REPORTS TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Transcription

1 REPORTS TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE Bishop s Vision of Strategic Directions for the Texas Annual Conference Bishop Scott J. Jones Our denomination, our conference and our churches have faced many challenges since we gathered last year for Annual Conference, but God is faithful and our kingdom-building continues. We are strong and God is doing amazing things through our pastors, congregations and extension ministries. Key Principles While the purpose of the annual conference is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world by equipping its local churches for ministry and by providing a connection for ministry beyond the local church (Book of Discipline, 601) the four most essential functions it serves are as follows: Clergy recruitment, credentialing and appointment Starting new faith communities Connecting congregations in mission beyond the local church Equipping faith sharing Strategic opportunities for the TAC a. Continuation and expansion of Emerging Leaders four projects: Texas Youth Academy, College Interns, Ambassador Grants, Advancing Pastoral Leadership. b. Enhance our success rate for new church starts through land purchases and better training of church planters c. Start more new Hispanic faith communities both free-standing and within existing congregations d. Strengthen African-American clergy leadership through recruitment and continuing education e. Create new peer learning groups for clergy f. Strengthen small membership churches through learning experiences like Abide g. Strengthen local churches mission with a focus on loving all the children health, literacy and discipleship h. Reframe the United Methodist brand through the slogan We Love All God s Children. i. Develop a network of local UMC s engaged in health ministry in partnership with Houston Methodist Hospital and Golden Care. j. Rebuild relationships with Lakeview, campus ministries, Perkins, UM Army and Wiley College to strengthen our leadership development systems k. Enhance fundraising outside the apportionment system to serve purposes designated by the Core Leadership Team such as the Emerging Leaders Endowment, and Hurricane Harvey Response. Staffing Implications to Address our Key Opportunities 1. Start-up for We Love All God s Children funded through existing budget and other sources. 42

2 Assistant to the Bishop Rev. B.T. Williamson As steward of the vision and mission of the annual conference, the Assistant to the Bishop (A2B) guides multiple processes related to alignment of effort, accountability of leadership, and the achievement of excellence and fruitfulness. Here are some highlights of this past year s engagements. With the passage of We Love All God s Children the annual conference accepted Bishop Scott Jones initiative, which in turn delegated responsibilities to the Core Leadership Team for implementation. While this initiative will involve the annual conference for many years, initial developments centered on efforts to share resources with local congregations, as well as inviting them to embrace and engage projects, within their own mission field, related to children s literacy, health, and discipleship. The A2B has been directly involved in supporting these early directives, notably through the work of Core Leadership. Hurricane Harvey dealt a devastating blow to the Texas Annual Conference. Early responses to congregations and pastors who were affected by the storm came through coordination with the A2B. On-site visits to local churches and case management with clergy have been conducted since last September. We are hopeful that these immediate matters will be resolved within the next few months. Then our focused efforts will be the restoration of homes and lives across the conference. The A2B supports the Bishop s office, particularly with respect to the activities of the Cabinet. This includes scheduling and coordinating meetings, interfacing with resource speakers, directing retreats, and participating in national gatherings. Our August retreat centered on using the Transformational Index process to gain a deeper understanding of the Cabinet s role as chief missional strategists. Communications Committee Kelsey Johnson, Chair The Communications Committee has been active in providing feedback to the Conference Communications Department over the last year so that the department can be a marketing communications resource for center leaders and the local churches. The Committee has been instrumental in accomplishing the following: At the retirement of our previous Director of Communications, hiring a new Director of Communications, June 1, 2017 For the first time, hiring a full-time Social Media/Visual Arts Manager June 1, 2017 By implementing a social media strategy to support the programs and mission of the Texas Annual Conference, our cross-channel audience has grown by 4% from August 2016 to January 2018, and now includes 40,622 followers. As a part of our communications assessment, the department redesigned Cross Connection, the e- newsletter which goes out to approximately 13,500 readers across the conference. Achievements of the Conference Communications Department this year include: Producing an average of one video a week for the Texas Annual Conference, ranging from: o Texas Recovers (Hurricane Harvey) videos 43

