 Good afternoon, everyone. I am so honored to be here. I'm Robin Daniels, and I'm one of the vice presidents with the Methodist Health System Foundation. Methodist wouldn't exist without the churches of the North Texas Conference, and we are so proud of that. Methodist Health System and Foundation and the Golden Cross are just synonymous with one another, and so we are really grateful for that. The Foundation will never forget the relationship that we have with the North Texas Conference and the churches. I want to take a minute to introduce Linda Roby, who is the chair of our Golden Cross Committee, and it's been an honor to work with her this year. Thanks, Robin. Thanks, Bishop, Cabinet, and members of the North Texas Conference. I may be retired, but I'm not done yet. I'm not dead yet either, because ministry is about being a part of what God is doing, and I'm excited about what God is doing through and what God has done through Golden Cross ministry for so many years. But, like the other ministries that we've been talking about, we need to move forward. So we need the collaboration and the words from you all about what your church needs in terms of offering healing and hope to its congregation through health ministry. So I want to take a minute for you to see this video, and then if you will stop by our booth afterwards, if you have some ideas about how we can help serve your congregation and the communities that you serve through Golden Cross, we want to hear from you. So watch this video. The Golden Cross began in the early 1920s with a group of men at First Methodist Church downtown Dallas. The conversation we had that day was to find a way to have a ministry that would help fund people who needed medical care and didn't have the funds to pay it. So these men came up with the concept of what became then Golden Cross ministry. I was fortunate to become a part of the Golden Cross academic clinic in 2004, and that was after the robust capital campaign that renovated the building that houses the clinic. And met Carol Summers-Clark very early on and understood her vision for expanding the Golden Cross ministry to include the concept of a medical home for patients. They created a program called Med Assist, and the board looked at that and made the decision that, oh my goodness, that works for everything we hope for because Med Assist covered the pharmacy cost for folks after they saw the doctor in the academic clinic. The three prongs of the program are the medication assistants, the education about their chronic health problems, and then the social work assistants to look at really their general barriers to self-care. What is it about their living situation that detracts from their ability to fully engage in comprehensive self-care? The focus of faith community nursing is to intentionally integrate faith with health. Faith community nursing helps us to do the mind, body, and spirit, and gets us balanced in all three of those areas. Like any nurse, we address whole person health, body, mind, and spirit, but in faith community nursing what makes it distinct is that it's intentionally inclusive of faith practices. I'm a registered nurse, and I'm a faith community nurse from Campus and United Methodist Church. What's special about it is that we get an insight into our members and the health issues that they have. Usually it's about patient education. I mean, there's nothing like having somebody be saved, not just spiritually, but saved physically. And the word of that gets out that that church actually cares about people and supports them. The hospital has been doing that. Here at Methodist, locally, for a long time. Times are changing, and needs are changing, and so we need to identify those needs, look for effective, efficient ways to minister to our congregations and to the people that they serve, so that Goldacross continues to be vibrant and current with that changing time. We need the churches in the North Texas Conference to engage with us. We need their perspectives. We need to know what the needs are inside their congregations and in the communities that they serve, because it's a partnership. Our relationship with the Methodist Church runs deep. We don't rely on them for funding, and they don't rely on us for funding, so we're not connected in that sense of the word. But we're so very connected in our belief that we have an obligation, a shared obligation, to take care of our community. We need you. We need your ideas. We need your input. We need your suggestions, and we need to hear from you what you need in your church and your community, so that we can better serve the people in the North Texas Conference through Goldacross ministry. But Isaiah once said these words, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to comfort all who mourn, to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They shall build up the ancient ruins. They shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey, a category four hurricane, slammed into the Texas Gulf Coast. The city of Rockport, located in the Rio Texas Conference, felt the full force of Harvey's 130 mile per hour winds. Harvey then moved inland, leaving ruins in its wake, before turning east, stalling over the region surrounding Houston and causing flooding of truly biblical proportions. Hurricane Harvey resulted in $125 billion in damage, the second most costly hurricane to hit the US mainland, behind only Hurricane Katrina. In the 17 counties that comprise the Rio Texas Conference, there are over 12,000 households that will require outside assistance in order to rebuild, 12,000. The cost in terms of homes made uninhabitable, lives disrupted, and communities devastated is stunning. Today, I am happy to report to you that the love and generosity of United Methodists in North Texas in response to this storm also have been stunning. In the weeks and months following the storm, a total of $362,258 