 I want to introduce Matt Jacob, who became the Director of Communications this past summer of the North Texas Conference, and Kim Kaufman, Manager of Web Services. As they come, are they in the room? Oh, yeah. I knew I saw you and then all of a sudden you've been finding, well, if y'all come up, Matt, if y'all come up this way through the center and be easier, I think, and you've come to the lectern. But I want to say that the videos that you've seen already have been produced in conjunction with an outside vendor that Matt has managed so much of this. And what we're doing in terms of the development of the website is an ongoing and you're going to be able to start seeing those significant changes after annual conference, whereas the new website, I don't know. It's up. It's up? It's up. OK, so the new website's up. Why don't you just announce it? Thank you, Bishop McKee. I am glad to be able to come before the conference today and not only introduce myself in the role that I've been in place for 10 months, but also to introduce Kim Kauffman, our new manager of web services. When I took this job back in August, I said, as one of my prime objectives is to redesign our website. And in conjunction and the great work that Kim has done in the last few months since she's been on board, I feel like we have put forth a redesigned website that everyone in this room can and should be proud of. So thank you, not only to Kim and for the great work of the bishop and everyone at the conference office, but thanks all to everyone in this room for providing stories that we can communicate to all, not only within the amongst the clergy and the laity of the North Texas conference, but also within our jurisdiction and more broadly to the denomination. I'm a storyteller at heart. I came back to Dallas after getting my master's from Missouri and started writing for the Dallas Morning News. And I love being able to talk to people to learn what drives them, what moves them and to ultimately be entrusted with telling their stories. And I feel that is most definitely true for those within the North Texas conference. We have a great number of stories to tell from our clergy, from our laity, from our churches. And I welcome the opportunity to tell them in many different respects from the printed word in stories, from the printed words that appear on your screens and social media to the videos and the pictures that appear on our website. We really welcome the opportunity to continue to tell the cultivating story of the United Methodist Church here in North Texas. And that being said, I have one set of eyes and one set of ears. So I'm asking everyone in this room to share your stories with us. Send me an email, go to our website ntcumc.org and share your stories with us. Drop us a line and tell us what makes what you might consider to be a story that can be shared more broadly for members of the church, for those seeking a church home or for those leaders within our conference. Thank you for the opportunity and we will talk soon. I'm sure. Thank you. So welcome. Welcome to both of you again. New faces and new spaces. This is this video that we're about to see can be helpful. I think it begins to shine a spotlight on the kind of work that happens in places that really is helpful and transforming in people's lives. Let's see the video about powderly United Methodist Church. It's not really a town. It's just a community and we have a pretty good Dairy Queen. Suburban recovery is pretty easy to do. It just takes a little manpower. The only reason we hesitated was because powderly Methodist Church is such a small church. We really couldn't do much without the support of our community. We have five churches that are support for us and each church supplies a meal. Each church gives donations. If we have guest speakers come in from those other churches and it really keeps our community grounded and keeps celebrate recovery in the forefront of their minds. I am celebrating recovery from an opioid addiction and I was addicted for 20 years and I moved here and I started attending the celebrate recovery in Paris and got involved and I really enjoyed it and it kept me grounded, kept me from relapse, which happens anyway. But then Mark, our pastor, this is my church and he came to me one day and he said, how can we help you because I had gone through treatment and when I came back from treatment, he said, how can we help you? What can we do as a community to wrap our arms around you and help you through this? And I said, I'll tell you what would help is if we could start a celebrate recovery group right here. The thing about celebrate recovery is, you know, we're we're helping people in a way and a level that is pretty serious. Jesus Christ gave his life to help other people. We're not there yet, but we're not doing nothing. Well, that went on. We go through the step process with the four books. The first thing we do, we get everybody in the group's phone number and their name. And from the first group I went through, I'm going through it the second time now to help the new ones go through it. But I made friends that I had nothing in common with at home and we got doctors and we got car salesmen, different people like that in the group. And I was thinking, you know, I'm, you know, an extra drug addict and, you know, so drugs to support my habit. But I got their phone numbers and still that's been two years ago. When I've done that, there's not a week goes by and I can contact those people anytime I need help. And I got a sponsor, you know, when I get to thinking wrong or if there's something bothering me, I need to talk about it. I can call him anytime, day or night, he'll be there. And I know I can tell him anything going on with my life. And he won't judge me or condemn me just there to help. It's a joy. I look forward to Thursday nights, the