Whova Registration ends Wednesday, May 21
Please register with the e-mail address you used for last year's Annual Conference Whova registration and log-in with your Whova credentials at the bottom of the registration page.
If you are new to Whova and Rio Texas, please register for a Whova account at the bottom of the registration page.
You can bypass creating a Whova account by selecting the white "Continue as a Guest" button.
Are you interested in volunteering? Please Select "Yes" after you fill in the name of your church/organization. We need volunteers to assist with hospitality, ushering, preparations for worship services and to be runners. Please note, all volunteers must be at least 18 years old.
April 16, 2025
Dear Delegates:
The Rio Texas Annual Conference will be meeting in Corpus Christi at the American Bank Center, June 11-14, 2025. Our theme is ‘Adelante/Moving Forward’. We will have some amazing speakers and guests leading us in transformational mission and ministry. Annual Conference will look and feel a little different this year. Our Service of Commissioning and Ordination will be held at First UMC Corpus Christi on Friday, June 13 at 6:30pm. Bishop Harvey has asked clergy to bring/wear white robes/stoles for the Service of Remembrance and white or black robes and red stoles for Ordination.
Registration for Annual Conference and hotels will begin through the website on April 15, 2025. The Pre-Conference Report will be placed on the Annual Conference landing page by Sunday, May 11 for your reading and preparation.
Much of our information which you will want to access has been electronically placed on the Annual Conference landing page riotexas.org/ac2025.
May you have safe travel to Corpus Christi, celebrate the ministry that is occurring within our Rio Texas Conference churches and area, and gather with friends and collogues to worship, share our ministries and address in the grace of Jesus Christ the business of the Annual Conference.
I look forward to seeing you in Corpus Christi for the 11th session of Rio Texas Annual Conference.
Blessings,
Rev. Kimberly L Burke
Conference Secretary
Hotel Reservations in the Rio Texas Omni room block for Omni Corpus Christi can be made at this link: https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/corpus-christi/meetings/umc-2025-rio-texas-annual-conference-06092025
The Rio Texas room rate is $159 per night.
Rooms in the block are available Tuesday, June 10 through Saturday, June 14. Check out for Saturday, June 14 is at 11:00 AM.
Reservations can be made in this block until the rooms are sold out or until May 9, whichever is first.
Check-in is at 4:00 PM. Check-out is at 11:00 AM.
Childcare Registration
Are you bringing your kids to Annual Conference? Come let them play & create and connect with both friends old & new! We will be offering childcare for infants through children entering 5th grade during the Rio Texas Annual conference for those who need or want it. You can choose whether you want your child(ren) to join the fun Thursday, Friday, & Saturday or if you just need it for one or two of the days. All care will be hosted at Corpus Christi First UMC located at 900 South Shoreline Blvd., just 1.5 miles from the American Bank Center. Childcare Registration Deadline is Wednesday, June 4.
Join us as we celebrate 30 years of tremendous partnership and impact between these three organizations—rooted in faith and connection to the Rio Texas Conference—that also serve our congregations and communities: Methodist Healthcare Ministries, HCA Healthcare and Methodist Healthcare System.
The Mission Breakfast features guest presenter & storyteller: Michael Adam Beck. He is Director of the Fresh Expressions House of Studies at United Theological Seminary, Director of Fresh Expressions for the Florida Conference, and Director of Fresh Expressions for the United Methodist Church. Michael serves as co-pastor of Wildwood UMC and St. Mark’s UMC, Ocala with his wife Jill, where they house a faith-based inpatient treatment center (House of Hope), and a shelter for those experiencing homelessness (Open Arms Village). These are traditional congregations and a network of fresh expressions that gather in tattoo parlors, dog parks, salons, running tracks, community centers, burrito joints, EV charging stations, and digital spaces. Michael earned a Doctorate in Semiotics and Future Studies at Portland Seminary with his mentor Leonard Sweet. He is the author of nine books widely utilized in the missional church movement. Learn more about Michael here.
This complimentary breakfast is made possible through the generous support of Methodist Healthcare Ministries, Inc. of South Texas. The Transforming Communities Vision Team is grateful for MHM’s partnership and steadfast commitment to seeking the wellbeing of communities.
Meeting Room and Catering Request
Plans for the 2025 Rio Texas Annual Conference at the Corpus Christi American Bank Center June 12 - 14 (Wednesday through Saturday) are well underway. We look forward to this as a time of renewal and fellowship as we gather to worship God, tend to Conference business, and support one another in ministry. If you are no longer the contact and your organization is interested in reserving a room, please forward this email to the appropriate contact.
Ministry Meeting Room Request
Ministry Groups requesting a meeting room, breakfast, luncheon, or dinner are required to submit a room request form. Please click on the MEETING REQUEST AND CATERING FORM link at the bottom of the page to complete the form. Submitting the form will help prevent double booking and ensure that your room is set up as requested. We have a limited number of rooms available. All requests will be filled out on a first-come-first-serve basis. Please keep in mind that there are more meetings occurring this year during the Annual Conference than in previous years so rooms will be reserved quickly.
Catering Request
For those of you requiring catering, please click on the CATERING MENU link below for the American Bank Center’s Oakview Catering Menu. You will need to contact the Catering Sales Manager, Mengdi Liu with the room I have assigned, your menu selections and arrange payment. The menu selection deadline will be May 5, 2025, and the final guest count deadline will be by noon on May 30, 2025. The order minimum will be 25 for all meals. After the 7-business day deadline, there will be an additional 25% rush production fee added on for guest count changes. As a city owned building, there is unfortunately no outside food or beverage to be brought into the building at any time. You can email Mengdi.Liu@oakviewgroup.com or call O: 361-826-4739 C: 361-929-8005.
Please keep in mind that because of the cost of resetting a room, we may have to use a slightly altered setup however, we will try to keep it as close to your needs as possible.
The deadline for scheduling a room is April 18th.
If you have any questions, contact George Ballard at (210) 408-4529 or email at georgeb@riotexas.org or Abel Vega at (210) 408-4514 or email at avega@riotexas.org .
Greetings,
This is an invitation to specific Ministry Groups seeking display space at this year’s 2025 Annual Conference. This year, our space for the Ministry Fair will be very limited due to the Ministry Fair is not being held in Exhibit Hall A, like it has in the past. Therefore, only our Conference embedded ministries and direct ministry relationship ministries will be extended an invitation to have a Ministry Booth this year. Space is limited so once all the spaces are reserved there will be no other space that can be provided.
Our plans for our gathering at Annual Conference at the American Bank Center (ABC) in Corpus Christi, Wednesday through Saturday, June 11th- 14th, 2025, are well under way. We are all hoping this will be a time of renewal for each of us as we gather to take care of the Conference business and support each other in ministry.
This year at the Annual Conference we are again offering Ministry Groups both in-person display space, as well as limited Virtual booth space through the Whova app.
Ministry Groups wishing to have a display space at the Annual Conference must pre-register for that space. Please go to the link below to see guideline information and application to submit in order to reserve a space.
For Ministry Groups interested in reserving a Virtual Booth space go to the link shown below for additional information and complete the form to request a virtual booth.
We are looking forward to seeing you at Annual Conference, and if we can help you in any way, please feel free to contact George Ballard at the Conference office at (210) 408-4529 or you may email him at georgeb@riotexas.org.