 Good afternoon, we begin our afternoon session. We do later in the afternoon have unfinished business from this morning. So I want to remind you of that. And we will attend to that shortly after some other items take place this afternoon. So opening with a prayer this afternoon is Reverend Mauricio Orozco, who is the pastor of the Hispanic congregation at First Yamaha Church of Denton. And I believe he is ready to pray. Yes, sir. Thank you, Bishop. I'm going to be praying in Spanish first and then I will be praying in English. Let's pray together. Poremos. Dios Todo Poderoso, creador del cielo y de la tierra. Dueño y Señor de todo cuanto existe. Hoy te damos honor y gloria y declaramos que es por tu misericordia y gracia que hoy vivimos. Traemos delante de tu presencia nuestras vidas, nuestras congregaciones, nuestra conferencia y nuestra iglesia metodista unida delante de ti pidiendo que nos dirijas y nos guíes con tu Santo Espíritu, a tomar las decisiones y las acciones necesarias para servir a tu pueblo con efectividad y sobre todo, bajo la dirección de tu palabra. Vendice, o Dios, el trabajo y las oportunidades que nos das para servir a otros y las conexiones que haces para que nuestros recursos alcancen aquellos que más lo necesitan. Es con humildad y con fe que hoy te rogamos que nos ayudes a seguir la obra que nos hace encomendado. Tomado siempre de tu mano. Hoy te damos honor y gloria y declaramos que es por tu misericordia y gracia que hoy vivimos. Traemos delante de ti y nuestras congregaciones, nuestras conferencias y nuestra iglesia metodista unida delante de ti pidiendo que nos guíes y nos guíes con tu Santo Espíritu, a tomar las decisiones y las acciones necesarias para servir a ti y las acciones necesarias y, especialmente, bajo la dirección de tu palabra. Vendice, o Dios, el trabajo y las oportunidades que nos das para servir a otros y las conexiones que haces para que nuestros recursos alcancen aquellos que más lo necesitan. Es con humildad y con fe que hoy te rogamos que nos ayudes a seguir la obra que nos das para servir a otros y las conexiones que haces para que nuestros recursos que hoy te rogamos que nos ayudes a seguir la obra que nos ayudes a seguir la obra siempre en tu mano. Amén. What about the GBG? Andy Lewis is going to introduce us to the video that we're going to see from global ministries. From Patrick Booth. He is a GBG missionary serving in Cambodia. I know Patrick from years ago when I served at First United Methodist Church of Louisville. Patrick Booth grew up there. He was involved in the youth group. As a young adult he established a counseling practice that focused on working with young adults dealing with substance abuse. And over the years that church has had a significant ministry with the refugee community that's in Louisville from Myanmar of the Chin people group. Patrick was a leader in developing that outreach ministry. He began to feel a more and more significant call to missionary service. And in 2015 participated in something remarkable called the World Race, which took him to 11 different countries in 11 months doing missionary service. Again, today he is in Cambodia as the co-director of Project ARC, which focuses on working with survivors of human trafficking. And he's provided a video for us. My name is Patrick Booth and I'd like to thank you for giving me a moment of your time to introduce both myself and the work that I'm doing with global ministries in Cambodia. I grew up right here in the United Methodist Church and so helping others has always been an important part of my life. As a counselor I spent 10 years helping people break free from alcohol, drugs, anger and domestic violence. For the last four years I had my own private practice but missions always held the closest place to my heart. So I sold my business so that I could go into the mission field. I spent five years traveling through 25 different countries exploring various service opportunities and volunteer projects. Then global ministries approached me to begin working on Project ARC. Project ARC is a program that helps people break free from human trafficking. We are dedicated not only to helping them get out but providing them a lifestyle and employable skills to make sure they never have to go back into this modern day slavery. If you would like more information or to become a financial donor or prayer partner I invite you to contact me using the information provided. Thank you and God bless you. I worked out just like you were supposed to, didn't it? So sitting seated before in front of me on the front row is Allison Jean who keeps track of the schedule and the account and the agenda in such a way. So you may occasionally hear somebody counting down 10, five or three, two, one and we're not launching a rocket at all or as Jeff Bezos made later this month. I understand that we're just trying to stay on task and we thank her for that work. At this point, we're going to hear a report from the delegation, from the lead lay delegate and the chair of the delegation, Clayton Oliphant, our clergy delegate. So Kelly Carpenter and Clayton Oliphant. Again, Clayton is the clergy lead delegate, the chair of the delegation this time and Kelly is the lead lay delegate. Did I get that right? I know I did. Thank you Bishop. Thank you so much. It's a joy to be with you all this morning. Thank you for this afternoon and thank you for your time. I'm a member of Union Coffee and also a lay delegate as the Bishop has mentioned. I just want to speak to a few things. Some a reminder, the delegation that you elected in 2019 remains mostly the same and hard at work. We had a couple of changes. Originally, Daniel Solis, one of our lay reserves had to resign for health concerns and then pursued ministry as a local pastor. And then last year, the now reverend, Carrie Lynn Lucas, was commissioned as an elder in 2020 and will interview for ordination in full connection next year, most likely. And Carrie Lynn continues to work with us as a part of the delegation as we've done with others in these strange seasons of delegation work that carry on through a lay to clergy transition. Thus being Linda Parks, who was our first elected reserve lay delegate will move into that jurisdictional lay delegate role when we do have a conference. The postponed 2020 general conference is scheduled for 2022. August 29th through September 6th of 2022 in Minneapolis, Minnesota is the current date. There are still many arrangements being addressed by the commission on general conference and many others throughout our church, such as global vaccination access and the challenges of acquiring visas into the United States for that gathering. As I've learned is the culture of the North Texas delegation. We have been hardworking. We have continued to meet regularly, monthly, even more sometimes through much of our time together and we will continue to do that to prepare for general conference and jurisdictional conference that following November of 2022. And so just as a reminder of the past, nothing has convened since the 2019 special session. And so plans such as the protocol, the Christmas covenant, things that are getting more conversation than others will still be on the docket for 2022. And also this is the convening of what would have been a full session of general conference in 2020. And therefore all of the legislation across all 13 committees is still before us. And as delegates, we are working through those. We have divided them among us so that we can each take a deeper dive and then work as a team together to inform and collaborate as we go through the conferences. We are grateful for all of your support, for conversations. It is a blessing and honor and humbly we serve in these roles. Thank you, Kelly. Repeat the date again of general conference. Yes, so the postponed 2020 general conference currently scheduled for August 29th through September 6th of 2022. Can I, do you mind if I ask y'all a question? This is not the number of days that we normally have for general conference. Am I correct? That's my understanding. So they're gonna go through all the legislation. Are y'all willing to work 24 hours a day? We'll do what we need to do. I think everybody needs to know how hard the delegation is working. The reason I'm asking the question is because this is a fewer days in session. And so generally the first week is for the committees to do their work. So this will leave less time. But every piece of legislation because of adopted, I think in 2016, maybe 2012, is that every piece has to be presented, which makes it even more challenging and difficult. It's the breadth of the preparation work that I have learned since being on the delegation since 2016 is that it's not just the content of the legislation, which in and of itself is a feat. But also how do you prepare? How do you make it through the days? What is the schedule? How do you prepare physically and mentally, spiritually for all of that, which you're garnered within those days? I really ask the question because I don't think that many of us understand how hard the delegation works in North Texas. So thank you. I'm sorry, Clayton. I didn't mean to interrupt y'all's deal, but I'm still sort of... It's your prerogative. Well, I generally don't do it, but I guess what I'm saying is I'm trying to figure out and I keep asking this question of others, how do you intend to get this done in less time? Yeah, I think it's going to be very challenging compared to previous general conferences to accomplish all that is before us. I do wanna say a word about our delegation and how hard-working they are. And many delegations I know from around the country have ceased meeting. They've not been meeting during this interim time. Our delegation has met monthly, and I want you to know that, that we've continued to meet, to try to stay informed. We have core values that we've established as a delegation of respect, integrity, authenticity, and preparedness. And we intend to be the best-prepared delegation in the United Methodist Church as we go forward to try to make a difference. I will tell you that we're not all of one mind on every single issue. We have lively debates and discussions, just as you do in your own local churches. But we have a respect for each other and we strive toward those goals of respect, integrity, authenticity, and preparedness as we do our work. I've been asked the question by lay members of various churches as well as pastors. What is going to happen? And my response is your guess is as good as mine. We don't know until we get to general conference and exactly how things will be tweaked and what will all be before us. I've been asked this question, what should we be doing? Well, I would encourage you to have conversations within your local churches. You know, we can have uncomfortable conversations with people with whom we disagree on issues. In the context of Christian community, we can do that. And as we do that, we can learn more about each other. We can learn something we didn't know before about our neighbors and their perspective. And I think that's a healthy thing that you can be doing. But I wanna say this word to all of us, do not be afraid, do not fear, do not fear. Jesus is Lord before, during, and after general conference. I encourage you, as we've heard throughout this conference, this theme that continues to come up through the different presentations and sermons. Let's get very clear about who we are in your local church. Get very clear about who you are and why you exist as a church, not just the things you do to get ready for Sunday, but as Phil Amerson said, the 100 year vision, what the 100 year work, why do you exist as a church? And doesn't your community need you as a church to get clear about that mission because the