 Welcome to the 2021 North Texas Conference Lady Session. My name is Kim Brannon and I am honored to serve as Conference Lay Leader. I'm thrilled you are here. In the words of the Apostle Paul from Philippians 1, I thank my God every time I remember you in all my prayers for all of you. I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel. I tend to use this verse quite a lot when I speak of the Lady of the North Texas Conference. I am overwhelmed by your work and your faithfulness and your creative energy, especially during the last year. I pray for you all with joy and with gratitude and with the confidence that we are equipped for these days by a God who journeys with us. Speaking of these days, annual conference is not yet gathering in person, so you are either watching this afternoon via the link on the North Texas Conference website or you are tuning in to the Facebook Live premiere of the same video. Either way, thank you for joining me and the other lay members of annual conference for this dedicated time together. If you are on Facebook Live, feel free to post comments or questions and maybe we'll get some chatter going. As was true during last year's virtual Lady Session, this online technology allows today's worship music to come to us from several locations. Music is being provided by First UMC in Wichita Falls. We were joyfully welcomed by them a minute ago. Korean Central UMC of Dallas and First UMC in Paris. We are grateful to each of these worship teams and we're excited to share their gifts with you today. Now it is a tradition in our Lady Sessions to ask those who are attending annual conference for the very first time to please stand so that we can applaud and welcome you. So if this is your first time, you can stand, stand up right where you are just by yourself or in a group and know that there are a lady across from the conference who are giving thanks for you and your willingness to serve. We welcome you to the fun that is annual conference and we look forward to the day in the not so distant future that we can greet each other in person. So in a related tradition, we usually ask those who have attended for 25 years or more to stand. Again, if that describes you, please know that we are grateful for your consistency and deep commitment to the church and to the conference and to the hard work of always making us better. Let's take care of a few business and calendar details. The annual conference opening worship service with Bishop Gregory Palmer preaching will be live streamed and on Facebook this evening, Sunday June 13th at seven o'clock. From the sanctuary of St. Andrew UMC in Plano. The service of ordination and commissioning with Bishop Michael McKee preaching will be live streamed and on Facebook tomorrow, tomorrow evening Monday June 14th at seven. Also from the beautiful sanctuary of St. Andrew. Then business sessions of annual conference will be taking place on Monday and Tuesday 9 a.m. to 3 live streamed and on Facebook. Look for a detailed schedule in the conference workbook which you may view and download on the North Texas Conference website. We'll be voting on some legislation during this time. Voting instructions are being provided separately. So some of you keep up with church news more than others. So let's make sure we're all on the same page. As you remember the 2020 general conference was going to work on some legislation related to a proposal that would eventually could have split the denomination. So due to the pandemic the general conference had been rescheduled for the summer in Minneapolis but it has been pushed back again to August September of next year 2022. So there is no legislation from general conference for us to vote on this week because general conference has not happened and so we will wait for another year. On a related note as in just as an FYI the jurisdictional conference was also postponed. So while there are several bishops scheduled to retire there are no changes to report as of yet. Jurisdictional conference is now scheduled for November of 2022. One other item of business in your conference workbook you will find the list of reports on the preliminary consent calendar. This is something we do every year but just as a reminder or for those if it's your first time this consent calendar is being presented to you today so that on Tuesday at annual conference you'll be prepared to vote on these items as one single package. Without question or discussion if a report is on the consent calendar that doesn't mean it's not important or that it doesn't need approval but we will put we put these reports on the consent calendar to help us use our limited time in the best way. The items on the consent calendar have no financial implications that have not already been included in the new budget and they do not deal with conference rules. There is also a process to remove an item from the consent calendar if needed for further discussion. That process is outlined in your conference workbook. So with that said the consent calendar is now properly before you and we will vote on it during annual conference on Tuesday. Before we continue with the rest of our lady session I want to welcome my friend Susan Anderson the North Texas Conference Director of Lay Servant Ministries. Susan will be recognizing a member of the lady who has completed a significant certification process during the last year of pandemic downtime. I'll let Susan tell you all about it. Good afternoon lay members of the North Texas annual conference. I'm Susan Anderson the North Texas Conference Director of Lay Servant Ministries. For those of you who may be wondering what is Lay Servant Ministries I'll give you a short answer. It is a long-standing program of the United Methodist Church that equips and encourages the laity to serve in a variety of roles in partnership with pastors within their church and the community in ministries of leading caring and communicating. Each role of Lay Servant Ministries falls into three different categories. Each having its own requirements. We have certified lay servants, certified lay speakers and certified lay ministers. It is the certified lay minister