 Good morning. I want to share with you a few words. It may seem more than a few words at a certain point, but I do want to share a few words with you this morning about the North Texas Conference and, of course, the denomination, the United Methodist Church that we all love. I want you to imagine with me for a few moments what the early Christian movement was really like. I mean, we read narratives about it in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles. We can pick up certain things from reading the Epistles of Paul and others, other writers of those Epistles. But I want you to imagine what it was like immediately after the resurrection, after they'd seen Jesus and then the Ascension and how it is they gathered at Pentecost and how the Spirit came down upon them. And so over 3,000 people were added to those who believed at that time. Imagine what it was like. And probably what we should remember is that they were formed by the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. And many of those early followers, even before the crucifixion, were so in touch or resonated with how he lived. That was so different for God to be talked about in the way in which he talked about God. And Jesus welcomed those that others would not have welcomed and those who were seen as outcasts, those who were seen living on the margins, women, Gentiles, lepers, anybody was unclean. He was even able to sit and wanted to sit at the table with them. He wasn't so interested in keeping the Sabbath as he was as relating to people as God would wanted them to relate to. If you really begin to look at his life and read it, we could say in the words that we've heard expressed in the last year or so, Jesus got into good trouble. Jesus got into good trouble because he did that which was right. And then as he left his disciples as recorded in the gospels that one of the things he said to them is this, the great commission, go therefore. As they gathered there, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, meaning all, meaning that somehow they were not going to just live in Jerusalem and its environs, go into all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And they heard that word go to all, meaning something different that they could ever imagine for their lives. Many of us know the stories of the early church, the conversion of Paul, Paul's missionary journeys, the disagreements that Peter and Paul had and that some people went somewhere, some went others, not to recount all of those, but can you imagine how fast this movement began to grow really? Where people went to places they did not know had maybe heard of, places that they thought they would not be welcomed, just to witness to that which Jesus had commanded them to. They went. And by doing so, they widened and deepened the message, the story so that had an intersection, not just a moment in time, but it was a living story that continued because of the witness of those who chose to follow Jesus, chronicled it in many places, especially the missionary journeys of Paul. There's some significant growth in the early centuries as strangers were introduced to this story of Jesus. And as many of them claim that story is their story and began to live it out. And we need to remember that what drew people to Jesus and that message was not some systematic theology that had been worked out, I'm not against a good systematic theology being worked out, I want you to know that. It was not because they had read it in the Bible, one was not there. So much of that was transmitted orally about what had happened. And so people thought, well, let's write that stuff down. Some were letters then written later, so it was centuries later in which there was what we call a New Testament. But somehow there's something special about these people who follow Jesus. And one of the things that was always said about them, see how they love each other. And some of them realized, and they love us just like they love each other. 165 AD, a moment in time, there was a plague that lasted for 15 years. There's a lot of historical data related to that first plague about what happened throughout the Roman Empire, what happened even in the capital of Rome in which the wealthy got out of the city so that they could stay safe. But for 15 years it did last and there are Christians who stayed behind to care for those who suffered. It is estimated that one quarter to one third of the people may have died, at least in the known world, because of that 15 year plague. Moved to 251 AD and Dionysus was the Bishop of Alexandria. I bet you never thought you'd come to hear about the Bishop of Alexandria this morning. And he encouraged the Christians to care for those who suffered. And so they proactively offered food, they proactively offered water to care for those people who are unable to care for themselves. In fact, they cared for those people who had been taken out of their homes, who were ill, who had the plague and just dumped in the streets and they began to minister them. And it is said that just the simple gifts of food and water enabled and powered some to live through that pandemic was a Christian witness. And so that regular practice of caring not only for their own, but for others, then became the model of how Jesus' love is enacted in other people's lives. How you live into a lifetime of service. And it sometimes said it may have begun the decline of the Roman Empire because somehow this God was differently because this God you didn't have to barter with in order to get favor. This is not a God who needed out punishment. This is not a God who was always condemning. This was a God who empowered those who followed Jesus to Christ to care for others. We're in the midst of our own pandemic. Hopefully we're on the tail end of that, but around the world, we have to be honest with ourselves, we're not. This is a place and witness even for our own country about how to get through that. But I am hopeful that the pandemic continues to subside, but we have to admit that it has caused a significant disruption in many ways, even in our own country and our own communities. It has affected economically, perhaps. It was a time for a long time in which we were unable to worship really virtually in person. And we need to be reminded over 600,000 Americans lost their lives in the last 15 months. More than those who lost their lives, American lives lost in World War II. During this time, which could be a renaissance or even a resurrection or at least perhaps a transformation to church, I'm convinced that the movement of the Holy Spirit has been evident as we people call Methodist have found new ways to open our minds, open our hearts and open our souls. Maybe we've enacted that great commandment. