The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-19
North AlabamA Conference
 to Meet olt Athens
BY E. N. GLENN.

IFor The Advertiser.
 The thirty sixth session of the North Alabama Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. South, will be held in Athens. Ala, Nov. 22127. Bishop Charles B. Galloway presiding. Athens First, under the presidency of Bishop Kavanaugh in November 1878, and
 second under the presidency of Bishop
 Duncan in 1884. In recent years, extensive growth and win easily and elegantly entertain the greatly increas- ed body.
 by Bishop McTyeire: this territory hav- ing been previously embraced within the borders of the Montgomery, the At present, the ecclesiastical confines cover all Alabama north of line with the southern boundaries of the coun- ties of Chambers and Pickens. cutting bracing all the mineral region of the
 This territory Is subdivided into ten dency of pre.Sins elass whose dasy it is to look after all the temporal and spiritual interests of the church within his particular borders. The presiding elders are the sbishop's cabinet in handling an annual conference. They are subject to the same rules of ap- pointment as other Methodist ministers Among Methodists there is q sort of un- written law, that when a minister has been four years in district work, he IS then to take a pastorate. However in operation. practice Is not invariabie Frequently, there arise conditions call ing for given mans continuance in the presiding eldership for several terms consecutively. Generally, the favorable to application of the unwrit- ten law.
 Methodism counts the presiding elder as sort of sub- bishop, bishop CO., mates the idea of diocesan episcopacy; the district being the diocese, and the presiding elder the diocesan. All ten of the North Alabama presiding elders are tried and true men, and 1t we'll their respective dioceses -
 The smallest district territorially is the Birmingham. which does not cover county are included in five other dis tricts. 1. e., Gadsden, 'Guntersville, Jasper. Tuscaloosa and Talladega. In the ass ag swehey fhem being stations; fifty churches valued at more than $310.000; twenty-four par-N sonages. more than $7o.o00; other s135. 900: saad more than 12.00o mem- bers. The Full Methodist strength in the prodigious county of Jefferson is by pTaTas tSs Of ls9eO tSsre
 
 has been. of recent years. marked pro- gress. Probably the most notable percentage. of progress has sbeen in Guntersville District. embracing terri tory in the counties of Marshall, Etowah, DeKalb, Jackson, Morgan, Gull man, Biount and Jefferson. Statistics | for 1903 and 1904 show net increase of | 10 per cent in members, AT per cent for support of ministry, and S2 per cent forG contributions to connectional and | benevolent causes. Ten years ago, | this was a mission district. the presid- | ing elder being In part supported by appropriations from the domestic mis- | sion board.
 In the conference, there are 226 pasto- ral charges, with about 75,000 members. I Of the pastorates, thirty-five are sup piled by local preachers. It is under stood that, among Methodists, local preacher does not belong to the l "traveling connection and is not sub- l ject to the appointing power of the | bishop except as he may, from time to l time. accept pastoral charge as sup ply" Some local preachers have seen l service in the regular itinerant ranks:
 and among them are strong. and eff
 ficient men. In the history of Method ism, particularly in the rural regions, these have played a conspicuous part, | and have contributed invaluably to
 success. The last statistics show 2S3 local preachers.
 During the first generation of it's ex- l istence the North Alabama Conference