Corpus Christi meeting to decide 25 items

Policy-makers to vote
on 8 amendments
to UMC constitution

Southwest Texas Conference policy-makers are to vote on eight constitutional amendments and at least 17 legislative proposals June 1-4 in Corpus Christi.
The votes are to be cast during the 147th session of the Southwest Texas Annual Conference. It is to meet in Corpus Christi’s American Bank Center. That’s the new name of the remodeled and expanded convention center where United Methodist leaders have gathered each year since 1991.
The 2005 session is to be historic. That’s because the Southwest Texas Conference is to meet jointly for part of the session with the Rio Grande Conference. Representatives of the two conferences are to attend a joint awards banquet June 3 and a joint ordination service June 4. Both combined sessions are firsts for the two conferences that share a bishop.
Theme for the Southwest Texas Conference meeting is “Offering Christ to All: Transforming Our World.”
Proposed amendments to The United Methodist Church constitution, other Southwest Texas legislative items and more than 80 reports for information are included in a 140-page Pre-Conference Report. It was mailed last week to clergy and laity representatives of the 350 congregations in Southwest Texas.
More than 1,300 voting members of the annual conference session—half clergy, half laity—are expected to take part in the four-day Southwest Texas gathering.
Representatives of congregations in the Austin, McAllen and San Antonio districts have their first opportunity to discuss items on the June agenda during May 15 district conferences.
Meetings of congregational representatives in the other four districts are scheduled for May 21 and 22.
The 2004 session of the General Conference, the denomination’s top policy-making body, passed the eight proposed constitutional amendments and sent them to all United Methodist annual conferences this year for ratification.
To be ratified, each amendment must receive “yes” votes from two-thirds of all annual conference members casting ballots in all 63 conference sessions in the United States and 52 conferences overseas.
The Council of Bishops counts votes from all annual conference sessions and is expected to announce results for each amendment in November.
Southwest Texas Conference leaders may vote “yes,” “no” or “abstain” on each amendment. Southwest Texans can’t propose any changes to the amendments. The official explanation of each amendment is in the Pre-Conference Report.
In addition to constitutional amendments, action items in the Pre-Conference Report include:
> A proposal from a task force appointed in 2004 by Bishop Joel N. Martinez to create a Council on Young Adult Ministry. The new 12-member agency would promote ministries with people from 19 to 30.
> A measure from the Board of Global Ministries setting Nov. 6 as Harvest Sunday 2005 in Southwest Texas and designating anti-hunger agencies to receive equal portions of the special conferencewide offering collected on that day.
> Eight proposals from the Council on Finance and Administration outlining the 2006 budget, the apportionments to fund it and financial support for district superintendents. The $8.57 million spending plan reflects a 3.39 percent increase over the 2005 budget. One budget proposal would increase the reimbursement amount from $30 to $50 per night for lodging necessitated by meetings of conference agencies.
> Two proposals from the Commission on Equitable Compensation and Moving Expenses dealing with minimum clergy salaries and increased reimbursements for relocation costs.
> Three proposals from the Board of Pensions concerning clergy retirement and health insurance benefits.
> A proposal from the Standing Rules Committee to make multiple changes to the Standing Rules. Most reflect references to paragraph numbers in the 2004 Book of Discipline or organizational changes mandated by the 2004 General Conference.
> Changes proposed to the bylaws of UM-related Southwestern University in Georgetown.
A consent agenda includes more than 80 informational reports from conference agencies and UM-related institutions that the conference receives for printing in the yearly journal.