Advocate Highlights Texan Leadership at 1948 General Conference June, 1948 When the Methodist Church was formed by the merger of the Methodist Epsicopsl Church, Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Methodist Protestant Church, at least some of the MECS members feared that they would be junior partners in the new denomination. As the name suggests, MECS membership was concentrated in the southern states and in the states to which southerners had migrated such as California. The MEC, on the other hand, was a truly national church and therefore brought more membrers into the Methodist Church in 1939. The Methodist Protestant Church had far fewer members than either the MEC or MECS. Negotiations leading to the merger bent over backwards to accommodate the MECS, most notably in creating the Central Jurisdiction so that the MECS could continue its policy of racial discrimination. Other concessions to the South concerned the perpetuation of MECS institutions such as the Publishing House in Nashville. Ten years after the merger it was obvious that MECS fears were not justified. Former members of the MECS excercised considerable power in the MC sunukar ti the way Southern states exercised disproportional power in the U. S. Senate. Southern states often elected young men to the Senate and continuing reelecting them until they had seniority to assume committee chairmanships. In those powerful committee chairs, they could block legislation concerning civil rights and also direct federal funds to the southern states. In the Methodist Church bishops were often elected at a young age and accumulated seniority in church bodies. The role of the bishop in the MECS was more authoritarian than in the MEC so after the merger, the former MECS bishops were used exercising authority. In addition to political power based on seniority Texas also gained political power as it exploited its petrochemical resources, and had money ---which translates into political power. Money also counts for influence in the Methodist Church. After the MC General Conference of 1948 the Advocate summarized the Texans who exercised influence out of proportion to our membership in the denomination. Two University Presidents, J. N. R. Score of Southestern and Umphrey Lee of SMU chaired powerfule committee. Score chaired the Committee on Ministry and also a super-committee of committee chairs. Lee chaired the Sifting Committee. That was the committee that decided which resolutions and business items could make it to the conference floor for debate and vote. Hubert Johnson of the Methodist Home in Waco was chair of the Committee on Hospitals and Homes, Ray Nichols of Vernon was Chair of the Committee on Lay Activities. Dawson Bryan of St. Paul’s Hoston was Chair of Membership and Evangelism. Named to the Fedeal Council of Churches of Christ in America were Bishops Frank and Angie Smith, Edmund Heinsohn, and both Mrs. W. W. Fondren of Houston and Mrs. J. J. Perkiins of Wichita Falls—both of whom were reknown for their philanthropy based on petroleum wealth. Like most large deliberative bodies, most of the work of General Confernce is done in Committees and 1948 showed that Texans would shape much of the future of the Methodist Church.