In May of this year the United Methodist Church will gather for the first General Conference since 2019.  In order to educate ourselves and help us prepare for the future, West End UMC hosted this event Sunday, February 4, at 4:00 p.m. in the 4th Story Theater.  Rev. Mark Holland, who represents Mainstream UMC, leads a panel discussion with Nashville pastors Carol Cavin-Dillon (West End UMC), Brandon Baxter (East End UMC), and Stephen Handy (McKendree UMC).  Mainstream UMC is an advocacy group working for greater unity within the UMC.  They advocate for the regionalization of the UMC and for the removal of harmful language in the Book of Discipline that restricts the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons in the life of the church.  This is that panel presentation and discussion.  Rev. Holland begins with a bit of history of the UMC to give some background of how the Methodist church came to this point.