Patrick Scriven is a seminary educated lay person working professionally serving the Pacific Northwest conference of the United Methodist Church as director of Communications and Young People’s Ministries.

Scriven writes in a published release, “my pastor hasn’t mentioned General Conference once from the pulpit…he’s afraid of the conflict…it’s all so confusing…I’ve been surprised on a number of occasions to encounter fellow United Methodists who are blissfully unaware of the current state of the United Methodist Church.”

Milton Quintanilla, a freelance writer for ChristianHeadlines.com writes that there are “about 107 congregations in Florida leaving the United Methodist Church denomination for the newly launched Global Methodist Church (GMC), a theologically conservative alternative to the UMC.”

Quintanilla noted, “this broad group of churches include both large and small congregations along with Anglo, African American, Latina, Korean and other ethnic communities of faith and that these churches will join the Global Methodist Church, which was officially launched on May 1.”

Jay Therrell, President of the Florida WCA said in a statement,” after a decades-long rise of theological liberalism, the selective enforcement of our denominational laws, and a strong surge in the promotion of partisan politics, our churches long for the day of being able to unite with like-minded Christians who focus on sharing the Good News of Jesus and help people to be transformed by his salvation.”

Keith Boyette, a WCA leader who served as a Transitional Coordinating Office of the GMC maintained, “there will be additional churches that will emerge as we move forward and that in addition to the Florida churches United Methodist churches in Oklahoma and Virginia have announced their disaffiliation with the UMC.