was given to the North Texas Disaster Relief Fund. And this amount does not include additional gifts made by many individuals and churches directly to UMCOR. Right away in September of 2017, $50,000 each was given to the Texas Conference and the Rio Texas Conference to spur their initial relief efforts. But much more than money has flowed from North Texas to the Gulf Coast. In August 2017, after receiving a call from the Dallas County VOAD, asking for assistance with the Hurricane Harvey refugees in the Dallas shelters, the United Methodists from North Texas Conference immediately went to work. Volunteering in Dallas shelters, donating clothing and hygiene kits, packing plays, baby tubs, as well as preparing food for them. We had one church that even provided temporary living quarters for our family. The North Texas churches responded with compassion, preparing over 3,000 cleaning buckets, hygiene kits, school kits. Also, the North Texas Conference Disaster Response has held several UMCOR Early Response Team ERT basic and recertification trainings hosted by churches in all four districts. The North Texas Conference Disaster Response certified UMCOR ERT trainers have trained 140 persons to join the over 200 already trained ERT to go and go and do work in the devastated communities along the Texas Gulf Coast. After receiving the invitation from the Rio Texas Conference and the Texas Conference to come and assist with the cleanup, the disaster response certified response teams, the second responders answered the call. Several North Texas ERT volunteered to provide a caring Christian presence in the aftermath of a disaster. 10 of the North Texas Conference churches have led ERT teams of 7 to 25 people on disaster response trips. These teams have been the hands and the feet of Jesus Christ for the people along the Texas Gulf Coast. The North Texas Conference will be the first conference in the South Central jurisdiction to have a Spanish-speaking UMCOR early response team training held on June 9, 2018. And first, UMC Rallette. All persons, churches interested in going and being a part of this training, please contact me, Janet Bell Odom, at the conference office. I can be contacted there. Or you can send me an email at OdomNTCUMC.org. This afternoon, my sisters and brothers, we are honored to have some of the early responders as well as the UMVM volunteers and missions to have been the leading edge of our conference response to Hurricane Harvey among us. They're wearing their green, lime green shirts, or their colored church t-shirts. As they stand before us today, let us express our appreciation for their faithful service. They're 68 present, and this is probably just a fraction. And Dr. Odom, is it fair for me to say that one of the most coveted things is to get on the chainsaw crew? Yeah. Hey, thank y'all very, very much for being here. We appreciate you very much. Of course, Hurricane Harvey damaged not only homes, but churches. 44 United Methodist churches in the Rio Texas Conference alone, and one of those churches was first UMC Portland, a vibrant church located in near Corpus Christi. Their buildings sustained $1.5 million in damage, and after insurance, they had a funding gap of $286,000. But the people of first UMC Portland have been strong. Rather than hanging their heads, they have stayed focused on their mission and have become leaders in their community's recovery in profound ways. Then, on Easter Sunday, Pastor Larry McCrory of first UMC Portland was able to deliver some truly good news. Using some of the dollars you gave to the North Texas Disaster Relief Fund, the North Texas Conference partnered with Highland Park UMC to fill their funding gap and cover all $286,000. Later this month, first UMC of Portland, after ten long months, will move back into their church, debt-free, and will continue to fulfill their mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ. Today, we are honored to have with us Lisa Stewart, the Director of Outreach Ministries at Highland Park, United Methodist Church, Reverend Larry McCrory, the pastor of first UMC Portland, and will you welcome him now. Those pictures are still a little raw right now, so Bishop McKee and friends of the North Texas Conference. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Larry McCrory and I am the senior pastor at the Thousand Plus member congregation called First United Methodist Church Portland just across the Harbor Bridge from Corpus Christi. I bring you warm greetings from your sisters and brothers in the Rio Texas Conference and more specifically from the Coastal Bend District where we are blessed every day to wake up to the beauty of God's spectacular creation along that southern stretch of the Texas Gulf Coast. It is indeed my honor and my privilege to stand before you today to extend on behalf of a very grateful congregation, our heartfelt thankfulness and deepest gratitude for the extravagant generosity from all of you. Thank you. Thank you. Especially want to thank the North Texas Disaster Recovery Initiative and Reverend Andy Lewis, Lisa Stewart and Highland Park United Methodist Church who have partnered with the Portland Church to cover our significant gap from what insurance will pay and what our actual cost is. Nine months ago, Hurricane Harvey were to short leave it a path of devastation and destruction unparalleled in people's memory, wreaking catastrophic damage in our community and to our church campus. We can almost laugh now about becoming modern day disciples experiencing 21st century diaspora. Almost laugh. We're not quite laughing yet. For our recovery has been long. It has often times been frustrating. It continues to bear a cost on our people and our region. But we have remained united in our resolve to restore our church campus as a beacon of hope and resilience for our entire community. We may have been knocked to our knees last fall where we begin praying