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Rodel M. Acdal

Active

Philippines

Baguio Episcopal Area

Bishop Rodel M. Acdal is an active bishop of The United Methodist Church, elected on November 25, 2022, during the Special Session of the Philippines Central Conference held at Wesleyan University-Philippines. Prior to his election, Bishop Acdal served as the President of John Wesley College since 2009, Administrative Assistant and Property Development Adviser to the Bishop of the Baguio Episcopal Area, Chairperson of the Division of Ordained Ministry in the Philippines Central Conference, and member of the Board of Trustees of Philippine Christian University, Union Theological Seminary, and the Philippines Central Conference. ---------- Early Life Bishop Acdal was born in Sanchez Mira, Cayagan, Philippines, and raised by his parents, who are farmers. His ultimate dream during childhood was to become a soldier; however, due to his height, he was unable to pursue it. He may not have become a member of the armed forces, but he answered the call to become God’s soldier.   Education and Ordination Bishop Acdal holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, a Master of Divinity (MDiv) from Wesley Divinity School, Wesleyan University-Philippines, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Education major in Education Management from Cagayan State University, Tuguegarao City.  He also finished the Haggai Institute Advanced Leadership Training in Maui, Hawaii way back 2015.  He was ordained as an Elder on May 1999 by Bishop Daniel Arichea in the Northern Philippines Annual Conference.   Ordained Ministry He pastored several local churches in his earlier years of ministry. During his time as Administrative Pastor, there was a notable increase in membership and stability of finances in his church appointments. He ensured that manpower was maximized by actively involving lay people in various church work and activities. The physical structures of the churches where he was appointed were improved, and facilities and equipment were purchased. He was also tapped as a regular speaker and lecturer in different local churches, institutions, and community programs and activities. He actively participated in all church activities and held key positions in the district and conference level. He joined community programs and activities, including ecumenical gatherings and events, and was even elected as President of the Provincial Ecumenical Association of Cagayan. Additionally, Bishop Acdal was consistently elected as a principal delegate to the Central Conference right after his ordination and became a General Conference delegate in May 2008 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA.   Superintendency Bishop Acdal was appointed District Superintendent of the South Cagayan – Kalinga Apayao District, Northern Philippines Annual Conference from June 13, 2003, up to May 2010. As District Superintendent, he organized several local churches and worshipping congregations and initiated programs and major Income Generating Projects (IGPs) to boost the district's finances. With all these efforts, he was able to help increase the membership of the district. He encouraged, supported, and motivated workers and lay leaders to attend various seminars and conferences, thus, making them more effective and productive church workers. After his superintendency, Bishop Rodolfo A. Juan appointed him as President of John Wesley College, Tuguegarao City. Through his leadership, the Doctor of Ministry,  Master of Divinity Program, Distance Learning in Early Childhood Education in partnership with Harris Memorial College, Bachelor of Elementary Education major in Preschool Education, and Senior High School programs were offered. These new programs contributed to the remarkable increase in enrollment and financial stability of the school. To cope with the unprecedented rise in enrollment, buildings and facilities had been constructed.   Episcopacy His election as Bishop of our beloved Church is an honor packed with great responsibility.  Part of his advocacies, vision and mission is to endeavor to fully maximize the privileges, responsibilities and accountabilities of the Episcopal Office and do his very best to anchor his term on the following programs, using the initials of his name (RODEL): •            R - Resource Generation and Management •            O - Organization and Administration •            D - Discipleship Programs •            E - Equity and Standardization •            L - Leadership Development   With his fellow Bishops as his mentor and with God’s blessings and provisions, he believes that we can achieve greater heights in ministry and serve our God through the United Methodist Church. With his initials (RMA), he is known for his adage as a mantra in ministry – Ready to serve, Motivated by love, and Assertive to make a change.  The Church cannot afford to be divided.  Let’s stay UNITED. Together we serve!   Family Bishop Acdal is married to Ma. Rosario Acdal, who served as the Northern Philippines Annual Conference Treasurer. They are blessed with three children, namely: John Martin, who finished his college and Master’s degree in Business Administration and presently taking up Law at one of our church-owned universities, Philippine Christian University;  Trixia Son, a candidate for graduation leading to a Bachelor in Medical Laboratory Science, who also served as the NPAC UMYF President (2020-2022);  and, Luke Revo, a Junior High School student. Their children are very passionate in serving the church through their active participation in the different ministries of the Local, District, and the Annual Conference.  Joshua 24:15 has been their family verse, “As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

