Meet Our New Bishop
/by Rev. Eric Folkerth
Yesterday Pastor Kay and I attended our annual “Covenant Day” for clergy in the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. It was somewhat unique in two ways:
1. We met with clergy from the Central Texas Conference.
2. We met with our new Bishop, Ruben Saenz Jr.
Both were exciting developments.
Last week I shared with you an update about the United Methodist Church and our attempt to “go high” in the midst of sometimes pitiful and sad divisiveness by those leaving for the “Global Methodist Church.”
Yesterday’s clergy “Covenant Day” was filled with a new energy and excitement from those of us who remain United Methodist and dream of our future, more inclusive, Church.
Given the geographic size of our two annual conferences and the numbers of disaffiliations by some churches, it’s reasonable to assume that down the road “North Texas” and “Central Texas” Conferences will be united in one single unit.
“Central Texas Conference” is based in Fort Worth.
Our Annual Conference “North Texas” is based in Dallas.
A move toward this has already happened, in that Bishop Saenz will serve as Bishop of both areas. For now, there are still two conference buildings and two conference staffs. But it’s reasonable to assume an actual merger will likely happen in a few years.
While that seems like a challenging task and a lot of ground to cover, it’s actually happened before. As recently as the late 1980s, both areas were served by a common bishop. And, even as a combined group, the geographic area is still on par with other conferences in Texas. You can see the outline of those Annual Conferences HERE.
I invite you to watch this welcome video from Bishop Saenz. I have now only met him twice, but I am encouraged by my personal interactions with him and very encouraged by what others are saying about him.
Of note for us here in North Texas is that as a young pastor, Bishop Saenz served churches in Oak Cliff and knows our community well.
Here’s his full bio:
Ruben Saenz Jr. is a native of south Texas and lifelong United Methodist. In 2016, he was elected bishop by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference and assigned to the Great Plains Conference, based in Topeka, Kansas. On Jan. 1, 2022, he also assumed the episcopal leadership duties for the Central Texas Conference.
In his role as episcopal leader, Bishop Saenz has been a steadying and driving force for the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world during the turbulent times of emerging from COVID and churches discerning to disaffiliate from The UMC.
Bishop Saenz is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, and a former high school teacher, high school football coach and businessperson. He earned his master’s of divinity and doctorate of ministry degrees from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.
He served congregations in East Dallas, Oak Cliff Dallas, El Paso and Edinburg, Texas. El Buen Pastor (The Good Shepherd) in Edinburg was the largest Hispanic-American UMC in the country during his 10-year pastoral tenure. As a pastor, he focused his ministry on intentional spiritual practice and formation, developing a lay apostolate and equipping people with tools and encouragement to move out of generational poverty.
In 2010, he was appointed to serve as the Southwest Texas director of congregational and new church development, and he helped start 11 new churches before being appointed to director of conference connectional ministries and executive director of the Rio Texas Conference’s Mission Vitality Center in January 2015. In that role, he oversaw the conference’s missional strategies and objectives for congregational vitality, starting new churches, clergy and lay leadership vitality, uniting people and transforming communities.
He enjoys drawing and painting landscapes with various mediums, endurance cycling and high-intensity interval training, fishing and golfing, aromatic and flavorful cups of coffee from different regions of the world, visiting new places, meeting new people and watching NFL football. He has a growing interest in writing for publication, Meso/South American civilizations, Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and faith that does justice.
Bishop Saenz is married to Mayé. They have four adult children, all active in the life of The United Methodist Church. Two of their sons, Aaron and Ruben III, serve as pastors of growing congregations in the Rio Texas Conference. He and Mayé have nine grandchildren.