and we will celebrate our triumphant reopening in just a few short weeks. Thanks be to God. And friends, when we do, please note that without any shadow of a doubt that our great God has blessed us in ways unimaginable and yet realized. For our church is strong. Our church is growing. And our church is excited about our future and we are deeply appreciative to all of you for making our recovery possible through your overwhelming gift of love and generosity. I would be remiss if I did not think, again, the disaster recovery teams from the North Texas Conference who were some of the first to comment our area and who will continue to come over the next three to five years to not just rebuild churches but rebuild homes and rebuild lives. Thank you for your service. May God continue to bless each and every one of you and the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your generosity and servanthood have made a difference, but the work is hardly done. Our friends in the Rio Texas Conference estimate it will be three to five years before life returns to pre-storm conditions in many communities. In light of the long road of recovery ahead, our own Bishop McKee with the support of the CMO has cast a vision for the North Texas Conference to commit to a long term partnership with the Rio Texas Conference. Back in the fall, we began to ask, what could God do through the 300 churches of the North Texas Conference if we focused our energy and our resources on hurricane recovery in Rio Texas for the next several years? How many of those 12,000 homes could we restore? How many hearts could be filled with hope and offered a witness through word and deed to the love of Jesus Christ and the faithfulness of United Methodists? Captivated by this vision, we have set a God-sized goal of sending a total of 300 mission teams to Rio Texas in 2018, 2019 and 2020. We are 300 churches, 300 mission teams. Well, in April of this past spring, the North Texas Conference Board of Global Ministry sponsored a four-day recovery trip to Victoria. It was about eight months there in April past the coming of the storm, and that team found a community that was still very much reeling. The people were and continued to be exhausted. They struggled with feelings of being forgotten as though the world had just moved on. They need new roofs and other things, but with equal importance. Friends, they need encouragement. So imagine 300 teams over the next three years, 300 North Texas teams bringing good news to our neighbors to the south who are hurting. 300 teams binding up the brokenhearted, the brokenhearted and comforting those continuing to deal with tremendous loss. 300 teams answering prayers for help and reviving faint spirits. 300 teams, folks, we can do this. Yes, we can. Well, since the fall, the Center for Missionary Outreach has sought to equip churches to live into our bishop's vision in a number of ways. The CMO is a reliable source of guidance and up-to-date information for churches' planning and leading their own trips in large measure because we've been successful at developing close relationships with the leaders on the ground in Rio, Texas. In fact, this very afternoon, along with the good pastor here, Vicki McQuister, Disaster Recovery Resource Manager from Rio, Texas, is with us as well on the platform. Vicki, wave your hand. There, friends, would you greet Vicki today. Since we've been told we're not going to have a break this afternoon, that's okay because Vicki's still going to hang around and be here. And as you get up to take care and stretch your legs, she will be there at the CMO table in the display area and we invite you to go by and meet her and connect if and as you will. And in another way, in an important way, a way that you might find good news indeed, the CMO is also helping local churches and teams by offering grants. I said grants, indeed, dollars from the Disaster Relief Fund, one-on-one matching grants available to local church teams as you recruit and deploy for the purposes of making your contribution to the Rio, Texas Materials Fund. Note those things, if you will. And this coming fall, the CMO will continue to offer regular training opportunities for not only new early responders but also for United Methodist volunteers in mission, both team members and leaders. If it's not feasible at the present time, for your congregation to plan and lead your own Hurricane Harvey recovery mission team, remember that there are still ways that individuals in small groups in your congregation can be a part of making this vision 300 teams a reality. Your Conference Board of Global Ministries is committed to sponsoring multiple four-in-five-day recovery trips to Rio, Texas in these coming years. As you heard earlier, we already led a team in April to Victoria. And Friday of this week, under the able team leadership of Janet Cavalier, another Conference-sponsored mission team will be headed out to Rockport, Sinton, and Aransas Pass area. And so please keep this team about to deploy very much in your prayers for its ministry and the opportunities God will give it, if you will. On September in September, the 17th through the 21st, our final sponsored trip by the Board of Global Ministries for the year will head toward either Victoria or Rockport. We're waiting, Vicki, on our side, okay? Whatever we want to do. Any and all United Methodist in North Texas from your congregation for any of these trips will be welcome to sign on. The CMO also has established a partnership with a wonderful organization founded by United Methodists from St. Luke Community and Highland Park called Labors for Neighbors. Labors for Neighbors has been around since Hurricane Katrina and specializes in taking adults on low-cost, high-impact weekend roofing trips. A unique aspect of this ministry is they love to bring together small groups of people from different churches and using a weekend of service to