The 2026 TIIMSA Gathering will be a six-hour Zoom Meeting, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Central Standard Time), on Thursday, November 12. Adjust to your Time Zone.
REGISTRATION NOW CLOSED
Check back for post-Gathering info!
After registering for the TIIMSA Gathering, within a week you will receive the book by Lovett H. Weems Jr., AN AURA OF HOPE, United Methodism’s Next Chapter in the United States. Reading this book before the event will enrich your participation with Rev. Dr. Weems’ presentation and the panel discussion. Your registration also includes: access to video recordings after the event (even if you miss attending due to an emergency), one year of TIIMSA Membership, and a Certificate of Continuing Education (if requested).
All are welcome who have an interest in Interim Ministry and the NEW United Methodist VISION for local churches:
Love Boldly, Serve Joyfully,
and Lead Courageously!
The theme of the day-long virtual interactive presentation, “Dreaming and Discerning for Intentional Interim Ministry,” will engage attendees in dreaming/visioning where Christ is leading us and discerning the best path forward, especially for transitional specialists.
Along with the two keynoters, there will be a panel discussion about the Council of Bishops’ October UMC Leadership Gathering in Canada, a segment on Resources and Tools for Ministry, and time for your questions and discussion. Don’t miss this opportunity to spend one day with transitional specialists who are preparing for the coming changes in our churches, neighborhoods, and the world!
Featuring renown Keynote Speakers:
Rev. Dr. Lovett H. Weems Jr. is the Distinguished Professor of Church Leadership and Senior Consultant of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C. He will explore the “next chapter” for the UMC. More about Dr. Weems…
Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, Presiding Bishop of the Texas and Rio Texas Annual Conferences of the UMC, will share the UMC vision of vibrant, growing congregations changing lives and reshaping futures for Jesus Christ that includes a strategy for the effective use of interims in her conferences. More about Bishop Harvey…
For specific questions about the event, contact Event Registrar, Rev. Bonnie Osteen, 409-392-7565 or tiims@txcumc.org.
MORE ABOUT THE 2026 Gathering:
Foundations for a Future with Hope
Dear Colleagues in Ministry,
If I were pressed to pick a favorite text from the scriptures, I would have to land on Jeremiah 29:1-14. Jeremiah’s words to Israel in exile are grounded in their reality: they have been led astray by false prophets and faithless kings, and they have been conquered by and become subjects of the king of Babylon. Those left in Israel and Judah and those taken into exile must cope with the aftermath of this catastrophe; in these verses, Jeremiah specifically tells the exiles to make a home for themselves in Babylon and to trust in God’s promises for their present and future wellbeing.
Our circumstances are not that of Israel in their time of exile, but in times of upheaval and deep change (particularly upheavals and changes that I did not initiate) I have found a deep well of hope, strength, purpose and comfort in Jeremiah’s words – build lives for yourselves and trust God with the present and the future. This counsel speaks of trusting partnership: We do our part, and trust God to do God’s part. That is our foundation for hope.
As our United Methodist Church continues to discern, plan and adapt to the rapid changes both in our denomination and in our culture, our TIIMSA Board of Directors has also been discerning, planning, and adapting. We have refined our Mission and Vision to clarify our purpose and primary work (see Welcome Page), and we recently approved, revised, and updated, TIIMSA Bylaws that you can read HERE.
Updating organizational bylaws doesn’t necessarily trigger enthusiasm, let alone a sense of urgency, for most of us. Like updating the vision and mission statements, the board understood updating the bylaws to be an essential part of laying solid groundwork for the future of TIIMSA. We wanted our bylaws to reflect current practice, offer flexibility for future work (without requiring accompanying continuous changes to the bylaws), and protect the integrity of the organization’s function, structure, board members and members. We sought legal counsel that has knowledge of United Methodism and our denominational structure, as well as expertise in assisting non-profit boards and in assuring organizations’ bylaws comply with Texas law (TIIMSA is incorporated in Texas). The final product is what you see through the link above.
This fall’s Gathering continues on this path of laying groundwork for the future.PLEASE JOIN US AT THE 2026 TIIMSA VIRTUAL GATHERING on November 12, from 10:00 a.m. CST to 4:00 p.m. CST (check your time zone). The title of our Gathering is “Dreaming and Discerning for Intentional Interim Ministry”. The event will feature two excellent presenters.
