The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-10-26
North Alabama Conference
Meets Here November 6
BY CAROLYN Ii. ELLIOTT

| widespread interest, particularly as
concerns the great centenary move
ment of Methodism. The body will sit
i in the First Methodist church of this
city and the members will be enter
| tanned in the hospitable Methodist
| homes of Birmingham.
| This means more than 500 homes,
said DR.. e. M. Glenn, the wide-awake
| secretary of the local entertainment
committee But the chairman of this
committee DR. r. f. Lovelady, with
his secretary, DR.. Glenn, are equal to
any occasion and all emergencies, even
| to cookless housekeepers and house
less homemakers. Indeed, they have
, already secured homes with wide-open
doors to 1.-The prophets of God" who
will soon bless with their presence
| this community. Such Accomplishment
| in this day, when the proverbial
! chickens that Methodist preachers like
to dine sumptuously upon, are scarcer
than hens teeth, and when sugar is
brought home in ones shopping bag,
| but proves the reputation DR.. Love-
| lady and DR.. Glenn have for getting
whatever they go after" 1t also bears
i testimony that no task is insurmount-
able when a preacher and layman
put their heads together.
A LARGE PROBLEM
| In explaining the problem that SO
|
said yesterday
| I'm 1916 the conference met in Bes-
| semer; next year it went to Woodlawn
| last year it was in the same church
where the forthcoming session Will be
held Thus for four consecutive years
this large body has held to the BIZ
| mingham region.
."The conference roll carries 325 cleri-
\ cal members; the 10 districts have each
eight lay delegates; there are 80 local
preachers employed in regular pas
| toral work; making list of 46S pos
sible attendants. Besides these, there
are numerous laymen who are members
of the several boards and standing
| committees. Therefore, the reason for
more than 500 homes for the confer
ence week.
From Woodlawn, in 1917, the con-
| ference had accepted invitation to meet
next at Central church, Albany, but SO
severe was the flu in that region 1t
become necessary to bring the session
to Birmingham. Last fall, When the
usual question came, Where shall the
next session of the conference be held?
no invitation was heard. Under the
stress of the times there seemed to be
no rivalry among the fine cities Oh
north Alabama as to which should
| tackle the task of such proportions
| Accordingly, the question was an
| SWereu, In the ndHuS VI liio
| tee This committee consisted OIL Rev.
IJ. A. Duncan of Tuscaloosa as chair
man. and Messrs. P. S. Haley of oak
| man, ] A. j. Brock of Roanoke, w. II.
Stockham of Birmingham and j. Il.
! Wadsworth of Gadsden. After looking
| over the situation, the committee de-
cided to meet as 1 said. and named
| DR.. r. F. Lovelady as chairman OF a
| local entertainment committee with
power to appoint the other members.
DR.. Lovelady and DR.. Glenn nave
their plans well along toward compile
| ton and before November J. Will nave
everything in apple-pie order Meth
odists of the city were asked TO slgnl-
| fy Willingness to entertain such num-
Der of guests as might be agreeaDle-
for bed and breakfast" SAID ~.
Glenn. "the conference to foot the blll
for dinner and supper-out of tunds
raised for that purpose. Ample homes
have been by this method secured from
among the respective Methodist con-
gregations of the city
I'm this connection. it may be worth
noting" DR. Glenn continued, there Is
disposition here and there to moot the
question of reorganizing the boun-
DIARIES of Alabama Methodism. Az
present the state of Alabama is divided
into the Alabama and the North Ala
bama conferences-both large ana
growing bodies. The reorganlzing
scheme would be to take these two
conferences. and out of them create
three, with approximately eight presld-
ing elder districts in each. 1t is sug-
gested, that the increasing task OF flnd-
ing free entertainment, particularly
for such sized body as the North Ala
bama conference, calls Tor cutting
down, i. e., in order to facilitate enter.
tainment. On the other hand, 1t IS
\
this conference make it one or the
great conferences of the communion
with accompanying influence; and ~
would be a mistake to sacrifice prest-
ICE and influence by dividing.
HISTORY OF CONFERENCE
AS one long and effectively asso-
ciated with the North Alabama con,
ference, DR.. e. M. Glenn is acqualnteo
with its history, some salient poih's
Of which he tells as follows:
"Organized Methodism in north Ala
hama dates to the autumn of lSoS, Wneh
Bishop Francis Asbury, presiding al d
conference session at Liberty Hill,
Tenn. sent James Gwinn as mis-
sionary' into the Big Bend OF the ZEN
nessee river. Previous to that tilne'
John Hunt, Methodist, had mace ms
home beside the big spring WHEN
henceforth bears his name. In 1919 the
legislature of Mississippi ordained es-
enlistment of public buildings and
courts for Madison county at the Big
Spring. In 1910 Hunts Spring was
transformed into 'Twickenham. to be
followed by Huntsville Methodlsm
was as the birth of Madison county,
and for more than a century mas con-
tinued a representative, Chrlstianlzihs
force throughout that region, with
numerous constituency
n ,1xnr
organized at Gadsden November is,
1870. Bishop Robert Paine presiding
J. G. Wilson was secretary for the hrst
two sessions; then Cr. c. d. oliver Tor
one Dr. ]. A. Thompson, II; DR.. J. w
Newman, %; DR.. w E. Morris. six
PREVIOUS TO 1870
ssPrevious to 1870 the conference ter
ritory was supplied from Tennessee,
Mississippi and Alabama conferences.
At the organization it was region of
promise but of scant comparative de-
velopment The chief centers were
Huntsville Athens, Florence, Tuscum-
bia. Decatur, Guntersville. in the Ten
nesee valley, and south of the noun
tains, Tuscaloosa, Talladega, Gadsden,
Lafayette. Birmingham, with its vast
environs of development was hardly yet
dream. Throughout this region,
where today imposing church edifces
house comfortable worshipers, where
gifted ministers in up-to -date garb
serve elegant ,congregations-in 1870,
yarn socks were more in evidence than
kid gloves, oxcarts than steel spring
buggies.. Automobiles had not yet been
born 1t was time of scant supply
and heroic service alike of preacher