AC2014 News & Information
Online Registration for Annual Conference is closed.
Registration for the 2014 Central Texas Annual Conference meeting officially closed Friday, May 30. If you missed the online registration and you still need to register, there is a small window of availability to do so onsite at First UMC Mansfield Sunday afternoon. Contact Mavis Howell (mavishowell@ctcumc.org) for more information on how to register in person at AC2014. Please note that only the voting members of Annual Conference need to registerfor the June 8-11 conference.
Register today for one of three AC2014 Intentional Faith Development Sessions.
AC2014 participants can choose one of three intentional faith development workshops as part of the Tuesday, June 10.teaching time. Sue Engle will unpack Charting a Course for Discipleship: A Workbook on Christian Discipleship; The Rev. Candace Lewis, executive director of Path 1, will lead a workshop on building a system for making disciples; and Dr. Phil Maynard’s session will focus on his work Shift: Helping Congregations Back into the Work of Effective Ministry. To help ensure adequate space is available for each breakout, please take 60 seconds and register for the workshop you wish to attend. Space is limited and available on a first registered / first served basis, so click here and register today to ensure your spot in the session you wish to attend.
AC2014 Worship Guide available on conference website.
You can nowaccess a copy of the 2014 Annual Conference Worship Guide even before you arrive at First UMC Mansfield by going to ctcumc.org/AC2014-worshipguide. The 2014 Worship Guide includes the 2014 message to Annual Conference from Bishop Lowry, a bio of our guest preacher Bishop Paul Leeland and all five worship services. Hard copies will be available during the June 8-11 meeting.
Information on those running for Lay Delegates to 2016 General & Jurisdictional Conference is now available.
You can now access the information shared by the laity of the CTC who wish to be considered for election as a member of the CTC delegations to the General or South Central Jurisdictional Conference in 2016. Visit ctcumc.org/AC2014-LayDelegate and click on the view submitted info tab at the bottom of the page. A complete pdf of all lay delegate forms submitted by the June 2 deadline will be available for download by June 5.
2014 Preliminary Report is now available for download.
Please visit ctcumc.org/AC2014-preliminary to access the 2014 Preliminary Report. The 2014 report is available as a pdf. If your system does not have a PDF reader, there is a link on the page that will access a free download.
#CTCAC2014 is the Official Twitter Hashtag for AC2014
Some of the best conversations held during Annual Conference have occurred on Twitter the past couple of years. As such, we have once again established an official hashtag for the CTC Annual Conference - #ctcac2014. So, when you are tweeting about AC2014 (and we know you are ;-) make sure you include #ctcac2014 in your tweet. If you aren't sure how to find the hashtag on Twitter, just log on to twitter.com and type #ctcac2014 in the search bar to read and join in the AC2014 conversations. Feel free to search #ctcac2013 to relive the vibe from last year's conference while you are there. You can also see the feed from this website by clicking here or the "Official Twitter Feed" tab to the left.
AC2014 Offering recipients announced.
Two very special ministries, one within and one outside the geographic boundaries of the conference, will be the beneficiaries of the 2014 Annual Conference Offering. The in-conference portion of our offering will go to assist the United Community Centers in building a new Bethlehem Center located in a neighborhood where more than 90 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The out-of-conference portion will go to the Maua Methodist Hospital in Maua, Kenya, to help provide for a new operating table for the main surgical theatre. Read more at ctcumc.org/AC2014-offering
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Annual Conference members needed to help keep things inclusive.
Inclusiveness is one of the five Core Values of the Central Texas Conference and a vital component to our Annual Conference meetings. Inclusiveness encourages us to expand our perceptions, thoughts and actions beyond ourselves and better equip our churches to reach out into their local mission fields. Lay and clergy volunteers are needed to monitor our 2014 Annual Conference sessions for inclusive language and behavior demonstrating comparable treatment to both genders, all ages, all ethnicities and all diverse abilities. No formal training or past experience is required; all you do is anonymously complete and return a simple form. Anyone interested should contact Pat Loomis at pdloomis@charter.net as soon as possible.