that we want to celebrate today. This is the hardest role to accomplish and we have very few, only a handful in the North Texas Conference. Let me tell you about Sarah Dogue. Sarah is a long-time member of Titty Chapel UMC in Winsborough, Texas. She has been a certified lay speaker for quite some time but she decided to take advantage of her downtime during the pandemic to work on becoming a certified lay minister. So Sarah is a practicing attorney in Winsborough, specializing in child protection, mediation and family law. Already being a lay speaker she then had to get the approval of her pastor. Titty Chapel being a small church, it has many pastoral changes. Her desire is not to replace the pastor but to be better equipped to help the pastor and church by becoming a certified lay minister. So during this pandemic Sarah first got the recommendation of her pastor and church council then she completed the track of study prescribed by the Board of Discipleship, the four modules being call In Covenant for Ministry, Practice of Ministry, Organization of Ministry and Connection for Ministry. After completing that and appropriate screening and assessment including a psych evaluation she had to get the approval of her district superintendent and then she had to be interviewed by the district committee on ordained ministry and the final step approval of the conference committee on lay servant ministries. So congratulations to Sarah Doak, our newest North Texas conference certified lay minister. Well done Sarah. Well musical lament from Korean Central. I would like to thank them for sharing that gift of music as we prepare our hearts for a moment of remembrance. It's our tradition to remember past lay members of annual conference as well as those who were certified lay servants, speakers and ministers who have passed away since our last annual conference. As has been our tradition I'd like to welcome the Youth of the North Texas Conference Council of Youth Ministries to lead us in this memorial. We thank God for the lives of the servants listed and the others named in our hearts. Eternal God we praise you for the great company of those who have finished their course in faith and now rest from their labor. We praise you for those so dear to us whom we name in our hearts before you especially those we named today whom you have graciously received into your presence. To all of these grant your peace let perpetual light shine upon them and help us so to believe where we have not seen that your presence may lead us through our years and bring us at last with them into the joy of your home not made us with hands but eternal in the heavens through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. One of us all your love never ends when all else fails you are still God. We pray to you for one another in our need and for all anywhere who mourn with us this day to those who doubt give light to those who are weak strength to all who have sinned mercy to all who sorrow your peace keep true in us the love with which we hold one another and all our ways we trust you and to you with your church on earth and in heaven we offer glory and honor now and forever amen. As we remember those who have passed away this year we also honor the work that continues day in and day out by dedicated lay members. The Harry Denman evangelism award recognizes clergy youth and lay persons for outstanding service in evangelism. Those eligible for this prestigious award practice the great commission and faithfully carry out the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The award is named for the late Dr. Harry Denman, distinguished lay evangelist who Billy Graham called my mentor in evangelism. Dr. Denman felt it was the business of every Christian to be an evangelist. Multiple award nominations were submitted this year and the winner of the youth award was selected by the conference council of youth ministries. The winner of the lay award was selected by the conference board of lady. We begin with the youth award. My name is Emma Williams and I am the faith formation director in the Center for Leadership Development and today I get the honor of presenting the Harry Denman award for evangelism for youth to Haven Emory. Haven is a senior at Lovers Lane UNC in Dallas and she lives out her love for God and love for others through service and invitation and all that she does. She models Christ example of love by serving others. People's lives have been changed by her care her compassion and her willingness to stand up for what is right. Haven serves in as many places as she can as she has expressed her experience of the love of God in powerful ways while doing so. She volunteers at the Scottish Wright Hospital and the Dyslexia Center and the Orthopedic Inpatient Unit welcoming children and making them feel at ease and playing with them while they're waiting for treatment. Haven serves over 150 hours each year with the Lovers Lane UMC raise of light respite program offering individualized care and attention to children with special needs and their siblings. She leads within her church by helping to coordinate missions, worship, student activity, VBS, confirmation, Sunday school and small groups. She's also a leader in the Conference Council on Youth Ministries and served as the worship chair during the 2020-2021 year and as a speaker for Midwinter 2021. Haven lives in two Lovers Lane Ministries mission of loving all people into relationship with Jesus Christ. Another example of Haven's commitment to showing God's love and service to others is through a volunteer club that she founded at her school the school for the talented and gifted at town view called Students Embodying and Defining Service. This club encourages all students no matter their faith or background to learn and serve and find ways to love others through service. Haven recognizes that our need to love and serve others comes from God and helps others see that too. She invites her service group to join with the missions of her church and has started a morning devotion time at school to encourage her friends and classmates in their faith. She serves as a bridge builder between people who