Things will be different in
Corpus Christi next month

I can’t repeat this message enough: Lots of things will be different about the June 7-10 Southwest Texas Annual Conference session.
Probably the most noticeable change for veteran participants in the four-day meeting will be parking.
If you are going to business sessions in Corpus Christi, you now have to pay to park at the American Bank Center.
The parking fee is $5 per day. You can get a $10 pass for the four days of our meeting. Those passes are to be available at parking lot entrances June 7.
Because every car must pay to enter a lot, count on waiting in line to park. That means people planning to attend an 8 a.m. Holy Communion service June 8 or 9 or make the 9 a.m. business sessions those days should probably leave their hotels or homes earlier this year than they may have in the past.
Parking is to be free June 7 from 6 to 11 p.m. for the Memorial Service and June 10 from 8 a.m. to noon for the ordination service. Both services are to be in Selena Auditorium.
If you’ve been to annual conference before, you’ll find you probably won’t be able to park in lots off Chaparral Street you have used in the past—underneath and adjacent to the exhibit halls. Bowlers participating in a six-month tournament at the convention center will be parking there.
That’s probably for the best. Our plenary business sessions will be in the ABC Arena this year, not Exhibit Hall B, where they have been in the past. The arena—at the corner of Shoreline Boulevard and Resaca Street—is a long walk from those lots by the exhibit halls. Plan to use the parking areas along Resaca between Shoreline and Chaparral.
Handicapped parking is still available in the lot under the exhibit halls. An elevator provides access from there to the convention center. But people will still have a long trip to the arena.
Because of the parking changes, the conference will have two free shuttle buses running throughout the meeting. That’s one more bus than in years past. These buses are to travel a route between the two Omni Hotels, First UMC, Holiday Inn Emerald Beach and the convention center.
People can expect to catch a bus about every 10 minutes. The shuttle is to drop passengers off at the Shoreline entrances to the convention center. That’s a short walk to the arena.
Bus passengers should allow at least 20 minutes to go from their hotel to the convention center.
I know participants in each district conference heard about these and other details of our June gathering. But we can’t repeat too much: Things will be different this year.