community is crying out with needs. And I think we have an opportunity at this time in our history as we are waiting what is to be to get very clear about who we are and why we exist, both individually as our churches and ministries and as a conference. I think that this is a time to double down on the mission, make disciples of Jesus Christ who are transforming the world. Let's welcome people for Christ, help people grow in their relationship with Christ and let's go serve the world with Christ. Let's go to our community and make a difference. If we will do that and find that clarity, I think that we will all be better off. We can lower the anxiety, we can focus on the mission and our church, our churches and our conference we'll have a future. And I believe it's going to be a glorious future that God has in store for us. Let's go there together. There is a question that's appeared and y'all may want to answer this question or not your choice. One of the key pieces of legislation that will be presented is the protocol of reconciliation, grace through separation. What is the current conversation that General Compance delegates and I assume they're gonna meet our General Compance delegates and there's no way of us knowing of that kind of thing regarding that particular piece of legislation. I would say that our delegation has endorsed the Christmas Covenant which embraces regionalization of decision making and we think that's a viable future for the church. The protocol has some issues but I think that there's a general feeling of affirmation for some of the aspects of the protocol. So I would say that we're not of one mind but I think there's a general appreciation for the protocol but we think that the Christmas Covenant and here's what I would encourage you to do is read the actual legislation and not what your friend on Facebook says about the legislation but actually read the legislation because I think there's some real value in that. So I just encourage you to do that. I'm gonna follow up with that with this. I would say there's a lot, there's much material that's being sent to persons related to legislation and when I read some of the material that is sent it really does not accurately reflect what is said. And so one of the things I'm sure that the delegation will do, I know that we had several inquiries about this related from clergy in the annual conferences. Okay, so at some point we need to know more and so that's a conversation we will have. I know that the delegation will do that and I think I'm sort of like the church as I am the political realm right now is just be careful about who we listen to or what we read. So let's get it firsthand from those folks who know the legislation which will be the delegation and listen to their explanations and they're saying that I'm sure they'll do some listening tours but I said this in the official address yesterday that there's a lot of certainty but not much clarity and there's a lot of alleged certainty that is not accurate about what is actually in some of the legislation related to the future of the church. In the absence of information there's a lot of speculation and speculation tends to spiral in a way that is not always healthy and we will as a delegation have listening opportunities and ways that we can share information and listen to you as a conference in the coming year in the 15 months between now and general conference. So hear that, it's 15 months. I think we ought to all take a break on it and do the work that we're really called to do and we can take up the general conference information at a timely way at the appropriate and right times. As I said yesterday that I thought the pandemic would have cooled things off some. I mean, so many people were and then all of a sudden realized it was a way in which people, we didn't know what but some may have been doing in terms of disinformation. Do you all want to give the date for the jurisdictional conference as well? A jurisdictional conference will be held in November of 2022 to have those exact dates but just early November of 2022 at that time we will elect new bishops for the jurisdiction, assign bishops and those appointments will take place on January 1st of 2023, which means we get to have Bishop Mike McKee until that time. So we're very blessed by that. Yeah, so I have the actual dates, the actual dates of the jurisdictional conference. I do not know the place yet. It may still be where it was going to be. This is the postpone jurisdictional conference. You put this on your calendar, November 2nd through November 5th and that is Tuesday through Wednesday so the concentration service to the new bishops really elected bishops on November the 5th. I will say that this is an unusual week. Joan is so appreciative that either the council of bishops or something like this always happens, that her birthday always happens during these kinds of events. Anyway, so it'll be a great birthday gift which figures out who's gonna come here anyway. I wanna thank you, Kelly, Clayton and all the delegates who are working hard at this. I know this is really difficult and challenging work and some of us in this room have been delegates before. I think we're now at a moment in our church's life and in our church's future where this is even more challenging than ever before. And so I would only ask that you pray for our delegation and Matt, Jacob's listening up in the booth somewhere. Let's run an article again about who our delegates are so that they can be contacted but mostly so that you can pray for them. I think that's really, really important for the coming days and let's just give some space while we continue to work on the future of the North Texas Conference and the things that are happening here and we have much work to do rather than spend a lot of time talking about this for the next 15 months but I know that it's important. I'm not discounting that at all and so I just wanted to highlight that. So thank you. Thanks, Kelly. Thanks, Clayton. Okay, we are now going to, yeah, let's give them some, thanks. So now we're going to hear from, oh, there's Owen. You know, you move around the room more than I did in Central Texas. That's all I'm gonna say. I don't know if that's a compliment or not. But anyway, I think your report is up, right? Okay, are you gonna say anything? Okay, these videos better be really good, Owen, if you're not gonna say anything. Greetings, in the name of Jesus Christ, I'm Owen Ross, the director for the Center for Church Development, CCD. Today I want to talk to you about resilience. Child Development Professor Ann Mastin describes resilience as the phenomenon that occurs when in spite of serious threats to good outcomes, good outcomes still occur. The International Resilience Project defines resilience as the ability to respond in positive manners in adverse conditions. We sing this year and are we yet alive like we do every year? But this year I was quite struck by Charles Wesley's questions in the third verse. What troubles have we seen? What conflicts have we passed? Findings without and fears with them since we assembled last. We have seen many. In adverse conditions, the North Texas Conference Center for Church Development partner with the resilient people known as the United Methodists of the North Texas Conference. And here are just a few of the amazing outcomes that we have seen amidst these adverse conditions. First, gathering new faces and new spaces is our primary strategy as a conference to reach our mission fields. When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, we all became exiles from our church sanctuaries. As pastors and laities, we turned on our computers, our phones, we gathered in our living rooms, in our cars, in our offices to connect with God and connect with one another. We started streaming and zooming. And in these adverse conditions, the resilience of our churches, of our pastors, of our laities resulted in innovative discipleship, innovative evangelism and innovative worship. I still laugh thinking about the meme. Just like that, all pastors are televangelists. That was a funny meme, but I was inspired at the seriousness of our pastors and our laity and engaging and online ministries with passion, compassion, professionalism to help reach out to a world that was increasingly isolated and increasingly frightened. While traditional new spaces like messy church, dinner church, festive kids, they took a pause. New spaces and digital spaces began to emerge from our churches. Over a third of our North Texas Conference churches received grants from the Center for Church Development to help improve their equipment, their online presence for a total of over $60,000 of the CCD budget. Hundreds of youth attended one or more of our numerous webinars that we had with experts in online and digital ministries. Now we're entering into a new season in the church and persons are hungry for community. Therefore, the Center for Church Development, we have revamped our new faces and new spaces website. You can go to NTCUMC.org slash new dash faces. And we have the application there where you can directly answer the questions about your new space, as well as receive training from some of our top practitioners of new spaces in the North Texas Conference. We have persons like Sylvia Wang, Patrick Littlefield, Ruben Alvarez and Shannon Klein. We are also offering trainings through the Genesis cohort and through a two-day intensive New Start 101. While our Genesis cohort goes throughout the year, our intensive is this Thursday and Friday, June 17th and 18th. And I know this is last minute for many of you, but we already have a great group you already registered, but we have space for more. Second, this season has been adverse to starting new churches. However, God has made a way in the wilderness. While we all mourn the closing of any church, we also know the resilience of the gospel offers new opportunities whenever a church closes. Under the tutelage and leadership of North Central lay leader, Kenneth Wolverton, we have revolutionized how we are using our legacy funds for new churches. We call the program ACE, which stands for Accelerated Church Expansion. We are turning closed churches into new churches faster than ever. The ACE program leverages our legacy funds so that we can purchase land quicker and we can build a first phase building to get our churches strategically into the mission field quicker. And then these ACE churches reimbursed our legacy funds through refinancing. So in theory, we should be able to accelerate new church starts with legacy funds until the Lord's return. Our first ACE church is Melissa UMC with Stacey Pyakin as the pastor. Our partnering church or the planting or senting church is First McKinney. Through ACE, we are able to not only build Melissa's phase one building during the pandemic. This past May, Melissa UMC was able to move into their beautiful building and to launch worship. The ACE program also enabled us to purchase for the site of Grace Avenue, Grace Chapel, a piece of property that God only knew how primed it would become. Through the leadership of pastors, Courtney Schultz, Alex Williams, Millie and Laura Eccles Richter, the ACE program purchased Grace Chapel, a piece of farmland in West Prosper East Auburn. Within a year of purchasing this, Denton ISD came to us and asked to purchase a strip of land and we sold them a narrow strip of land across the north side of that property. Now they will be widening the road and right next to our future church will be a future middle school, the resilience is following Jeremiah's example and buying a piece of property in adverse conditions and witnessing that piece of property become prime for the purposes of the Prince of Peace. My final topic for