UMC Bishop appoints new pastor to Texas megachurch that voted to disaffiliate

A bishop has appointed a new lead pastor for a Texas megachurch that voted to leave the United Methodist Church, though the breakaway congregation still occupies the disputed property and plans to continue recognizing its current senior minister. 

Horizon Texas Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. announced Thursday that he had appointed the Rev. Andy Lewis to serve as pastor of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas and reappointed the Rev. Matt Tuggle, the church’s current senior minister, “to other duties.”

Now calling itself Highland Park Methodist Church, the congregation voted overwhelmingly to leave the UMC earlier this week amid a legal fight with the UMC’s Horizon Texas Conference over changes the congregation made to its governing documents in 2022.

“Andy is an ordained elder who knows our church and our polity deeply,” Saenz, who also serves as president of the UMC Council of Bishops, said. “As assistant to the bishop, first in the North Texas Conference and now in the Horizon Texas Conference, he has worked alongside me to help guide our conference, including bringing three conferences together into one.

“He was the founding pastor of a church plant in McKinney, which cared for families displaced by Hurricane Katrina, and he later served as senior pastor of Holy Covenant UMC in Carrollton and First UMC Lewisville.”

Saenz rejected the congregation’s vote held Sunday and Monday as illegitimate, but said Lewis and Highland Park members who remain loyal to the UMC will worship elsewhere for now.

“As we navigate the ongoing court proceedings and questions surrounding Highland Park’s governance and property, we will gather for worship at University Park United Methodist Church,” the bishop said.

“Out of respect for everyone involved, and to avoid unnecessary conflict while these matters are resolved, we will worship there temporarily as we continue caring for one another and moving forward together.”

University Park United Methodist Church, an LGBT-affirming UMC congregation, has invited Highland Park members to worship there with Lewis on Nov. 1.

The Christian Post reached out to Highland Park Methodist Church for comment. This article will be updated if a response is received.

Highland Park's Church Council called the bishop's decision a "retaliatory move" and said it plans to continue with its current pastoral leadership. 

“The bishop has said he will listen to our congregation, and our congregation has spoken loud and clear,” the council said in a statement to KERA. “The bishop’s declaration changes nothing for us. This Sunday, we will worship as usual with our clergy, including our Senior Minister, Rev. Matt Tuggle at the pulpit — at our Church on the corner of Mockingbird and Hillcrest.”

Founded in 1916 as University Church, Highland Park has been one of the largest congregations in the UMC. Former President George W. Bush periodically attends services there.

According to UMData, the denomination’s online statistics database, HPUMC had about 15,000 members as of 2024, with average weekly worship attendance of more than 4,000 and an income of more than $22 million.

In August, the Horizon Texas Conference sued HPUMC in Dallas County District Court, claiming the church “appears to be attempting to unilaterally sever” its ties to the UMC.

The suit said Highland Park leaders filed a restated certificate of formation in November 2022. That document is an updated version of the church’s founding corporate charter under Texas law.

The complaint alleged that Highland Park “adopted amended bylaws” that eliminated all references to the UMC. It said the new bylaws also removed “the rights of HP Church members to participate in any matter ‘affecting or involving the Church’” and “the members’ right to participate in determining the denomination of HP Church, including selection of the Church Council, which would be chosen only by itself and answerable only to itself.”

In an Aug. 26 video message to Highland Park members, Saenz said he was “grieved” by the situation and that the lawsuit had to be filed.

“None of us owns Highland Park United Methodist Church,” Saenz said. “Jesus Christ is the head of the church. Not the bishop, not the senior pastor, not the church council.”

In September, Highland Park filed a formal response and counterclaim, arguing that the 2022 changes were valid under Texas law and asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit.

Church leaders also argued that the congregation has continued to participate fully in the UMC since the changes, including paying its annual financial contributions to the conference even after more than 7,000 churches left the mainline denomination in 2023 amid a schism over LGBT issues. 

Earlier this month, Highland Park leaders held a town hall meeting about possibly leaving the UMC. About 800 people attended. At the town hall, several Church Council members claimed conference leaders had mistreated the church’s pastors and staff solely because the church lawfully amended its bylaws.

In a statement issued before the town hall, Tuggle and two former senior ministers accused the conference of turning an "about-face that would disrupt 27 years of thriving." 

"For 27 years, our Church has thrived under our governance structure and remained faithful to the denomination. Our now much-maligned Church Council structure was ratified in 1998, with the knowledge of the conference," the statement reads. "Our 2022 bylaws, far from disassociating us with the UMC, kept us within the denomination when more than 7,600 United Methodist churches left. Despite knowing about these changes since January 2023 and helping enact them (a fact well documented), the conference did not raise concerns until October 2025."

"The governance decisions made in 1998 and 2022 were right then, and we believe strongly it is right to stand by them now," the HPUMC statement adds. 

On Oct. 15, the Church Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a churchwide vote and recommending that members approve leaving.

On Monday, Highland Park announced the vote results. Church leaders said 90.35% of the 4,775 votes cast favored leaving the denomination.

“Beginning this Sunday, we will worship as Highland Park Methodist Church, with the commitment to protect the mission, ministry, and future of our Church while still honoring our history and past,” the Highland Park Church Council said in its announcement.

“In the coming weeks, we will begin working to operationalize the changes required by this separation, with a goal to have that work completed by December 1, 2026.”