2008 Annual Meeting Gerald Anderson Wins Peacemaker of the Year Award Meeting Minutes "Being Better Stewards" Resolution Passes "In support of Trinity UCC" Resolution Passes 2008 Ammenities Resolution Endowment Fund is Created Paul Nickerson's Keynote Address 5% Award Recipients Staff Reports Budgets Committee Reports Mission Partner Reports Photos Forms Past Annual Meetings
	About 180 clergy, lay leaders, church delegates and visitors gathered in Rock Springs, Wyoming for the 34th Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ.
		Rev. Harvey Joyner and his staff at First Congregational UCC were gracious hosts, always willing to help, and always with smiles on their faces.

The event started Thursday night with a special dinner at the church, honoring Clergy and their Partners.

Several Churches in the Wyoming Association baked delicious cookies and treats for us! The Pinedale Women's Choir sang beautifully that evening!

Friday Morning, attendees were invited to participate in 8 workshops: "Low Carbon Diet;” "Clergy Boundary Training;" “For the Love of It;" "Internet 101;" "Association Registrars' Gathering;" "Welcome to La Foret;" "Faithful Stewardship of the Endowment;" & "Be a Global Mission Church."

Members of the La Foret staff grilled meats to share at lunch time. It was a beautiful day to be outside picnicking!

Display tables set up in the basement of the church offered an opportunity to learn about seminary schools, enjoy photographic ministry, and purchase an array of goods.

In his last act as Moderator of the Board of Directors, Benjamin Broadbent led the business meetings Friday and Saturday afternoons. He moved to call the Rocky Mountain Conference “RoMoCo” and dubbed our Conference Minister Tom “T-Dogg” Rehling and taught us all to “WOOF” whenever Tom was presented.

Throughout the Business Meetings, we took breaks to present 5% awards. The Conference as a whole achieved 5% growth in Average Weekly Workship Attendance this year, and ten of the RoMoCo churches increased their Average Weekly Worship Attendance by 5% or more over the previous year.

We passed two resolutions: “Becoming Better Stewards” and “Resolution in Support of Trinity UCC.” We also approved the creation of the Rocky Mountain Conference Endowment Fund.

Our Keynote Speaker was Paul Nickerson, a UCC Minister of 25 years, and Church Growth Consultant. Paul talked about the things that attract people to a church, and how we can grow our congregations, not only in numbers, but by improving peoples’ lives.

Our Special Guest was Nelson Murphy, Director of Education & Marketing,
United Church Foundation. Nelson provided guidance on how to be Faithful Stewards of our newly created Endowment. He also led a Bible Study on Saturday Morning.

Saturday evening David Popham served as Master of Ceremonies during a banquet at the Western Wyoming Community College, where we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of Global Partners - the partnership between the Rocky Mountain Conference United Church of Christ (UCC), the Rocky Mountain Disciples of Christ (DOC) and the Evangelical United Pentecostal Church of Venezuela (UEPV). Alice Silver, Tom Byrnes, Merv & Dani Bangert & others from Global Partners did a wonderful job of preparing for the celebration. They presented a slide show of photos from the first 10 years, accompanied by Venezuelan music.

Jeff Scott spoke about his experiences on the most recent construction trip this past April. Tom Rehling addressed the group on the value of this program, and Benjamin Broadbent entertained us by playing the traditional “cuatro” (four-stringed guitar) and teaching us songs in English, Spanish, and Wayuu, the language of the indigenous people of Venezuela.

The 34th Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Conference concluded with worship services on Sunday Morning.

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