SECTION III: SPECIAL MINISTRIES, PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS The first priority of my episcopal administration in an episcopal district is defining the spiritual and formational needs of the persons I am sent to serve. I believe the holistic church requires a spiritual development and an anchoring in the faith, even as that church reaches out with its tokens of God’s mercies and grace for everyone. Therefore, I spend my time planning the Annual Conferences and the rotation of responsibilities around issues of our spiritual development and formation. Time is spent in Annual Conferences to have Bible study each day that is focused “from text to exegesis” rather than “from topic to text(s),” and to sing and be challenged with new songs (as well as old) in worship. It also spills over into the way we arrange in retreat for the strengthening and team building of the cadre of presiding elders. For me, the role of presiding elder is foremost in the intended CME structure and, for this reason, none of the presiding elders of the Eighth Episcopal District are likewise assigned at the Annual Conference to service a church as its pastor. This does not, however, negate presiding elders being used as supply pastors when churches are at the door of being closed or are without a pastor because of serious illness or death that has left the church without its spiritual leader. A second priority has been to get to know, to listen to, and to feel God’s people. Prior to COVID-19’s appearance in about March 2020, we had begun the circuit of visitations through the presiding elder districts that would have resulted in visiting every congregation within a four-year period – in a meeting that allowed for about 1 hour of dialogue between the bishop and the congregation. These visits have been a most insightful experience. Also, as bishop I attempt to drive across the district in Texas Sunday after Sunday, “stopping by” to worship unexpected and unannounced. The unannounced visit allows me to gauge how things “really are” in most congregational settings. The above two paragraphs describe activity that would not realistically be called “special ministries” or “programs” or “projects,” but, in reality, they represent the reality of my priorities as leader. I believe the local church’s and the Connection’s needs are first and foremost, spiritual. We have also planned with some success toward goals adopted in the first quadrennium together (2014-2018), which continued for the second. Our episcopal district meetings and conference region meetings for the 2018-2022 quadrennium focused on the theme, “The Basics: Disciples First,” a take-off from the episcopal address of the 2018 General Conference, “Getting Back to Basics as We Envision Our Way Forward in Taking Care of God’s Business.” From that theme of “The Basics: Disciples First,” we developed the following annual emphases at each annual conference: 2018 – “Called to Be Disciples”; 2019 – “Called to Make Disciples”; 2020 – “Called to Strengthen Disciples”; and 2021 – “Seeds and Signs of Discipleship.” Though our efforts were strained by COVID-19 restricts, these remained our thematic interest with focus on the following seven areas: (1) worship and spiritual formation; (2) evangelism and church growth; (3) health and wellness; (4) missions and outreach; (5) ministerial development (including lay ministries); (6) financial leadership; and (7) organizational effectiveness. At each of our
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