Standing-room-only crowd attends
bishop’s final clergy convocation

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
A standing-room-only crowd packed the Byrd Worship Center in Kerrville for the last day of the March 3-4 Bishop’s Convocation for Southwest Texas Conference clergy members.
Many pastors said they were at Mount Wesley Conference Center because it was Bishop Joel N. Martinez’s last time at the annual meeting of clergy members. He retires Aug. 31.
Martinez spoke during the morning worship service March 4, providing tips to local pastors and those just starting their ministry vocations.
“How I got through as a local pastor is I learned that being a local pastor in the culture gives you the widest latitude in the Christian tradition,” Martinez said. “You can go anywhere, be anywhere, and the culture will understand why you’re there.
“If a lawyer shows up, people have questions about why he’s there. If a doctor shows up, people have questions about why she’s there. There’s an unspoken understanding that a pastor has a right to be there. Now, they may not invite you back, but you’re always allowed to be there.”
Local pastors can even go where a bishop can’t, Martinez said, because when the bishop shows up, “people think they must be in trouble or he’s up to something.”
Many clergy members stopped Martinez following the morning service to ask about his ministry and share their appreciation for his service to The United Methodist Church.
The Rev. Andrew Smith, pastor of Lake Travis UMC, Lakeway, told the group about playing golf with Martinez during a previous convocation.
“I never drove a golf cart more carefully than that day,” Smith said. He turned to face Martinez. “You said you learn a lot about a person by playing golf with him, and I wondered what you would learn about me. I didn’t want to play well because I didn’t want you to think that’s all I did.
“But I learned something about you—that you are a man of incredible grace. It is a joy to know you.”
Martinez gave everyone who came to the convocation a special commemorative token.