break down walls and build relationships across our conference, something that I believe we need now more than ever. Watch this video about a CMO, Labors for Neighbors trip to Victoria, back in February. A couple of months ago after the storm came through, we looked at each other, we'd pass each other up. Well, how are we going to get this done? What are we going to do? We don't have the money. We don't have the insurance. What are we going to do? And, you know, we prayed. We prayed about it and we just asked God to provide for us now. And I gave it to him and I knew that he would provide. But I didn't expect this. So we're looking forward to the whole day and with the extent y'all are comfortable, we would want to spend time with you guys. Okay? Please? Sure. I expected the roof to be patched, probably. But I came outside and this crew of 20 people, Amor, were tearing the roof off. And I came back outside a couple of hours later and they're putting shingles on the entire surface, which is something that I've never even dreamed of. I had fun. I actually was not planning on getting on the roof at all, so I was going to be on the ground. But once I sat up there and looked around and realized it's not as scary as I expected, I got to do it. And that's an experience I wasn't expecting to have. If I were to tell my friends about how today went, I would tell them that I didn't fix a roof. I fixed a family and I fixed a home. The satisfaction from that is very rewarding. It's a good feeling. Let me just tell you what I had to bring on this trip. Practically nothing. I think I brought some gloves to work, but they have plenty of those, so I didn't even need that. I've never even gotten on a roof before and honestly, I'm scared of heights. But I just, the level of leadership and the amount of support that they're pouring into us and the guidance they're pouring into us, I always felt really secure in what I was doing and I also felt like I was contributing even though I never really done it before. Labels for neighbors has a mission to go into other areas and to replace rooftops, do work, repair work for people that we do not know. And I think that's what God calls us to do. He wants us to reach out to our neighbors. I have to admit, seeing that look on that couple's face in Victoria was an amazing moment. I just feel so unworthy, but I'm so thankful because I know it's nothing but God and what He can do. And if He did it for me and Bruce, He'll do it for you too. Just believe, just trust, just pray and let God take care of the rest. To wrap up, Vision McKee's vision calls upon each and every one of our churches to respond. So let's seize this moment. Text the keyword 300 to Rio to 66866. If your church has already taken a trip to aid in hurricane relief or recovery, then text that number so we can get an accurate count and see how close we are to 300. We know we're already well past 50 or 60 trips from North Texas to the Texas Gulf Coast. And if your church will commit to being a part of hurricane recovery moving forward by planning and leading your own trip, or by sending a small group of volunteers as a part of a global ministry sponsored trip, a labors for neighbors sponsored trip, then text that number, you'll be asked to respond with your email address and we will follow up with you. Together, with the help of God, we can send 300 teams by the end of 2020. Bishop, this concludes our report. So we're going to see, Shelly Ross is the new Executive Director of Dallas, excuse me, of Wesley Rankin Center. I get them all, you know, it's a long day. So I want you to meet Shelly Ross, who many of us already know, and she's going to introduce the video from Wesley Rankin. Hey, hold steady, we're going to be through about five o'clock it's looking like. You know, just because something's normal doesn't make it right. In this day and age, we look for heroes, heroes who energize and inspire us to do the work that we do. In the 1930s, a lady by the name of Hattie Rankin, she was a church worker, and she went over the Silvan Bridge daringly to enter a space in which law enforcement officers didn't even dare to go in that time. And you know, God pulled her to do the unthinkable, to stay with a mother who was about to lose her son, to move to West Dallas and to host education classes in her backyard, and she even started church services in her house. Our archives say that her house was so packed with people that they existed in the trees to hear a good word and to know that they were loved. And then came the bold, united Methodist women who carried this mission, crammed, sewing, cooking, fundraising, and not taking no for an answer. Today, you know, these are my heroes. And Wesley Rankin continues the mission of bridging inequalities, and I'd like to tell you the mission is easier, but with recent gentrification, we've needed a larger strategy and we need a larger network. But what we've learned from Hattie is that once you form relationships with people you love, they become family, and family takes care of family, and just like our united Methodist women friends, we cannot accept no for an answer. So when a child has a learning difference and doesn't get the help they need, or a senior citizen doesn't have running water, or a child desperately wants to play a violin that doesn't have access to the arts, we say yes. And with your help, we continue to bridge inequality. So, you know, just because someone's house isn't suitable, or their middle school closes, or the color of one's skin denies someone kindness or service, just because this is normal, we say it isn't right. So on behalf of our ancestors, the Wesley Rankin Community Center, and the West Dallas Community, we give thanks for you. We give thanks for your advocacy, your prayers, and we ask that you please remember us. I'm foolish to believe that together we can offer a different way of life, and we can make it right. Here's