* Please note all times are tentative and could change.

Thursday May 8, 2025

• 8:30am: Ordinand Registration begins
• 9:00am
  • Registration Opens for all attendees
  • Ordinand meeting with Bishop Gregory
• 10:30am
  • Clergy Session
  • Laity Session
• 11:30am: Lunch
• 1:30pm: Opening Worship with Ms. Cara Nicklas, GMC Connectional Council
• 3:15pm: Plenary I
• 5:00pm: Dinner
• 7:00pm: Plenary II
• 8:00pm: Closing Worship with Rev. Guillem Correa, Spain Conference Superintendent

Friday May 9, 2025

• 8:00am: Registration Opens
• 8:30am:
  • Bible Study
  • Prayer Meeting
• 9:30am: Opening Worship with Rev. Steven Taylor, Northeast Conference Superintendent
• 10:30am: Plenary III
• 12:00pm: Lunch
• 1:30pm: Plenary IV
• 3:15pm: Breakout Sessions
  • More information to come
• 5:00pm: Dinner
• 7:00pm: Worship with Rev. Terry Teykl
• 8:45pm: Ordination Rehearsal

Saturday May 10, 2025

• 7:30am: Ordinands arrive and robe
• 7:45am: Ordination Picture
• 8:30am: All other clergy arrive and robe
• 9:00am: Ordination Service with Bishop Leah Hidde-Gregory
• 12:00pm: Annual Conference Closes.

Cara Nicklas is a life-long Methodist who was born in Fort Eustis, Virginia, and raised in Oologah, a small town in northeast Oklahoma.  After graduating with her bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma and her juris doctorate degree from Oklahoma City University in 1990, Cara began the practice of law, got married to Tim, and had two sons, Connor and Evan.  Connor and his wife, Michelle, have blessed “Grannie” with a granddaughter, Isla, and another granddaughter due in June. Currently, Cara is a partner in the law firm, McAlister, McAlister & Nicklas PLLC, in Edmond, Oklahoma.  She practices in the area of business and trust litigation, as well as estate planning, probates and guardianships.  She is blessed to be partners with believers who support and encourage her expanded work within the church.  

Cara and her husband are members of North OKC Methodist Church, a new church formed in late 2023.   Cara teaches the youth in her church, serves as chair of the Church Council, plays the piano and plans worship each Sunday.  Church planting is hard! 

Cara currently serves on the Connectional Council after serving as chair of the Transitional Leadership Council.  Cara was a delegate to the convening General Conference of the GM Church, a much more fulfilling experience than her service as a General Conference delegate in the UMC.  

Cara is involved in the Congo Initiative’s efforts to promote the rule of law in Congo. She travels to Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo, (when Ebola, Covid-19, and violence is contained) to participate in a Justice Conference involving Christian lawyers in Eastern Congo who seek to elevate justice in the context of a broken system. 

Bio Coming

Rev. Steven Taylor serves as the President Pro Tem of the Northeast Provisional Annual Conference. Steve has been a follower of Jesus his whole life, but felt Gods call on his life when he was 12 and again at age 28. He’s been a Methodist pastor for over 20 years, ordained as an elder in 2011. In March 2020, Steve became a founding member of the GMC’s Transitional Leadership Council, helping to shape and steer the new world-wide Methodist denomination.

Steve grew up in Lancaster, NY and was baptized, confirmed, and heard his call to ministry through the Methodist Church and Christian camping. Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from SUNY ESF and a Master of Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary. Prior to answering the call to pastoral ministry, Steve worked for 10 years at an international consulting firm as a professional environmental engineer. He has served on The Confessing Movement Board of Directors, the regional Wesleyan Covenant Association board, and multiple leadership teams. Steve and his wife, Stacy, have two grown and married children, three grandchildren and one due in July 2025, and now reside in Syracuse, New York. Steve enjoys flying his drone, disc golfing, hiking, archery hunting, motorcycle riding, and spending lots of time with family.

Terry Teykl’s conversion experience was a little unusual. In March of 1967 his friends had a stillborn baby and after that crisis he made a bargain with God, if his baby due in September was born healthy, he would go to church.  September 1, 1967, his wife delivered a healthy baby boy, so he decided he should keep his part of the bargain and get to know God better. He found a quiet place to pray, sitting in their backyard on top of the doghouse. While sitting atop that doghouse he felt a call to preach. This call seemed exciting but also caused consternation because he had no church experience and had never stood in front of a group of people to pray, much less preach. Therefore, a desperation was born in him to begin this journey with prayer as his first response at every point. 

While pastoring his first small country church, he attended Sam Houston State University where miraculously he graduated with highest honors.  He then attended Perkins School of Theology at SMU and earned a Master’s in Theology. Two years later, his desperation only increased when his Bishop asked him to start a new church with only 8 attendees and a large debt. God told him, “Don’t look for people, look for Me and people will find you.” In a short time, the church grew to several hundred members and retired from that church, there were over 1200 in attendance.  This experience led him to write the book, The Presence Based Church, as opposed to the consumer-based church. Dr. Teykl has authored several books on prayer and his last book sums it all up: Praying in Jesus Name for 21 Centuries, a History of Prayer in the Christian movement. These and other resources can be found at www.prayerpointpress.com. He pastored for 28 years and during that time he earned a Doctor of Ministry from Oral Roberts University.  In 1996, he began to travel full time teaching prayer-evangelism.  It has been his privilege to help start prayer ministries in churches of all denominations all over the world.  His greatest achievement was starting a prayer movement he calls Praying The Lord’s Prayer at Noon which is now worldwide.

He has been married to his wife, Kay, for 59 years. They have four children, 11 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.  He now serves as a prayer consultant across denominations. And nothing has changed, he is still as desperate for God now as when he came off that doghouse!

Bishop Leah Hidde-Gregory serves as the Conference Superintendent of the MidTexas Conference while serving as an episcopal leader and General Superintendent for the denomination.    During her ministry, she served as a laywoman in Oklahoma, a North and Central Texas pastor,  a district superintendent, and a new church development director. She is a founding leader of the MidTexas Conference.  For four years, she sat on the Transitional Leadership Council for the Global Methodist, serving as the chair for a season. 

Bishop Gregory serves as the episcopal leader for the Bulgaria, Northeast, and South Georgia Annual Conferences and the now-forming conference in Mexico.

She has a heart and passion for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. Bishop Gregory has spent much of her ministry in church revitalization, revival, and church growth.  She is excited about the Global Methodist Church and the orthodox Wesleyan witness being awakened within our congregations.  

She holds a Doctorate in Ministry in Church Leadership Excellence from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.; a Masters of Divinity from Perkins School of Theology; and a Bachelors in Psychology and Sociology from Texas A&M Commerce. She is married to the love of her life, Stan.  Their family includes daughter Maddie and her husband Aaron, daughter Caroline and husband Zach, and their Will, who is still a senior in high school.