Conference 2007

The Methodist Protestant's annual conference was held in San Lazaro on August 10th and 11th. All churches, except for August Pine Ridge, were represented by their respective pastor and their delegate. This year Rev. Claudio Leal was accompanied by three members of his church. The acting conference treasurer, Mr. Oswin Blease, the elected delegate Mrs. Tanya Sutherland and his wife Mrs. Alice Leal who came along as support to the conference.

Now that the new conference president, Rev. Donovan Grinage, had become more acquainted with his position he decided it was time to make some changes especially in the area of our annual youth camp. Although, by his own admission, all of the youths that attend the camp from the churches in the Methodist Protestant Conference understand and speak English well he felt that it was not enough to have the camp in English but that it also needed to be done in Spanish to accommodate the three pastors who apparently do not understand or speak English well. His feelings about this matter were strong and were echoed in the way he said, “the way we have been doing it in the past had not been working. It has to change.”

Most campers have continuously expressed their satisfaction with our annual camp, and the evidence is there to prove that camp had been very effective in the past as at this year’s camp alone we had over 20 youths who made a commitment to serve the Lord. However, change is sometimes good too. So in an effort to support his venture and due to his strong comments, Mrs. Tanya Sutherland who was very vital in planning camp for the last four years and who excitedly too over the post of Director for this year’s camp, chose not to become a part of the new camp committee. This will allow her to dedicate more time and to focus on the various ministries in which she in involved in the Sand Hill Zion Methodist Protestant Church. This will also allow the new members of the committee to bring to life their new vision for youth camp without the influence of seasoned campers who might have the tendency to fall back into the old operating patterns. This new challenge will allow this committee to grow as a group and as individuals since three members of the seven-member committee have never been to camp before including the committee’s director and treasurer. Our prayers are with this committee as our annual youth camp is the major event for the conference and it provides an opportunity for the youths of all the churches in the Methodist Protestant conference to learn more about Christ and to commit their hearts to him while having fun. We look forward to camp 2008.