3 o Videos promoting events such as the CLT/DLT Training for We Love All God s Children Creating a new website in response to the devastation from Hurricane Harvey, as well as a 24-page magazine, informational posters, a Christmas card from the Bishop, and radio and newspaper ads (from a grant from UMCOM). All of this was designed to communicate the message We are in this for the Long Hall and to help raise money, coordinate volunteers and offer resources. Developing a new Hispanic Ministry social media with Spanish-language content. Supporting the Bishop and conference centers with print, social media, public relations and secular news opportunities throughout the year. Nominations Committee Rev. B.T. Williamson, Chair UNDER ASSISTANT TO THE BISHOP NOMINATING COMMITTEE Nancy Cobbs-E UNDER CLERGY EXCELLENCE CLERGY ACCOUNTABILITY Trey Comstock BOARD OF ORDAINED MINISTRY Hannah Terry-Chair Order of Deacons EQUITABLE COMPENSATION Sam Cutron (Chair) Tammy Woodard (Clergy) BOARD OF PENSION Joel McKinnon (Clergy-Class of 2020) Barbara Boone (Laity-Class of 2024) (Laity-Class of 2024) GROUP HEALTH BENEFITS (Laity-Class of 2020) Mireya Martinez (Clergy-Class of 2024) UNDER CONGREGATIONAL EXCELLENCE PASSIONATE WORSHIP MINISTRIES Suzanne Byrd Valerie Hudson Lindsay Smith FAITH-FORMING/SPIRITUAL FORMATION LAY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT YOUTH MINISTRY COUNCIL Andrew Hodge (Youth-CN) Lily Sanders (Youth-CN) Ruth Ann Person (Adult-CN) (2 Youth-CS) (2 Youth-E) Cletis Rogers (Adult-E) 44 (2 Youth-N) (Adult-N) (2 Youth-NW) (Adult-NW) Allison Lucius (Youth-S) Ethan Cayton (Youth-S) (Adult-S) (2 Youth-SE) Matt Carter (Adult-SE) (2 Youth-SW) (2 Youth-W) Trevor Cayton-Youth Rep (Youth Rep 2) (Adult Rep 2) YOUNG ADULT MINISTRY COUNCIL Allison Hicks-CN -CS -E W -S -W BOARD OF LAITY -E SMALL MEMBERSHIP CHURCH Cindy Doran-Chair UNDER CONNECTIONAL RESOURCES CF & A Jerry Neff (GHB & Pensions Rep) ARCHIVES & HISTORY -S -W Faulk Landrum (At-Large) Jacob Smith (At-Large) SAFE SANCTUARY (1 Clergy & 1 Laity for Class of 2020)

4 HIGHER EDUCATION & CAMPUS MINISTRIES Tatyana Evans (Student Rep) Luke Thomson (Student Rep) Kelley Victor (1 st Student Alt) Joshua Castro-Donathen (2 nd Student Alt) Benjamin West (Wesley Fdtn-U of H Rep) EMERGING LEADER S INITIATIVE Rodger Garbs Ex-Officios Emily Chapman Preston Greenwaldt Todd Jordan Mary Linda Portner UNDER MISSIONAL EXCELLENCE RESTORATIVE JUSTICE -Chair TAC MISSIONS -CN -CS W PARISH & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT -Chair MERCY MINISTRIES (2 Clergy) (1 Laity) GOLDEN CROSS SOCIAL PRINCIPLES -Chair CHURCH & SOCIETY (2) RELIGION & RACE -CN -SW DISASTER MINISTRIES -CN -CS -E -S -W (2) Asian Ministries (Indian-Pakistani) (Vietnamese) 45