today is demographics. North Texas Conference, we have work to do. The African-American population is 15% of our mission field but only 7% of our members. That is a two-fold gap. Asian-Americans are 6% of our mission field but only 2% of our carnage. That's a three-fold gap. Hispanic, Latinx persons are 27% of our mission field yet only 3% of our members. That is a nine-fold gap. In response to these realities, the CCD has committed additional resources to those churches that are making disciples of Jesus Christ with these communities. First, the Black Church Matters. One of the jewels of the North Texas Conference Center for Church Development is the Black Church Initiative, BCI. From 2017 through 2020, the Reverend S. Diana Masters led BCI in the North Texas Conference. It equipped pastors and laity, strengthened preaching and leadership and invested in assessments of how our churches could be strengthened. Six BCI churches, St. Luke, Hamilton Park, St. Paul, Church of the Disciple, Warren and the Village, all invested heavily in their assessments. Now they have organized BCI teams. They have received a coach. They are working these assessments and they are assisting their congregations with their missions, ministries and outreach. To live into this new season we are entering into as a church and as a world. One of these churches, the Village UMC, led by Reverend Derek Jacobs, they had been meeting in a strip center for a decade. Then the pandemic hit. With the pandemic, all of our congregations faced uncertainties. But the Village had a God-given dream. Many years ago, a generous saint had donated a piece of property to the North Texas Conference that became worth over a million dollars. The NTC granted that land to the Village to build a new church and the Village in turn reimbursed the NTC for many of the expenses related to that land. The Center for Church Development then offered a $100,000 challenge grant to the Village from the legacy funds from closed churches. The Village would have to raise $200,000 and at that point they would receive the $100,000. The pandemic presented serious threats to raising money. However, the resilience of the Village congregation and their God-given dream resulted to them not only making that challenge grant, but in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, they broke ground, they constructed their building and they now have moved into their beautiful, amazing facility on 12 acres of land on winter grain right off I-35 into Soto, Texas. Church resilience is a generous congregation moving forward with their God-given dreams. Even when the world tries to tell them, now it's not the time. Next, to assist in reaching our Asian and Asian-American mission fields, the CCD has held a number of collaborations, consultations and given a number of grants. This past March, the North Texas Conference constituted our first mission congregation. It was Emmanuel Korean with Pastor Sun Chul Kwan. We also had a church close in Fairview, Texas and the Center for Church Development worked with the Metro District, the North Central District and the Center for Connectional Resources to move first Korean UMC in Richardson, Texas up to Fairview. Now the NTC is maintaining and expanding our presence and witness in this strategic location. Now, did you know that we have over 100,000 Asian Indians living in the bounds of North Texas Conference? And did you know that the North Texas Conference has never had a full-time elder serving this community? This was a racial injustice that was in desperate need of correction. So the CCD reached out all the way to Cochie, India to recruit a gifted, ordained Asian Indian elder named Sumesh Jacob. Then in 2020, Reverend Jacob, first United Methodist church of compel Tom Palmer Pastor and Bishop McKee made history when Bishop McKee appointed Reverend Jacob as a full-time associate pastor to First Coppell. To tell you more about the demographics around First Coppell, Coppell ISD has become the first ISD in Texas having more Asian students than any other ethnicity. For example, Reverend Jacob's son, Timothy attends an elementary school that is 85% Asian, most of whom, like the Jacob family, are from South Asia. Resilience is making history to reach new faces even when conditions are tight, tough, and adverse. Finally, in response to the nine-fold gap that we have in the underrepresentation of Hispanics, Latinx in our North Texas Conference congregation, the Center for Church Development has invested additional resources in our Hispanic Latinx congregations. One of those resources is our two-year Latinx-Late fellowship. Graduates include Ruben Alvarez, who is planting a new congregation out of Christ's foundry in partnership with Pleasant Man. Eliana Rios has become an associate pastor to Rappahoe and Juan Rios, an associate pastor at Casa Linda. Lovers Lane United Methodist Church and Walnut Hill Church recently hired graduate Berenice Baessa in 2020 with the assistance and support of the CCD, the Center for Connectional Resources and the Metro District. Walnut Hill deeded all of its property to Lovers Lane United Methodist Church and Lovers Lane adopted the still vital Walnut Hill congregation. And Latinx intern Berenice Baessa is assisting them with reaching the diverse mission field around them. Nine out of the 17 initiatives receiving new church funding are working to reach the Hispanic Latinx mission field. One of these churches is Yahweh Rappah with Pastor Georginette Hatton. This year in the midst of the pandemic, Yahweh Rappah moved out from underneath the comfort and the cover of first UMC Raulette and moved into a closed non-denominational church in Balt Springs, Texas. Did you know that we had a town of 25,000 in the North Texas Conference with zero history of a United Methodist presence within its bounds? Well, that has changed. Resilience is launching a Latinx United Methodist Church in a town with no history of a United Methodist presence in the middle of the pandemic, seeing that church prosper. The staff of the CCD, Matt Temple, Jessica Vargas, Tracy Everson and I, as well as our function area teams, ask you for your prayers. The CCD has begun a new prayer ministry called the Orison. The Orison means prayer or petition to God. Each month, we present seven petitions for God to assist the North Texas Conference in reaching our mission field. Please go to NTCUMC.org slash Orison to see the latest petitions and to subscribe to have the petitions emailed to you each month. Charles Wesley's hymn has us ask, and are we yet alive? The answer is yes. By the grace and resilience given to us by our almighty God, North Texas Conference, we are alive. Thank you. That was a wonderful video, Owen. We can furnish that video anytime in your church and when someone says our church has been closed, no, it's just, we've just done it differently. And so we have so much to show for that. And because we were able to start new churches as well or new faith communities. And we're grateful to Owen Ross and his team for doing that and the unique things that we've partnered with in terms of that work. So Owen, thank you. I think I still owe you a lunch at some point because of an agreement we had. I'll make good on that at some point. But I'd rather owe you than beat you out of it. That's all I'm gonna say. Okay. Again, thanks. Reverend Andy Lewis, the Center for Missional Outreach Report. Bishop, thank you. Members and friends of the North Texas Annual Conference. My name is Reverend Andy Lewis and it's my privilege to serve as the director of the Center for Missional Outreach along with associate director, Reverend Andrew Pfizer, administrative assistant, Tracy Everson and new to our team, conference disaster response coordinator, Reverend Jeremy Bassett. The mission of the Center for Missional Outreach or the CMO is to help local churches make disciples through ministry with their neighbors, particularly the poor and marginalized. In pursuit of this mission, the CMO is focused on investing in and supporting the local churches of the North Texas Conference and being a catalyst for the kind of creative and fruitful connections that Dr. Amerson shared about with us over the last two days. As we all know, in the last year or more, the local churches of our conference have faced great challenges and the temptation for church leaders to circle the wagons and focus merely on self-preservation has been all too real. Yet through it all, many, many congregations in our conference have continued to focus on their core purpose of loving God and loving neighbor. The CMO has been privileged to come alongside these churches in various ways to support and invest in their work. And today in this report, we want to celebrate their resilience and their witness. In the spring of 2020, as the numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations were on the rise and the economy was being disrupted, communities all across the North Texas Conference were suffering from higher levels of food insecurity, unemployment or underemployment and grief, stress and a host of other mental health challenges. Communities of color were especially affected by these negative impacts. In response, the CMO hosted a variety of webinars to spark ideas for ministry and to help church leaders support one another. The CMO also developed two COVID-19 disaster response grant opportunities. The first, the racial equity response grant sought to amplify the efforts of churches serving in contexts that allow them to be in ministry with BIPOC communities. Qualifying applications included relief work as well as advocacy work, aimed at building more racially just communities in the wake of COVID-19. The second, the Rural Response Grant sought to come alongside rural churches with under 150 people in average worship attendance and strengthened their ministry with neighbors who were suffering from the pandemic. Reverend Tim Marks and Calvary United Methodist Church in Paris received a Rural Response Grant to support their vision for a ministry of encouragement for essential workers in the Paris community. When we began to have the dream of being able to show appreciation to our essential workers, we kind of felt like a thank you card while it was nice, wasn't really enough. And when we saw the opportunity for the grant from the Missional Outreach Center, we applied for the grant and received $1,000, which we used to buy $110 gift cards from local businesses to include in the thank you notes that were written by members of our congregation to go to those essential workers. Members of our church from age seven to 94 were writing thank you cards to include with those gift cards. And so it gave them a real sense of hands-on ministry and outreach to our community. So one of the things the Center for Missional Outreach really provided for us was some guidance on how to craft boats of appreciation to the essential workers who would receive the gift cards. And even so much as helping us make the request to local businesses so that they would understand what we were trying to do when we contacted them to purchase like $100 worth of $10 gift cards from local businesses. It was incredible help to guide us to make connections with the local businesses and the essential workers that we were seeking to help. Before it really even got off the ground, other people began to pick up the ideas of the ministry of thanking essential workers and supporting our local businesses. An insurance agency in town adopted one of the grocery stores and provided gift cards for all the employees of that grocery store. Other churches began to offer the same kind of gift cards to essential employees and other businesses. Our church, Parish Calvary, adopted our medical center and focused on essential workers who