time for translation into Portuguese and French, and they remind the body of how many people speaking in the meeting are men, women, of different races and in different languages, and numbers of speakers from the Central Conferences (outside the U.S.). I am grateful for the many ministries that make the General Conference possible and for Cal-Pac’s roles in service!

Grace and peace,
Katharine H. Henry
she/her/hers
Member of La Cañada UMC