Photo: Conference presidents of UM Men and their prayer advocates meet in front of the Upper Room building during their March meeting in Nashville.

Conference presidents of UM Men were asked how they would respond if someone on an elevator ride asked them about the General Commission on UM Men. Here are a few of their edited responses:

1. The commission supports and provides resources for local church UM Men ministries in order to make disciples.
2. The commission is the glue that connects all UM Men units at local, conference, national, and international levels.
3. The commission provides connections, training and professional materials for the missions and programs that will allow us to build disciples and transform the world.
4. The commission is very supportive of UM Men in the United States and the world.
5. The commission provides key information to the conference.
6. The commission provides vision, guidance, direction, motivation.
7. The commission enables us to feel we are a part of something that is much bigger than any one of us alone. It makes one know that he is a part of a large family of believers. It brings unity to our diverseness.
8. The commission encourages each conference level UM Men to reach men.
9. The commission provides resources men to help evangelize men, and these men bring their families to church.
10. The commission is the catalyst for the connectivity UM Men.
11. The commission provides leadership to men of the church.
12. The commission is at the core of what we do and we would not exist without it. A limited staff does a great job all the time. They are there to help us when we call, to be that central source of information we need, have a great web site and always go out of their way to accomplish God's work.
13. The commission helps churches provide spiritual homes for men.
14. The commission serves in partnership with conference and district leaders to help churches maintain active ministries to men.
15. The commission is the heart of our organization and our representative to the general church.
16. The commission provides effective training, resources, partnerships and assistance to aid the local church to effectively disciple men in the Wesleyan tradition and experience.
17. The commission helps churches reach out to me and unchurched families.

Elevator speeches for Conference UM Men

1. The conference level UM Men organization is needed to support putting hands and feet on the ground in the conference. Without it, the conference UM Men programs would fall apart.
2. Conference UM Men provide connection, training, structure and materials to help the local fellowships attract members and achieve meaningful mission outreach.
3. Conference UM Men get men fired up,
4. Conference level UM Men is the catalyst that promotes unity between the districts and local units.
5. The Conference Committee holds the district presidents accountable and pushes them to push the local units.
6. Conference UM Men provide resources for districts to reach men in the local church/neighborhood and when men become active in church, so do their families. This, in turn, helps the local church to grow,
7. Conference UM Men support local and district levels of UM Men.
8. Conference UM Men provide the glue that holds district and local churches together.
9. Conference UM Men help district superintendents become aware of the need for ministries to men within their districts.
10. Conference UM Men work with the cabinets and administration to support the vision and connective needs of the conference.
11. Conference UM Men train and assist districts and local units.