were kind of out of the limelight. Custodians, office workers, technical support people, technicians. It was really exciting because 100 people at the hospital received gift cards from Calvary, but essential workers at all the businesses in our community received gifts from somebody. So it really grew from just Calvary trying to do something, the whole community expressing their appreciation to essential workers. As the pandemic wore on, blood donations, particularly from those of African ancestry used to most effectively treat sickle cell anemia were in critically short supply. Blood donations had plummeted due to safety concerns. Reverend Jeffrey Moore and St. Stephen, United Methodist Church in Mesquite responded. At the onset of COVID, we had about 90% of our blood drives get canceled by our sponsors who where we used to go to the schools, universities, colleges, corporations who closed because of COVID and we weren't able to hold blood drives. My first phone call was to Jeffrey at St. Stephen, United Methodist Church and said, hey, can you host a blood drive? It felt like a very tangible way that we could respond to the pandemic and support frontline health workers and the healthcare sector, something that otherwise felt really overwhelming. When they started to get word that we were holding a blood drive, it filled up almost immediately. So Jeffrey said, hey, let's have some more. I said, absolutely, let's do this. I reached out to Andrew and I said, do you think this is something that the CMO might be interested in and could coordinate at a conference level so that we could bring the resources of the conference to meet this real and imminent and critical need in healthcare? And of course, Andrew said, sure. The American Red Cross had wanted to work on increasing their partnership with the African American community, increasing their African American donor pool and increasing their outreach to combat sickle cell. And we had already launched the JTRJ, the Journey Towards Racial Justice. And so we knew that we wanted to strengthen marginalized communities. So the conversation with Andrew and the center and Jeffrey, we were able to come up with a program that supported the Zahn Home Center and the Dallas Bethlehem by setting a unit goal of 2,000 units. And if we were able to achieve that goal, the program that was developed and that American Red Cross could support was to have a $10 per unit towards those two centers and their missional outreach that they were trying to achieve. We have a refrigerator in our lab that usually sits empty. This refrigerator is for those patients with sickle cell and that refrigerator went from being two to three units to now 20, 30 units being in there. And the United Methodist Church has been an integral part of being able to support that. It's really a partnership between us and the community and the American Red Cross. It's the best example in this context of ministry with. In February of this year, Winter Storm Uri, the snowpocalypse, descended on North Texas, leaving behind over 60 United Methodist churches with damage due to flooding from burst pipes and additional needs in communities already strained from almost 11 months of the pandemic. The CMO responded quickly, providing timely information about disaster relief and recovery resources and preparing for a possible case management effort in targeted communities. The CMO also created a Winter Storm Grant opportunity. This grant had two goals. First, to support churches needing financial assistance to repair their facilities and resume the life-changing ministries that happened there. And second, to catalyze church efforts to be in ministry with their neighbors who were suffering as a result of the Winter Storm. Reverend Brian Phelps and Church of the Disciple, United Methodist Church in DeSoto, received a Winter Storm Grant and used the funds to achieve both goals. Soon as we heard that there would be rolling blackouts, I wanna say maybe Sunday before the, as the storm was kind of brewing, if you will, when it started snowing, we already knew that the church was gonna be impacted in some kind of way. We had a couple of members who came by, but they didn't have keys. So what they saw was it just seemed normal. Everything seemed to be in its place. That was Tuesday. So by Thursday, when things kind of cleared up, I trekked my way over here and just saw water coming out the windows. I mean, it was everywhere, icicles coming out of places that I never expected them to. All of the water was just kind of spewing in these rooms. So there were three burst pipes. Pipe one and two of them in the wall back this way. And it just rained, if you will. This was pouring in these offices right here. So all of the flooding took place right here and it just spewed all over the church. So the places with the most impact were the offices, the kitchen, and the sanctuary. The water actually just traveled all throughout the church. So that's our north wing and it traveled all the way down to the south wing and really impacted, especially here, where the stage or the pool pit was. The Winter Storm Grant kind of has two parts to it, of which we're excited about. One, it helps us to defray some of the costs with the deductible. So this is a smaller congregation with some unique needs and higher bills. And so we're just excited for a little bit of help. So we're grateful to CMO for even helping us get that far. But the second leg of that helps us get a little further, like I said, with the Winter Storm in itself gets us further to reaching our goals for whether that be digital ministry or equipping some spaces with some needs for our neighbors. We believe that it's going to help us get a little further down the road and get out of this experience just a little bit so that we can get back on our feet. The experience of attempting to provide a robust response to the Winter Storm and the likelihood that the North Texas area will experience extreme weather events more often in the years to come, reveal the importance of renewing our investment in our conference disaster response ministry. And opening on the CMO staff allowed the conference to bring on board someone with expertise and experience in disaster response who will oversee the task of strengthening the conference's disaster response ministry. We welcome to the CMO staff, Reverend Jeremy Bassett, a recently retired elder from the Oklahoma conference where he served for the last 15 years as the director of the office of mission and had responsibility for developing a strong disaster response ministry. The vision is to see this ministry as beyond just engaging crises but supporting the church in every level and facet of disaster, which is preparedness, then the relief and recovery effort, and then the mitigation of future disasters. And so we'd be looking to equip leadership in each district with people who can go to local churches and say, now, how do you wanna get engaged in this ministry at what level? And by the way, how's your church looking in terms of its own preparedness and its witness to the community about preparedness? And so we'll be engaging county officials, we'll be engaging state officials, we'll be looking at the various entities that are involved in this ministry to equip us, including, for example, our own conference insurance program. How do we help churches understand what best to do, to prepare for a disaster, to ensure for a disaster, and to recover from one once it hits? For the past several years, one of the five areas of focus for the Center for Missionary Outreach has been to provide leadership for making disciples who are courageously anti-racist. Since the launch of the journey toward racial justice in January, 2020, the CMO has provided significant staff support for this initiative's efforts. In addition, in 2021, the CMO's ministry with grant process prioritized efforts with leadership by or a mutual partnership with persons of color, and with a clear goal of building racial justice and equity. Many months or in some cases, years of carefully cultivating these ministry ideas has borne much fruit. This spring, the CMO received 14 applications and granted $50,000 to nine different churches and ministries. Reverend Flor Granillo, associate pastor at First UMC in Sherman, was the recipient of one of these grants to help start a ministry called the Vicinos Community Center. Immigrants are mostly humble people, hardworking and modest. And many of them have no legal documentation. And so they live in the shadows of society because they are just marginalized. And so we want to help them to learn how to transition into the new country. We decided to create this community center is because we want to help the immigrants not only to learn English, not only to teach them parenting skills, but mostly how to be more involved into their children's education. Because we firmly believe that getting into their children's education, they are going to develop the vision of sending the kids to college. So we are convinced that education will break cycles of poverty and marginalizations for the next generation. Thanks to the generosity of some people in the community, we have the space where we have already launched the first phase of the center. We now are teaching parenting classes and we are teaching a course for mental health for the community. And we believe that this is a great opportunity. And the grant, the money of the grant is going to help us to equip and to furnish and to make that space welcoming and inviting for people to come. And the next steps is the connections making, continue making connections with different institutions and professionals in the center. We want to help them to be just embraced and empowered. Embrace and empower and to be able to embrace that culture and always reminding them for them to remember that they have the same human rights of all people. The Center for Missional Outreach is investing in the churches of the North Texas Conference by telling the stories of creative, cutting-edge ministry with neighbors, by connecting church leaders with one another for mutual learning and encouragement, by equipping church leaders through consultation, coaching and relevant training, and by directing conference staff, energy and financial resources to churches that are living out their core purpose of loving God and loving neighbor. Go to the CMO website or contact us to explore how the CMO might support and invest in your ministry. Okay, thank CMO for the report. Thank you, Andy, for that. So I want to move through a couple of the motions. There's a motion on the floor. You guys just read the motion or we call for a person to make it. I'll read it. A motion that we amend the schedule to allow for the meeting consideration of the legislation before the conference and have any remaining reports or agency information emailed to the delegates. I do not see or hear of a second. Comes from Jessica Vittorio. Is there a second? There's a second. Okay, so what this, I interpret the motion to mean, then we still have legislative items that are before you that will go through those, and this has to do, basically, I motion any remaining reports or agency information emailed to delegates. So we have none remaining and so we will just continue with the agenda it is. If you will approve this, that means that there are a couple of videos that we won't show that come from his reports. Will you, we're gonna vote. So if you will vote yes for the amendment, which means we'll send the videos of global ministries and church and society to you. If you will vote, you're ready to vote. You'll approve it. You will vote yes. Let us put the poll up now. Wait a minute. Oh, we're gonna do hand raising. Hold on. Okay, we're gonna do a hand raise vote. So