come from all different walks of life, welcoming new people into youth group and sharing her compassionate heart with other students. Haven is a passion for Jesus that has become a passion for others to know Jesus as well. It is the epitome of what it means to be the good news of Jesus Christ to others. Congratulations, Haven. We're so proud of you. I nominated Haven for the Harry Denman Evangelism Award because Haven lives out her love for God and love for others through every aspect of her life. And she invites others to know and experience that same transformative love of Jesus Christ. One of the ways I have witnessed Haven live it out in her life is through her school. Haven founded a volunteer club at TAG, the school for the talented and gifted at Townview in Dallas, called Students Embodying and Defining Service or also known as SEEDS. This club encourages all students no matter their faith or background to learn to serve and to find ways to love others through service. And Haven recognizes that our need to serve others and to love people comes from God. And she helps others see that too. It's a powerful way for people to come to know Christ by serving and experiencing God's grace by looking into the eyes of God's children. She's planting seeds of faith. Haven shares her faith with every aspect of her life, her compassion for others at school, her caring attitude at work, in the words of the songs that she writes, in the ways that she leads our church in conference and community. In a line from one of her latest songs, Find Faith, she sings, you call me to be more than I am. God is definitely calling and working through you Haven. Thank you for setting an example for all of us by the ways that you love and serve, the things that you say and sing, the ways that you lean into and live out God's grace. The Denman Award for Adult Lady goes to Dana Phillips. Dana is a member of Treats United Methodist Church and has been able to bring people into life-transforming relationships with Jesus Christ through her remarkable lay ministry there. Dana reflects innovative evangelism in three ways really. First, she uses social media to reach others during COVID-19 social distancing. Dana has a robust following on Facebook where she posts scriptures, devotions and testimony daily. She's also conducted long-term Bible studies to groups spanning large geographical areas thanks to the use of technology. The second way Dana shares the good news in innovative ways is through her promotion of remote digital worship. Dana and her husband Neil have lived in several parts of the country and before settling here in North Texas and because of this she has a broad network across several states. Dana has introduced many people to the digital resources available through her home church. Followers in faraway states like Minnesota and New York worship exclusively at Treats via the internet because of Dana. And finally Dana has continued a ministry of evangelism by helping to launch and grow small life groups at Treats. She has assisted in the planning of the groups and the development of a leader guide and she has personally led multiple groups and developed new leaders to start their own life groups. Treats senior pastor Reverend Daniel Humbert sums up her ministry by saying Dana has the unique ability to share her faith with people in personal, relatable, and relevant ways. She can do it in such a way as to encourage a person and uplift their soul. I have been particularly impressed with the frequency capacity with which she has used digital technology throughout the pandemic to introduce people to Jesus and invite people into a growing relationship with him. I really believe that those of us who have known how much God has done for us have not just a responsibility but a real desire to share that with other people. Okay so basically I am an older senior boomer who loves social media so I love Facebook, I love Zoom, I love Instagram. You know I love all that stuff because I'm a real social person and way before COVID hit I saw the opportunity for Facebook especially to be a place where you know I can talk to people who aren't necessarily attached to a church who aren't going to a church and one of the first things I did way back like five six years ago as we did a Bible study in a Facebook group and it was a blast. We had posts, we had conversations, we had comments from people all over the world. I was just doing it because out of an outflow and then I started saying God what do you want me to do intentionally about it and so in our life group when COVID hit and we did it on Zoom I also organized some other Zoom prayer meetings for people not just from our church but you know from all over the country and we had prayer meetings on on Zoom and and I just began to say how do you want to use me God in this. Then as our church started doing more stuff digitally I got really excited because I was able to share it you know and honestly the production value was really great the message was really great but there were people who were really especially during COVID really hungry to have that connection with God and I've seen people who just because of our little groups together have been baptized people who have tied to never tied before they never gave to the church before some people this was like an amazing thing this one lady said I have never read the Bible where do I start and at what started to be kind of a reaching out gave so much fruit that I thought I need to keep doing this so watching people grow in their relationship with Christ I decided to be much more intentional about doing more on Facebook doing more in Facebook groups doing more on Zoom and small group meetings with folks. Continue to be inspired by folks like Dana Phillips and the great work going on in and out of our churches after we hear from Susan our time together we'll close with one final bit of praise music from first UMC Paris up in the East District so sit back and be blessed and prepare your hearts and minds for the Holy Conferencing to come at the 2021 North Texas annual conference so we pour out our praise we pour out our praise it's your prayer enough so we