Christian Alsted

Active

Europe

Northern Europe and Eurasia Central Conference

Nordic-Baltic Episcopal Area

Bishop Christian Alsted was elected to the episcopacy by the Northern Europe Central Conference in February 2009 and assumed office on May 1, 2009. He currently serves as the Resident Bishop of the seven conferences in the Nordic and Baltic Episcopal area of the Northern Europe and Eurasia Central Conferences of The United Methodist Church.   Christian was born in Horsens, Denmark; He graduated from Horsens Gymnasium in 1980 and from UMC Theological Seminary in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1984. He received his Doctor of Ministry degree as a Beeson Pastor from Asbury Theological Seminary, Kentucky in 2002. Christian was ordained deacon in 1984 and ordained elder in 1986. He served as pastor in Esbjerg-Varde from 1984. In 1989 he was appointed to Copenhagen, Jerusalemskirken where he served in 20 years. During this time, he initiated the start of The International Methodist Church, Copenhagen and served as its pastor and later as supervising elder. Another church was planted in Solroed south of Copenhagen. In 2001 he became the District Superintendent of the Island district, where he served while he was the senior pastor in Jerusalemskirken.   His work includes: <ul> <li>Chair of the Connectional Table</li> <li>Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Baltic Theological Seminary</li> <li>Co-chair of the European Methodist Council</li> <li>Member of the Executive Committee of the Council of Bishops, the World Methodist Council, and the board of Funds for Mission in Europe</li> <li>Board of Directors of the General Board of Church and Society (2012-2020)</li> <li>United Methodist Publishing House (2009-2012)</li> <li>Study Committee on The World Wide Nature of the Church (2009-2012)</li> </ul>   Apart from being a bishop, which he enjoys immensely, Bishop Alsted takes delight in playing guitar, singing, listening to music, reading, and working out.  On June 10, 1984, Elisabeth Flinck and Christian Alsted were married. They have three children: Sara, Mathias and Caroline. They have three grandchildren: Karl, Josefine, and Julie. Elisabeth is a teacher at Islands Brygge public school. ---------------------------------------------------------- Education: <ul> <li>Diploma in Strategic Leadership, UCC University College Copenhagen 2016</li> <li>Certified Leader of Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) 2007</li> <li>Doctor of Ministry, Asbury Theological Seminary, KY, USA 1999-2002</li> <li>Beeson Pastor, Asbury Theological Seminary, KY, USA 1999-2000</li> <li>Ordained Elder 1986</li> <li>Advance study for ordained ministry 1984-86</li> <li>Ordained Deacon 1984</li> <li>Diploma from Överås, the UMC Theological Seminary in Gothenburg, Sweden 1984</li> <li>Graduated from the Horsens Gymnasium 1980</li> </ul>  Appointments in the United Methodist Church: <ul> <li>Jerusalemskirken, Copenhagen 1989-2009</li> <li>District Superintendent 2001-2007</li> <li>The International Methodist Church, Copenhagen 2004- (supervising elder)</li> <li>Svendborg (2002-2004)</li> <li>Esbjerg-Varde 1984-1989</li> </ul>  Served on Committees in the United Methodist Church: <ul> <li>Denmark Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church</li> <li>Chair of Annual Conference Council UMC 2008-2009</li> <li>Annual Conference Council UMC 2001-2007</li> <li>Chair of National Hymnal Committee UMC 1994-2006</li> <li>The Board of Evangelism 1997-2001</li> <li>Chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry UMC 1997-2001</li> <li>Board of Ordained Ministry 1992-1997</li> <li>Chair of Methodist Historical Society 1989-2009</li> <li>National Board of Church and Society UMC 1984-1987</li> <li>Chair of National Youth Organization (MU) 1987-1993</li> <li>Board member of National Children and Youth Organization (MBUF) 1987-1993</li> <li>Board of National Youth Organization (MU) 1985-1987.</li> </ul>  General Conference and Central Conference: <ul> <li>The General Board of Discipleship – Board of Directors 1996-2004</li> <li>Delegate to Central Conference UMC 1992-1996, 1996-2000, 2005-2008</li> <li>Delegate to General Conference UMC 1996-2000</li> <li>Central Conference Board of Evangelism 1996-2000</li> <li>The Annual Conference of the British Methodist Church 1993</li> <li>Chair Nordic Methodist Youth Council (MNUR) 1989-1993</li> <li>Nordic Methodist Youth Council (MNUR) 1987-1989</li> </ul>  Ecumenical representation: <ul> <li>Co-chair ecumenical dialogue between the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark 2011-</li> <li>Co-chair ecumenical dialogue between the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Norway 2009-</li> <li>Co-chair ecumenical dialogue between the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland 2010-</li> <li>The Danish Council of Churches 2011-</li> <li>The Norway Council of Churches 2009-</li> <li>The Dansk Willow Creek Committee 2003-2006</li> <li>Evangelical Alliance 2004-2006</li> <li>The Lausanne Committee 2002-2004</li> <li>Danish Church Days 1989-1992</li> <li>Danish Bible Society 1994-1998 / and numerous local ecumenical committees since 1984</li> <li>Chair of Copenhagen Gospel Festival Committee 1992-1999, 2004-2009</li> </ul>  Committees outside the Church: <ul> <li>Advisory Board of Coach Partners (2006-2008)</li> <li>Sølvgade School Board (2000-2004)</li> <li>Vuggestuen ved Jerusalemskirken, Chair of the board (1992-1998)</li> </ul>  Publications: "Remembering the mission during disagreements: A reading of Acts 15 and 16" (Emerging, 2019). Ny Mission nr. 36 "Mestring af uenighed - hvordan lever vi med uenighed og bevarer enhed?" (2019). Nordic Perspectives on Methodism 1 'What is Methodist Identity Today' (2015). Do Not Be Afraid (2015) “Moving into new Territory”, Religionsfriheden er truet i Danmark, feature in The Christian Daily, May 2008. 4 Uger med Fokus på Vejen (with Ole Birch) Jerusalemskirken 2008, Det er kristendom (with Ole Birch) Jerusalemskirken 2007. 4 Uger med Fokus på Dit Liv (with Ole Birch) Jerusalemskirken 2007, Dagslys, Boedal 2006 (contributes with 18 devotions), Salmer & Sange hymnal for Metodistkirken i Danmark, Kurerforlaget 2006 (editor Christian Alsted), Worship Change to Reach Non-Christians in Traditional Danish Evangelical Free Church, Dissertation, Asbury Theological Seminary 2002., I medgang og modgang - om parforhold og seksualitet (with Lars Ulrik Jensen), Med Liv og Sjæl – Gudstjeneste for alle aldre (with others) MNUR 1993.

Sandra Steiner Ball

Active

United States

Northeastern Jurisdiction

Harrisburg Episcopal Area

West Virginia Episcopal Area

Bishop Sandra L. Steiner Ball was elected to the episcopacy by the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference in 2012. Bishop Steiner Ball is the Resident Bishop of the West Virginia Episcopal Area. As of September 1, 2021, she also serves as the Interim Bishop of the Harrisburg Episcopal Area.  ------------------------ Sandra, the daughter of Edward J. and the late Marjorie W. Steiner, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and raised in Milford, Delaware.  She is a graduate of Dickinson College, (B.A. in Religion, 1984), Duke Divinity School (M.Div., 1987), and Wesley Theological Seminary (D.Min., 2003). Sandra was ordained Deacon and Elder by Bishop Joseph H. Yeakel in the Peninsula-Delaware Conference.  She has served as an associate pastor, lead pastor, District Superintendent, and Director of Connectional Ministries(DCM). During her last year as a DCM, she also served as interim pastor of Bayside Chapel, a new church start.  Sandra was in this position when elected to the episcopacy by the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference in 2012 and was assigned to the West Virginia Area. Bishop Steiner Ball was a first elected delegate to the 2008 and 2012 General Conferences of The United Methodist Church and to the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conferences (NEJ).  Prior to election, Sandra served the general church in a variety of areas, including the Interjurisdictional Episcopacy Committee, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the United Methodist Endorsing Agency, and the Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy. For the 2016 – 2020 quadrennium, Bishop Steiner Ball was re-assigned as the episcopal leader of the West Virginia area and has responsibilities with the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry serving on the agency’s Executive/personnel and Policies Committee, Global Education and Ministry Committee, Audit and Review Subcommittee, and is the chairperson of the Division on Ministry. Additionally, Bishop Steiner Ball is one of three moderators on the Commission on the Way Forward, and chairs the annual U. S. DS/DCM training. In the NEJ, Bishop Steiner Ball continues until September 2017 as President of the College of Bishops and chairs the NEJ Vision Table.  She is Vice Chairperson of the West Virginia Council of Churches and Co-chairs a task force of the Council working to address substance abuse and addiction in the West Virginia area. Bishop Steiner Ball and her husband, The Rev. Barry D. Steiner Ball, have two daughters:  Sarah Elizabeth and Sandra Rebekah.