you need to do that. So if you for the motion, then you will raise your hand and that'll be up for 60 seconds. And then if you're opposed to it, we'll just do yes if you're for it. If you're for the motion, hold on for getting up because we're doing this a little different. If you're for the motion, you have 60 seconds to vote yes. Then we'll have 60 seconds to take note, but the yes votes will take first. So are we ready? And it's for a hand motion only. And so you clue into your devices and it is open to vote. Okay. So I've been asked to restate the motion. A motion that we amend the schedule to allow for immediate consideration of the legislative legislation before the conference and have any remaining reports or agency information emailed to the delegates. That's the motion. I'm gonna let it go. 473, yes, immediately. Okay. Okay, we're now going to call for the no votes on this motion. If you're opposed to it, we're gonna prepare. Again, we're gonna do hand raising for the nose on this motion. If you will do that, will you raise your hand and vote at this time? If you're voting for no. Okay, the motion is passed. So we will continue. Before us now though, are the award presentations? They were not the exception of that. So, Cammy, can we go ahead with award presentations that you have? Thank you, Bishop. Well, it is my pleasure to present the Harry Denman Evangelism Award for adult lady to Ms. Dana Phillips. Dana is a member of TREACH United Methodist Church and has been able to bring people into life transforming relationships with Jesus Christ through her remarkable lay ministry there. She has worked to organize and lead small group ministries at TREACH, but it is her innovative use of social media during COVID-19, social distancing that allows her to encourage others through scripture, devotion, Bible study and online worship. TREACH senior pastor, Reverend Daniel Humbert says he has been particularly impressed with the frequency and capacity with which she has used digital technology throughout the pandemic to introduce people to Jesus and to invite people into a growing relationship with him. We agree. Now let's hear a word from Dana. 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. 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 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 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 from all over the country. And we had prayer meetings on Zoom. 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. 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, who've 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 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. God bless you, thank you. I'm also pleased to announce the Denman Award for Youth goes to Ms. Haven Emery. Haven Emery is a graduating senior at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church where she lives out her love for God and for others through service and invitation in all she does. Haven serves in as many places as she can and has expressed her experience of the love of God in powerful ways while doing so. She volunteers at Scottish Wright Hospital in the Dyslexia Center and Orthopedic Inpatient Unit, welcoming children and making them feel at ease by just playing with them while they are waiting for treatment. Haven serves over 150 hours each year with Lovers Lane UMC Ray of Light Respite Program offering individual care and attention to children with special needs and their siblings. She leads within her church by helping coordinate missions, worship, student activities, VBS, confirmation, Sunday school and small groups. She's also a leader in the North Texas Conference Council on Youth Ministry. Haven has a passion for Jesus that has become a passion for introducing others to Jesus as well and is the epitome of what it means to be the good news of Jesus Christ to others. Haven is not able to join us today because she was chosen to attend a program at Asbury University where I hear our distinguished keynote speaker, Dr. Phil Amerson also attended. So she is there, that's also the college she will be attending in the fall and she is working on a program there this summer called Youth Becoming Leaders. It's a Christian community experience that equips high school students for theologically guided living and decision. Haven is immersed this week in scripture, theological texts, tradition and community to prepare her to lead and serve in a complex global society. Well done, Haven. Now let's hear a word from Haven's pastor, Reverend Saren Luegenbill. 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 town view 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 and the ways that she leads our church and 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. Hi, my name is Kami Gaston and I am the director for the Center for Leadership Development. And I'm here to give the award to the clergy Harry Denman Award. And I wanna talk to you a little bit about our recipient today. Reverend Derek Jacobs is going to be receiving this award as was shared earlier in the report, the village moved into their church building during this pandemic time. They have been busy doing ministry in really powerful ways for nine years as he ended the leadership of Reverend Derek Jacobs. And one of the things that I wanna share with you about them is that they are a church that began with social media as part of their DNA. And so from the very beginning when they were having their worship services, they were already those who could go online very easily and they adapted wonderfully well to this pandemic time. And during this time as been shared earlier, they even reached folks that were in Chicago who became a part of their congregation. They served using their new building and out in their parking lot by offering blood mobile. They spent some time giving bags to young people that go to school in their homes, so many things. And so today we wanna celebrate the wonderful leadership and gifts of Reverend Derek Jacobs and I'd like to invite him to come up to receive this year's Harry Denman Award. He is a worthy, worthy recipient. Let's say thank you. To the bishop and the cabinet and all of my colleagues, ministry and laity, I just wanna take this opportunity to just say thank you. Thank you. The Village United Methodist Church love pastoring that congregation. And I thank God for all of your love, your care and your support. And I just know that the best is still yet to come. Thank you. We also give out the One Matters Award. And today I wanna offer this award to a pastor that is full of energy that every time she's appointed anywhere, goes and serves the people in such a deep and wonderful way. And so today's recipient of the One Matters Award is Reverend Melissa Hatch. This particular award came from Discipleship Ministries. It comes with a $1,000 gift to the church and for the award and a plaque. And it is to uphold that church that went from zero professions of faith to at least one. And in this case, it went from zero to nine because of her gift and wanting to invest in the young people of the church, bringing out nine new professions of faith through Confirmance who now know in a deeper way how to serve, how love God and how to be in ministry with everyone. Melissa, will you come up and receive the One Matters Award? Thank you so much for your service. Thank you so much. And this concludes our awards. So at this time, I'm going to ask that the presentation for William B. Oden Ecumenical Award. So, Cheryl Murphy, who is the chair of the Commission on Christianity and Religious Concerns. Yes, and one of our responsibilities is to present the Bishop William B. Oden Award and we are grateful to be here to do that. This award began in 2014 in Bishop Oden's name, reflecting his passion for interfaith dialogues and relationships. Throughout this faithful work of bringing our differences, we constantly are reminded as much as we have differences, we also can find common ground with others. In this COVID pandemic season, we have been all innovative and creative in many ministries, but our committee found two ministries that went above and beyond this year. The first is Reverend Richie Butler, founder of Project Unity and creator of Together We Test. It began last spring. Reverend Butler and his team set up and operated COVID testing sites in five churches and shopping centers. They tested over 7,000 people. They also moved into hosting vaccination centers to the underserved communities. Greenland Hills Unite Methodist Church has a rich history of outreach and working with others. Their partnership with a local Lutheran church has been impacting their neighborhood with programs like groceries for families, breakfast for neighbors without housing and assisting in vaccinations. Reverend Kerry Smith and the Laity continue to be creative in impacting their neighborhoods with great hope and working with others. Both of these ministries have faithfully served their neighbors during this liminal season by working with others and impacting their community. We look forward to reaching out to the North Texas churches this next year to suggest how you may creatively find programs yourself that will bring others into ministry with you. We wanna congratulate Reverend Butler and Reverend Smith. So we're gonna hear the nominations report. So I'm going through the items as they are. As I understood the motion was passed was to delete the actual reports which we have done. Yes, please do. Our chancellor who's our parliamentarian is going to speak. I think there could be some confusion over the word report when the body moved to wait on reports until after legislation. We have a few items on the agenda that are called report but they're not truly reports. Things that are truly reports that don't involve any action have been moved. They will not be considered before any legislation but we have certain items that must be taken up. They are legislation and they are action items for the body and nominations is one of those. So I wanted to clear that up for the body that even though it's called report on your agenda that's not properly dismissible. It must be taken up and as part of the legislation. Thank you. Thank you. Members of the annual conference first would like to thank the members of the conference nominating committee for their faithfulness and their commitment to this work. Those members are our four district superintendents, a layperson elected from each district from the East Becky Keegans, from Metro Eric Markinson, from North Central Herman Totten and from Northwest Trumonelle Maples. Vice chair and conference lay leader Kim Brannon, conference lay leader elect Mary Nixon and I serve as the chair. The nominations requiring your approval can be found in the conference workbook beginning on page 35. The newly nominated positions and Bishop McKee's new appointments appear in bold. This year was a year with relatively few changes. The Metro district nominated one new leader to the nominating committee and our campus ministries nominated a total of 13 new leaders. The nominating committee itself had only 13 vacancies to fill. As you look at the report, there are a few changes and corrections that should be noted before we have the opportunity to vote. There are just a few. First, under campus ministry, Paris Junior College Wesley Foundation, we should remove Andrew Dodd who passed away since the printing of this report. Under the board of ordained ministry, two persons should be removed in the class of 2024, Jack Soper and in the class of 2028, Cassie Wade. And then under the nominating committee, the racial ethnic designation for two persons are in error. Deborah Hobbs Mason should say C slash A and Evelyn Cowley should say B slash A. With those changes and corrections, the report is before you. As we, a quick word as we look ahead to the nominations process for 2022, please encourage strong and trusted leaders in your churches to fill out a profile sheet. Those profile sheets convey to the nominating committee people's areas of interest and serve as the first and primary resource for the committee's work. The handful of profile sheets not used in recent years will remain in our database and will be taken into consideration in next year's process. To submit a profile sheet for the 2022 process, simply go to the North Texas Conference website, NTCUMC.org forward slash AC hyphen nominations and complete one of those profile sheets by January 21st, 2022. You have six months to submit a profile sheet and be considered in that way. Special McKee, I present to you in the annual conference, the 2021 nominations report for approval. This is before you and I believe, do we have a poll set up or are we going to raise hands? We have a poll. So if you would approve these nominations, then you will vote yes on the poll. If you don't, you can vote no. I would also say that you could. Anyway, that's the way we will do it today. At one point, do you have the breakdown in terms of ethnicity? Do you want to share that before we vote? Because I think that's important information. So this is information that we've talked about or have been alluding to over the last, well, I think yesterday. So this is where we are. So this is the ethnicity. Do you want me, are you gonna, I'll go ahead. Yeah, I'll comment on it. So as the slide shows, the nomination report yielded 300 positions this year. 0% were American Indian, 3.3% were Asian and Pacific Islanders. 