Seeking fellowship and a look at the church’s future, more than 1,000 Methodists will bring a four-day convention to Waco that will have a spiritual and economic impact.

The annual meeting, which Waco last hosted in 2006, already is sending ripples across the lodging industry.

Construction workers continue renovations inside the Waco Convention Center.
Duane A. Laverty / Waco Tribune-Herald

“The hotel is going to be full, and most of our guests are the Methodists,” said Dennis Havranek, general manager of the 195-room Waco Hilton downtown.

Havranek said a convention that fills the Hilton would give the hotel a push toward the busy vacation season.

“The downturn in the economy certainly has affected the hospitality industry,” Havranek said. “It looks like we’re starting to bounce back, and it’s always good to be full.”

Ninfa’s manager Diane Nowlain said she’s glad to hear the Methodists are coming.

“Whenever anyone holds a good-sized convention here, it affects our business positively,” Nowlain said, adding she will open an upstairs banquet room and make sure she has plenty of servers and kitchen staffers on the clock.

Facility renovation

The gathering between Sunday and Wednesday nearly will fill available space in the Waco Convention Center, where a $17 million renovation should wind down by September.

“This is a return client, and a wonderful client,” said Liz Taylor, director of the Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau.

She’s happy to have the group back, but had hoped work on the convention center would have been finished.

“They usually alternate their convention between Waco and Fort Worth. We told them about the renovation, and they said that would be fine, they would make adjustments to miss it completely,” Taylor said. “Now they’re not missing it, but we hope we’ve met all their needs and concerns.”

The Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church will bring to Waco pastors, associate pastors and lay delegates from about 350 churches around Central Texas.

Waco’s First United Methodist Church will serve as official host for the event.

“It gets very involved putting on something like this, but it is worth it,” said Steve Ramsdell, pastor of the Waco church. “A lot of these churches are small, and this is an opportunity to bless them.”

Featured speaker this year is the Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest United Methodist church in the United States. The Church of the Resurrection UMC in Leawood, Kan., has 17,000 members.

He will deliver a message Sunday night at Waco’s First United Methodist Church titled “Leading Beyond the Walls: Lessons in Leadership, Worship and Evangelism.”

Hamilton also will speak during two general sessions at the Waco Convention Center. His topics will include ideas for preaching and worship, and strategies for reaching the un-churched.

Church business

Each day at the convention center attendees will meet to worship and conduct church business. Members hear ministry reports; approve programs and budgets; and will ordain clergy as deacons and elders.

This year, members also will vote on Central Texas delegates to send to Tampa, Fla., next year for the General Conference, which is held every four years, communications director Vance Morton said.

Ramsdell said some church representatives live close enough to drive to the convention each day. But a sizable number will rent rooms in Waco for the duration. The Central Texas conference area stretches south to Round Rock, north beyond Fort Worth, west to Ballinger and east to Kerens near Corsicana.

Historically, the United Methodists create 965 room nights for lodging establishments citywide. That figure represents the number of rooms occupied multiplied by the number of nights the convention lasts.

“We will be full starting on Sunday,” said Jennifer Scott, general manager of the 153-room Courtyard by Marriott downtown. “This is going to be a very good piece of business for the city.”

City and Methodist officials predict as many as 1,200 people will attend the conference. The convention and visitors bureau estimates the conference will have an economic impact of nearly $525,000.

The conference first met in Waco in 1974, and has been back 18 times, including this year.

mcopeland@wacotrib.com

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