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. I can do that, I think. But then Jesus adds on, and your neighbor as yourself. There's a whole sermon I think in those two sentences. I will not preach it today, but you better start loving yourself better if you're gonna love your neighbor. And you better see yourself as God sees you as a beloved child of God, but it means that your neighbors you should see also as a beloved child of God. And how grateful I am for you, the late and clergy of the Churches of the North Texas Annual Conference that you have continued the witness of Christ and service to others. Can you imagine that 1900 years ago that people didn't even know we would be here? That's obvious, but this story is still alive. And the Church has had its ups and downs and splits and different things that happened, but the story is still so powerful, still so relevant and so true that it is alive because of you and others like us. So that which was created some time ago has fostered a continuing witness in living, in living to the truth that Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, that the Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith as you're being rooted and grounded in love. With all of the things Paul writes about, I think this is a very significant phrase and the way in which encourages churches to work together and the way he encourages perhaps some kind of things to be a part of a church's life, he goes back to the root of our faith in this letter to the church of Ephesus. The challenges presented by the pandemic over the last year have been difficult for some of our churches. And we know that. It's been difficult for many of our clergy. I want to share with you that there is no way to have prepared for what would have happened. There was no courses taught in seminary and that is not to be seen in any fashion as a critique of theological education at all. There was no way in which we as an annual conference knew that would happen, which is why so many people learned so many things so quickly in order to help people navigate what it would be like to have virtual worship. And so how to engage virtually did not come easy. And it required so many great resources, whether it was in real time or prerecorded. And one of the things that we did to respond as an annual conference is we made significant financial grants to many of our churches who applied for grants. In fact, given this pandemic time and everything, the conference gave over $900,000, close to a million dollars. Half of that is direct financial support to some of our racial ethnic churches, some of us racial equity, some of us to local churches, some of us to extension ministries such as Bethlehem Center, Wesley Rankin, some of our campus ministries and other things. It was the way in which we continued the witness to provide the resources to have it. So we helped churches get online. We made racial ethnic church grants to respond to unique challenges, new campus matching grants. Many of them are Hispanic churches, Spanish speaking churches, Center for Mission Outreach Ministry grants to spark creative ministries with our neighbors, focus on ministries working toward racial justice such as UMC extension minister front lines that I met a few moments ago, Bethlehem Center, Wesley Rankin, justice for our neighbors in project transformation. It is the way that we together responded because we are rooted and grounded in this law. But the challenge does continue. The challenge does present new opportunities though for us for witness information, for formation, mission and reaching new people for price. In fact, several of our churches talked about how people engaged with them, even them as downtime had not been to church in several years, decided that of any crisis that ever happens in our country, we are good at responding to Christ about somehow finding our spiritual roots. And so people found people working with them online or getting with them. And so while I don't think that we did any baptisms virtually, I mean, people may have witnessed, I know of a number of baptism, people who joined church, people who were confirmed, people who really began to have a living, walking relationship with this Jesus, the Christ. So the pandemic and the fact that our churches were closed in terms of in-person worship did not close down the witness. We need to remember that because that may be a part of our future as well. Every time I'm in a Zoom meeting, which I pray this summer will be less than has the last 15 months, I am aware as you are that technology has introduced us to new methods and avenues for our callings and for our witness. And I am reminded every time I wanna Zoom call, which may not be related to the North Texas Conference, be related to the general church, that the people called Methodists in North Texas have been very open and attentive to the mission field. I got to do a few unique things in person over the last 15 months or so. Some things I would not have thought of, I probably went to more groundbreaking than a year than I had the previous four or five years. It didn't stop some things from happening. I attended, by the way, well done, properly socially distanced, everyone masked, a groundbreaking in Melissa, at the new church, starting Melissa that was born out of the first time that this church of Plano. So the state, Reverend Stacey P. Coon and Reverend Tommy Brummet had organized this because the church had been waiting and planning for so long to get this church started. And later this fall, I will go through the consecration of that building. It did not stop. It somehow we were able to maximize it. This is a very fun event. I do remember somebody