18% of the positions were filled with Black and African Americans, 73.7% Caucasian, 5% Hispanic and Latino, and 0% identified as other. We had 51.7% are female, 48.3% of those 300 positions are filled by males. 53.3% of those positions were filled by clergy, 46.7% are lay members. And the Metro district has 53.1% of those 300 positions, North Central District, 22.3%. The East district has 11.2%. And the Northwest district is represented at 13.4% of those 300 positions in the nominations report. So we're ready to vote. So if you'll prepare to vote, it's going to be a poll. So if you will approve the nominations, you will vote yes. And if you don't, you will vote no, but we're gonna open the poll in a moment. So get ready to vote. You'll have an hour, excuse me, one minute and 15 seconds, 75 seconds to vote. The poll is going up now and you may vote. Okay, so the motion, I'm excuse me, you have approved the report of the nominations committee, 98% voting in favor, 1% voting no, 1% abstaining. Okay, so that is done. We will now move to the CFNA report. So Larry Walmack and Kristie Drenner will be coming. Larry, thank you. Thank you, Bishop, I appreciate that. It's good to be here today and it's always good to be representing my colleagues on the council on finance and administration before the annual conferences. We make this report and propose our legislation to the conference. Bishop, I've got to admit, I don't know that I've ever been to an annual conference and I've been as a child and adult and delegate to the conference for most of my life and I have never heard a conference preacher invoke. I can Tina Turner, Roberta Flack and Marvin Gaye all in the same sermon. That was pretty impressive. It's a new day, isn't it? It is an absolutely a new day. We wanted to make Tina Turner's song What Has Love Got to Do With It, which title of sermon is Walking Up Music. So I just want you to know that. You know, that would have actually been pretty cool. But you're considering the questions like what's love got to do with it and where's the love and what's going on? And you hear Dr. Emerson ask the question about are we really looking at our work and Clayton mentioned this earlier as 100 year work and are we ever actually finished doing our work? I think it's just really pertinent to the work that CF&A and the whole conference has had going on. And Bishop, you asked us all last night if we were listening, well, I want you to know that as we're representing the Council on Finance Administration today and it's clear that people are listening that the workers that are about the work of the conference and the church are trying to pay attention to what's going on and being responsive and receptive to those things. Your Council on Finance Administration has been working all year, trying to think big enough to answer some of those very questions and provide not only plans but the resources available that are gonna be needed to allow our congregations to be as our conference theme says rooted in love as we move forward. So today the CF&A brings forward legislative item number eight, which contains three recommendations to be voted on the first of those. And I'm proud to have Christie Drenner standing up here next to me, but the Council does recommend that Christie Drenner be elected as the conference treasurer for the quadrennium with Jody Smith's retirement earlier in the year. We were, or last year we were proud to go through the process and making the offer and getting the acceptance from Christie to come on board as the Director of Connectional Resources for the conference, but this action to elect her as conference treasurer is required. The second point that will be on the poll here in just a few minutes is for the selection of the auditor for the conference here and the Council is once again recommending continuing the utilization of Ratliff and Associates as the auditing firm for the conference treasury audit of 2021. The final action item that will be voted on in the poll is the 2022 apportionment budget recommendation and the Council is also recommending approval of the apportionment budget for 2022 in the amount of 10,877,316 dollars. Not just, I'm trusting that all of the delegates lay in clergy have poured over the documentation and information that's in the conference workbook about the budget. Those, all those documents, all that documentation can be found on pages 25 to 30 and also 75 to 82 in your conference workbook. But just looking back on 2020 a little bit, our apportionment paid out at 89%, which was down just slightly from 2019. We collected a little over 11 and a half million dollars and apportionments and a little over $400,000 were paid in all other benevolences that were there. I want to just say a quick word of thanks to all of our churches and our pastors and our finance committees and trustees and everybody else and the members of our churches all throughout the conference for being so diligent and faithful in the giving to your local churches and to your commitment to paying apportionments. We absolutely know it was tough. It was tough in my home church and it's an honor to be here today to say thank you for your hard work and dedication and for having such a strong finish in the payouts at the end of the year. I also want to just report to you that from an expense management standpoint, your conference staff and from the bishop down through the centers to the staff at the conference level were able to actually reduce expenses by over $3 million last year. And so we want to tip our hat to the center directors and the staff that really took great strides and put a lot of rigor into the work that they were doing to accomplish that. So moving on to the recommendation of the 2022 budget. Again, all the supporting documentation and stuff that supports this recommendation is in your conference workbook. Hopefully you've had a chance to look at that. But in preparing this recommendation for the 2022 budget, the implications of the pandemic were before us every time we met, the implications not only on the conference, but on each of the local churches. We also kept at the forefront of our mind the uncertainty of what's going to be going into the general conference in 2022 and we've carefully considered all of those impacts in this recommendation. I want everybody to recall that in the preparation between 2020 and 2021 budget, we already reduced the budget by about 12% during that timeframe. And with that in mind, with that big reduction that we made last year, the council of finance administration is recommending a budget that represents a slight increase of less than one half of 1%, about $44,000 total compared to last year's budget. And we'll cover those very nominal, but very vital incremental increases in just a minute. You will notice that the general conference and jurisdictional conference apportionments have remained flat for next year. And recall also that these two apportionments alone account for about 25% of our total budget and are passed down to us as fixed expenses. So in referencing the remaining 75% of the budget that is under the conference's purview, the Center for Church Development has proposed a very nominal increase. It's less than $1,400 in the 2022 budget. The Center for Missional Outreach budget is flat for 2022. The Center for Connectional Resources actually has two line items that have increased from the 2021 budget. And there's an administration line that's increased due to some IT expenses that Christie's team is working with to try to streamline a lot of the district offices and the majority of the databases basically into one platform. And from an administrative standpoint, it's gonna make the work a lot more efficient and a lot better. You also heard in Ann Willett's report on the Board of Pension and Health Benefits report yesterday, there's a slight increase of about $28,000 primarily related to anticipated insurance supplement needs. The budgets of the Episcopal Office, communications and district superintendents also remain flat. Finally, again, the CFNA is recommending suspension of the standing rules for this very second year related to the increase in salaries for district superintendents and district superintendents salaries are being recommended to remain flat again in 2022. With that as background, I wish that the council recommends approval of the 2022 apportionment budget again in the amount of 10 million, $877,316. This concludes our report. And if there are no questions, we're ready to vote on these three recommended items. So we're gonna bundle unless there are any questions, all three of these reports so we can continue our business. So are there any questions and I don't see any nothing that's been sent to me? Are there any? Are there any questions that come in? I'm seeing it, okay. Okay, so let's prepare to vote. And remember, we're going to be voting on electing Christy Drenner as the treasurer. Huh? That was not me. That was somebody else. She has a fan in the room. So there's a question from Stan Copeland about whether or not the conference received CPP. Is that PPP loan? PPP, yes. Yes, we did. We did receive funds and could you speak to it and send us a question? Yes, sir. The conference did receive a PPP loan and as of March, 2021, it has been fully forgiven. Okay. Okay, any others? Okay, so I assume you're ready to vote. There are three items, the election of Christy Drenner's treasurer, the approval of the auditor. We have to name that. And then also the budget that's before us with little or no increase. So I assume you're ready to vote. So do we take these one by one or can we just take, how are they gonna do it? We're gonna do it in a bundle. Okay, so you vote yes or no on all three items. So let's prepare to vote. Get ready to do that. As you prepare to vote and we're going to open the poll now and you have 75 seconds. Hold the vote, what? What we have here. Okay, so we're gonna proceed. We're gonna proceed with the vote if you would approve all three of these action items from the council and finance administration, would you vote