In 2022, HPUMC chose to remain part of our connectional family, during a period when more than 7,600 churches ultimately left the United Methodist Church. We did not want to leave our denomination, and we had no dispute with the conference. During this period, there was significant uncertainty within the denomination, including ongoing legal disputes involving UMC-related institutions such as our historic partner and neighbor, SMU. We needed to make sure that our congregation was legally protected, even as we maintained our religious and ecclesiastical connections.

That meant making sure that our corporate bylaws and articles were in line with the latest guidance from the Texas Supreme Court. In 2020, the Texas Supreme Court made clear that courts would not accept religious terms or doctrinal rules embedded in corporate documents—Churches that wished to protect their legal rights needed to make sure their corporate papers were corporate, not religious. That’s what the courts mean when they say use “neutral principles” of law.

That's what we did. And as the resolution we passed at the time made clear, it was not because we wanted to leave, but because we saw the litigation and discord around us. We needed to know—if litigation or other troubles ever reached our doorstep—we had the corporate papers in place that would stand the test of time and protect our congregation's ability to thrive, no matter what happened in the future to our conference, or denomination in 5, 10, or 50 years.

In making these changes, we followed the corporate governance and procedures laid out in our original 1998/1999 corporate documents to the tee—governance explicitly blessed and adopted under the supervision of the denomination. For decades, our congregation has operated with the conference's knowledge under a lay-led Church Council model. This model has enabled our congregation to be governed and led effectively while maintaining its ministry and ecclesiastical beliefs.

These administrative updates followed standard non-profit practices, were guided by corporate counsel, and fit within the long-standing framework in which local governance is handled by our elected lay-leaders, as it always has been.

Historically, we have not submitted bylaw updates to the conference because the conference has never asked or required us to do so. Local bylaw updates have not required conference approval or inclusion on the District Superintendent's annual Charge Conference agenda. Still, conference leadership was directly informed when we updated our corporate name in 2022.

We did not make a larger announcement because in our view, nothing had changed. The sign on the door remained the same, as did our daily and vibrant participation within the conference and denomination for years to follow. We had no intent to leave the denomination and continued to participate fully in the conference in the years since.

October 2025 was the first time the conference raised concerns about our governance structure. We responded to every request from the conference for conversation, resulting in three meetings over five months.

In late July and early August, with no one from the conference having spoken to HPUMC leadership about the bylaws since March, the conference filed a formal complaint against our senior minister, the first step in the denomination’s internal judicial process; filed a lawsuit against our Church, without any warning or reasonable attempt at compromise; and launched a well-planned proactive PR campaign against our Church. Indeed, on August 6, we asked the bishop to provide us with any proposed changes to the Church’s governing documents that he would like to see to address his concerns; he asked us to return on August 10 but filed the lawsuit just hours before that meeting. He then held that meeting without mentioning the lawsuit.

The notification sent to Rev. Tuggle that a formal complaint had been filed against him was the first time Bishop Saenz reached out to Rev. Tuggle since Rev. Tuggle became our senior minister on February 2.

Since the suit was filed, we have become aware of many other lawsuits between the UMC and other local churches.

As stated the week the lawsuit was filed, we are committed to responding with truth, transparency, and integrity. Those three things are our legal strategy, our communication strategy, and our strategy to address the UMC process facing our senior minister.