way I look forward to Sundays, you know, because we worship it is a form of giving. It is a form of helping. And I need to also be doing down on Fridays and Saturday nights, as well as Mondays and Tuesdays. You know, we have Bible study on Wednesday and then we have church on Sunday. I need to be doing it every day. So we do that on Thursday nights. So the opioid crisis in our country is just destroying so many families and lives. And so we're grateful for a church like powderly of the pastor, Mark Hutchison. Mark, are you in the room? Hey, let's thank Mark. So thank you, Mark. And thanks to the powderly congregation for oppressing me in the community. And and that's true in many of the communities in which we have churches. And so listen, take note. So as we move to the next piece, we had a wonderful celebration of commissioning and ordination last evening. And it was it was nothing short of magnificent. I mean, I want to say appreciation to the Highland Park choir or choirs and to the Board of Ordained Ministry and all who are responsible for last evening. Thank you very, very much. But we want to hear from our ordinance. And so I want you to to watch what our ordinance what wisdom they may be imparting for us. So most of my time at First Richardson so far has been in the development of creating a new space for new faces. We opened our new facility in January of 2016. And since that time, we have seen many new faces come through and the words that I continue to come back to as new faces come in those doors is trust and truth. And the problem with that is that we often trust people that look like us and act like us. Yet the truth of the gospel is that we believe in the body of Christ and that metaphor and image means that we're not alike. We don't see things the same way and we don't act the same way. And for the body of Christ to be effective and functional, we can't all be alike. And so I continue to feel called to create space for those new faces because that's how we are functional as the body of Christ. Well, I didn't grow up in church and I started going to church when I was a senior in high school and into my college years and I went on the invitation of friends just really on their elbows. And I remember all the questions that I had and how I felt at church and really what it is to be new. And so I think about that whenever I think about the congregation I serve and even when I get a phone call from a wife and a mother who says that her husband's an atheist but he's willing to come to church with them. And so I think about the questions that he might have and how does it feel to him. And I even think about the young adult who came to me once a day and said, I decided that it was time to come to church because whenever I became an adult I needed a church. And now I'm an adult but I have no idea how this works, I don't know what the Bible is and what should I do? And so I think about those people when I think about new places and new spaces and new faces. I think the primary way I feel that God has prepared me to gather new faces in new spaces is by giving me the privilege of being the pastor of the feast community. For the past three years I've served as the pastor for the feast community which is a weekly worship service with the special needs community. About three years ago I felt inspired and convicted by the Holy Spirit to start this service. And I've seen this idea of new faces and new spaces manifest itself in two ways of the feast. First is individuals who for whatever reason run able to attend regular church on Sunday mornings or now are able to come back into the local church or maybe even come to the church, local church for the first time with their families and friends and worship every week. The second way I've seen new faces be brought into new spaces is that the feasts were all about empowerment. Individuals of special needs read scripture, pray, lead music, singing, signing, help with communion and the offering. And in all these ways I'm seeing that new faces are not only being brought into the local church the first time or back into the local church again but they're being, new faces are being empowered in new ways and new spaces in our worship service. So it's really exciting to see that dynamic occurring. I think for me God has prepared me in two different ways. As I think about preparing new spaces for new faces, the two things that I've been taught is to be patient and that if we really are intentional about building new spaces for new faces that we'll be patient enough to really do it right when we start to develop and start to make new new spaces. The second thing is never accept failure and to always keep trying. Sometimes it's okay that we don't always get it right the first time but then we learn from that and we do it better the next time but we never stop trying, we never stop trying to change. So growing up I always felt really drawn to different age groups. So I remember distinctly in high school I was really drawn to older people. In fact I used to go to really cool scrapbooking conventions with people that were like 40 years older than I was so I was super cool and I'm just always valued people older than I was but as I grew up I always really valued younger people because I was always drawn to student ministry and so I feel like in my lifetime I've always been looking around the table to figure out as everyone represented it and I would like to say that I had always been looking for new faces but I kind of got really content with who I knew who I was comfortable with and I think in the last couple of years I have realized my privilege and I've been really challenged by different voices to make sure I am looking for the new faces and really make sure everyone's fully at the table. I think we've kind of tricked ourselves thinking that everyone really is