coming up to me and saying, Bishop, now we're, week after next, we're gonna be back in person in worship. I was in my mask. He was not. He kept moving to me. I kept moving back from him. And I said, no. And then he said, you know, Jesus told us not to be afraid. I said, I'm well aware of that. Did you, then I said, are you aware that Jesus speaks more about fear than he did about sin? But I want to remind you of something early in Jesus' ministry. When Satan had taken him up and said, if you believe in this God, throw yourself down and he will catch you. He politely refused. Friends, we were granted minds. And what I wanna say is it was a good thing. Because fewer people were harmed because of our gathering in person. I was also able to go to Yahweh Rafa just a few months ago. They had been worshiping in the building with the first time at the church around Leth. They have found their permanent home. It was a vibrant worship. The music was unbelievable good, primarily Puerto Rican persons. And Georgina Haddock is the, as a pastor of that church, she was here last night and she told me, we've already filled the space. What do we do? I said, well, you have another service. And it just goes to show that the witness continues to flourish and continues to grow. And I'm thinking about just a few months ago, waiting through a field. And I have to admit, at that time, I thought by being at several places, one of my goals. Now y'all may think this is silly, but for me, it's important. I was going to get through this without any chigger bites. I know that sounds like a little bitty thing, but I knew the good things were gonna happen. So I carried stuff with me. But so Jason McConnell, the pastor of that church, the prosper church had a groundbreaking as well, something they've been waiting and preparing for for some time. It was a magnificent day. And so to join Dr. Henderson there, by the way, Dr. Henderson and I were at all three of those events together. It was exciting. And while I don't have a photograph, I'm well aware of something that's happened in one of our churches on the Southern Sector, one of our newer congregations, the village. And Derek Jacobs has shared with me that they have people worshiping with them from Chicago virtually. Derek, I promise you, I will not contact those people and put them in contact with Methodist churches in the city of Chicago. But because someone in their church said, we're still having worship. They will worship and gather together with the village. We cannot imagine what our witness is going to be or the reach in the future. The persons who have worshiped us and engaging with them now in very different ways is a part of our future. And while we celebrate what has happened in many ways in our past and even in these last 15 months, memory is only good if it prepares us for a future or to think of a future. Several years ago, Patrick Linceoni in one of his books talked about that leaders really value clarity over certainty. And I need to tell you over the last several months, more people have been using that phrase than I've ever seen, but I always keep that in mind. It's one of those things I remember because all of us can be prone to certainty too often. I am guilty of that as well. I acknowledge that. You too may confess your sins at some point about that, but we live a time in which people are so certain about what they believe, whether it's in politics or religion, there's no clarity about why they believe it. It's just if I can just certainly convince everybody that I'm right, that that's my purpose in life. The challenge is the church sometimes has imitated or mimic the public and political life of our country. And that is not good. And what I wanna say is, when we get that certain, we draw a line in the sand. And we're unable perhaps or even unwilling often to hear another view, another brother and sister in Christ and there's no space created. And I think the creation of space in terms of our life together and times of our response to the world is about creating moments and times in which the Holy Spirit does move among us. Similarly, if you've been to think about it, anytime somebody asks a question, it's like you've got a choice between one or the other. So that so much in our life is about an either or proposition when I begin to think about, well, there are multiple ways to think through this. It's not an either or. It's not a true or false question on an exam. A question then should allow for some imagination and innovation and thinking about what do we really want to do? So rather than thinking about framing questions as problems, what happened to begin to frame questions as opportunities, both and. We could do this, we could do that or we could do that or we could do all of that. We can remember some of us a number of years ago, the worship wars that was in Christendom about contemporary versus modern worship. One of my good friend and Phil Amerson, good friend, Reverend Mark Trotter, who's the pastor at First Amethyst Church of San Diego, then we were all in a group together. He said, I think contemporary is a mislabeling of anything. Contemporary means anything that's happened in that moment of time. So contemporary is a traditional worship or modern worship or any other kind of worship. I thought that was an interesting thing as a way to think about it. But the truth is this, we're gonna have to do it all. We knew that or began to learn that. The person who followed me, my very good friend, Reverend Phillip Rhodes, who followed me at Hearst called me the other day and he said, I quoted you at a meeting. I thought, I don't need a pastor from another annual conference quoting me at a meeting, but since we're good friends, I said, what did you do? He says, well, we're putting screens in the sanctuary at the First Amethyst Church of Hearst and I told them that Bishop McKee was for it. I said, well, I'm glad you warned me before somebody called me. He said, I knew you were, we talked about this, but somebody said, do y'all not remember what Mike McKee said that screen, that we began to say this about him, that screens would go up in the sanctuary when he either retired or we carried him out of here in a time box. And what I'm