The Rio Texas Conference hosted several webinars since February 2016. Three delegation listening sessions took place via the ZOOM Meeting platform.

At these listening sessions, approximately 100 people participated in virtual presentation sessions complete with question and answers.

These ZOOM webinars helped the delegation prepare for May’s General Conference. 

“These Listening Sessions have been an amazing blessing in our work as a delegation.  They have provided a great opportunity for us to listen and interact with many members across our conference concerning the issues and legislation that will come before us at General Conference,” said Teresa Keese, General Jurisdictional Conference Delegation Leader.

“I have been so impressed with the participation and feedback we have received from the participants during each session, and I appreciate those who took the time to give presentations as well.  These sessions have helped us connect with the entire annual conference membership and hear their views and input on important church issues; and we will take this input to heart as we head to Portland in early May and discern God’s will in each decision we make.”

Outreach Vitality Director Abel Vega looks at these webinars as a learning experience.

“These listening sessions have been a great learning experience. It was great to see the initial responses and interactions in these sessions,” said Vega. “As the church, my sense is that we will see more venues like this emerge as we discern and learn together into the future."

Another webinar took place on Friday, April 29. The topic was regarding the integration of social media with the local church’s ministry engagement.

Rev. Will Rice hosted the social media webinar with J.R. Atkins, author of Social Media 2.0.

“A friend of ours had J.R. Atkins in town for another event and asked if we would be interested in having him stop by and offer a webinar,” said Conference Communications Director Rev. Will Rice. "I jumped at the opportunity. J.R. shared some great insight into how churches can engage people on social media instead of just sharing photos and announcements."  

Webinars are another piece of the mission of the Rio Texas Media Center. Webinars can connect churches to each other and connect leaders with high-quality information without the need for so much travel. This saves time and money and allows even more people the opportunity to be connected to the life and work of the conference.