welcome and we have a very good job of that and so I feel like God has been really preparing me and molding me to look outside my box, to look outside my world and to places and to people that maybe I wasn't always comfortable with or didn't feel like I had a lot in common with but realized that they very much need a seat at the table and how together we can do really great things and really start to look like the kingdom of God. Well, I think that God has made me by nature an Includer and so that means in any setting I'm kind of always looking to the edges to see who's not there, who's missing or who's not participating fully or who's not always kind of being included whether that's in just a youth group setting or a church setting or in the neighborhood or society I'm kind of always, I'm just geared towards looking at the edges and seeing how God is living there. I hope that God continues to use me despite myself to work for and to strive for full inclusion of those with special needs and disabilities into the life of the church. We're doing really well on some levels but we have a ways to go and I just hope that God continues to give me the insight and the courage and the clarity to work for inclusion and also just obedience to follow where God is leading me. Well, one of the things I love is to help people really discover who God has meant for them to be and that could be through a vision statement or it could be how it's expressed in their careers and really how they live out their faith and I think so often that we just live life when we go from one decision to another and think about the boxes we need to check and I love when people really discover the vision that God has and the calling that God has for them and I think about what I do for marital counseling and I talk with the couples and say that your marriage is not just about you being happy but it's about you being a blessing to each other and a blessing to the world and how might you bless other people through that and I was even working with an older couple and they were coming to the end of their retirement and professional years and they were talking about all this extra time that they had and offered up to them well how might you bless other people? As you come to the end of your career you could be a mentor for a generation that's looking for mentors and you have opportunities and extra time to volunteer and I could just see in their eyes how excited they were as they began to catch a vision for this new phase of their life and for me that's about helping people discover who they're meant to be. So I learned really early on in ministry actually in children's ministry that God was not calling me to have all the answers that God was calling me to be faithful and I want that to continue to be lived out in different ways whether it is sitting at the hospital bed or talking to someone who is struggling in their faith or talking to someone who is even given up on church God doesn't call me to have all the answers God has called me to be present and to be faithful and that's one of my hopes my other hope is to have a ministry that is about a resilient faith that's the story of resurrection we are all broken and we all will stumble and have those moments in our lives when we feel like everything is coming to an end yet the good news of our gospel in Jesus Christ is that we are called to have a resilient faith to get back up again and that death does not have the last word not in this life or the next I think it's tempting in ministry or in any career to want to be successful and for me it's tempting to want to have everything that I touch grow and be super vital and be the most important thing that's ever happened in that church but I don't know that I'm necessarily called to be successful and called to be faithful so my hope then is by being faithful to that gospel that people's lives will be transformed and that we will begin to realize that this family of God that is present in heaven can be made real on earth and that we can all be part of that no matter our age or race or creed or background or orientation whatever it might be we are all part of this family meant to do this together I've realized in the last few years as I've been leading a congregation and spending more time with people is that people don't really want super flashy, polished ministry or leaders that have it all together I think there's been a hunger not only in the church but just around the world to have leaders that don't separate themselves so much and so what I've realized is I've been able to offer myself as vulnerable and transparent and authentic and I think people really find that refreshing people really love when I share what I'm going through, what challenges me what I have a hard time with what I don't understand and invited them over into my home for dinner or calling them on a Saturday and say, hey, let's get our kids together go on a play date or inviting them over to watch college football on a Saturday I think there's something about being accessible and realizing that as pastors yes, we're set apart but how are we really with our people that we're leading and so showing that we are with them and we are for them and that we're grown alongside of them I think has been the biggest success I guess in my ministry and I hope that carries me that I never forget that I need to be with the people and not to be so confident and make sure that I'm not so set apart that I'm not accessible. I think for me, the way I hope for God to work through me is to help me to be a really great leader and pastor to every church that I go to as we celebrate this year 50 years of the United Methodist Church that we work together to remain united in this United Methodist Church and my hope is that God will continue to work through me as a leader no matter where I go to help