Story by Everett Bassett

Ron Bretsch has worn several hats in his four previous trips to General Conference. After serving eight years on the General Board of Church and Society, and eight years on the General Board of Global Ministries, Bretsch is now a member of the General Commission on Central Conference Affairs.
"We deal with any petition having to do with central conferences," said Bretsch, referring to the conferences from outside the United States.

While the commission has interest in many topics to come before the 2004 General Conference, Bretsch highlighted two:

-a deep concern for the inadequacy of the pensions of African pastors;

-a request by Christians in the Ivory Coast to join the denomination.

Commenting on the latter, Bretsch explained, "There are over a million former British Methodists there who want to join The United Methodist Church." The Council hopes to facilitate what would normally be a lengthy and compicated process.

Bretsch is a member of Norwood United Methodist Church, where he is especially pleased to be a tenor in the choir.

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