The Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church is the regional body of congregations and ministries in East Texas, from Texarkana west to approximately Cedar Creek Lake in the north, Thorndale in the west, and Bay City in the southwest and down to the Gulf Coast and back east to the Louisiana border.
The Texas Annual Conference contains roughly 598 churches, 8 Wesley Foundations, 1 higher education institution and many other ministries and outreaches.
McMahan Chapel, the oldest Protestant church in Texas and one of the oldest Protestant congregations west of the Mississippi River, is located in the Eastern District and is celebrated each year with an annual Conference wide worship service and gathering, McMahon Chapel Day .
Sumner Bacon, the first Presbyterian missionary to Texas, is buried in the nearby Chapel Hill United Methodist Church cemetery.
The southern and eastern districts of the Annual Conference were deeply affected by the damage of Hurricane Ike in the Fall of 2008, with several coastal congregations being wiped out completely[4].