The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-04
SOUTH ALABAMA METHODISTS ID MEET Session Will Open This Morn
 ing at Enterprise BISHOP HOSS TO PRESIDE On Account of the General shake-Up In Appointments Last Year Few
 Changes Are Expected At
 This Conference.
BISHOP HOSS TO PRESIDE
BY CHESTER E. JOHNSON.

Enterprise, December 3.-(Special. .)-The Alabama conference of the Methodist Episcopal church south will convene at the Methodist church in this city tomor- row morning at 10 o'clock. The confer ence will be in sesion about one week.
 Bishop E. E. floss of Monteagle, Tenn, will preside at all of the business meet ings of the body and will, with the assist ance of the presiding elders, make the appointments of the various ministers for the coming year.
 The Alabama conference is composed of the south half of Alabama, and that DOT ton of Florida which lies west of the Apalachicola river except the city of Apa- lachcola- The annual conference Is com posed of nine districts which are made up of a given number of pastoral charges. In this conference there are 175 stations, circuits, and missions supplied with the gospel by as many opponents of the Holy Scriptures.
 Every district is also entitled to send four lay delegate to the conference ses- sion, besides the clerical membership. These with all the members of the various standing committees. who reside in diff ferent parts of the state, and the dstin- guished visitors from different states and cities make up quite a good number for the people of Enterprise to entertain. All denominations of church workers In the city, however. have thrown open their homes and will hospitably entertain all delegates and visitors to the conference. The city has invited all ministers to come and bring their wives.
 f1 t1A d. of 1a afh Hat church the same preacher may not serve the same pastorate for longer term than four years in succession. There are only P of the ministers In the entire confer ence who have served out the allotted term of years. This Is a fact largely be- cause of the ''shake-up' in appointments made last year by Bishop w. w. Duncan, when the conference met at Eufaula last December Some predicted last year that Bishop Duncan, because of age and in- firmity, would not undertake so tedious a task as assigning the ministers to new charges to any great extent. In this, however, the wise ones were greatly de- ceived and astonished. When the smoke had all cleared away 1t was seen that out of 175 appointments the aged bishop had ordered S1 of the active preachers into new fields of labor. This fact will have a tendency to make lighter the work of Bishop Hoss, president of this session of the conference.
 From advance reports it is seen that a large number of men, women and children have been added to the church during the past year. Furthermore, large majority of the pastoral charges are in excellent financial condition in spite of the great money panic which has depressed all kinds of business enterprises. It has produced very little effect upon the llberality of the people in regard to contributions to church support The Rev. P. S. Hudson and the Rev. w NJ Curtis, who were last year transferred to the Montana confer ence for the year, have returned to Ala bama and will be given work In this con- ference. The Rev. W. O. Waggoner of Florence will also come into the jurisdic- ton of the Alabama conference