Policy-makers from 7 districts to gather

May sessions to handle
local business, prepare
for Corpus Christi votes

By Claudia M. Williams
Staff Writer
Southwest Texas leaders are to do district business over the next two weekends and prepare for the annual conference session next month in Corpus Christi.
Laity and clergy representatives of congregations in the Austin, McAllen and San Antonio districts are to meet Sunday.
San Angelo District leaders are to gather May 21.
Decision-makers in the Corpus Christi and Victoria districts are to convene May 22.
District conferences review and approve district budgets, committee reports, nominations, recommendations and other local policy matters.
District leaders also have the opportunity to discuss items on the agenda of the June 1-4 Southwest Texas Annual Conference session. Those include eight proposed amendments to The United Methodist Church constitution, at least 17 regional policy decisions and more than 80 reports for information.
The Corpus Christi meeting is to be historic because Southwest Texas and Rio Grande Conference members are to meet jointly June 3 and 4.
A member of the Southwest Texas Conference staff is to be present at each district conference to discuss and answer questions about business at the Corpus Christi meeting. Those presentations are expected to include information about the Bishop’s Initiative on New Church Development.
In the San Angelo District, congregational leaders are to consider a proposal to hire a full-time program director. That topic surfaced during the 2004 district conference in a discussion of adding a part-time youth ministries director.
District superintendency committee members decided they would have a better chance of finding the right person for the job if it were expanded to program director and made full-time.
The Austin District is expecting a report from the district Amos Commission, a public policy body formed at the 2004 session. The commission is to provide leadership in matters of public policies. Further, the agency is to empower and equip members of each congregation in the district to influence public policy in the light of the gospel and the United Methodist Social Principles.
When established last year, the Amos Commission encouraged each Austin District congregation to form a local Amos Commission in 2005.
In the McAllen District, attendees can expect discussion on the progress of the district’s New Church Development Commission. Throughout the year, the Rev. Don Nations, a church development consultant, has been providing advice on revitalizing district churches.
Aside from the report on the Bishop’s Initiative with New Church Development, other districts can expect regular business.