David A. Bard

Active

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Michigan Episcopal Area

Bishop David Alan Bard was elected to the episcopacy by the North Central Jurisdiction in 2016. Bishop Bard is currently the presiding bishop of the Michigan Area.  From January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022, Bishop Bard was also the interim bishop for the Dakotas-Minnesota Area, supervising the Minnesota Annual Conference. ------------------------ Prior to arriving in Michigan in September 2016, Bishop Bard was serving at First United Methodist Church in Duluth, Minnesota since 2005.  He was elected to the episcopacy on July 13, 2016, at the North Central Jurisdictional Conference held in Peoria, IL. He has been in ministry for more than 30 years and served in many roles within both the Minnesota Annual Conference and the General Church. Bard was a General and Jurisdictional Conference delegate in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012. He was an episcopal nominee in both 2004 and 2008. Within the Minnesota Conference, Bard was chair of the Episcopacy Committee and the Higher Education Ministry Team, and he served on the Board of Ordained Ministry and the Congregational Response Team. He was also the conference parliamentarian. He was a district superintendent from 1998 to 2005 and spent three years on the Commission on Religion and Race. Within the General Church, Bard serves on the Study on Ministry Commission, the Committee on Faith and Order, and the North Central Jurisdiction Committee on Episcopacy. He has also previously served on the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the Commission on General Conference, and the Commission on Theological Education. Bishop Bard received a BA from the University of Minnesota, Duluth in 1981; his Master of Divinity was earned at United Theological Seminary, Twin Cities 1984; and in 1994 he received a Ph.D. from Southern Methodist University with a focus on Christian ethics Bishop Bard has a wife, Julie, three adult children, and two grandchildren. In his free time, he enjoys music, reading, baseball, and walking outside.

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

W. Earl Bledsoe

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe is a retired bishop in The United Methodist Church having served from 2008-2021. He was elected to the episcopacy in July 2008 at the South Central Jurisdictional Conference.  ------------------------ W. Earl Bledsoe was born in Marlin, Texas. He graduated from Levelland High and from South Plains College (Levelland, Texas) with an A.A. degree; West Texas State University with a B.A. degree in English and Spanish; the M.Div. degree from Perkins School of Theology/SMU, where he was a Benjamin E. Mays Scholar. He earned the Doctor of Ministry degree at Drew University. He was ordained deacon in 1983 by Bishop Finis A. Crutchfield and elder in 1987 by Bishop Benjamin R. Oliphint in the Texas Conference. Earl Bledsoe was the first elected to the episcopacy in July 2008 at the South Central Jurisdictional Conference and assigned to the Dallas Area. He is currently assigned as episcopal leader of the New Mexico/Northwest Texas Annual Conferences, headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He serves as President of the GCORR Board of Directors and as such, is part of the Connectional Table.  He also serves as Jurisdictional Episcopal member of the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters. He serves on the boards of McMurry University (Abilene, Texas), Southwestern University (Georgetown, Texas); Texas Methodist Foundation (Austin, Texas) and the Methodist Children’s Home. Previous leadership includes: Jurisdictional member of the Connectional Table, 2004-2008; Jurisdictional Episcopacy Committee representative, 2004; General Conference delegate, 1992-2008; Chair of General Conference Committee on Reference (2000 and 2004); Vice Chair General Conference Legislative Committee on Ministry (1996) Chair of Texas Methodist Foundation Board; Chair of Texas Conference Board of Ordained Ministry; Chair of Texas Conference Finance & Administration. Prior appointments include: Episcopal Leader of North Texas Conference (Plano, Texas); Superintendent of the Bryan/West District (College Station, Texas); Senior pastor of Spring Woods UMC (Houston, Texas); Senior Pastor of Cypress UMC (Cypress, Texas); Texas Conference Director of Teaching Ministries (Houston, Texas); Senior Associate pastor of Bear Creek UMC (Houston, Texas); Senior Pastor Hanham Methodist Church – Kingwood Circuit (Hanham Bristol, England); Intern pastor – St, Marks UMC (Baytown, Texas); Assistant Pastor of St. Andrews UMC (Ft. Worth, Texas); Pastor of St. Paul UMC/St. James UMC – Anahuac Circuit (Anahuac, Texas); Local Pastor Wyatt Memorial UMC,(Amarillo, Texas). Earl enjoys fishing, hunting, reading, technology, and traveling with family. On April 6, 1985, Leslie Jean Bray and Wilbert Earl Bledsoe were married. Leslie is a licensed social worker and is totally blind. Together they have six adult children: Gregory Earl, Erika Yvette, Felicia Renee, Roderick Lynn, Erik Jada, and Letitia Gail. They also have 12 grandchildren: Broderick Rashad, Amanda Grace, Gregory Earl Jr., Nicholas, Jasmine, Randy Jr., Alexis, Hannah Gabriel (deceased), Sara, Lindsay, Christopher, and Abigail, and two great-grandchildren: Aiden Devon and Khia Renee.

Heinrich Bolleter

Retired

Europe

Bishop Heinrich Bolleter is a retired bishop of The United Methodist Church, in which he served from 1989-2006. ------------------------ Heinrich Bolleter, the son of a businessman, was born and raised in the suburbs of Zurich, Switzerland. He was educated at the Industrial College in Zurich with a degree in mathematics and physics and at the Theological Seminary of the former Methodist Church in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In the Switzerland/ France Annual Conference he was ordained Elder in 1969. He served as a pastor in the congregations of Baden, Zurich-Wipkingen, Thalwil and Zofingen until 1989. From 1974 to 1985 he was the editor of "Church and World", a weekly magazine of the L`MC in Switzerland. He was active in the field of Interdenominational Concerns since 1972 and served as a delegate to the National Council of Churches in Switzerland. He was chairperson of this Council from 1997-1999. He served as the Secretary of the Council on Ministries (from 1972 through 1989), which includes the Standing Commissions on Theology, Social Affairs and Liturgy. During the same period, he was a member of the Board of Ordained Ministry. He was named Counsel of the Church in 1985 and delegate to the European Council of the UMC since1985. He was a delegate to the Central Conference since 1973, and was a delegate to the General Conference in 1976, 1980, 1984 and 1988. Heinrich was elected to the episcopacy by the 1989 Central Conference of Central and Southern Europe and re-elected as a bishop for life by the 1993 Central Conference of Central and Southern Europe In early 2006, he was awarded the Great Silver Medal of Honor with The Star in the name of the president of the Federal Republic of Austria, in recognition of his abilities as a "bridge builder," particularly for his ability to build connections with Eastern European nations. He retired in May 2006. Heinrich Bolleter has written many articles and monographs in German. His languages are German, French and English. He is married to Marta Bolleter-Zellweger. They have three children, Harald, Muriel and Yvonne.

Benjamin Boni

Active

Africa

West Africa Central Conference

Côte D'ivoire Episcopal Area

Bishop Benjamin Boni was elected to the episcopacy in 2004 by the West Africa Central Conference. ------------------------ Benjamin Boni was born in Arraguie (Agboville, Côte d’Ivoire) to a Christian family.  His deceased father, Clement Boni, was one of the first Catechists of the Methodist Protestant Church of Côte d’Ivoire. His mother, Francisca Brou, still alive, was among the first entering class of the Methodist Girls’ School in Dabou (Côte d’Ivoire) in the early 1930s.  Benjamin Boni is married to Berthe Ngbesso Odombo.  They have six children (five girls and a boy).   Benjamin Boni pursued his high school education at Lycee Classique of Abidjan from 1966-1971. He obtained his Baccalaureate with an emphasis in Literature in 1971.  It was during his studies at Lycee Classique that he felt a call to the Christian Ministry.  Benjamin Boni attended the Yaounde Theological Seminary in Cameroon from 1971-1975, where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in Theology.  He later continued his university education at the Graduate School of Theology at the University of Strasbourg in France.  He earned a Master of Theology with a specialty in Family Education.  He participated in several training programs while abroad and at home.  He received training in Family Counseling at the School of Parents and Educators in Strasbourg, France, and training in Communications and Mass Media in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.  Benjamin Boni studied English as a Second language at Selly Oak College in Birmingham, England.   He was ordained elder in January 1980, at Lakota by Reverend Auguste Lambert Ackah, then President of the Methodist Protestant Church of Côte d’Ivoire.  He has held several positions within and outside the church.  These positions include but are not limited to serving as a pastor in Azaguie, chaplain of the Protestant Student Union, and Director of Literature and Mass Media. On the national front, Benjamin Boni was appointed Member of the National Mediation Committee, Member of the Civil Society Organization on Peace, and Member of the Academy of Science, Arts and African Culture.    Benjamin Boni was elected President of the Annual Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church of Côte d’Ivoire on August 1, 1998.  He was re-elected President on December 23, 2001. On March 12, 2004, he was elected Bishop of the newly established Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church in Côte d’Ivoire.

