Dear Deputies and Alternate Deputies:
Earlier today, I posted the final rosters of legislative committees for General Convention 2015 on the House of Deputies website.
Thank you to all of you who filled out last summer’s online survey about your committee preferences, and thank you to all of you who have accepted an appointment to serve. I’ve learned in the last few months that making legislative committee appointments is one of the most difficult parts of my job. Not all deputies can serve on a committee—the committees would simply be too large to function—and not all deputies can be appointed to the committees on which they most hoped to serve. I’m grateful to all of you who have answered my calls and emails with grace and patience as I have drafted and re-drafted committee rosters.
This year, thanks to a new committee structure that the Presiding Bishop and I developed last summer and a new House of Deputies Committee on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse, I have been able to make 547 appointments to legislative committees—a 27% increase over General Convention 2012. I’m also glad to say that all deputies who completed the committee preference survey and who have served at three or more conventions have been appointed. But legislative committees are not just the purview of long-time deputies; more than 35% of first-time deputies have also been appointed.
If you have not been appointed to a legislative committee this time, or if you are an alternate deputy who will attend General Convention, I hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to attend the meetings and hearings of several different committees, both to learn more about how General Convention business gets done and to track issues and resolutions that are important to your deputation and diocese. Alternate deputies are also invited to apply to be legislative aides; more information is available on the House of Deputies website.
Thank you, as always, for your service to God’s church and to the House of Deputies.
Faithfully,
The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings
President
