2019 North Texas Conference

Christ United Methodist Church in Plano hosted the North Texas Annual Conference, with Bishop Michael McKee presiding. The Rev. Don Underwood, senior pastor of host Christ United Methodist Church, welcomed those attending opening worship on June 2. McKee introduced the evening’s speaker, Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton of the New York Annual Conference, and offered a prayer.

The service began with a remembrance and celebration of the lives of 16 clergy and 11 clergy spouses who died in the last year. As their names were called and their pictures shown on the sanctuary screens, those whose lives had been shaped by their faithful service stood in silent honor.

Music leadership of the evening was provided by the choirs from Flower Mound UMC, First UMC Sachse, Northaven UMC, White Rock UMC and Grace Avenue UMC. Music throughout the worship service included “Adagio in Sol Minore” by Tomaso Albinoni and “O God Beyond All Praising.”

Following the reading of Philippians 1:1-30, Bishop Bickerton preached a sermon entitled “Where Do I Stand?” He challenged the North Texas Annual Conference to remember that we, as individuals, congregations, annual conferences, and the United Methodist denomination stand on the promises of God in Jesus Christ, especially in the midst of the struggles and divisions within society and the church.

The worship service concluded with the commissioning of more than 120 college-age summer interns serving organizations throughout the North Texas Conference. The vast majority of these interns will serve Project Transformation, the recipient of the evening’s offering.

McKee presented the Episcopal Address on Monday morning, June 3, as a part of the Service of Baptismal Renewal.

The bishop shared the fate of churches of which he has been a member or a pastor. The churches in which he was baptized and confirmed have been closed. Others have declined, and others continue to thrive. Although all of the churches had faithful members, the culture quake and/or the seismic shift in the Christian landscape brought significant change. Those changes have become evident, not only in churches and other faith communities, but also in the areas of education, politics and society. As changes occurred, the Church was not aware of how rapidly those changes would affect its witness. The initial and ongoing response to change was to engage in improvement. If the Church improved its signage or music or retooled Sunday School or fed more families at Thanksgiving or any other improvement one could imagine, then all would return to normal. It didn’t happen.

McKee referenced Gil Rendle’s book Quietly Courageous: Leading the Church in a Changing World, where Rendle has written extensively regarding the new paradigm. He outlined the distinction between the Church’s private mission and its public mission. Our challenge is to engage in the public mission and see it as the purpose of the Church. The mission field is full of people who have no ongoing relationship with Christ. How do we look into the future? How do we as the Church relate with – and be in ministry with – a host of people who have no religious affiliation? The mission field can look very different than our churches.

The bishop noted there are signs of positive change emerging in our midst. Several churches in our Conference are creating new ministries to engage with religiously unaffiliated persons. The challenge is for laity and clergy throughout the North Texas Conference to create new ministries in the community where the Church is located.

In conclusion, McKee said that the people called United Methodist have a unique theological understanding of the Christian witness that focuses on the breadth and depth of God’s grace. Our witness – rooted and bounded in God’s prevenient, justifying and sanctifying grace -- has the capacity to transform people and the world. He prayed that God would grant us courage to witness to that grace and to all God’s people.

The theme for the 2019 North Texas Annual Conference was “Create!” In the beginning, when there was nothing but chaos, the voice of our Creator God cut through the darkness and brought forth light. When Abram had settled for a life in Haran, our Covenant God called him out of complacency and created a new and hope-filled trajectory for him and his people. When the old covenant was found broken and powerless to transform the human heart, our Redeeming God created a new covenant, full of grace and truth. When the first disciples were holed up in the upper room, hesitant about what to do next and waiting for direction, our  God sent the Holy Spirit and created a new community – the Church. Gifted and empowered by that same creative Spirit, we now have the privilege of being co-creators with God, of courageously and creatively meeting people were they are with redeeming and transforming grace, of creating New Spaces where New Faces might gather and be formed in the Way of Jesus.

The Rev. Junius Dotson, General Secretary of Discipleship Ministries, presented two keynote addresses during Monday’s business session. He challenged attendees to take part in a “Culture Reset” and a “Soul Reset” as a way of recalibrating to their surroundings. Additionally, the Rev. Audrey Warren and a group from the Florida Annual Conference presented in separate sessions to clergy and laity detailed information on how to successfully create new spaces in their ministries.

The four conference centers also made various reports to the body:

• The Center for Leadership Development presented on growing future leaders in new, creative spaces in local churches, at camp and in college while also providing support for those in ministry with coaching, workshops and continuing education.
• The Center for Missional Outreach presented on their focus on the local church and a distinct approach to missions as “ministry with.”
• The Center for Church Development presented on its desire to partner with local churches and help foster a mindset of “Every Church Planting” that is contextual in its mission field.
• The Center for Connectional Resources presented reports from the Board of Pensions, Trustees and the Council on Finance and Administration.

Monday also was a time that the North Texas Conference recognized and honored its class of retirees – a total of 25 individuals representing a collective 556 years of service.

McKee’s sermon for the Service of Ordination was based on Luke 10:1-9. He congratulated the largest class of ordinands in the North Texas Conference in decades – 11 elders, nine deacons – telling them that what their ministry will be is up to each of them. The timeless liturgy alone says everything that needs to be said.

The bishop recalled 40 years ago when he was ordained in the Central Texas Conference. He challenged the ordinands not to be afraid. He was afraid to be a senior pastor until he was thirty years old, his first Sunday in Joshua, Texas. He promised the ordinands that their lives are rich enough to find that there are not enough Sundays to preach but cautioned them not to try to do it all on the first Sunday. There are limits, he said, but it is still the most important thing clergy will do; from this moment on, they will look at the world and ask, “What will I say about Jesus Christ, regarding this issue, or this event?”

Take time, though, the Bishop counseled, to nourish your own soul, because the church can demand everything from you. Do not let it. There is a way to take care of yourself so that you will wake up loving your job.

The bishop also challenged the ordinands to not let the shifting grounds in The United Methodist Church  throw them off balance. There will be some sort of Wesleyan expression of the faith always, so they should stay focused on the mission. There are people right now who are dependent on this class of ordinands, and though they do not know what they need, the ordinands do know.

Finally, McKee reminded them to remember that people want them to be their pastor, to visit them in the hospital, to know their name, to be there when they sort out what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Be their pastor. It is a lot easier than it was 2,000 years ago, noted the Bishop. He then thanked each of them again for answering the call.

As the bishop placed his hand on the head of each person, he called upon Christ Jesus to “pour out your Holy Spirit” upon these messengers of God’s Word as we send them out to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

On Tuesday, clergy and lay members of Annual Conference voted for delegates to General Conference and Jurisdictional Conference. The full North Texas Conference delegation includes:

Regarding legislative actions, voting members of the North Texas Annual Conference approved a One Church Resolution by a vote of 591 to 144. The One Church Resolution, presented by the Revs. Ann Willet and Tommy Brumett, states, “Therefore be it resolved that as a people of the North Texas Conference we aspire to behave as One Church Congregations and Conference. Be it further resolved that: we will pray for one another; we will allow for contextual ministry and pastoral care and not impede the work of others in ministry; we will seek to find common ground and actively be in ministry with people who are different from us; we will not speak ill of one another and we will model that all people are of sacred worth.”

On Tuesday afternoon, the members joined together in a Closing Service of Holy Communion as appointments for the 2019-2020 year were presented.

Annual Conference 2020 will take place at St. Andrew UMC in Plano.

 —Matt Jacob, director of communications, North Texas Conference.