Cedrick D. Bridgeforth

Active

United States

Western Jurisdiction

Greater Northwest Episcopal Area

<div>Bishop Cedrick D. Bridgeforth, elected in 2022, is the Resident Bishop of the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area in the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. The area encompasses the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho, and Pacific Northwest Conferences.   Early life Bishop Bridgeforth was born in Decatur, Alabama. His home churches were the Lakeview United Methodist and Oakville Baptist churches. Clifton and Premina Griffin, his maternal grandparents, insisted upon and modeled a Christian faith that expressed love for all, compassion in dire circumstances, and grace, especially when it seemed unwarranted from a human point of view.   Education and Ordination Bishop Bridgeforth is a U.S. Air Force veteran who earned a Bachelor of Arts, Religion from Samford University (1997); a Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree from the Claremont School of Theology (2000); and a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University (2005). He was ordained an elder by Bishop Mary Ann Swenson in the California-Pacific Conference.   Ordained Ministry At the beginning of his pastoral ministry, Bridgeforth served as a student intern at Crossroads UMC in Compton (1997-1999). As a spiritual leader, he has served as lead pastor in four congregations in Los Angeles and Orange Counties in California. Those pastorates ranged from predominantly African American congregations in the heart of the Crenshaw District to multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and multi-site ministries in the inner-city and suburban sectors of Santa Ana. These pastorates included Grace UMC Los Angeles (2018-2021), Santa Ana UMC (2015-2017), Crenshaw UMC (2003-2008), and Bowen Memorial UMC (1999-2003).   Superintendency For eight years (2008-2015), Bridgeforth served as a district superintendent and dean of the cabinet in the California-Pacific Conference (Los Angeles and West Districts) in one of the most diverse regions in United Methodism, with language and cultural ministries from over twenty regions of the world. The geography spanned coastal, mountain, rural, and desert communities.   Episcopacy Rev. Bridgeforth was elected as a bishop of The United Methodist Church on November 4, 2022, by the Western Jurisdiction at Christ United Methodist Church in Salt Lake City on the 18th ballot. He was assigned to the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area (Alaska, Oregon-Idaho and Pacific Northwest Conferences).   Connection Within The United Methodist Church, Bridgeforth has been a candidacy mentor for those discerning a call to ministry and a supervising elder for those in the provisional and full connection review processes. He was elected a clergy delegate to general and jurisdictional conferences in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019, and 2020. In 2016, 2019, and 2020, he was the first elected clergy delegate for the California-Pacific Conference. Those elections led him to service on the General Board of Pensions and Health Benefits (now Wespath) and as a member of the Western Jurisdiction’s committee on nominations.   From 2013 to 2016, Bridgeforth served as president of Black Methodists for Church Renewal (BMCR) and co-convener of the Inter-Ethnic Strategy Development Group.   Family Bishop Bridgeforth is married to Christopher Hucks-Ortiz. Hucks-Ortiz is a public health and research professional with demonstrated leadership in the US domestic and global field of infectious disease. His work and research have focused on HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, STIs, and Hepatitis prevention and intervention, with proven success in securing public funds to support research and health programs targeting key vulnerable populations.</div>

Warner Brown

Interim

Africa

West Africa Central Conference

Western Jurisdiction

Sierra Leone Episcopal Area

Bishop Warner H. Brown is a retired bishop of The United Methodist Church, serving from 2000 to 2016.  He is currently serving as an interim bishop of the Sierra Leone Episcopal Area in the West Africa Central Conference.   From 2014 to 2016, Bishop Brown was the President of the Council of Bishops. ------------------------ Bishop Brown was born and raised as an only child in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Ida and Warner Brown. At the age of thirteen, while reading the New Testament, he felt a call to serve. He began preaching as a youth and was encouraged to continue doing so. As a young adult, he attended the University of Maryland, (B.A. in Sociology, 1969.) He also graduated from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC with a Master of Divinity degree. In 1973 Warner was ordained deacon in the Baltimore Annual Conference by Bishop James K. Mathews. Yet his movement west had already begun with a pastoral appointment in the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference as both the pastor of a church and Director of Bethany House Ministries in Pittsburgh, a social service ministry for two housing projects. While serving in western Pennsylvania, he was ordained elder in 1975 by Bishop Roy C. Nichols. In 1979, he answered a national search for an associate conference staff position in the California-Nevada Conference and transferred there. Once in California, it was only six months later that he was asked to serve as Conference Council Director. From this role of program and administrative oversight for the Conference, Warner was appointed just four years later to the Superintendency of the Golden Gate District, the richly diverse area including San Francisco and several rural and suburban counties along the Pacific Coast. Four years after that, he was given the charge of the Taylor Memorial UMC in Oakland, CA. While serving this significant congregation, the community was then assaulted by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and two years later the holocaust of fires in the Oakland hills. As chairperson of the Oakland Inter-religious Network for responding to this disaster, Warner led the community's ecumenical disaster response. Throughout these years, Warner has been active in the social justice ministries and programs of those communities and church connections where he has been appointed. To list but a sampling: Volunteer Police Chaplain, Trustee of the Glide Foundation, vice-chair of the Community Advisory Commission for Alameda County Medical Center, member of the Governing Board of United Way for Kern County, a member of the. Board of Directors for the Bakersfield Homeless Shelter, recipient of the 1996 Outstanding Leadership and Service Award for Emergency Response Ministries, given by UMCOR, and recipient of a 1998 Special Congressional Recognition from Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Warner's leadership in the church has included service as a delegate to General Conference twice, member of the General Commission on Religion and Race, a faculty member for New DS/CCD training, Harry Hoosier Member of and twice the host for the National Black Methodists for Church Renewal, chair of the Board of Missions in California-Nevada Annual Conference as well as numerous other conference boards and agencies, adjunct consultant to the Alban Institute, and a Wesley Seminary Distinguished Alumni. Following a successful eleven-year pastorate in Oakland, Warner was given a new challenge as Senior Pastor of the predominantly white yet multi-ethnic First UMC of Bakersfield, CA. Only two years into this pastorate, he was nominated and endorsed by his conference for the episcopacy: at the Western Jurisdiction Conference Sessions in Casper, Wyoming, and in July of 2000 he was elected to the episcopacy on the 19th ballot and assigned to the Denver Area. He retired in July 2016. Bishop Brown is married to Minnie Jones Brown; their family includes Catina Marie Harvin, Warner III, and Calvin Brown.

