Greetings Mt. Olive:

This month is the setting of the 51st Quadrennial Session of the General Conference, meeting in Atlanta. We were due to meet last year but it was postponed to this year. However, our beloved Zion and this General Conference will meet under a very dark cloud. For the 1st time since 1980, we will open the General Conference with a trail of a Bishop. Bishop Staccato Powell will be tried, being accused of fraud and embezzlement. Currently, the Western Episcopal District is in Bankruptcy Court. Several properties have already been lost and now, it is just a question of how many more properties we will lose. If convicted, he will be removed from office. This has not happened in Zion since 1948.

Our Senior Bishop, Bishop George Edward Battle will retire at this General Conference (he was ready last year); and our own Bishop, Bishop Kenneth Monroe will become the Senior Bishop. Also retiring is our Chief Financial Officer, Mrs. Shirley Welch. A personal note: the pastor of my home church in Detroit will become the new CFO, the Rev. Al. Hamilton. And someone we know well; Ms. Portia Jacobs is a candidate for the office of General Secretary of Christian Education.

The verdict on Bishop Powell will determine whether we will elect 1 Bishop or 2. In either case, the General Conference opens on the 28th. Until that time, I ask that we would be in prayer for our Church. Days such as these should not be handled by humans, but only by the grace and spirit of God. Let us pray for such leading during our upcoming General Conference.

Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Reginald Broadnax