North Texas Conference

The North Texas Conference is an Annual Conference (a regional episcopal area of the United Methodist Church). This conference encompasses a triangle-shaped northern portion of the state of Texas that spans from Dallas to Wichita Falls to Paris. The conference includes a small geographic area relative to most annual conferences. At the end of 2006, it ranked 18th of 63 in membership and 22nd of 63 in worship attendance for U.S. Conferences.

Administrative offices are located in Plano, Texas. It is part of the Southcentral Jurisdictional Conference. The bishop is Alfred L. Norris. Effective September 1, 2008, Bishop Earl Bledsoe will begin leading the conference.

File:Bishop Earl Bledsoe election.jpg

Bishop Earl Bledsoe (left) at his election as a Bishop

Districts

The North Texas Annual Conference is further subdivided into 6 smaller regions, called "districts," which provide further administrative functions for the operation of local churches in cooperation with each other. Each district has a District Superintendent who has a vital role in determing the appointments of clegy to local churches. The districts that comprise the North Texas Conference are:

• Dallas Northeast District. A District with many very large churches including Custer Road- Plano, First Richardson, Christ- Plano, St. Andrew- Plano, and First Plano. Four churches in this district have average worship attendance of over 1500 persons per week. Another seven churches have weekly worship attendance of more than 500 persons. District Superintendent: Rev. Pat Beghtel-Mahle.
  
  
• Dallas South District. The largest churches in this district are Highland Park and St. Luke Community. This is the most diverse district in the conference. It includes urban, suburban, and rural churches. It encompasses some of the lowest and highest income areas in the region. In includes large areas with predominately African American and Hispanic residents. District Superintendent: Rev. Milton Guittierrez.
  
  
• Dallas-Denton District. The largest churches in this district are Lovers Lane- Dallas and Trietch Memorial- Flower Mound. It also includes Korean Central- Irving, a large predominately Korean Church. The long thin district comprises many churches that are within a few miles of Interstate 35. District Superintendent: Rev. Larry George.
  
  
• Paris-Sulphur Springs District. This is a predominately rural and small church district. Clergy and laity from this district often gather for district events. District Superintendent: Rev. Keith Boone.
  
  
• Sherman-McKinney District. This district includes the rapidly growing McKinney area that is north of Dallas. It stretches northward to include many rural churches. The largest churches in this district are Stonebridge– McKinney and First McKinney. District Superintendent: Rev. Clara Reed.
  
  
• Wichita Falls District. This district does not include any churches with weekly worship attendance over 500. First UMC Wichita Falls is a very important church in the life of the conference. District Superintendent: Rev. John Rosenburg.

Institutions (owned by or with a strong relationship with the North Texas Conference)

• Bethlehem Center
• Bridgeport Camp & Conference Center
• C.C. Young Home
• Methodism’s Breadbasket
• Methodist Medical Center of Dallas
• Project Transformation
• Prothro Center at Lake Texoma
• Southern Methodist University (including Perkins School of Theology)
• Texas Methodist Foundation
• UMR Communications, INC
• Wesley Rankin Community Center
• Wesley Village

Statistics

• 2006 Membership 159,490
• 2006 Average Weekly Worship Attendance: 61,839

Key Conference Leaders

• Bishop Alfred L. Norris, Bishop (until September 2008)
• Rev. James (Jim) Dorff, Provost, Clergy Delegate to General Conference, Member General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns
• Rev. Fred Durham, Director of Connectional Ministries
• Rev. James (Jim) Ozier, New Church Development Officer
• Rev. Dr. L. Marvin Guier, III, Director of Administration/Treasurer/Benefits Officer
• Rev. Kathleen Baskin-Ball, Chair Board of Ministry, Lead clergy delegate to General Conference, Chair of the Ministry and Higher Education Legislation Committee at 2008 General Conf., Board of Dir. Texas Methodist Foundation Institute for Clergy and Congregational Excellence, nationally known preacher
• Tyrone Gordon, Clergy Delegate to General Conference, Chair of the Discipleship Legislation Committee at 2008 General Conf., Member General Board of Discipleship, nationally know preacher
• Don Underwood, Clergy Delegate to General Conference, Member of General Council on Finance and Admin., Southwestern Univ. Board of Trustees
• Clayton Oliphint, Clergy Delegate to General Conference, Board of Dir. Methodist Children's Home
• (See District Superintendents listed above.)

• Mary Brook Casad, Lead Lay Delegate to General Conference, Staff member for General UMC's Connectional Table
• Richard Hearne, Lay Delegate to General Conference, Conf. Lay Leader

Other Information of Interest

• Rev. Ron Henderson – Senior Pastor - Custer Road UMC. This church is the largest UMC in the nation with a cross-racial Senior Pastor appointment.

• In 2005, Highland Park UMC ranked 2nd in the nation for number of church members and 6th for worship attendance. Five churches in the conference were within the top 25 membership UMCs in the nation. Eight North Texas Conference churches were with the nation’s top 100 UMCs for worship attendance. (Only the Texas, North Georgia, and Florida conferences had more churches within the top 100 for worship attendance.)

• In 1968, the North Texas Conference hosted the meeting in Dallas, Texas in which the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged with The Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church.

See also

• Annual Conferences of the United Methodist Church

External links

• North Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church