Andrea McKellar at Executive Council

Alice and I between sessions

Last week, I spent 5 days in Chaska, Minnesota for Executive Council. In attendance were the 38 voting members, 20 elected by General Convention as I was and 18 elected from the 9 provinces, as well as non-voting members, and staff. I had the pleasure of sitting between Alice Freeman, our Province IV Lay Representative, and Presiding Bishop Michael Curry.

This meeting was mainly focused on orientation and team-building. We heard from all of the Canons and Chiefs on the Presiding Bishop's staff about the areas they cover and an update on what is happening within their departments. We also heard a report from Episcopal Relief & Development on their ongoing work such as hurricane relief in several dioceses including The Episcopal Church in South Carolina. We did several team building activities with our tables including karaoke and a legal exercise to learn the by-laws and conflict of interest guidelines.

The Council voted to restructure to four joint standing committees. I was assigned to the Finance Committee. We met twice over the few days to get an update on the triennium and 2019 budgets and background on trust funds and other budgetary issues.

We had a little down time in between our sessions. One popular activity was to take a walk around the lake. There was a beautiful mile long trail along the edge of the lake where we got to experience the beautiful fall colors! I enjoyed seeing old friends and getting to know members that I had not met before.

Overall, I was impressed with how well the group worked together and how efficiently the meeting was run. There was a great amount of respect for each other and the importance of the work we have before us. I am looking forward to my next meeting in February in Oklahoma City.

You can learn more about our work from the Episcopal News Service.

Andrea McKellar headed to Executive Council Oct. 15-18

At General Convention in July, I was elected to serve a 6-year term on Executive Council. I head to Minnesota this weekend for my first meeting. The meeting is being held at the Oak Ridge Resort and Conference Center in Chaska, Minnesota from October 15-18. I want to share with the diocese a little about what exactly that entails and what I am looking forward to.

Andrea McKellar in Austin, TX just after her
election to Executive Council. Andrea served as a Lay Deputy
 from South Carolina at the 79th General Convention.

Executive Council is the Board of Directors of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. Their mandates is defined as “Members carry out the program and policies adopted by the General Convention and have charge of the coordination, development and implementation of the ministry and mission of the Church. The Executive Council is required to manage the budget of the Church, to submit to General Convention a budget for the next triennium, and to make annual reports to the Church of receipts and disbursements and a statement of all trust funds and properties.”

Sounds like fun, right? The group meets three times per year to do the work of the Church. This meeting, we will go through orientation, hear from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and President of the House of Deputies Gay Jennings about their vision for The Episcopal Church, and even do team-building karaoke. We will also be assigned to one of four Joint Standing Committees of Executive Council: Finance, Governance & Operations, Mission within The Episcopal Church, and Mission beyond The Episcopal Church.

For this meeting, I am most excited to meet my new colleagues and my table assignment. I am sitting with Alice Freeman, our Province IV lay representative from the Diocese of North Carolina;  Presiding Bishop Michael Curry; Gay Jennings, President of the House of Deputies; and Michael Barlowe, Executive Officer of General Convention. I am also excited to be traveling to Minnesota because it is one of six remaining states that I have never been to. I love to travel and just have the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Alaska left to visit.

I ask two things of you all while I am gone. Please pray for me and the work of Executive Council. The prayer for a Church Meeting on page 818 of The Book of Common Prayer is especially appropriate. It would also be great if you followed along. I will be tweeting from the meeting as I am able at @amckellar17 with the hashtag #excoun. You do not need to have a Twitter account to see either of these. I hope to keep everyone up to date on the work we are doing so that others can be part of our work.

I look forward to reporting back about my experience when I return!

Andrea McKellar