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Kenneth Lee Carder is a retired bishop of The United Methodist Church, serving from 1992-2004. ________________________ Kenneth Lee Carder was born in Washington County, Tennessee, one of five children of Allen and Edith Carder. He was graduated with honors from East Tennessee State University and Wesley Theological Seminary. In 1980 he received the Doctor of Ministry Degree from Vanderbilt Divinity School. Ken was ordained Deacon by Bishop Roy H. Short, and Bishop H. Ellis Finger, Jr., ordained him an Elder. Ken has served churches in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Bristol, Tennessee, Abingdon, Virginia and Knoxville and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. While in Oak Ridge, he helped initiate an ongoing dialogue between scientists and theologians, including a dialogue between members of the Council of Bishops, on In Defense of Creation. He continues an interest in science/technology and theology/ethics. In addition to dialogue between science and theology, Ken has special commitment to Wesley studies, prison ministries, racial and economic justice, and ministry with those who live in poverty. Ken was first elected to Jurisdictional Conference in 1980. He was elected to General Conference in 1984, 1988, and 1992. He was elected to the episcopacy in 1992 while serving as pastor of Church Street Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. He served the Nashville and Mississippi Areas. Upon retiring in 2004, Ken joined the full-time faculty of Duke Divinity School as Professor of the Practice of Pastoral Formation. Linda Miller and Ken Carder were married June 30, 1961. Linda and Ken have two daughters. Sandra Carder Nash and her husband, Kyle, have two daughters, Katelyn and Emily, and a son Michael; and they live in Columbia, SC. Sheri Carder Hood and her husband, John, and their daughters, Megan and Julia Rose, also live in Columbia, S.C. Publications: <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=926123&rank=1&txtSearchQuery=Kenneth+Carder" target="_blank">Grace to Lead</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=805195&rank=2&txtSearchQuery=Kenneth+Carder" target="_blank">Living Our Beliefs</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=356969&rank=3&txtSearchQuery=Kenneth+Carder" target="_blank">Serious Answers to Hard Questions Leader's Guide</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/search.aspx?ddlSearchScope=author&txtSearchQuery=Kenneth+Carder" target="_blank">Complete List</a>

Kenneth H. Carter, Jr.

Active

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Charlotte Episcopal Area

Kenneth H. Carter, Jr. was elected a bishop of The United Methodist Church In 2012 by the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference. He is currently the resident bishop of the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. Along with the Cabinet, he gives pastoral and administrative leadership to over 1000 congregations, fresh expressions of church, campus ministries, and outreach initiatives in an episcopal area that stretches across the 44 western counties of the state. Bishop Carter served as the president of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church from 2018-2020, and he was one of three moderators of The Commission on a Way Forward, from 2016 to 2018.   In addition to his responsibilities with the Western North Carolina Conference, he is bishop-in-residence and a consulting faculty member at Duke University Divinity School.  He served as bishop of the Florida Conference from 2012-2022. Bishop Carter is the author of eighteen books, most recently a memoir, God Will Make a Way (Abingdon, 2021).  He has also written two books on the Fresh Expressions movement with Audrey Warren:  Fresh Expressions:  A New Kind of Methodist Church (Abingdon, 2017), and Fresh Expressions of People Over Property (Abingdon, 2020). His editorials have appeared in the Charlotte Observer, Greensboro News and Record, and Winston-Salem Journal,  and his commentary on Christianity in the United States has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and on National Public Radio. Bishop Carter has preached in camp meetings, prisons and jails, college and university chapels, synagogues, megachurches and house churches, and in twenty countries on four continents.  He was a local church pastor in the Western North Carolina Conference for twenty-eight years. His ministry at Providence United Methodist Church in Charlotte was described by the American Religious Historian Diana Butler Bass in her book, Christianity for the Rest of Us.  In the annual conference he served as chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry and the Committee on Episcopacy, and in five delegations to Jurisdictional and General Conferences.  He has served on the Board of Visitors of Duke University Divinity School and the Institutional Review Board of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.  He earned degrees from Columbus College, Duke Divinity School, the University of Virginia, and Princeton Theological Seminary.  In addition, he is a graduate of Leadership Greensboro, Leadership Winston-Salem and the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation. Bishop Carter’s great hope for the church is that she will rediscover an orthodox Christian faith that offers the radically inclusive grace of God to all people, and at the same time calls every follower of Jesus to inner holiness, missional compassion, justice rooted in the gospel and a hopeful story of transformation. He travels extensively across the conference, preaching in local churches and encouraging lay and clergy leaders.  Bishop Carter and his wife Pam have been married for forty-two years.  Pam has served as an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church, most recently in disaster recovery, and she has a deep involvement in God’s mission in Haiti.  They are blessed with two adult daughters.  Liz is married to Yoonie and is a professor of Chinese at Vassar College, and Abby is chief officer for Communications and Marketing at the University of Tennessee Southern.  Abby and her husband Allen are parents of Paige and Natalie, the bishop’s granddaughters. The Carters reside in Charlotte, North Carolina, and consider it a great blessing to serve the people of Western North Carolina.

Ray W. Chamberlain, Jr.

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Sharon Brown Christopher

Retired

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Retired

Africa

Africa Central Conference

Gaspar João Domingos

Active

Africa

Africa Central Conference

Angola West Episcopal Area

Bishop Gaspar João Domingos, elected to the episcopacy in 2000, is the Resident Bishop of the West Angola Area, which includes West Angola Conference in the Africa Central Conference of The United Methodist Church.  ------------------------ Bishop Domingos, the son of João Domingos Manuel and Inês José Gonçalves, was born in Luanda, Angola.  He married Lucretia Manuel Alexandre on December 16, 1983 in Luanda. In 1986 Bishop Domingos finished his technical studies at the S. Carlos School in Brazil. He earned his bachelor's degree in theology at the Methodist Institute of Higher Education in Brazil and graduated from the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey, University of Geneva, in Switzerland. He has served as student and associate pastor at Rudge Ramos Methodist Church, in Brazil, and as pastor of the Galilee United Methodist Church in Angola for 5 consecutive years. After that, and during the churches' process of pacification of Angola, he was transferred in 1994 to work for the Angola Council of Christian Churches, as Director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Reconciliation. When elected to the episcopacy, Bishop Domingos was serving as General Secretary, Angola Council of Christian Churches. Before his work experience with the church, he was a primary school teacher and an officer in the Angolan Fisheries Minister's office. He was elected to the episcopacy at the 9th Africa Central Conference of the Methodist Church in Maputo, Mozambique, on August 17, 2000, and was consecrated bishop of the United Methodist Church on August 20th, 2000. He was appointed to preside over the Annual Conference of West Angola at the same time. Lucretia and Bishop Domingos have six children: Ariane Marcelina, Ismael Alex, Taines Silvia Alexandre, Elyeser Joel, Terena Eunice and Gláucio Domingos.

