And so it begins… but not quite yet.

July 11, 2016 / By Ashley Riddell / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

While NEJ hasn’t “officially” begun until Monday evening, committees have already started their work! Myself, Ian Urriola, Rick LaDue, and Bishop Webb began this morning with the Nominations Committee, which is responsible for nominations to The United Methodist Church (UMC) General Boards and Agencies, as well as nominations for the Northeastern Jurisdiction Standing Committees. While I thought this would be an informative and fun task (which it still was!), it was also mathematical, strategic, and intense.

We spent the next four hours lifting up names from each Conference to be considered for openings. Many things were considered, in order to have diverse representation, such as: gender, racial/ethnic background, age, and whether they were clergy or laity.

As a young adult and with a passion for young people, much of my time was spent vying for youth and young adults to have representation and a voice at the table. While I feel good about the names that were raised and considered, I still think we have work to do as a Church to raise up young leaders into these important roles!

Tomorrow is filled with Episcopal Candidate interviews (and the bios on each can be found here: http://nejumc.org/2016conference.html). Here’s to a great week ahead!