United Methodist Bishop Cynthia Fiero Harvey of the Texas Annual Conference will speak to the current strategic work of UMC leadership toward growing vibrant congregations that change lives and reshape futures for Jesus Christ that includes a strategy for the effective use of interims in her conference. Along with other UMC leaders, she will have recently participated the October Council of Bishops Leadership Gathering in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Undergirded by the actions of the last General Conference and the Council’s new vision for the UMC to “Love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously”, the COB’s October meeting will focus on envisioning how we can live this out and be faithful in our calling as disciples in The United Methodist Church. In addition to hearing from Bishop Harvey, our November TIIMSA Gathering will also include a panel who will share their firsthand experience of the Leadership Gathering and engage us in conversation about it.
We will also be blessed by the presence of the Rev. Dr. Lovett H. Weems Jr. of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary. He will engage us in conversation about the Calgary event and its implications for our future ministry and “where we go from here” in both TIIMSA ministry and “regular” ministry. All participants will receive a copy of Dr. Weems’ current book, AN AURA OF HOPE: United Methodism’s Next Chapter in the United States. Drawing on demographic research and Wesleyan heritage in his book, Dr. Weems will detail the one necessary thing for the church’s future: our ability to reach new disciples for Jesus Christ by focusing efforts where they’ll have the greatest impact among a younger, more diverse population.
Register today for the 2026 TIIMSA Virtual Gathering to share with your colleagues in strategizing, as God’s people building our lives together, for a foundation for hope in God’s promises of “present and future wellbeing”.
As TIIMS reflecting on the ministry landscape, you no doubt see what our board sees: both a tremendous need and a tremendous opportunity for the ministry skills and gifts of trained, transitional interim pastors. Every annual conference has more places of need for this ministry than there are trained interims to fill them.
To begin addressing this, our trainers are experimenting with new ways of providing training: the traditional in-person, three session training; online-only training; and new models that work with annual conference leadership to provide workshops and full trainings that are tailored to the specific conference’s situations and need. Now we need Ambassador Partners – pastors and congregants who know the value of this ministry who are willing to be advocates with their colleagues and conference leadership so we can meet this need and opportunity. We invite you to prayerfully consider how your gifts and witness can be part of this.
Finally, as the TIIMSA Board continues its work, we want to hear from you. What resourcing would help you in your ministry? What topics would you like future TIIMSA events to address? What formats would be most helpful to you as we plan events? How do you think TIIMSA can address both the needs and opportunities of this moment?
We all know that working through change with trust and faithfulness is the only way to the other side – to the new future God is laying before us.
This is the great adventure our faith presents to us – that new life is always in the process of being created. Thanks be to God!
With you on the journey,
Karen
Rev. Karen Nichols Dungan, Past President of the TIIMSA Board of Directors
and member of the 2026 TIIMSA Virtual Gathering Design Team
[EDITOR’S NOTE: As Karen mentioned above, the TIIMSA Board of Directors wants to “hear from you.” Please email your comments and questions to us at communications@tiimsa.org with the Subject Line: My Thoughts for the TIIMSA Board.]
MORE ABOUT TIIMSA:
Advocating for Intentional Interim Ministry
in The United Methodist Church
For more than 25 years, the Transitional Intentional Interim Ministry Specialists Association (TIIMSA) has served as the professional organization for training and credentialing United Methodist pastors for Intentional Interim Ministry. In fact, the excellent training in conflict management, family systems, and best practices insights can be applied to any local church appointment. TIIMSA also plans the annual national Gathering for further development and support of TIIMS through continuing education, learning new tools, inspiration, and fellowship. For all except the last four years, it was an in-person event at different locations rotating among the five jurisdictions of the United Methodist Church. However, after the pandemic, our events were virtual with these outstanding presenters:
- 2021 – “Courage for Change” with Dr. Gil Rendle
- 2022 – “Leading Through a LIMINAL SEASON” with Rev. Susan Beaumont
- 2023 – “Embracing the NEXT Normal” with Rebekah Simon-Peter, and last year in
- 2024 – “The Future of INTERIM MINISTRY in the UMC” with Dr. Lovett Weems
The 2025 TIIMSA Gathering was held for the first time since 2019 IN PERSON at the Horizon Texas Conference Ministry Center in Plano, Texas! The theme was “Preaching in a Time of Transition and Grief, A Study of the Gospel of Mark” led by Rev. Dr. O. Wesley Allen Jr., the Lois Craddock Professor of Homiletics at Southern Methodist University Perkins School of Theology. Out plan now is to alternate the in person and virtual gatherings. Our 2026 TIIMSA Gathering will be virtual via Zoom Meeting.
“The annual TIIMSA Gatherings have provided on-going continuing education that have informed and nurtured me as I embraced the dual role of ‘Pastor in Charge’ and ‘Transitional Intentional Interim Ministry Specialist.'”
– Rev. Rinya Frisbie (Oregon-Idaho Conference)