saying is that so many of us can be, have our feet set in stone about so many things that are not that important and some things we think are important or a group of us think are important may not be all that important. What's more important is what it means to live out being the body of Christ in this world that really many more important things to consider than we frequently do to gather. What would it be like in the midst of certainty to develop, we're gonna get clear about something. We're gonna be clear about our mission field, which is so much more diverse than any of us can imagine. We're gonna be clear about God's call upon the life of the church. We're going to be clear about who God is calling us to serve. People whom we generally would not even think of. You know, to be so certain about so many things is a recipe for failure. It's a lack of nerve or no awareness that there are greater things that God does expect of us. Fear drops us to place of certainty. Fear drops us to the place in which we see people as others. It's best time that we come to the time in which we get clear about who we are and who we're called to be. So the ongoing work before us is this. Last year we introduced our journey toward racial justice and the work has continued through this year, despite the pandemic. I want to tell you a little story, a story about my own life. So in 1964, I was just a boy and my parents are one of the few people on the block in which I live. We're for the Civil Rights Act. Now I just said that in a lot of you are thinking, what was that because of your age? But in 1964, the Civil Rights Act passed by Congress really began to open up public access to people of color. And in that day and age, it was really a black and white issue in terms of access. I can remember that and I can remember the first time I ever saw an African-American family in a restaurant and I'm thinking, why has this taken so long? I think as a child, I was aware of more than I became as an adult, why did it take us that long? But that's not the only question about eating in restaurants together. It is so deeper and broader than that. We can argue about that, but if you have, if there's a challenge about the conference's work on Journey Toward Racial Justice, I would invite people to engage in significant conversations with other persons who are not like them. Well, they're like you, they too are child of God, but they may have a different skin tone or even speak a different language. But what I've learned is this, do we still have difficulty that we should not have? I think we're all still learning things. I really didn't know about Tulsa until several years ago, what happened to the African-American community there. For the lack of a better word, I call it an act of war. But that happened in other places all over our country and I do think it's important to know those stories because whether we realize it or not, all of us are formed by the generations that came before us. It gets into the lexicon, it becomes the way in which we really act or think, not to be ugly, it's just how we get formed. And knowing significant history is important. So this is the challenge from our God, from a God who loves all God's children, we must do better. I want to say a few things about other things about this and that is that our work continues to talk about the engagement of our churches. There are some things that we do need to do better and that is with cross-racial appointments. We need to prepare everyone for that better than we do. I acknowledge that. It's not only about African-Americans, but Hispanics, Latinx, Asian-American, Pacific Islanders, all are God's children. And we must prepare people and congregation better than we do. I acknowledge and know that this is a difficulty for some of our congregations or some of people in our congregations. And I wouldn't like you to know that those times in which it may be difficult or you may be uncomfortable or any of us do, could be a signal or a symbol that's for growth about what do we do. I'm grateful for the churches who have diversified their staff in terms of clergy on it, on that staff and purposely have asked for persons of color. There is a person who is a minister from India who completed some work at Perkins and specifically Tom Palmer asked, can you appoint Samish to Confdel? Because there's so many people from India who are living in the Confdel community. And there's a way in which when somebody walks into church, somebody can actually say, oh, there's someone here who I can relate to. And it means that our welcome is serious. And I can say that about many of our other large churches and I could take them awfully for all of you, but they are well-known. And what I know is this, the more that we know what I've learned is that we can do better. I'm reminded of one of our pastors shared a story with me a couple, about a year ago, he had served in a previous congregation, the congregation had a little difficulty perhaps because of activism. And finally, a person read the letter from Birmingham jail that Martin Luther King wrote to pastors. And the layperson said, now I understand. I was wrong. And Prince, I want to say to those of you who are online, Laity, if your pastor is speaking out, could you begin to ask the question, is he speaking or is she speaking or acting in a way that perhaps acknowledges who God is really calling us to be? I will say this, when we know better, we will do better. I want to announce, and we'll talk about it a little bit later. And again, that as you know, that an announcement last week about the position of the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion for the Annual Conference, I promised several people that I would do that including the Journey toward Racial Justice Team. A lot of thought was done that. I did want to make it an appointed position. And Dr. Henderson was retiring, and I was well aware of the gifts he brings to every appointed cabinet meeting in terms of history, in terms of our diversity, in terms of our challenges. And I asked him if he would be willing to do that. I'm going to introduce him later during that report, but Dr. Henderson will be sitting in on the appointed cabinet meeting