maintain that unity. So moments like this, when you see our ordnance our newly ordained person speak provides even greater hope about the future of the United Methodist Church and especially the North Texas Conference. This is a brief deviation in the agenda so Reverend Marty Soper and Reverend Emma Williams from the Center of Leadership Development are coming they're gonna be referring you to an item of action that is required. This action is required because of the action of the General Conference in 2016 related to the sexual harassment of clergy by late persons in a local church. This is work that Marty and Emma will explain to you. Given our work yesterday, I'll be at brief on amendment number one, we want to be reminded again about the importance of this. We want to, this begins the work that will continue over this year and in the next year as well related to a very good place in terms of helping our churches and encouraging them to develop a policy or at least mirror the ones if not even strengthening the one that comes from the General Commission on Status and Role of Women. Thank you. Reverend Soper. Bishop and members of the North Texas Conference thank you for the privilege of being able to speak on behalf of sexual ethics in our conference. The North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church is committed to the well-being of all United Methodists in the conference and to maintaining healthy relationships between pastors and persons that they serve in light of the increasing national awareness of sexual harassment and abuse that has gone unreported. There is a need to re-emphasize in the North Texas Conference that we have a zero tolerance policy regarding any sexual misconduct either by clergy or lay people. The church should be a safe space where all people are valued as children of God and those who have experienced hurt within its space where within its walls should be supported and protected. The Book of Discipline 2016 paragraph 605.9 requires that the annual conference adopt a comprehensive policy for handling sexual and gender harassment of clergy when lay persons are the perpetrators. This policy shall guide the local church in how to handle the report, how to care for the accuser and the accused, the victim and the perpetrator, the findings and the settlement. It shall make provision for support of the pastor and for care of the church members. With that in mind, I invite you to turn to pages 48 through 54 in the annual conference workbook which offers a clear process for both clergy sexual misconduct against a lay person and misconduct involving a lay person against a clergy person. Starting on page 51, we find the process for when ministerial professionals encounter boundary violations, sexual harassment by congregants. These pages cover the annual conference suggested process for a clergy person who has experienced boundary violations by a lay person. It also makes explicit the policy of our annual conference which defines sexual misconduct according to the 2016 Book of Resolutions number 2044 and the 2016 Book of Discipline Social Principles paragraph 161.j. This is our policy as an annual conference. After listening to the concerns of clergy women in our conference in many different ways including leaders from our clergy women's group, meetings with the bishop, district superintendents, cart team professionals, members of the Center for Leadership Development and members of COSROM, the guidelines on pages 48 through 54 are directly from our general commission on the status and role of women. These guidelines create a clear but flexible process for our annual conference. Understanding that all situations are different and the needs of the clergy involved in these situations as they are victims of harassment by members of their congregation, the needs of those clergy are sometimes different as well and they can vary greatly. Most importantly, the guidelines utilize the expertise of the crisis teams that have particular training to care for both the victim and the perpetrator and their families as well as the congregation as needed. In addition, provision has been made for any clergy person to contact a person outside the official cart process in order to have a confidential conversation about moving forward and discerning next steps. Our response guide also encourages, and this is really important for local churches, that all local churches create a policy regarding gender discrimination and harassment in your local setting. The policy that is in the workbook also makes reference to the general commission on the status and role of women's website, umsexualethics.org. For more information on creating a policy tailored to your context, you can find these links on the conference website under leadership resources. It is our hope that the annual conference will continue to refine this policy under the guidance of COSRO, the standing committee required by our discipline, particularly after the upcoming sexual ethics training required of all appointed clergy, and under the guidance of Becky Posey Williams, who will be visiting with us from general committee, commission on the status and role of women to conduct that training. There will also be a number of people from COSRO and our cart teams who will be attending the quadrennial training, Do No Harm, which takes place in October of this year. After those events, we surely believe that we will be in an even stronger place to refine the policy as you find it in your workbook today. With this information before you, I would ask the annual conference to vote to accept this sexual harassment response guide as our conference policy and process for responding. Okay, so this is before us and it doesn't require a second. Reminds you, this is due to be in compliance with the Action of General Conference in the Book of