Sally Dyck

Interim

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Sally Dyck is a retired bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 2004-2020. Bishop Sally Dyck currently serves as the Ecumenical Officer of the Council of Bishops. She previously served as the Resident Bishop of the Chicago Area, which included the Northern Illinois Conference in the North Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. Bishop Dyck was assigned in 2022 as the interim bishop for the California-Nevada Annual Conference. ---------------------------------------- She was born in Ritzville, Washington. She was born into a Mennonite family and joined the United Methodist Church as a young adult. She graduated from Boston University College of Liberal Arts with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and from Boston University School of Theology. She received a certificate from the Ecumenical Institute which is a joint program of the World Council of Churches and the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She was ordained in the East Ohio Annual Conference. She also received a Doctor of Ministry from United Theological School, Dayton, OH, in Black Church Studies as a Bishop James S. Thomas fellow. She served the communities and the churches of Faith (1978-1984), Church of the Redeemer (1984-1997), and Garfield Memorial (2003-2004). She also served as a district superintendent (1997-2003) in the Wooster area. Sally served as a director of the Board of Global Ministries (1999-2004), chairing the Personnel Committee. She was a jurisdictional delegate six times and a General Conference delegate four times. In February 2006 she was elected to the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. Sally was elected to the episcopacy in Davenport, Iowa, in 2004 and assigned to the Minnesota Annual Conference. After serving 8 years in the Minnesota area, she was assigned to the Northern Illinois Conference in July 2012. She seeks to be the bishop to the nones (those persons who check "none" when asked their religious preference). She begins her day with prayer, Bible study, and a 3-6 mile run through the cathedral of nature. Ken Ehrman and Sally Dyck met in Boston and were married on May 15, 1976.

LaTrelle Easterling

Active

United States

Active

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Alabama-West Florida Episcopal Area

South Georgia Episcopal Area

Bishop David Graves was elected to the episcopacy by the Southeastern Jurisdiction in 2016. He is the Resident Bishop of the Alabama-West Florida Area, which includes the Alabama-West Florida Conference in the Southeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. As of September 1, 2021, Bishop Graves is also the Interim Bishop of the South Georgia Episcopal Area. ------------------------ As a district superintendent, Bishop Graves implemented a district strategy that empowered both clergy and laity with leadership tools for effective and vital ministry. This strategy revitalized several churches that experienced growth in worship attendance and membership; Sunday School and small group discipleship; missional giving and professions of faith. On Christmas Eve 2014, through a district offering, the Kingsport District generously gave more $230,000 for the District Partnership with Giru, South Sudan.  Bishop Graves previously served as the Senior Pastor of Church Street United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Prior to Church Street, he served six years as the district superintendent for the Kingsport District of the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church. In 2011 and 2012, he served as Dean of the Cabinet. He has been an ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church for over 27 years and previously served as Senior Pastor of Ooltewah United Methodist Church, a large-membership church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for 11 years. Prior, he served as pastor of two Kingsport area churches, St. Matthew and Mountain View United Methodist. He was on staff and was given his first appointment at Hixson United Methodist Church in the Chattanooga area where he served for 11 years. Bishop Graves is a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, and graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, with a Master of Divinity.  He has shared 36 years of marriage with his wife, Nancy, and they have two children, Casey and Gregg. Casey is married to her husband Bryan, and they reside in Kingsport with their son Brooks and daughter Lucy. Bishop Graves' and Nancy’s son, Gregg, lives and works in the Chattanooga area.

William Boyd Grove

Retired

United States

Northeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop William Boyd Grove is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1980-1996. ------------------------ William Boyd Grove was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Bethany College (B.A.), Drew University School of Theology (M. Div.), and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (D.Min.). He has received several honorary degrees, and alumni awards from Bethany College, Drew University and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He was presented the Distinguished West Virginian Award by Governor Gaston Caperton in 1992. He was received into the Pittsburgh Conference and was ordained deacon and elder by Bishop Lloyd C. Wicke. He served churches in western Pennsylvania from 1954 until his election as bishop. William Boyd Grove was elected to the episcopacy by the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference in 1980 and was assigned to the West Virginia Episcopal Area [1980-1992] and the Albany (NY) Episcopal Area [1992-1996]. He retired from the active episcopacy in 1996. He has served as President of the General Board of Church and Society [1984-1988], and as President of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns [1988-1996]. From 1996 2000, Bishop Grove served as Ecumenical Officer of the Council of Bishops, the first person to hold that office. He chaired the United Methodist delegations to the National Council of Churches, the Consultation on Church Union and the Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1998. He co-chaired the continuing Dialogue between the United Methodist Church and the Roman Catholic Church from 1996-2000. Bill is a poet and hymn writer, and is a member of the Order of St. Luke, which is committed to liturgical and sacramental renewal. He has traveled widely and has preached throughout the world. Mary Lou Naylor and William Boyd Grove were graduated from Bethany College in 1951, and on July 29, 1951, were married in Franklin Street Church, Johnstown, PA, where they had gone to Sunday School and Methodist Youth Fellowship together. The Groves have two daughters, Susan and Rebecca, and five grandchildren: Hannah, Gretchen, Carissa, Daniel and Sarah.

Alfred Gwinn

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Alfred W. Gwinn is a retired Bishop in The United Methodist Church, having served from 2004-2012. ------------------------ Alfred W. Gwinn, Jr. was born in Ironton, Ohio. He grew up in Russell, Kentucky, and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a B.A. degree in History and Psychology and from Asbury Theological Seminary with a M.Div. degree. He has received honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from Union College, Kentucky Wesleyan College, and Asbury Theological Seminary. Al was ordained elder by Bishop Roy Short. He has pastored rural, town, inner city, and urban congregations, as well as an African-American congregation. During a ten-year tenure at Lexington Centenary UMC, he led the congregation through relocation and the building of an $11 million facility. Worship attendance more than doubled and it became the largest congregation in the conference. His last appointment was as Senior Pastor of Lexington First Church (Mother of Kentucky Methodism). Al served as Associate director of the Conference Council on Ministries, Lexington District Superintendent, chaired the Board of Ordained Ministry (1996-2004), chaired the Committee on New Church Starts, chaired the Area Episcopal Committee (1991-2000), was a prominent leader in the Uniting Committee of the Kentucky and Louisville Conferences. He was a General Conference Delegate in 1988, l992, l996, and 2000, and head of the delegation in 2004. He was a member of the General Council on Ministries and the SEJ Administrative Council. Alfred W. Gwinn, Jr., was elected to the episcopacy by the Southeast Jurisdictional Conference in 2004 and was appointed Bishop of the North Carolina Conference/Raleigh Area. He has chaired the Design Team for the Council of Bishops' District Superintendents and Directors of Connectional Ministries Annual Training and served as board trustee of many institutions. Al and Joyce Gwinn have two daughters, Deborah Ann and Christine Denice. Debbie is married to Paul Robert Mann and has two children, Wesley Sentel Plunkett and Luke Abrams Plunkett. Christy is married to Philip Stephen Morgan and has two children, Paul Tyler Morgan and Alicia Hannah Morgan. Both families live in Lexington, Kentucky.