5 Conference Lay Leader s Report Mr. John Esquivel, Conference Lay Leader This last year has been one of momentum and enthusiasm being built by the laity across the Conference around one of Bishop Jones strategic priorities of Loving All God s Children. This was most evident at the District Leadership Team/Core Leadership Team training held in Lufkin last year where the laity could hear from experts across all Districts in the Conference in the areas of education, health and discipleship. It was a time of sharing best practices, cross-fertilization of ideas and initial planning. This has been taken deeper by the laity in as much as most (if not all) District training events have in whole or in part been devoted to learning more about existing programs as well as needs and resources in Loving All God s Children. This is a theme and effort that will span several years. I believe that Loving All God s Children is part of the core of who we are. At Annual Conference we will continue to focus on Loving All God s Children with further discussions on what is going on around the Conference. As I have visited several churches around the Conference, I have been inspired by what the laity has done (and continue to do) in this area. Large, small, urban, suburban or county seat churches have contributed mightily to showing their community that United Methodist Love All God s Children. There is much that we can learn from each other. We will continue to share our experiences as well as challenge each other to learn about and consider new and innovative approaches to health, education and discipleship that are relevant to the communities that we live and serve. I look forward to our continued ministry together. Core Leadership Team Over the past eighteen months the Core Leadership Team (CLT) has been working with Bishop Scott Jones as he has presented, refined, and implemented his vision for We Love All God s Children. This work has been an on-going dynamic of the ministry of CLT. After the formal adoption of this strategy for the Texas Annual Conference a team headed by Lance Richards and Karen Jones facilitated listening sessions around the three areas of focus: literacy, health, and discipleship for children. District Leadership Teams participated in a Fall colloquy with over 150 leaders from across the annual conference attending. This milestone event provided an overview of issues affecting children along with conversations about how local churches can engage these opportunities. Many of our District Leadership Teams then planned their annual leadership training events around We Love All God s Children. The momentum is continuing under CLT s guidance, and the upcoming annual conference will focus on this initiative. Director of Development Mary Linda Portner In response to the strategic opportunities for the Texas Annual Conference outlined in Bishop Jones 2017 Vision of Strategic Directions, the position of director of development for the TAC was created and filled in October The areas of fundraising responsibility envisioned for the position included: The Emerging Leaders Endowment Land purchases for new faith communities We Love All God s Children 46

6 By October 1, in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, an additional area of responsibility was added hurricane relief. Because of the urgency in meeting the needs of victims throughout the TAC, addressing this undertaking became paramount. Working with the Communications department, we set about raising funds from individuals and churches. We also worked closely with the Center for Missional Excellence for documentation on grant proposals and distribution of funding. At this writing, the TAC has received one grant from the Greater Houston Community Foundation for $500,000, along with smaller grants from the Beaumont Rotary Foundation (and associated Rotary foundations); we are also in communication with various other funders and have presented several additional grant proposals, as we acknowledge that the need will continue for many more months. The programs of the Emerging Leaders Endowment continue to flourish. We are excited to partner with Wiley College as the new site for the Texas Youth Academy. In 2017 the College Pastoral Internship Program welcomed 9 new interns, and 2 young seminarians have received grant assistance under the Ambassador program. The Advancing Pastoral Leadership program (APL) has produced eight cohorts of young leaders since 2009, with 56 graduates now serving in ministry throughout the TAC. Initiatives to fully endow these ministries continue, with grant proposals having been submitted to foundations, a major gift program being developed, and partnerships being formed with TAC churches. On the back side, work is being done to create a clean database of donors and gifts. At this writing $5.3 million remains to be raised to meet the $12 million endowment goal. We Love All God s Children, Bishop Jones visionary program for pre-school literacy, wellness and discipleship, is in the development stage at this writing, as is the strategy for raising funds for new faith communities. These initiatives, along with the Emerging Leaders Endowment, reflect a commitment to invest in the future of the TAC its children, its young leaders, and its faith communities. As the first director of development for the Texas Annual Conference, it is an honor to work alongside such visionary leadership and a privilege to help lay the foundations for our future. 47