yes? If you don't approve vote no, you have 75 seconds to vote. Do you have the vote? Yes. For the election of Christie Jenner, it's 99% yes. I think the 1% is abstained. I wouldn't worry about it. 99% in favor of the audit, 98% in favor of the budget, 1% against and 1% abstain. Okay, so all three are passed. Kudos to you. So I wanna thank CFNA for their very good work in keeping track of our financial condition as well as Jody Smith, our previous conference treasure of the Connectional Resource Officers and for Christie Jenner who's doing a very good job of doing that as well. So let's thank them very much. So we have a couple of motions and I want to bring them before you in this way. So the first one that I have is iMotion. This is from Jessica Vittorio. To extend the time I've lauded for annual conference for one hour to accommodate proper debate, amendment and consideration of all legislative items before the conference. We were scheduled to adjourn five minutes ago. So that's for an hour. I think I'm gonna interpret that as one hour beyond the three o'clock. So that is the motion before us now. And it does have a second. Am I correct? That one has a second. So this is basically a motion to continue meeting for an hour to consider the balance of the resolutions before you. I think one of them has been pulled. We'll report on that in a moment, I think. Am I correct about that? Okay, legislative item 16 has been formally withdrawn. It's the other two items that would be before us. Okay. They're building the poll right now. So you have to be patient while the poll is built. Bill, let me know when the poll is built. Okay, they're getting ready to launch the poll and this is about extending the time of the annual conference for one hour. Okay. It has a second. So prepare to vote, the poll is going to go up. You're gonna have about, you will have 75 seconds to vote yes or no. So the poll is going up now, you may vote. So the motion passes, it does require two thirds. The motion passed by 75%. So it passed 75, four, 23 against and two abstained. There's another motion on the floor that it takes precedence. It's the next motion, so it's the next one. There's a motion on the floor from John McClary. Has it received a second? Okay, so it is basically the motion is to table legislative items 15, 16 and 17. Huh? Is there a second? Oh, this is really hard to do virtually. I just want you to know. It looks like it shouldn't be, but it is. Huh? Great. Thank you. It is seconded. So this is, we'll just move to the motion. It is to table the three legislative items. One has already been withdrawn, but we'll just leave it like that. If you will vote to table all those that are before us, we're gonna use a hand for this. We're gonna build a poll. We're gonna build a poll. Okay, well, it's not in order when there is not enough time to take it up again in this session. However, the body just voted to extend the time for an hour, so there would be time to take up the legislative items unless this motion passes. The point of order is not a valid point of order. Okay, that's what you're saying. Okay, but the move to table is valid. The motion to table is valid. Are we ready to vote yet? The poll is, we wanted to speak against the motion to table. Okay. Yeah, yes. I don't think that's the way. So we need to, I guess, move Mike. We're going to launch the poll, so be ready to vote. This is the motion to table the items before 15, 16, 17. So the poll is going up. If you would vote to table, which means we've moved to the end and the appointments, then you will simply vote yes. If you're opposed to tabling the motion, you vote no. Okay, the motion to table has passed. It's 51% to 45%, 4% thing. So those items are not before us now. You have voted to table them. Okay, we'll move to the conclusion of our business together at this time. And so let me share with you what that will be. Allison, we probably will not need the organist and everything if that's okay. I'm sorry, that's come up. Andy, what do you think? Do you think? Wait a minute. Oh, thank you. The motion is that we take from the table legislative items 15 and 17. So you need to ask if there's a second. That is correct. And the proper terms are lay on the table and take from the table. So the body laid these on a table. We're not gonna take them up. Now the motion is to take them off of the table and put them back before the body. It needs a second. So we're gonna vote again. And I'm sorry, I don't have who made the motion this motion before. It's not on my screen. So the motion is to bring them off the table, right? Made by Ben David Hensley. And who is the second? Who's the second? Anita Bassenger. Okay, so basically, tell me again, because again, it's not on my screen. Basically take items. Consider, okay. So the motion by Ben David Hensley and seconded by Anita Bassenger is to bring off the table and consider resolutions 15 and 17. So you place them on the table, all three of them, but actually one was already withdrawn and now you're gonna bring them off the table. So that's what's before you. So you're basically reconsidering what you did. You're actually taking them off the table and get ready to vote. We're building a poll, which is why I taught so they can build a poll. I don't think that can happen at this time. So I've been asked to speak to something I'm not sure, I guess the reason why, but I can answer the question was the previous motion submitted prior to the motion regarding time. The motion to table was made after the motion to extend time. So prepare to vote. The poll is ready and if you want to bring those two items off the table and consider them, will you vote yes? If you choose not to vote no, prepare to vote the table and the poll is up now, vote. Okay, so the motion passed. So we will consider items 15 and 17 at this time. So it was 52 to 47, is that what you said? 52 to 44, so I'm reported that out. Okay, so legislative item 15 is before us. Bishop at the beginning of this, I'd like to make a motion that we suspend the rules of the annual conference and extend voice to Demetria McCain. She is a member of St. Luke community, United Methodist Church, but not a member of this annual conference. She is an expert in a nationally recognized expert in fair housing and equitable housing policies and the executive director of the Inclusive Communities Project, which serves matters here across the North Texas area. Okay, at this point of the day, I'm just going to waive that and permit her. Absolutely, thank you very much, Bishop. Well, good afternoon, I'll be very. Welcome, we're glad that you're here. Thank you, I'm very pleased to be here. Thank you for the time. Demetria McCain, as was mentioned earlier, the North Texas region is a reflection of the United States with all of its history of racial discrimination, racial violence and race-based biases against populations who by and large have little power. This includes a history of redlining, government sponsored policy that keeps home loans out of neighborhoods of color, a history of withholding municipal services from those very same neighborhoods, and a history of segregated schools. North Texas is a reflection of the United States through our current day actions and inactions. Our inactions have perpetuated policies that sort us into different living spaces, policies that have been urged by many who declare Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. Now, stemming from Mark 14, verses 66 through 72, when Peter denies Jesus three times before the rooster crowed, my senior pastor at St. Luke Community United Methodist Church, Reverend Richie Butler, who's here today, preached Sunday and reminded us that God has selected us flaws and all. As much as we may not want to admit it, our North Texas region has flaws. It has flaws when it comes to racial and ethnic equity, particularly as it relates to housing. But we have the power to reverse the course on residential segregation. We have the power to speak up when our neighbors out of hate and fear push away low-income people of color who seek nothing more than the ability to choose to raise their children in safe, well-resourced neighborhoods, although their race or ethnicity might not be the predominant population. God has selected us with our North Texas flaws and all to raise our voices wherever we're planted on the Next Door app, on Facebook, in home owner association meetings, and even in city halls to end the discrimination that has engineered segregation in the North Texas region. Because it's not enough for Christians to sit by the sidelines and deny to do what we know Jesus would have us do. If we continue down that path, the path of silence about the inequities of residential segregation, we will surely hear the rooster crow twice. Thank you. Thank you, Bishop. Thank you, we appreciate you doing that. As we present this before you, I simply like to add that a slight correction to the resolutions that stands as legislative out of 15 that it was presented not only by myself and Demetri McHane and Danielle Buwan-Kim, but also by the signatures of Reverend Richie Butler and the church council at St. Luke Community, United Methodist Church, and I present it before you for consideration. We're going to have to dress here. What is it, Andy? There's a motion to what? legislative item 15, add wise county in line item one and two on page 33. And now you would ask if there is a second, of course, give everyone a moment to get oriented, but it would need a second. Okay, we have an amendment. There's no such thing really here, but we're going to add wise and what else? Wise county. Wise county, that it. Okay, will you accept that? We would accept that as a friendly amendment. Okay. Anything else? Okay, let's go to the next one. Anything else? Okay, let's, you want to say anything else? Okay. The maker, the bringer of the resolution, choose not to say anything else. So I think we're ready to vote. And we see, I see nothing else or nothing's been said to me. Are we ready for the votes? Are we ready for the votes? Another for the minutes. We have another motion to amend to include all counties in the conference. And the way you're handling that Bishop is fine if there is no objection, you can be as long as it's acquiesced. Okay. You want to add all the counties? Sure, I think we accept that as a friendly amendment. I would say those who make the amendments for other counties, if they represent those counties, they could send those letters, okay? Any other questions? I'm looking back here to see. Hold on. So we're going to vote as amended on the resolution. And it basically adds all the counties, all 21 of them in the North Texas Conference. If you will approve this, you'll vote yes, if not no. And we're waiting to get the poll. Bishop, we have a motion to amend legislative item 15 to delete the text included on page 33 of the workbook on lines eight, nine, and 10. So we'll all need to orient ourselves toward page 33 of the workbook on lines eight, nine, and 10. That's the motion. Okay, we have a motion to delete I have lines eight, nine, and 10 on page 33. And that reads be further resolved at North Texas annual conference. The I met this church confesses the silence and complicity of the annual conference and many of its members to enact rural housing policies across North Texas. So there's a motion. Is there a second to that? I assume there is a one to get them to attend me. Yes. There is a second. We have a second Bishop. We do have a second. Okay, we have a second. On the amendment to strike lines eight, nine, and 10. I prepared the poll. We have 30 seconds Bishop. Huh? Building the poll, it's gonna be 30 seconds. While they build the poll, we have a question of clarification. Debra, do you want to speak about how does