Grant Hagiya

Retired

United States

Western Jurisdiction

Bishop Grant Hagiya was the resident bishop of the Los Angeles Area, which includes the California-Pacific Conference in the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church.  He was elected to the episcopacy in 2008. His prior Episcopal assignment was for eight years to the Greater Northwest Area, which included the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho, and Pacific Northwest Annual Conferences. On October 1, 2021, he also served as the Interim Bishop for the Desert Southwest Conference.  Bishop Hagiya retired on January 1, 2023.  ------------------------ Bishop Hagiya is a graduate of the Claremont School of Theology, where he received his M.A., M.Div., and D.Min. degrees.  He graduated with an Educational Doctorate in Organizational Leadership at Pepperdine University in 2012.  Abingdon has published a book based on this research entitled Leadership Kaizen: How To Become a Better Church Leader. Bishop Hagiya has served as a full-time Professor at the Claremont School of Theology, teaching in the area of Religion and Society and Urban Ministries.  He has remained as an Adjunct Professor at Claremont for the last 25 years, and currently teaches Religious Leadership and United Methodist studies classes.  Prior to his election to the episcopacy, he served as the Senior Pastor at churches in Berkeley, Gardena, and Los Angeles, California as well as the Los Angeles District Superintendent and Dean of the Appointed Cabinet of the California Pacific Annual Conference. His most recent pre-Episcopal appointment was as the Executive Director of the Center for Leadership Excellence, a joint position between the California-Pacific Annual Conference and the Claremont School of Theology, where he served as the Director of Leadership for the annual conference and a faculty member at the Claremont School of Theology. Bishop Hagiya has served as a General and Jurisdictional Conference delegate since 1996 and was the head of his annual conference delegation to the General Conference in 2000. He is a professional coach with the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designation from the International Coaching Federation.  He is also a Certified Gallup StrengthFinders Coach through Gallup, Inc.  He is currently in training for certification as a professional Team Coach from the international Global Team Coaching Institute. Grant is married to Janet, who retired as a high school librarian and has three children, Lexie and Jamie, a professional Cross-fit athlete who co-own Torrance Fitness Gym, and Trent, a competitive weight-lifter.  They have four grandchildren:  Sage, Clark, Tegan, and Willa.

Laurie Haller

Retired

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Laurie Haller was elected as a bishop at the 2016 North Central Jurisdictional Conference. She served as the resident bishop of the Iowa Area in the North Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. She was also the interim bishop for the Dakotas-Minnesota Area, supervising the Dakotas Annual Conference.  Bishop Haller retired on January 1, 2023. ------------------------ Before her election as a Bishop, Bishop Haller served in the Michigan area since 1982. She was serving as senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Birmingham in the Detroit Annual Conference when she was elected to the Episcopacy. Prior to her appointment to First UMC, she served six years as district superintendent of the Grand Rapids District in the West Michigan Conference, where she led a campaign to raise $500,000 plus a $500,000 matching gift to build the 24-room Ubuntu Retreat Center at Africa University in Zimbabwe. Her previous appointments were as co-senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids for thirteen years, pastor of Aldersgate and Plainfield UMCs in Grand Rapids, pastor of Hart United Methodist Church, associate pastor of Ludington United Methodist Church, and pastor of Ogdensburg United Methodist Church in Traverse City. Bishop Haller received a Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, where she spent her junior year studying sacred music at the Berliner Kirchenmusikschule in West Berlin, Germany. She also received a Master of Music degree in organ performance from the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music and School of Music, and a Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School. During her years at Yale, Bishop Haller was the director of music at Stratford United Methodist Church in Stratford, Connecticut. She was ordained in the General Conference Mennonite Church in 1982 and transferred her ordination credentials to the West Michigan Conference of The United Methodist Church in 1987. Bishop Haller served eight years on the Board of Ordained Ministry in the West Michigan Conference, including four years as chairperson. Prior to her election as bishop, she had served on the Michigan Area Committee on the Episcopacy. Bishop Haller was elected as a General Conference delegate from the West Michigan Conference in 2016, 2012, 2008, 2004 and 1996 (alternate), and as a Jurisdictional Conference delegate in 2016, 2012, 2008, 2004, 2000 and 1996. She is a trustee at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, was a director of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry from 2000-2008, and, until her election served as a member of the North Central Jurisdictional Conference Committee on the Episcopacy. Bishop Haller has been a Bible Study teacher at the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference (2015), a preacher at Lakeside Chautauqua in Ohio (2015), preacher at Epworth Heights in Ludington, Michigan (2009, 2004, 1997), and a preacher and lecturer at Bay View Assembly in Petoskey, Michigan (2010, 2002). She was chosen to participate in the Academy of Preaching and was the recipient of a Clergy Renewal Grant from the Lilly Endowment in 2000. Bishop Haller is a prolific writer whose essays and articles have appeared in the Michigan Christian Advocate, Worship Arts, United Methodist Reporter, Ministry Matters, UM Insight, the United Methodist News Service Daily Digest, MIConnect, and Faith in Action. Bishop Haller is married to Rev. Gary Haller, senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Michigan. They have three children and two grandchildren Bishop Haller's 2015 book, Recess; Rediscovering Play and Purpose, is available through <a href="http://ccpublishinghouse.tictail.com/product/recess?" target="_blank">Cass Community Publishing House (http://ccpublishinghouse.tictail.com/product/recess?)</a>. - See more at: <a href="https://www.iaumc.org/bishoplauriehaller" target="_blank">https://www.iaumc.org/bishoplauriehaller</a>.

Cynthia Fierro Harvey

Active

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Houston Episcopal Area

<img align="left" src="/files/tables/contacts/2463478/files/Bishop+Harvey+picture+(7-14-2021).jpg" style="float: left; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" />Cynthia Fierro Harvey serves as bishop of the Texas Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, having been assigned there in November of 2022. The Texas Annual Conference is composed of 304 congregations and represents a region encompassing Galveston, Houston, College Station, Beaumont Texarkana, Longview, Tyler, and towns in between.  Under Bishop Harvey’s leadership, the Texas Annual Conference follows a mission to equip congregations to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world to the glory of God and holds a vision of vibrant, growing congregations changing lives and reshaping futures for Jesus Christ. The Conference is driven by the core values of radical hospitality, passionate worship, faith-forming relationships, risk-taking mission, extravagant generosity, connectional ministry, fervent prayer, and diligent study of scripture.  Bishop Harvey challenges faith communities to look beyond themselves and to keep an eye focused on the edge where God is at work. She also has a passion for young people as they lead the church into a future filled with possibilities.  She previously served as bishop of the Louisiana Annual Conference for 10 years beginning in 2012. She served on the Board of Trustees for Centenary College, the Louisiana United Methodist Foundation, and the Louisiana Interchurch Conference as part of her episcopal assignment to Louisiana. She currently serves on The Perkins School of Theology Executive Board. She previously served as the President of the Council of Bishops 2020-2022, President-designate 2018-2020 and as the Secretary of the Council of Bishops 2014-2018.   After graduating from the University of Texas in Austin in 1980, Bishop Harvey spent 12 years in the corporate world as a regional director of marketing for The Rouse Company, a shopping center developer with properties throughout the United States. She focused on properties in Texas, Colorado, Arkansas, and Louisiana.  Harvey went on to serve as associate pastor of The Foundry United Methodist Church in Houston from 1992-1996 and as executive pastor for Memorial Drive UMC in Houston from 1996-2008. She then moved to the position of Director of Missional Excellence for the Texas Annual Conference, serving from February of 2008-May 1, 2010. Just prior to her election as a United Methodist bishop in 2012, Harvey served as Deputy General Secretary for United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).  She is a graduate of Southern Methodist University, Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, where she earned a Master of Divinity and The University of Texas at Austin, where she earned her undergraduate degree in Journalism.  Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey was born on May 5, 1959, in Big Spring, Texas. She and her husband, Dean Alan Harvey, were married in 1981. Dean is a financial advisor and owns his own firm. Their daughter Elizabeth Grace Harvey is a design specialist and makes her home in Dallas. Dean and Cynthia love good food. They love to cook but can also give you recommendations for the best restaurants from Houston to Baton Rouge, and wherever their travels have taken them. Dean is an excellent chef while Cynthia is at his side as his sous chef (aka clean-up duty!)