Blueprint for Wellneess Screenings Once Again Available at Annual Conference
Central Texas HealthFlex participants attending the Central Texas Annual Conference can make an appointment to have their free Quest Diagnostics Blueprint for Wellness® screening done at the event. You may begin pre-registering for appointments now online via www.webmdhealth.com/GBOPHB. If you choose to do your screening at a local laboratory, you may begin online pre-registration now. Pre-registration is required for screenings at our Annual Conference as well as at local laboratories. The General Board of Pension and Health Benefits is committed to improving health throughout the denomination. That’s why HealthFlex offers The Quest Diagnostics Blueprint for Wellness® screening program at no out-of-pocket cost to clergy, lay employees and enrolled spouses covered by HealthFlex active plans. Click here for more information and registration links.
Organization Lunches and Events
When you are registering for Annual Conference you'll notice that there is an opportunity for you to choose to purchase a box lunch on each day of Annual Conference. Please note, however, that there are lunch meetings/events offered during AC2014 by some of our outstanding CTC organizations such as UMW and the Ministers Spouse's Organization. Please click on the Lunch & Evening Events tab on the left to see what else is happening. If you need to amend your registration and cancel a boxed lunch in order to attend one of these events, please contact Mavis at mavis@ctcumc.org by May 19.
During the 2014 Central Texas Annual Conference meeting, the members of the Annual Conference will be electing 20 representives (10 clergy & 10 laity) to serve as our delegations to the 2016 General and Jurisdictional Conferences. It is the long-standing tradition of the CTC to feature the names, gifts, talents, skills and experience of lay members who are actively seeking election. If you are interested in being a lay delegate in 2016 and wish to have your information available prior to and during the 2014 CTC Annual Conference meeting, click here or the 2016 General/Jurisdictional Delegation tab to the left to access the information form. Forms must be submitted to MavisHowell@ctcumc.org by Monday, June 2.
Be blest to wear the vest.
Here’s a chance to be blessed - volunteer to be a teller at Annual Conference. Tellers have the unique opportunity of getting to live the words of Jesus found in Mark 9:35 and serve by distributing material, answering questions, counting votes, assisting with worship services and more. Morning and afternoon shifts are available for clergy and laity. To volunteer please contact your District Office as soon as possible.
Harry Denman Evangelism Award Nominations are closed for 2014.
As of Friday, May 9, tThe Central Texas Annual Conference is no longer accepting nominations for The 2014 Harry Denman Evangelism Award for Clergy, Lay, and Youth. The Harry Denman Evangelism Award recognizes a person whose life and ministry exemplifies the teaching of Christ and the Great Commission. Recipients of these awards, nominated by individuals, churches, or districts, and selected by the Annual Conference, live their call to “Offer Them Christ” daily as modeled by Dr. Harry Denman, founder of The Foundation for Evangelism that sponsors these awards.
To get more information about the award, PLEASE CLICK HERE! While nominations closed for the 2014 award on May 9, its never too early to keep your eyes and ears open for your 2015 nominiee.
Changes to the 2014 Morris Walker Award announced and nominations open.
Established in 1973, the Morris Walker award was originally intended to acknowledge an outstanding layperson with distinguished and exemplary service to his/her local church, community and conference. In the past, the award has been bestowed on outstanding conference clergy and lay persons. This year, we are returning to its original intent and only honoring a lay person. Persons nominated should exemplify the "above and beyond" service to the church, as Morris Walker did. Prior awardees are not eligible. Nomination letters, along with support materials or other letters of recommendation, must be signed by at least one nominator and sent to CTC Lay Leader Kim Simpson at kimsimpson@ctcumc.org or 3905 Lake Powell Dr., Arlington, TX 76016. To read more about the award, click here.