Greetings MBCC-types
I hope you are doing well and had a great rest of the day. As usual the potluck today was great fun and special kudos to Rodney and Marc who stayed the the bitter end to clean-up the kitchen. Thanks.
As promised, here are some of the details for the election this Saturday PM. Please feel free to contact myself, Leslie or Abby if you have more questions. Once you get on-site I will be hard to get in touch with, so just stop by the booth and we will try to find a place where the MBCC folks can congregate.
First, let me thank you again for the support over the past few months in so many ways. Elected or not, this has been an amazing journey. The patience that has been shown by MBCC over the past few months has been wonderful. Even if folks have not really understood what is going on, you have been willing to be open to walk with me as I have responded to this call.
Okay, so here is the deal'o. Pre-apologies. I am trying to balance a million things in the week leading up to the Election, so please feel free to ping me if I missed something.
The following information is for the day of the election only.
WHO ELSE IS GOING
To connect with other MBCC'ers who may be headed down, please visit the MBCC'ers at GA Event Page and connect with others who are making the trek down to SJ!
WHAT YOU ARE PART OF
You are coming to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA. This is the bi-annual national gathering that represents the 2.3 million members of the denomination. At this meeting we will discuss and decide upon hundreds of issues, the first of which being the election of the Moderator. The Moderator runs the meeting for the week and then is the main face/spokesperson for the church over the next two years. [Official GA Site]
LOCATION
San Jose McEnery Convention Center
150 West San Carlos St.
San Jose, CA 95113
[Parking Info]
TIME TO BE THERE
The election is at 7:00pm and will go until 9:00. As I mentioned during worship as well, there will be a chance to gather afterwards and info will be available from Abby, Tiffany and/or Leslie on the day of the election. If there is any chance you can get there earlier, you should take some time to observe the natives and/or hang out in the booth and say nice things about me ;-)
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU GET THERE
Again, feel free to hang out at the conventions center or head on over to the official BRC4MOD Hospitality Room in the Fairmont, just across the street from the Convention Center. Tiffany, Abby and/or Leslie will have access info for the room. If you do get there early, please feel free to stop by my booth and proudly display your BRC4MOD stickers, button and t-shirts!
PARKING AND REGISTRATION
There is parking at the Convention Center for $18 max [Parking Info] Officially you must also register for access to the meeting and hall. The on-site registration is $20 which gives you access to all events for the week, but since you are only there for the day, there may be some leeway. I have more info if you want to ping me on the side.
HOSPITALITY ROOM
My wonderful sisters will be hosting the hospitality room at the Fairmont beginning at 1:00 on Saturday. There will be food throughout the day, a place to hang out and rest and dinner at 5:00 if you are around. Once you get to the site, feel free to stop by the booth and we'll give you instructions for gaining entrance into the suite. Also, if you happen to be there Thursday and/or Friday, we have a room at the Marriot where you can also hang out and relax.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT THAT NIGHT
Unless you have even been to a General Assembly before, it is quite the experience. The time at the beginning of the meeting is all about the getting commissioners oriented and the election of the Moderator. I apologize in advance that I probably will not be able to hang out and chat much at all during the day, but hope that you can stay afterwards for some partying and hanging out. The way the night will work is at 7:00 nomination speeches are made, each candidate makes a statement and then we take questions from the floor. After a set number of questions are taken, the candidates go backstage and the commissioners vote. Rounds of voting are done until there is one candidate with a 51% or higher. The winner then does this traditional walk from the back of the Center w/ his/her family and then commissioned on stage. If I should not be elected, I return to my seat and wait for our party to start anyway ;-)
POST ELECTION
Again, as I mentioned this AM, we will have details for the after-party that day, so please see Abby, Leslie and/or Tiffany that day for instructions.
I think that is it for now, if you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a note.
Take care,
Bruce
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