 So at this time we move to their Center for Connectional Resources. It's my pleasure to introduce you our newest director of Connectional Resources I start to say I started to ordain you right then and there So anyway, so Kristi Drenner of Course who's a clergy spouse, but as our director of Connectional Resources tomorrow during the CFA report We will vote on electing her the treasure which she's already serving as but we have to do that every four years And so we'll do in that be doing that tomorrow during their report But she'll be reporting the Center for Connectional Resources and have some other things to bring to us So Kristi, thank you and welcome to North Texas at least to the conference staff. You're well aware of North Texas I know thank you Good afternoon Bishop and members of the annual conference It is a joy to be with you this day to share about the Center for Connectional Resources Or as we like to say the Ministry of Administration While at night might not always be the most exciting aspect of ministry We all know how vital good financial stewardship is to our longevity I would like to pause for a moment and give a shout out to all the church business Administrators that might be joining us today being married to United Methodist pastor I understand your struggle sometimes the spirit moves faster than the budget, but I digress It has been a busy five months since I started on January 1st I'm extremely grateful for my team and all of the clergy and lay members of the boards that I am lucky enough to work with It has been a challenging spring, but the commitment of these leaders to continue the good work of the conference has been inspiring For those who might be new delegates, I would like to share a little bit about what our center does While the annual apportionment budget the delegates will vote on tomorrow is less than 11 million dollars Our center receives and disperses three times as much each year In 2020 the unaudited total was closer to 34 million Most of these additional funds come from managing the comprehensive pension health and property insurance programs In addition to managing the accounting we partner with other centers to support the work of the local churches Here are a few recent examples of our collaborations One of our insurance carriers provides unlimited access to ministry safe training Reverend Emma Williams with the center for leadership develop and I met with the carrier And are planning to co-lead a back-to-school webinar to help our churches Learn how to take full advantage of not only the ministry safe training tools But resources related to bring to hiring practices and even website language Lisa Putnam on our team has been hard at work getting certified as a sales force certified administrator So that we can create a source of truth For data for conference data We have a few databases that we are hoping to consolidate into one She has been working with reverend jeremy bassett the new disaster relief coordinator in the center for missional outreach On how to build his disaster relief team information inside the platform to maximize efficiency So when the need arises they will be equipped to issue the call quickly And the center for church development Owen is always busy creating strategies and opportunities to align churches in new and exciting ways He often says I would I was told there would be no math So he leaves the complex accounting structures. He creates to our center for management In addition to my center In addition my center supports the work of the following committees The insurance advisory team, which i'm sure all of you are very familiar with at this point The board of trustees chaired by reverend chris yost That oversees all of the properties of the annual conference church closures and the buy-off bylaws of our conference The council on finance and administration chaired by mr. Larry wilmack all accounting and treasury functions The board of pension and health benefits chaired by reverend and will it who's about to give her a report As the name implies we work closely with west path to make sure all of the pension plans of which there are a few And the health insurance program are well managed and communicated to the local churches The standing rules and all statistical information are a part of the our department as well In the coming year, I hope to provide regular webinars to review with our local churches some of the policies and best practices related to the important work Of the business office. I'm open to any suggestions of topics. You might be interested in or learning more about I would like to emphasize as I did at the district meetings that we are here to serve the local church If you have any questions related to accounting HR health or pension benefits property insurance and a long list of other items related to business office operations Please do not hesitate to reach out to our team One item of legislation bishop to bring before you is that of equitable compensation On page 18 of the conference workbook. You will find legislative item number three After all of the statistics are gathered in january and analysis is done of the average increase in clergy salaries across the conference It is then reviewed by cfna and a recommendation is made for ds salaries For our standing rules the percent change of equitable compensation has been tied to the ds salaries The past two years we have recommended a suspension in the increase in compensation Due to the challenging nature of the past year CFA voted to not increase the ds's salaries. Therefore, the minimum compensation will remain at 50,326 dollars with the housing allowance of 12,000 dollars Bishop the ccr cld and cfa recommend the adoption of legislation number three Again, this is item legislative item number three It is found on page 18 in your workbook. So you should have it handy there This is before you and we're going to take a poll vote on that Am I correct? Yes, sir. Okay So I want you to get ready to vote and then we're going to provide about 75 seconds for you to vote But we're I'll I'll tell you when the poll will go live here in a moment I don't think there are any questions or I'm no of none. But so please get ready to vote Either yes or no when the poll comes up So we're ready to go the poll is up. Please vote yes or no now Okay, so those voting the 98% of the people approved the decoral comp for the coming year There was one abstention and one who voted no Thank you. Thank you. Is that it and will it is going to come now? Welcome man. Thank you. I'm Ann Willett I'm the senior pastor at North Haven church and also the chair of your board of pensions and health benefits Again, as Christy said, this may not seem like the most exciting stuff But once you have some health care needs and once you start thinking about retirements It's pretty important stuff. So we have had a great year and we are thrilled to welcome Christy drainer our new conference director of Connectional Resources To fill the very big shoes of Reverend Jody Smith. Christy has adapted quickly and led us well in 2021 I call your attention to legislative items four through seven in your conference workbook Legislative items five and seven are on our consent agenda. So we will vote on them tomorrow Today we will be voting on items four and six and we'll vote at the end of the report on both of those items So if you have any questions on four and six, you can go ahead and type those into the chat Item four is our proposed budget for 2022 Uh, and it's on page 21 and 22 of the conference workbook There's an overall increase of 1.83 percent or about $28,000 The increases are in a couple of line items line 83 to 50 the insurance supplement item increased about 12,500 Based on current and anticipated eligibility for clergy on disability and line 83350 retiree insurance increased 10,000 Based on actuarial assumptions a slight increase is needed We did have some good news In 2021 the actuals were significantly lower than budgeted because of a three month premium holiday given by west path So that is uh all i'm going to say about legislative led of item number four Bishop, is this the right time to ask questions about this? Okay, okay. Sure sure Questions andy At the moment, let's go ahead and vote okay this now Okay, so we're going to be ready to vote and basically this is the approval a piece of the budget That has to do with health care the most part correct And and pension and pension benefits. So you have it there are no questions So I assume you're ready to vote. I'd like for you to get prepared to vote on your devices and in the way We're doing we're going to do a poll. We're going to have 75 seconds in order to do that. So please Prepare to vote And I will let them know when we're going to put it up. Hold on You know, I've been corrected Or learned something new one or the other or both and so we're going to do four and six together Like just like I said, whatever you say bishop. That's what we'll do Did you take that line from andy lewis? Whatever you said, that's his biggest line I you need to trademark that solace. Okay. All right, let's talk about number five But we're not going to vote on it because it's on the consent agenda But I do want to explain it legislative Item number five is the resolution to designate rental housing allowances for retired or disabled clergy An item that the IRS requires us to approve annually and this allows covered retired or disabled clergy To use their benefits toward housing expenses, which has some tax advantages So that is on the consent agenda and will be voted on tomorrow Item number six is the pre-1982 service rate for 2022 Again, the discipline requires each annual conference to determine the rate for the portion of retirement benefits associated with service before 1982 Last year in 2021 We didn't make any cost of living increases due to the pandemic and economic uncertainty But this time we are proposing an increase of 2.5 percent in association with the cost of living adjustment Proposed by the social security administration So if approved, this will amount to $823 for approved service of clergy included We've reviewed the financial stability of the pre-82 funds and determined there are sufficient funds to cover the increase So this would be a time to ask any question about legislative item number six So item number six before you is about the pre-82 pension plan And the amount paid per year of service and they are recommending the increase of 2.5 Hope central texas does that So I'm just you know, I'm just saying Okay, so, uh, are there any questions? Do we have any questions andy? Do you know of any? So there are no questions. Let's prepare to vote. So get your device appointment. Can I go ahead and do number seven? You know, it's Would that be okay? That's fine with me Then I'll be done and then we can vote on that too. We have to vote Whatever you say. Thank you. Wait, that's andy lewis is lying. I know He's rubbing off on me item number seven is approval of our comprehensive benefit funding plan Some of the decisions that we address on the board of pensions depend on actuarial data released by west path And sometimes we don't receive the information needed soon enough To make our recommendations for annual conference. So for this reason, we are asking you To allow our conference board of pensions to review approve and submit the comprehensive benefit funding plan In the course of our regular meetings We have several new board members who are highly qualified and interested in doing a deep dive into this plan And so we are going to be addressing that In the coming months. This item is on the consent agenda and will be voted on tomorrow Thank you one other item before so we're going to vote here in a moment on four and six But one of the things I want to share with the annual conferences We have two members from our annual conference who serve on the west path board and do a very good job So we're not only are we well represented at the conference level, but we have um, I would not call it We have on the ground information that's very helpful to to our conference board of pensions And so I think that's important remember and as I remember those two persons are Nisha Dexter Nisha Dexter and Steve Just one Maybe niche is the only one now. I think that was different. It's early a few years earlier. Okay. Thank you So we're going to vote so we're voting on item. Let's slate of items four and six. I want to remind you That can you remind us what the six is? The service your rate six is the pre-82 service rate and four is the budget the budget Pension and health benefits. So you're ready to vote. We know of no questions get ready to vote We're going to open the poll in a moment I'm going to give you a few seconds to get ready to vote Okay, I think we're ready Let's place the poll up now. You have 75 seconds to vote Yes, or no 98 So the vote is this 98 percent of the people it's 98 percent of the votes We're for the approval of both items one percent abstained and one percent voted no So those two legislative items pass the other two will be on the consent agenda That concludes my report. Thank you, bishop. Thank you. So I want to thank both Ann Willett and christy drenner for their work We appreciate it very much christy. You have something else at this time. Okay, so so anyway, so let's uh show our word of appreciation to these people who work on the behalf of our