How It Started: Conference Update Videos

A screen grab from one of my very earliest live videos, with the St. Louis Arch in the background during the UMC's 2019 Special Session of General Conference. And before I'd learned the important of filming in landscape!

I started my first steady foray into live video updates of United Methodist conferences with the 2019 UM Special Session of General Conference in St. Louis. As an elected jurisdictional delegate, I was, in theory, an alternate, but I travelled to St. Louis with no expectation of being seated during this high-pressured, very important moment in the United Methodist Church as we came together to seek a path forward through the divisions over human sexuality which had constrained so much of our denominational focus since the 1970s. As I prepared to travel, I heard a number of folks in the Baltimore-Washington conference anxious to learn what was happening. I have always enjoyed helping others understand what was happening in our church leadership--a skill and foundation of content I gained from my father doing that precise thing for me as I grew--so I decided to provide updates for whoever might watch them.

So, armed with a collapsible tripod, a personal Facebook account, iPhone, and a husband willing to be my amateur producer, I set out to St. Louis.

I streamed update videos from the convention center, from the walk back to the hotel with the Arch in the background, and finally, on the last night after hopes of progress forward had been dashed, from my hotel room after I, like so many others, began to try to make sense of it all and plan for what would come next.

For me, what came next included not only the chance to be part of the next delegation, this time as a clergy delegate to General Conference, but also the blessing of folks both from my home annual conference and beyond who had followed my upset, and would, and have, continued to do so. In the years since, I have posted updated from jurisdictional conferences, our own annual conference, and while balancing duties as a delegate, from General Conference in Charlotte in 2024. I am still so humbled by persons I meet for the first time who share they watched and appreciated my updates. My tools and streaming platforms have continued to evolve, but I continue to love the opportunity for share with anyone about what is happening in our UMC in ways that help them better understand, and, I hope, participate.

As I launch this website, another evolution in my platforms for sharing with you, and as I join many others in reconsidering social media sites including Facebook, I want to thank you for stopping by, and for the trust you've placed in me. I would love to hear any ideas or suggestions you have for content--whether video or otherwise. I am a firm believer that we can do so much more together than apart, and that transparency is a vital part of any healthy relationship and community. I want to do all I can to help foster those types of interactions. Thank you for joining me as I do!