District Meetings on Moving Forward as The UMC

Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr., resident bishop of the Central Texas Conference, met with close to 600 members of the Central Texas Conference during a series of three Assembly meetings at churches across the

Bishop Saenz shares his Unite & Excite vision to more than 300 at First UMC of Arlington

conference on May 21-22 (more than 700 if you add in the online audience from Sunday). Each of the sessions featured a 40-45 minute presentation from Bishop Saenz on his vision for Moving Forward in The UMC - a presentation primarily focused primarily on what unites us as a global connection and the exciting opportunities ahead for churches, our conference and The United Methodist Church. Following the presentation, the floor was opened up for questions, allowing Bishop Saenz to hear some of what’s on the hearts and minds of the people of the Conference.

 

Bishop Saenz chats with a few of the approximately 150 who attended the Central UMC (Waco) meeting

“I’m so happy to get to meet and be with Central Texas United Methodists who love Jesus Christ and are excited about the future of where we are going as a conference and a denomination,” said Bishop Saenz. “It’s important that I get to better know the people of our conference, especially our laity as they are the real engine and drivers of the ministries that make a difference to our communities and world.”

 

While the meetings were in-person only events as far as active participation (Q&A), the Sunday, May 22 event was made available via live webcast for those who wanted to hear from our bishop, but just couldn’t make it to one of the events in person. A replay of the May 22 meeting hosted by First UMC Arlington is below, along with links to the slides used in each of the three meetings.

 

Some of near 125 who gathered at Stephenville UMC discuss a question put forth by Bishop Saenz during his presentation.

Bishop Saenz and the Conference Communications team are deeply grateful for the hospitality and collaboration of our host churches – Central UMC (Waco), First UMC Stephenville and First UMC of Arlington. Senior Pastors Bob Rainey, Howard Martin and Chris Hays and their outstanding teams and volunteers were/are outstanding in their preparation and execution of these meetings. Thank you very much to all!