With the voting done and the easy resolutions passed, there was only one minorly contentious resolution in the afternoon and that breezed by with the minimum of fuss. An amendment to add a whole bunch of marginally related stuff was defeated almost unanimously and the resolution passed. The keynote speake, Nathan Dungan, was excellent, speaking about healthy financial habits - something we should all revisit periodically. Maybe more on that later, but suffice to say that Share, Save, Spend is a better credo than See Money, Spend Money.
During the day, the mosquito net challenge came up numerous times. Two years ago Bishop Rickel challenged the diocese to raise enough money for one net per member - roughly 33,000 in total at $12 each. We are apparently only 300 or so short of that goal, so I took it upon myself to lead the charge to get there. We raised enough money from my parish delegation for 127 nets and by the end of convention we may have reached our goal. The nets are bought through Episcopal Relief and Development. That was a great way for me to end the day of business at least.
In the evening I attended the Theology Pub workshop and ended up having a great conversation with Bishop Rickel, his wife and a few others at a table. Theo Pub basically took over the hotel bar, and I can thoroughly recommend the practice.
It's totally refreshing to be at a church convention that lacks divisiveness but instead celebrates what we can accomplish together. In large part this is due to the tone set by our bishop.
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