a glimpse of our work at Wesley Rankin. My name's Jose Oviedo. I'm 18, and I'm a senior in high schools. When I first was born, my mom, she was the only one there, my dad wasn't there. And we had like nine cousins living with us, and one little small apartment, probably like five years old, and then they finally left on their own to different apartments and everything. So now it's just been me and my mom, been trying so hard to like just go down, and my mom's been going from job to job, job to job, just to keep this working. When I was an 8th grade, I was like a youngish rebelish. I loved attention, so I wanted to get attention. And so I did anything that I thought was really cool. Everybody started doing drugs, and I started doing drugs. There were just people trying to press. I left that school my freshman year. I didn't want nothing to do with it because that's where my past was. I made a vow to myself I would never be that person anymore. So I moved to Skyline, and that's where I started a new thing. I don't mind the driving because if I leave here at 8, I'll probably be there like at 8.20, plus I have field classes over there, so where else would I have some classroom? My mom was fed up with me being lazy at home. Every summer I just wanted to sleep. I didn't want to do anything. She found wants to rake in, and I felt like I was not going to make friends. I thought I would just be the loner of that group and probably just sneak out whenever they don't notice. And then there was a girl. I knew her from my old school that I used to go to like in my middle school. That's when we started talking that she introduced me to her friends. It hit me. It felt like a slap on my face. Oh, I do have people care about me. Oh, I couldn't make friends because I'm a friendly person. We went to San Antonio, and I was just for university college tours. So because everybody had their little friend group, right? Everybody got up and sat at the same table. I sat. And they're like, nah. No one's left behind. With making new friends at Wesley Rake and making that family bond, they've basically changed my life for the better because beforehand I didn't know who I was. I didn't know who I wanted to be. Now I know who I want to be. Now I know who I am. So technically I have a new family now. I finally made a perfectly good, healthy family that doesn't really judge you for who you are. People who will be there for you when you need them the most and doing the same thing for them. All of them at Wesley Rake, even the little ones are considered my families. Sixth grade. Cassandra Luna and her two sisters, they've been coming here for years since they were kindergarten and first graders. I come here almost every single day. I usually do my homework. Then it's usually time for dinner and then we go to clubs. In that block of time, getting to know children and families, it's like intentional living. We really are doing life together here. And so having Cassandra and Alexandra and Felicia in the program, they begin having these behaviors that were a little bit out of the ordinary. And so when we started inquiring with the family, we found out that Cassandra's mom has lupus. Because of that disease, sometimes she goes in the hospital and sometimes she's not able to be the full mom that she wishes she could be. I think she got like a surgery and she forgot everything that happened before and after she couldn't remember and her hands were shaking and I was scared for her. This is another story of another family doing the best with their circumstances and just needing a second home to come home to and people to level on their kids and help reach the gap that maybe they can't for certain reasons. We asked the mom if she would be willing for these kids to go to counseling. She was 100% on board instantly. She wanted the best for her children and she thought that they should have someone that they could talk to. Pastoral Counseling Services has actually helped give her the tools that she needs to self-regulate and be the young adult that she is. It's like someone's there to help you walk through everything and even if something like falls on you they will help you stand back up. One of the things that gives Cassandra so much life is playing an instrument. I started playing the violin in fifth grade. The violin helped me become more calmer and less stress felt stuff. When they choose a middle school like any kid sometimes you don't get to continue talents like that unless the right magnet school picks you up. St. Mary's is an incredible school for Cassandra's academics but when it really came to her musical instrument this thing that gives her some hope and peace in life she wasn't able to continue. But Wesley Rankin uses a Connectional System. This is why it's important that we have people who are faith-based and people who are corporations and people who are just friends of Wesley Rankin because quite frankly we don't know what's going to walk through our doors next or what's needed. We had this donor who wanted to donate a violin that hasn't been used and they really wanted it to go to immediately which student this would be. It had to be Cassandra. I got to meet her and I wrote her thinking why I wanted this violin. So Cassandra not only has a violin today that is her own, Cassandra also has a teacher that comes here on Thursdays and practices violin with her. Sometimes you just look at a child and you know that there's so much promise there. That is Cassandra. You just know that she has enough grit and perseverance and she's responsible. She's obviously talented. Determined to get through school and really make something of herself and I would like to think that we had something to do with that maturity and getting her to where she is now. If I didn't have Wesley Rankin I think my life would be very sad and I would be left with no opportunities. Wesley Rankin they make my family complete.