 Hello, I'm Ruben Sines Jr. Bishop of the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. May God's peace be with your spirit today. We'll gather for annual conference at Christ United Methodist Church in Plano in June. We'll discuss several important topics during the conference, including legislation and resolutions. Understanding the difference between legislative items and resolutions is important before the conference begins. Legislative items are binding and have operational and financial implications. These items include setting budgets, for example. When the body votes on a legislative item, it votes to approve a proposal and then take action. Resolutions on the other hand express the ideals and opinions of the legislative body on an issue. A resolution must be aspirational, not prescriptive, and it cannot negate, ignore, or violate provisions of the discipline. A resolution can express support or opposition for a particular issue or commemorate a person or event. Resolutions can encourage particular actions within the annual conference and on behalf of the annual conference, we've seen resolutions serve as powerful signals of our shared beliefs, values, and hopes as United Methodists. Both types of works are essential to our annual conference's purpose and witness. You know, it's part of our West Indian heritage to encourage and engage in holy conferencing, seeking God's will for our church to spirit-led dialogue with one another. By making space for honest and thoughtful discussion, we can model to society what it looks like to listen well, grow in our understanding, collaborate to affect change, and even disagree without becoming disagreeable or disrespectful. So when we gather in June, may we arrive with a spirit of humility, open a hear one another, grow stronger in our faith and love for one another, be encouraged and place our hope in the Lord. See you then. Peace be with you.