• Hispanic UM Leader to Keynote "The Gathering"
  
  In this article, she is described as "an outspoken critic of the denomination's official position that turns lesbian and gay Chrisitans into second class members." She is quoted as saying that "she is certain that Jesus would sit at the "open" Reconciling table."

• Elect Daniel Foster Campaign
• UMC Evangelicals Call for Repentance and Renewal

Reflecting on the difference of opinions between the Pacific Northwest and the global UMC body, the evangelical Rev. Daniel Foster of Cornerstone United Methodist Church in Covington, Washington wrote: “It is my perception that our AC (annual conference) has clearly broken covenant with our General Conference.”

Foster wrote in an April 17 letter to the district’s bishop, Elias Galvan, to ensure that the region remains in covenant with the rest of the church.

“We want to make sure that we in the Northwest understand we are connected to the same church and the same greater covenant,” Foster said.

About 15 evangelicals expressed their concerns to Galvan during a July 9 meeting in Covington, Wash. The meeting seemed to go well, according to Graef and the Rev. Daniel Foster, another pastor who attended. "I thought Bishop Galvan was a very patient listener," Foster said.

• Article in Proud Parenting on Karen Dammann Trial: Rev. Robert Hoshibata

After lunch, Rev. Robert Hoshibata, Seattle District Superintendent and another former supervisor of Dammann, took the stand. When asked by Ward if enough had been done to avoid a church trial, he said he did not believe there had.

• Pacific Northwest delegates fold paper cranes for peace By Tricia Schug SEATTLE (UMNS)

As a native Hawaiian of Japanese descent, the Rev. Bob Hoshibata has practiced origami, the art of paper-folding, all his life. He finds the practice provides a “centering” for him — a quiet, meditative way to keep his hands busy while his mind is focused.

In the weeks leading up to the United Methodist Church’s lawmaking assembly, Hoshibata has been folding cranes. The superintendent of the church’s Seattle District, he is also a delegate to the gathering.

• Church officials testify church law on homosexuality is vague  03/19/2004 By MELANTHIA MITCHELL / Associated Press

"Yes, I believe the Discipline should be changed," the Rev. Bob Hoshibata, the church's district superintendent in Seattle, said Thursday of law contained in the church's Book of Discipline. He supervised the Rev. Karen Dammann when she told the church she was a lesbian in 2001.

• Gay Right Supporters Protest against UMC's Trial on Lesbian Pastor
  In preparation for the trial, the Rev. Craig Parrish, Pacific Northwest Conference treasurer, had 24 volunteers from 11 area churches to keep everything smooth and calm. Wearing "Peacekeeper" credentials and reflective vests, they were to check credentials of those entering the Bothell church.
   

• A test of faith Denominations divided on role of gays in the life of the church By Kelli Lackett
  • We recognize that on contentious issues we differ. That could drive us away or cause us to split from each other, but we are not willing to do that," said The Rev. Charles Schuster, pastor of First United Methodist Church, who attended the convention.
    
    Delegates at the General Convention voted to make no substantive changes on the four points of the church's "Book of Discipline" that concerned homosexuality. But Schuster thinks the church will eventually become more inclusive of GLBT people.
    
    "It's a matter of time. I think people realize that and that's why it's scary," he said.
• Annual Conference 2004 Episcopacy Statement Charles Schuster "My Theology and Vision for the United Methodist Church"
   

• Harsh words fly after Methodists vote on homosexuality
  May 12, 2000

In one heated exchange, professor Ben Silva-Netto of California's Pacific School of Religion demanded, "God forbid that our decisions become baseball bats to smash peoples' heads."

• SILVA-NETTO APPOINTED TO UNITED METHODIST POST

Silva-Netto is a longtime leader in the United Methodist church. An ordained elder, he has served as pastor of Methodist congregations in Stockton and San Leandro, Calif. He is a co-chairperson of the Diversity Initiative under the Commission on Religion and Race of the Annual Conference. He has been a member of the board of directors of the National Federation of Asian American United Methodists and president of the National Association of Filipino American United Methodists.

• Statement of United Methodists of Color For A Fully Inclusive Church, Signator:  Rev. Ben Silva-Netto, Filipino American 

We all know Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people. Seen or unseen, they are vital members of our communities. For many of us, they have been our invisible neighbors, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, cherished members in the community of life. Indeed, we recognize that throughout history, our church and our communities have benefited from the gifts of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender people. But in return for their gifts, we have given these brothers and sisters silence or scorn. When they have asked for their name and acknowledgement of their place as worthy members in the family of God, they have been answered with continued overt or subtle forms of spiritual and physical violence.

We can not and will not deny that we recognize in the experiences of our Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender brothers and sisters the resonance of our own journeys as people of color in the church. We see the truth in the words of Coretta Scott King when she says that the struggles for inclusion of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people are part of the "continuing justice movement" for which Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life, a movement that "thrives on unity and inclusion, not division and exclusion."

We are called to bear witness to the need for our beloved church to do good by its Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender brothers and sisters. Remembering the voices that told us to be silent or passive, to give up our culture and history in order to be accepted by the dominant white society and church, we reject the idea that Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender people need to reshape themselves or be "cured" in order to fit in to the dominant heterosexual society and church. Our own experience of silence and erasure has taught us that abandoning identity is spiritual violence.
 

• Evelene 'Tweedy' Sombrero is an endorsed candidate by the Native American Caucus for the episcopacy. (5/6/04)
   

• Oregon - Idaho General and Jurisdictional Conference Delegation Web Site
  Rev. Stephen Sprecher - Lake Oswego UMC
  Alternate Delegate to General Conference
  Delegate to Jurisdictional Conference
  
  "As we gather the world-wide United Methodist communion, my prayer is that we can recognize our differences with honesty and respect, while honoring and celebrating our unity as the followers of Christ and as the people called Methodist.
   

• Signers of the No Longer Silent Phoenix Declaration, Rev. Dr. Jane Tews, District Superintendent, Desert Southwest Conference, United Methodist Church, Phoenix 
• No Longer Silent Phoenix Declaration 
  • As Christian clergy we believe it is time to share our perspective concerning Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual and Transgendered (GLBT) persons. We celebrate the end of the debate. The verdict is in. Homosexuality is not a sickness, not a choice, and not a sin. We affirm that GLBT persons are distinctive, holy, and precious gifts to all who struggle to become the family of God.