For the most part, the three Episcopal Church officers were very complimentary to the press.

"Thank you for being here and for what you do," the Presiding Bishop said starting off the press conference after "losing" the coin toss. "Part of the work of communicators is not just general communication but communicating good news and most importantly the Good News of Jesus Christ."

"I look forward of interacting with all of you," President Jennings added. "I'm always interested to read how you are viewing us through your lens because it helps up become more aware of who we are and how we are presenting ourselves to the world."

"I'd like to say thank you to all of you members of the press during a time when media is in transition every second, not just every day or every year," Canon Barlow fleshed out. "You're helping us as the church to understand more and more contemporary ways of proclaiming who we are and to authentically proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ."

"This (General Convention) is not just a church meeting, this is not an ordinary convention, this is not a secular gathering," Bishop Curry explained. "We gather as the People of God, the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. The hear God's Word, to listen to the Spirit, to be together and follow what Jesus meant when He said, 'Whenever two or three are gathered together in my Name, there I am in the midst of them.'"

The Presiding Bishop continued: "I can assure you, there are at least two or three Episcopalians gathering together in the Name of Jesus, and that means He is here, and if He is here, then this is a holy convocation."

There are way more than two or three gathering in Austin for the 79th General Convention. As many as 10,000 convention volunteers and visitors are expected to come and go throughout the 10-day event, including 153 bishops, 843 deputies, 100 staffers from Episcopal Church headquarters in New York, 150 convention exhibitors and the various media reporters.

"Almost everyone who is here is here as a volunteer," explained Canon Barlow. "We are expecting over the course of the two weeks of activities related to the General Convention for there to be around ten thousand people coming in various ways to General Convention."

He said it would be impossible for the church to put on a hospitable and welcoming convention without the help of thousands to help make it happen.

He called General Convention "God's work in this particular venue."

President Jennings said that she was grateful for the presence of media and that journalists were critical in helping get The Episcopal Church's message out while bringing transparency to General Conventions deliberations and work.

"Your presence and role is critical for what we are doing," she said calling the journalist's work "a ministry of communications."

She also focused on the social issues that General Convention will be tackling including the "crisis of migrants seeking asylum at the border."

Sunday (July 8) General Convention goes on a road trip. Presiding Bishop Curry is slated to hold a prayer service at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, about 35 miles northeast of Austin. The prayer service is being organized by St. James Episcopal Church in Taylor in conjunction with General Convention meeting in Austin.

The word is out that Trinity Church-Wall Street has chartered more than 10 tour buses to bring parishioners to the Texas prayer service. In addition to the Presiding Bishop's presence, the Diocese of Texas' assistant Bishop, Hector Monterroso, and President Jennings are scheduled to speak..

In 2009, when General Convention was meeting in Anaheim, participants picketed in solidarity with Disneyland's low-end service workers, demanding higher wages. At the 2015 General Convention, 60 Episcopal bishops, dressed in their bright red and white episcopal finery, marched protesting gun violence.

The HOD President called the road trip to the Taylor detention center a "public witness of The Episcopal Church."

She also explained that there would be resolutions about the common life of The Episcopal Church, including how prayer "can be every more inclusive of all the people of God."

There is a resolution (A016) to add "Creation Care Language" to the Baptismal covenant; there are two resolutions (A068 & A069) to begin the process which leads to the comprehensive revision of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer; there is a resolution (A085) to change the wording of the marriage covenant to accommodate same-sex marriage and insert new marriage liturgies to the prayer book and there are two resolutions (C031 & D036) to minimize "gendered" language in the BCP and to add inclusive and expansive language.

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline