 Hello, I'm Mike McKee, the Bishop of the North Texas Conference in the Iowa Methodist Church. The prophet Isaiah writes in the 43rd chapter, the 19th verse of these words, I am making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness. The theme for this year's annual conference has changed. It is now building the bridge together. The date is still the same, September 18th and 19th. And this announcement is, first of all, to tell you that we will be doing that virtually. That we will not be able to gather together in the sanctuary of St. Andrew United Methodist Church because we want to do no harm. We do not want to harm anybody because we've gathered together during this time of pandemic. But there's something else we need to do. That is, we need to celebrate the kind of ministry that so many of you have done first in terms of the worship online and the way in which you've continued to be the church even though you've not been able to come together physically. The church is not closed. We've just changed the way in which we do church. And God has led us to that and I'm deeply grateful for the clergy and laity who've been leaders and have done that courageous work. But there's another piece and that is over the last few months that we have been reminded once again about the racism that persists not only in our country and in our communities, but yes, sometimes even in our churches. And I'm deeply grateful to the clergy and laity who've spoken out and looking for ways in which to engage about what it means that together we build a bridge together. So annual conference will be a time of remembering what has happened, what we will do then and about the building of the bridge that we will do together. But not just us, but with the spirit of the living God. So I look forward to seeing you on September 18th and 19th virtually and I continue to pray for your ministry and affirm that which you do. God bless you.