
Hi, Easstn the Bear here! When I’m not at General Convention overseeing the work of the East Tennessee deputies, I’m bouncing around the office helping the diocesan staff with the everyday work. Now that it is time for diocesan convention, I’m hoping to help you with some of the tasks asked of our parishes and communities as well as opportunities for fun for youth and adults alike.
As we launch the initial stages of the 41st annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee, it can feel like there’s a ton of information to process. What is registration? How is it different from certification? What do I need to do to get that early bird pricing? How might I be a part of convention even if I’m not selected as a delegate? There are a couple of first steps you can take to help make the planning process go smoothly for you and the convention planning team. Let’s walk through them.
Start Here – Registration
Registration is the essential first step. It lets us know how many people to expect in your voting delegation. And here’s the great part, we don’t need to know exactly who to expect in the registration process! So, this step can be completed immediately. As long as you complete registration by Monday, December 16, you can receive the early bird rate of $125 per voting member. After that, the rate increases to $150 per voting member. This incentivizes the completion of this easy task well ahead of the core busy season of convention work.
The total number of people in your voting delegation is the number of clergy from your congregation that qualify as canonically resident plus the number of lay delegates your parish receives based on your previous year’s average Sunday attendance (ASA). Click here to see how many lay delegates your congregation receives.
Once you know how many people will be in your voting delegation, head here to register your delegation. It’s a registration portal on the diocesan Realm account.
Helpful Hint: Use an incognito browser or a browser you don’t normally use to log into Realm with. If you click the link and it only lets you use your name, either log out, or use that different browser to complete registration.
You’ll need:
- the name of the church
- the number of people in your voting delegation
- a form of payment (we take credit cards, debit cards, or mailed checks)
Once you receive a confirmation email, this step is complete. If you’re unsure of whether registration was completed or run into an issue, we hear Jon Humber is very helpful with registration issues. You can email him at jhumber@dioet.org or call the diocesan office at 865-966-2110.
Next Step – Certification
Certification is the next step after registration. Now, this step is a little more difficult from what I’ve heard around the office. So, “bear” with me (ha!) as I walk you through this step.
Certification lets the convention planners know who has been officially elected by your parish or community to represent your community at diocesan convention. Certification happens after a vestry (board/chapter/council) elects delegates and alternates.
While clergy and delegates may make sense, alternates operate a little differently. They are the officially elected persons who can fill in should a delegate become unable to attend convention. Communities receive the same number of alternates as delegates. So make sure to elect enough alternates to cover a full delegation swap as you cannot certify alternates later.
Typically, the clerk or secretary of the vestry completes the form after the vestry elect the delegates and alternates. They will need to know:
- the name of your parish
- the names of your clergy, lay delegates, and alternates
- their phone numbers and email addresses
- for their email addresses, please use non-government or educational email accounts as they tend to block our voting emails
- please use unique email addresses for each person (i.e. if a couple is being elected, they each must have their own unique email address, not a shared household email address, themillers37932@gmail.com for instance, but bobmiller@gmail.com and sallymiller@gmail.com, we don’t know Bob and Sally Miller, but they’re helpful in this case)
At the bottom of the certification form, there is a signature field. The senior most ecclesiastical authority (Rector, Priest-in-Charge, Deacon-in-Charge, Vicar, or Senior Warden in that order) is the signing agent of that form. We hear the diocesan staff audit these forms for the authenticity of the electronic signature by checking the verifying email address. To make sure this goes smoothly, have the clerk enter the name and email address of the senior most ecclesiastical authority. They will receive a verification email. Have them affirm the signature by following the steps in that verification email. Once that is complete, your certification is sent to the diocesan staff and, once authenticity is verified, certification is complete.
Now that you’ve read through that, and hopefully it didn’t put you into hibernation, you should be ready to complete certification. Head here to complete the form.
While registration and certification are due Monday, December 16, you may make changes to your certification no later than Friday, January 10.
Last Step – Hang Out

Whew! That certification stuff was a little more complicated than registration, wasn’t it? But now that it is done, the fun can begin! In the coming weeks, we’ll publish information about volunteer opportunities, youth lock-in, ministry fair, nominations, reports, resolutions, convention eucharist, and so much more. If you haven’t already subscribed to the diocesan newsletter, make sure to use the pop-up form on this website, or email Bro. Andrew at amorehead@dioet.org. It’s our main form of communication outside of this website.