non-discrimination on the basis of income work? Do people still have to pay for housing in which they live? And Bishop, there's been a motion to, there's been a request, sorry, to restate the motion as amended before we vote on it. Okay. So basically the resolution you have is before you. And in beginning with line one on page 33, they've basically all the counties in the North Texas Conference have been added. So that's already been done. What's before us right now is an amendment to strike, need your workbook open, lines eight, nine, and 10 from the resolution. That's what's before us right now. So the whole resolution's up for just those three lines. If you would vote to strike those three lines, will you vote yes? If you choose not to strike those three lines, vote no. Let us vote now. So the motion to amend by dropping those lines has failed. For the motion was 291, opposed to the amendment to delete those 295, so it fails. So they remain in the document in the resolution. So what, okay, is there anything else before us in the middle of this that we need to navigate? We don't see anything Bishop. So what's in order now is, oh, we've got a request and I think it's a good request. When we get motions, can we state the names of the people bringing the motions and seconding? And I want to apologize for the body when I have failed to do that because I do think that's important and I'm sorry about that. So the challenge is that we're getting everything at one time almost. And so it's like we're trying to sort out what's what. And so it's, if y'all were all here in the room, we would know it would be easier, more easily done. And so I know that you are confused perhaps or about this, understand that. We are too, everybody's, there are no bad people here. We're all trying to do good work. So everybody just sort of, you know, but don't throw any darts here. Let's just, we're gonna assume that everybody's trying to do their best work. Okay, so what's before us is the resolution as presented with the addition of all the counties. Yes. Okay, so if you will vote, get ready to vote, the poll is ready. And if you will vote to approve the resolution, you will vote yes. If you're against the resolution, you will vote no. And we are getting ready to vote. Tell me when the poll's ready, Andy. If the poll is ready, if you would vote for the resolution, would you vote yes? If you're opposed to it, vote no. Okay, so the resolution passed 83% four and seven, should you say 17 or 15% no, it passes. Hold on for a second. I'm gonna interrupt this for just a bit because somebody has to go and this is a piece we have to get done. So Dr. Oliphant. Thank you, Bishop. I have to leave to go do a wedding. So annual conference location next year, I think Robert Hasley and the staff of St. Andrew have done such a fantastic job that we could have it here every year, I think, and it would be great. But we would like to offer an invitation to First United Methodist Church Richardson, June 5th, 6th and 7th of 2022. We'd love for y'all to come and we invite you to receive that invitation. Okay, so this is before us. I'm just gonna assume we're not gonna turn down an invitation to go somewhere and we'll just declare it done. Is that okay with you? Great, I don't hear anybody objecting to that. I'm hoping I understand that's an easy thing and we don't need to take time to vote on it. Hey, Clayton, thanks for that and just a word here. Thank you to St. Andrew and we'll not be able to express the kind of gratitude I'd like to today but know that we are deeply grateful for Dr. Hasley for the leadership of this church and for the staff just hosting this so very, very well. Two years in a row virtual and it is not easy. I can assure you and it is so much technology to have so much work that has to take place that does not have to take place in an in-person. So we're at item number 17. I'm going to rule this out of order and this motion is being pulled. I'm removing it's out of order. This already exists in the fabric of the annual conference and you've elected those persons to do this job. CFNA, trustees, the board of pensions and the core leadership team. Okay, we've concluded that business at this time. So we're going to move to the reading of the appointments which we will do in this manner. And that is that I will simply direct you to the North Texas Conference website and that is where all the appointments are. I do want to introduce two people to you today. I mean, it's not needed necessarily to introduce them but I want them to come forward because we have two new district superintendents and Debra, I'm going to ask you to come as well because you're not a new superintendent. You're just moving offices. You don't even have to move home, you're moving offices. So I want to introduce to you, they need no introduction, Edlin Cowley, who will be the Metro District Superintendent, Debra Hobbs Mason, who will be the North Central District Superintendent and Cassie Wade, who will be the East District Superintendent. And they have already, of course Debra's been meeting with the cabinet, Edlin Cowley and Cassie Wade has been meeting with the cabinet during the appointment of time. Yeah, let's, I was going to come down there but you're all on the way up here. So it's fine. So let's go to the center. So I want to say that already we are enjoying working together and of course, Dr. Henderson will also be on the point of cabinet as the director of diversity, equity and inclusion as well. And as he gave the words today about and some people tweeted about it about the history of the black church, it is so helpful to us to have his voice in the room. And one of the reasons we appointed him is because we have all benefited from him for the last, I have for the last several years, but we've seen that in action a lot in that time. So I wanted you to welcome our new cabinet members. I want to say this, we're going to sing, we're not going to sing. I just want to say a word again of appreciation to St. Andrew, Alison, thank you for hanging in there with us. Kyle, thank you for hanging in there with us, everybody. Andy, is there anything else on the agenda? You need some announcements? You've got some now, Kenny's got some announcement. Don't just stand up here with me. This announcement follows on the heels of the CMO report where we heard about our partnership with the American Red Cross. Jeffrey Moore and Andrew Pfizer want to make the announcement that at this moment the American Red Cross is experiencing a severe blood shortage as the number of trauma cases, organ transplants and elective surgeries rise over the last three months. The Red Cross has distributed about 75,000 blood products more than expected to meet these needs, significantly decreasing the national blood supply. In some areas there's less than one half days blood supply available. Our partnership as a conference with the American Red Cross is a mustard seed that we have planted and is now taking root. And we are asking all churches to help this partnership grow and join the effort to replenish the nation's blood supply. To get involved, contact Andrew Pfizer, Associate Director of Center of Missionary Outreach at PfizerFISER at NTCUMC.org. Thank you. So at this time I want to say again, the appointments are fixed for the coming year and you'll see them in on the website and they are there. And if it says TBS, it means to be supplied because we're looking for someone, perhaps in a particular appointment. So I want you to know that. So again, thank y'all, welcome. Well, again, thank you Cassie, welcome. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Would you give us a moment about something we're working? So there was a couple of things that came in and the first one did not, I didn't know how to interpret it because it was just use the word challenge. But then the person and it's Michael Baumann clarified that he wants to make a request that the challenge be reflected in the minutes of the annual conference. The challenge is to the Bishop ruling item 17 out of order. And that that challenge would be reflected in the minutes of the annual conference and that the ruling be considered by the judicial council. What that is, is a request for a decision of law and that can happen during an annual conference session. So we'll accommodate that of course, we'll do that. We'll send it up as a request for a determination on decision of law. Thank you, so that is done. Okay, so we have completed our work, are there anything, is there anything else? I don't see anything on mine. So now we have a motion that has been made to overturn the decision of the chair made by Jessica Vittorio, seconded by William, I believe that says Gavett. And is this all the information we have on the motion? Would assume that that is regarding the decision of ruling item 17 out of order. It doesn't state that. I do think that's fair. And if Ms. Vittorio would provide that clarification, then I believe we can move to the next step. Yes, okay, move to overturn the decision of the chair related to legislative item number 17. So we have a motion and a second. This can only happen by two thirds, a majority vote. So the motion is to overturn my ruling. And so this requires two thirds of vote. If you would overturn that, you will vote yes. If you do not vote to overturn the decision I made to rule it out of order, you'll vote no. So the poll will be ready in 15 seconds. The poll is ready. If you would vote to overturn the ruling of the chair, you will vote yes. If you would sustain the ruling of the chair, that is I've ruled it out of order. If you would vote to, then you'd vote no. So yes means that we bring it up on the table and we take it up. No means we leave it the way it is. That's the best way to describe it for this. So with the poll is up, we're ready to vote. If you'd vote to overturn my ruling, you vote yes. If you would vote to sustain the ruling, you vote no. Okay, let us vote now. Okay, the motion to overturn the ruling failed. 26% voted for it, 68% voted against it and the abstentions were how much? 5%. So that concludes that business. We've had the reading of the appointments. That which is left or I have fixed the appointments. We didn't read them. That being said, we've been invited to have a annual conference home next year. We're grateful for all the people at St. Andrew who did the work and our team from the conference of communications team and the Connectional Resources team and my admin Joel. So there is a back room that has just been so busy this whole time in terms of just making all of the voting and everything happen. And that's with a lot of volunteers and a lot of staff from North Texas Conference. I'm grateful. So we are gonna sing one hymn. It just would be good to end. I think are we ready? Can we do that pretty quickly? Do we need to set up anything? One second. We're gonna sing, go make of all the cycles and I'm waiting to hear when we're ready. Oh, we're ready. The man is here. Blessings on all of you. The members of the North Texas Conference, clergy and lay alike and to the almost 300 churches and ministry settings, we're grateful. I'm grateful for all of your ministry. Thankful for the work that you've done the last two days and I'm grateful for the St. Andrew worship staff as well. I didn't name this specifically for the wonderful worship that we've had together. So it's been magnificent. So will you receive this benediction? Bear witness to the love of Christ in this world so that the stranger you meet may find in you a generous friend and now may the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the love of our God and the community, the Holy Spirit be with yours now and forevermore. Go in peace. Thank you, Kay. Thank you, Arthur. Appreciate it. Bye-bye.