General Conference delegates: 18

The Oklahoma Conference will elect 18 people—nine clergy and nine laity—as delegates to the denomination’s 2012 General Conference.

That number, which is determined by the secretary of the General Conference, was reported on Dec. 2 to Annual Conference Secretary Joe Harris.

They will be chosen during voting on Monday, May 30, 2011, at the Annual Conference in Oklahoma City.

Those 18 people also will serve as 2012 Jurisdictional Conference delegates. Rev. Dr. Harris explained an additional 18 Oklahomans will be elected as Jurisdictional delegates, making a total group of 36 people, equally divided between clergy and laity, for that meeting.

Those people in the second set of 18, in order of their election, become reserve delegates to the General Conference. Alternates are also chosen, and the Oklahoma Conference decides that number, Harris said.

The General Conference is the top policy-making body of The United Methodist Church. It meets once every four years. The 2012 meeting will take place April 24-May 4 in Tampa, Fla.

Oklahoma City will host the Jurisdictional Conference in July of that year.