Discipline, as Reverend Soper has said, and so I want to thank Reverend Soper and Reverend Williams for their work upon this. I sense, does anybody want to speak? Microphone three. I'm Ben Hensley, O'Connor United Methodist. Just a point of information. Are we voting to adopt a report? Are we voting legislatively to amend the current sexual misconduct policy that is in the standing rules? I just want to make sure we know what we're doing. The report in the standing rules, the first page of that is a policy that defines sexual harassment. That has been updated by the 2016 Book of Resolutions, which is contained in the report. And so it is my understanding that if we adopt this report, that the report will be the policy. That's the problem with having it in the standing rules. So it is our hope that the report that we are presenting today can be the guideline through which we can clean up any kind of discrepancies that exist between the two reports. The passage that is the piece of the legislation or the piece of the report that has to do with sexual harassment by a lay person against a clergy person is not found in our current standing rules. So it is that piece that I am most concerned that we adopt today to be in good standing with the requirements of the Book of Discipline adopted in 2016. So if I may continue, will we move or will we do something that ensures that legislation will update the standing rules in 2019 as a part of this? So let me answer that. Reverend Smith said yesterday that one of the things that I believe it was Jody said this yesterday that during the standing rules report is that we want the policies that affect the North Texas Conference to be policies and not loaded into the standing rules, which makes it more challenging to keep up to date. So this policy will be effective immediately upon your passage and this is the way we will operate in the North Texas Conference. Are we moving the current sexual misconduct policy then out of the standing rules? Because it's currently in there. Yeah, I think this enhances that policy and we'll be operating from this policy. Another question. Are you ready to vote? So I've been making a mistake and I want to apologize for that mistake to persons from the deaf community, our brothers and sisters in the deaf community because I've been asking for yeas and nays. It's just what I naturally grab it at too and I want to apologize. So we will do this by the show of hands. All those in favor of the policy that has been presented to you this day will you raise your hand? Can you hear now? Can we get, can you hear me now? All those in favor of adopting the policy that has been presented by the Center for Leadership Development will you raise your hand? All those, thank you. All those opposed will you raise your hand? Okay, this passes with one negative vote. Thank you. Excuse me, I just saw one hand, two votes. Two negative votes. At this, I'm finding my agenda again. So at this point we're going to hear the lay reports. They're going to be in a different order than what, or you can see. The first is the clergy spouse report. The second is the young person's address and the third is the lay at the address. And if you will just come to the microphone in that order when it comes time and I won't introduce each one. But this one I'm always delighted to hear what's happened. Good morning Bishop McKee and members of the North Texas annual conference. My name is Sarah Stobot and I serve as the president of the clergy spouses group. The clergy spouses group is open to all spouses of clergy, male or female, young or mature or anyone in between. We gather several times throughout the year for fun and fellowship as well as our annual retreat which is always awesome. Please feel free to find one of us after the presentation or check out our Facebook page at North Texas Conference Clergy Spouses for more information. You know, we are all proud to be clergy spouses, but it's not without its challenges. We've prepared a short video for you. We hope you enjoy it. You're accepting us and sending your son to teach us the way for seeing the youth as part of your church now, not just the future of it. I thank you for these opportunities we are given to share your love and mercy through in and out of the walls of these buildings in your son's holy and precious name. At this time, will you please help me join welcoming Emma Peacoon, our incoming chair of CCYM. Introduction. Good morning Bishop McKee and members of the North Texas annual conference. My name is Emma Peacoon and I am the incoming chair of CCYM. CCYM is honored to be here representing the youth of the North Texas Conference as we do throughout the year. CCYM is a diverse compilation of youth from junior high through seniors and high school from all four districts. This past year, the youth of our conference engaged in several successful events that we would like to highlight today. Our cornerstone project, the annual midwinter retreats at Bridgeport Camp and Conference Center brought together 434 youth, youth workers and volunteers from across the North Texas Conference over two weekends. This year, our midwinter theme, Follow the Yellow Brick Road, explored what it meant to live your life differently as a Christian. Midwinter is completely run by CCYM students. Youth facilitated small groups, youth facilitated small groups, gave testimonies, led prayer, led music for worship and organized fun activities. This year, we piloted a new midwinter opportunity, discipleship groups, where students were given the opportunity to learn more about being called to ministry, work on a local mission opportunity, share best practices of youth group games, discover their leadership style or ask questions about faith in college. Midwinter is a place where students and adults can grow in their faith and in their connection to