Bishops Jones and Webb to Lead in Historic Conference and Ordination Service
With the start of 2023 comes an era of new beginnings for Methodist churches across east Texas and Louisiana. As of January 1, the Eastern Texas Conference of the Global Methodist Church (ETXGMC) has officially formed. The ETXGMC is a regional body of the Global Methodist Church (GMC), comprised of former United Methodist Churches and clergy who have left their former denomination over long held theological differences, along with several new church starts across the region. Led by President Pro Tempore Jim Welch, the conference has organized with over 250 churches and over 230 clergy.
The ETXGMC will hold its inaugural conference, the Convening Conference, on February 2-4, 2023 at Christ Church in College Station. This gathering will be a time of worship as well as a time of business as the conference establishes procedures and policies and officially welcomes in its member churches and clergy. The conference will culminate in an historic worship service celebrating the ordination of 90 men and women as clergy in the GMC. We believe this historically large number of ordination candidates is the most clergy to ever be ordained in a single service in the history of the Methodist movement. Bishop Scott Jones, a former United Methodist Bishop who has transferred his membership to the GMC, will preach at the service and preside over the ordinations. Bishop Jones was most recently the Bishop of the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, which covers the east Texas region. Joining Bishop Jones in leading will be Bishop Mark Webb. Bishop Webb is also a former United Methodist Bishop who has now joined the Global Methodist Church. Bishop Webb most recently served as Bishop over the Upper New York Conference.
Information about the Eastern Texas Conference and the Convening Conference can be found at etxgmc.org. To find out more about the Global Methodist Church, a newly formed denomination dedicated to making disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly, visit globalmethodist.org