because he does bring that significant knowledge of the conference and its history and its reminder to everyone in this room. This is not only about African Americans in our churches, it's about those who speak Spanish and those who speak Tagalog or Filipinos. It's about Koreans. It's about any number of people here in our community because frankly, we need to remember when God said to go into all the world, friends, the North Texas Conference looks like a much of the world. And if we're going to go into all the world, we don't have to cross any ocean. We can do it in 21 counties and we have no business sending anybody to minister to somebody in other parts of the country or other parts of the world if we can't do it here. That's a fact because it's so easy if we go somewhere else but it's harder when it's ever present. But it's a reminder, the diversity of our own communities and conferences reminder of who God really is. This week, the largest Protestant denomination in the country will be meeting in Nashville. I'm sure that some of you have been following that. I won't make a judgment on that but they are wrestling with this significantly. What I want to say is it may be a split. I don't know because friends, if we can't acknowledge all, we're not really the church. This is hard and fulfilling work that we're doing. And I want to thank you for your faithfulness and your courage and know the steps toward the fulfillment of this initiative will last a long time. But every time we say a prayer that we say together, let us remember that this is what we're working for by kingdom come and I will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's not just about getting to the other side and the afterlife. It's so much bigger than that. Following this Jesus is about reforming and transforming who we are as a church and even as a per person. It's out somehow that this world ought to start looking a lot like we all imagine heaven should be. I want to speak a little bit about the health of North Texas annual conferences. I speak with colleagues and this president general counsel and finance administration. Have become well aware of the financial health of many of our annual conferences. And while I sit and listen, I share very little because I would say to you that we are in very, very good health. The number of people who want to come to the North Texas annual conference clergy from other conferences is somewhat staggering at times. The financial health of the conference is really good. So I don't generally dwell on this with you or have talked about it publicly much. But simply when you haven't, our portion was paid out at 89% this past year even with a significant economic crisis that we're in. Some thought we wouldn't get there. I thought we could. I'm glad that we did. Generally we're at 95% but giving the financial upheaval and what was happening around the conference and the country. And while I'm aware that some of that's payroll protection plans, that isn't, we're in a very good place. And we can weather some storms. If they come, we pray to God they don't. But I want to say to you that we're in a season that we don't know what is going to happen. For the last 15 months, I thought everybody was sort of focused on how just to stay alive in some respects, how to reach people for Christ. Others were working in ways that I thought, could we just have given that a rest for God's sakes and for ours. But that was not to be. I generally do not consider myself very naive but there are people who have started to ask the question. So what will happen? I said, tomorrow? And I said, no, will there be a split or separation or people to affiliate? I don't forecast. That's not a gift that was given to me by our God. The general conference isn't until 2022 and there are several things that have to take place in order for that to happen. I think we should acknowledge that. But I would say this about our church. I would be very, very slow to react. I would be very, very careful to react. You may be certain, but are you clear? What will it really be like? Is the grass always greener on the other side? WBA says the center cannot hold in one of his great points. I'm well aware of that. Bishop Ken Carter wrote, what if the center is not a mushy middle but really is the cross of Jesus strong enough to hold the tension between two opposites. We all know that a bridge is built with tension in order to hold it together. I'm beginning to think that the church is created with tension in order to live into its best self that God desires for us. I believe that God really does work for good, depending on whatever decision you may make for good with those who love God are calling to work for God's purpose. But I would be very careful. I think we should attend ourselves to what does it mean to be communities that stress both social and personal holiness. And by the way, that's not an either or that's a both and. William Sloan Coffin, one of the great prophets of the late 20th century said to pastors over and over again, you better be a pastor before you start doing the social justice work. They want to know if you love them. I think that's true. But this is what we need to know is that I think the future for North Texas is good. I cannot forecast what will or would not happen. What I do know is that our work is so much better than engaging in that conversation of that work now. We don't know what the general conference will do. We don't know if there will be a general conference. What we do know is there's a mission field called the North Texas annual conference with 21 counties represented in 300 churches and communities today with a very diverse population that we just sometimes we go, how do we do this? What do we do? And what we do is we ask for help. And what we do is we ask for God's continued vision about us, but what we do is regardless of our differences, whatever they may be, or the race or human sexuality, let's just all see if we can grow deeply, be rooted and grounded in that divine love. That's who God calls us all to be. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, thank you for allowing me to be the Bishop of the North Texas Conference. I appreciate you very much. God bless you.