each other. It is also an opportunity to raise money for our youth service fund or also known as YSF. This year, we raised money during our midwinter through a snack shack and a competitive Dorothy versus the Wicked Witch competition. So graciously headed up by two of our CCYMers who volunteered to get slimed for the fundraiser. Our 2017-2018 YSF funds will be put towards the Beanie Bag Project, a mission nonprofit started by some of our own North Texas CCYM alumni, as well as towards the National YSF Fund. Over two weekends, the youth of our conference raised $3,000. Although midwinter is our biggest event, we also had successful youth-led district events in the fall, which engaged churches across each district in meaningful fellowship. Youth also had the opportunity to participate in the one event, which had 315 people attend and our annual bishops rally had 350 participants. Make sure to stay tuned in to ways you can help or get your youth involved in these awesome activities and more coming this year. Okay, so this is normally the part where I would flip it over to the outgoing chair, Anna Shipley, but unfortunately, Anna Shipley is taking exams so she can graduate on Thursday, so she is not here. So I will be reading in her place. Good afternoon. I want to start by thanking Visha McKee and the conference for giving us this opportunity to reflect on all the great things that have happened with our conference, our conference as young people this year and for all the support our conference gives young to youth in general. I see all around me young people who are challenging themselves, growing in their faith and engaging each other in Christian fellowship. This year for the address, I reached out to youth workers in our conference with a series of questions for their clergy, youth and youth volunteers. Throughout this address, I want to highlight some of the points they made that I believe truly embody what is so incredible about the young people we have in our conference, as well as what I see our young people doing. When I look at our conference, I see young people organizing, leading and engaging in passionate worship. I hear proud voices proclaiming God's love through song and see joy and creative and active worship through dance and motions. And I'll just say on my own behalf, as Anna, of my own singing skills, it's a good thing it's supposed to be a joyful noise, not necessarily a pleasant one. From my questions, I heard again and again about the impact of worship on our young people. One high schooler who participated regularly in youth band said it is the most impactful part of my faith. There's just something special about getting to help others experience God. The spirit is moving in our youth during worship. To quote a few surveys we got back after midwinter, an adult volunteer said, I love that the youth band made it about worship and God and not themselves. And regarding our youth life testimonies, said that they were the best part of the weekend. This attitude also extends to prayer. I hear and see our young people faithfully praying for our bishops, our clergy, our churches and our congregations. I hear them listening and faithfully praying for each other and with each other. And finally, I hear them leading prayer for others and writing powerful messages that inspire and reveal God through the spirit to others. The young people of our conference are empathetic, compassionate and caring. These qualities are exemplified in that they are advocates for themselves and the marginalized. John Wesley once said, what one generation tolerates the next generation will embrace. When I look at not only my peers but the children as well as of our conference, I see that embracing. A youth pastor described her youth as picking each other up when the world around them is crumbling. They are a unit and a family. This is the love and fellowship I see in our young people. I see youth engaging in intentional and hard discussion, trying to find common ground and loving each other despite differences in beliefs. When I asked, what is a Methodist has being a Methodist done to change your life? An eighth grader responded, saying it changed the way I make decisions and how I act towards others. And when I turned to ask a youth volunteer what volunteering with youth did for their faith, she said, it was life changing the way the kids challenged me to think differently and to read the word differently. I hear young people asking hard questions and creating forums for themselves to ask them. I've seen small groups engage in faithful conversation and seen young people listening, supporting and respecting voices they may not see eye to eye with. And I'm not just talking about youth. As a camp counselor over the summer, I have witnessed the children of our conference challenged not only each other in very meaningful spiritual conversation but counselors and directors as well. I am so grateful to be in a conference that has so many opportunities for youth to be open to incredible mentors, retreats, camps, events and more that provide chances for them to experience the spirit and grow in their relationship with God in exciting ways. I see young people going outside the walls of the church and taking their faith and their hearts on their sleeves. When I asked youth what being a North Texas Methodist meant to them, I heard these answers. It's letting God's love shine through me to other people. It means home and it means passing on God's love to other people. Our youth are first and foremost interested in sharing Christ's love. Missions and service is just one of the ways our young people are doing it. A really amazing example of this is the youth service fund which is money raised by youth in our conference which this year went towards the Beanieback project that a non-profit created by past youth of our community.