 Hello, I'm Mike McKee, the Bishop of the North Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Four years ago today, I became the resident bishop of this annual conference, and I have learned about the vitality of our congregations and our witness across our annual conference. I'm grateful for the ways in which our clergy and our laity continue to witness to the good news of Jesus Christ in a variety of ways and in very different settings. But as we begin our next four years together, I want us to remember once again our mission as a people of Christ. We are called to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. And so that we can do that, let us focus on three things. We will continue to create new congregations and redevelop existing congregations, and we must be bold and courageous so that we may meet the opportunities that God is placing before us. So as we create new communities, we will have high expectations about our witness and about the people we send to serve those communities. As we redevelop our existing communities, we will look for ways in which we can increase, redevelop, reform our ministry and our outreach and existing congregations. We will look for new ways to do ministries in some of those congregations so that we can be the people that God has created us to be, called us to be, and that is to share the good news of Christ. Secondly, we will focus on leadership, both clergy and lay. The clergy effectiveness systems that we've continued to grow over the last two or three years have been very important in terms of helping people realize how they can be more effective. We have to be lifelong learners if we're going to be clergy in the North Texas annual conference because our culture and our communities change so rapidly. And we will continue to look at ways in which we can help clergy continue to grow in their skills and in their levels of effectiveness. But as we think about clergy, we're also looking for persons who can serve 30 and 40 years in our annual conference. Well, that may seem like a long time. That means that we have to focus on young persons and hear and help them hear their calls to ordain ministry or other forms of ministry within the annual conference. Four years ago, the number of clergy in our annual conference who are 35 years of age or younger was less than 3%. Today, that number approximates 6%. And while we've made some strides, we must continue to look for young persons and help them hear the call of God on their lives for some form of ministry within our annual conference. And we will look for younger persons as we seek to continue to grow the number of persons who can serve for a number of years in our annual conference. We'll also focus on lay leadership. Let's be honest. Without the laity in our churches and communities of faith, ministry would really not take place because it is you, you who witness in our communities, you who provide the ways in which we make disciples of Jesus Christ and our local churches and in our communities of faith. We'll continue to develop discipleship making systems which we are already doing in some locations in the annual conference and we'll begin to multiply those. We will also have an expectation of the laity and let's remember that the laity who serve in any of our local churches are responsible for the stewardship of our congregation's witnesses. And so what we hope and pray that you will do is understand that it's not about you. It's not about your particular church, but it's about a community. It's about a whole community that God wants you to reach that really may mean at times that you will change some of the ways in which you do something in your local church. Lastly, we will focus on our ministry with our neighbors. Our neighbors, we think we can call them by names, but these are the people whom we do not know. And I've been talking about a relationship with a local public school and the expectation that each of our congregations will develop an ongoing relationship with a local public school and be in relationship with children in that school by being a mentor or a tutor. But it's a way in which we begin to help people understand that we come not as people who know everything, but people who come as neighbors. My expectation again is that each local church will have a relationship with a public school. And I know that that relationship and that ongoing ministry can lead you into other forms of ministry that can be transforming for your community and for the people who live there and can be transforming for you as well. Let us see mission not as a transaction, but as a relationship. So I hope that you'll continue to develop your ministries, your missions, as it relates with people, not as something in which you have that you give away, but that you are truly a neighbor with someone. I want to thank you for your valuable witness, whether you're a clergy person who's serving in a congregation or a lay person who's serving as a leader, a lay person who is singing in a choir in a praise band, teaching junior high boys and girls, or simply being the person who is spearheading an effort of mission in the community. I am grateful for your witness. I'm grateful for your leadership. And I hope that we will continue to be the people that God intends us to become. And I hope that you'll ask others to join you in that witness. We do live into multiple times in the United Methodist Church, but let's not focus on what happens somewhere else where you and I may not have any control. Let us remember that we are here in this place, this appointed place, to be in ministry, and we have significant opportunities to really be a model for the way in which people can live together and work together and serve together. Let us continue to focus on our mission statement to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation world. Again, thank you and God bless you. And I'm glad to serve as the Bishop of the North Texas annual conference. Thank you very much.