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Bishop John L. Hopkins is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1996-2016.  ------------------------ He was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and his childhood was spent in Montgomery, Houston, Atlanta, and Ft. Wayne. After marrying Elaine M. Smithson in 1964, he attended Indiana University, receiving a B.A. with Honors in Psychology. He graduated from Yale Divinity School and was selected for the two-year Wheelock Residency at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College where he practiced hospital, campus, and parish ministry. During this residency, he served as the Protestant Chaplain at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, New Hampshire. He was ordained deacon and elder in the North Indiana Conference. After serving a two-point charge in LaPorte, Indiana, Hopkins was appointed in 1976 as Wesley Foundation Director at Ball State University. In 1983 he became Director of the Council on Ministries in North Indiana and, in 1989 was appointed in South Indiana as Senior Pastor at The Methodist Temple in Evansville. He was elected to the episcopacy in July 1996 at the North Central Jurisdictional Conference and assigned to the Minnesota Area for eight years. In September 2004, Bishop Hopkins was assigned to the Ohio East Area until retirement in 2016. Bishop Hopkins was appointed by the Council of Bishops from 2004-2012 to serve as the first Chair of the Connectional Table which provides a forum for the understanding and implementation of the vision, mission, and ministries of the global church. During this time, Hopkins helped lead The Call to Action effort focused on increasing vital congregations around the world.  He has served on the Executive Committee of the Council of Bishops, the United Methodist Publishing House Board, the General Board of Church and Society, the General Council on Ministries, and the Committee for the Advance for Christ and His Church. His episcopal responsibilities have included serving on the trustees of Hamline University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Mt. Union University, Baldwin Wallace University, and The Methodist Theological School in Ohio. Bishop Hopkins was instrumental in the formation of Operation Classroom in Sierra Leone and Liberia. His mission travel has included Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Korea, China, Japan, Mexico, Bulgaria, Germany, Philippines, and Vietnam. Currently, he serves on the board of Educational Opportunities, Inc. that provides scholarships for clergy to study in the Holy Land. Bishop Hopkins and Elaine live in Indianapolis.  They have three sons and seven grandchildren.  Bishop Hopkins enjoys exercise, technology, kite flying, music, and guitar jams

Robert Hoshibata

Retired

United States

Western Jurisdiction

Bishop Robert Tsugio Hoshibata was elected to the episcopacy in 2004. He was the Resident Bishop of the Phoenix Area in the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church before he retired on October 1, 2021.   ------------------------ A sansei, or third-generation Japanese-American, Bishop Hoshibata was born and raised in Hawaii. He learned to know Jesus Christ and grew to love the church through the ministry of Wahiawa United Methodist Church in the plantation town of Wahiawa. Following graduation in 1973 from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, with a B.A. with high honors, he studied at the Claremont School of Theology where he graduated with a D.Min. degree in 1977. While in seminary, Bob was named a Crusade Scholar and ordained deacon in 1974. After graduating from seminary, Bob was appointed to serve the North Gardena United Methodist Church and was ordained elder in 1979. After 7 years at North Gardena, Bob moved to the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference in 1984. For 14 years, he served as senior pastor for the Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church in Seattle, Washington. At the invitation of Bishop Elias G. Galvan, Bob was appointed Seattle District Superintendent until his election to the episcopacy in July of 2004 by the Western Jurisdictional Conference. Upon election to the episcopacy, he was assigned to the Portland Area (2004-2012), and in 2012 was assigned to the Phoenix Area (Desert Southwest Conference) then reassigned in 2016. Bob has served as a member of the World Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, and as a board member of the General Council on Ministries for two quadrennia. His general church assignments have included the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (2004-2008); and the General Board of Church and Society (2008-2012, president 2012-2016). Currently he serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Claremont School of Theology. Bob and his wife, Greta were married in 1974 and have three adult children.

Retired

Philippines

Hee-Soo Jung

Active

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Wisconsin Episcopal Area

Bishop Hee-soo Jung was elected to the episcopacy in 2004 by the North Central Jurisdiction. ------------------------ Bishop Jung is the resident bishop in the Wisconsin Annual Conference and has served in this role since September of 2012. He played a key role in Wisconsin’s Imagine No Malaria Campaign, which raised more than $1 million. Prior to leading the Wisconsin Conference UMC, Bishop Jung served eight years as bishop of the Northern Illinois Conference (Chicago area). He was instrumental in inspiring the Harvest 2020 movement in Northern Illinois, which resulted in many new faith communities. Previously, Bishop Jung served as an elder in the Wisconsin Conference, where he was a pastor and a district superintendent. Bishop Jung taught and chaired the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Kangnam University in South Korea. He also served as pastor of congregations in California, Texas, and South Korea. He is currently the president of the General Board of Global Ministry, chair of the UM Korean National Plan, and a member of the Board of Directors for Bread for the World. Bishop Jung serves as a member of the Ecumenical Forum for Korea at Geneva, Switzerland, and is actively involved in Korea peace and reconciliation. He has served as faculty for the Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation since 2005, and has taught in various Five-Day Academy sessions in the U.S. and abroad. Previously, Bishop Jung served as president of United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), and as a member of the Board of Directors for the General Board of Discipleship, the UM National Hispanic Plan, the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, and the General Commission on United Methodist Men.   Bishop Jung earned a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also holds an M.A. from the Institute of Buddhist Studies, affiliated with the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA; an M.A. from the Dongguk University Graduate School in Seoul, South Korea; and a B.Th. from the Methodist Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. Im-Hyon, Bishop Jung’s wife, is an elder in the Wisconsin Conference and currently serves as the director of International Relations, Asia & Global Programs, for the Upper Room/Discipleship Ministries. The Jung’s are the parents of two adult sons, Jae-Hugh and Jae-Joon, who is married to Brittney.

Benjamin Justo

Retired

Philippines

Bishop Benjamin A. Justo is a retired bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 2000-2008.  ------------------------ Bishop Justo was born in the Philippines, and is married to Elizabeth Justo, and together they have two children: Karl Barth and Nympha. He received the following degrees: Secretarial Science; Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Divinity, Union Theological Seminary, Cavite; Master of Theology, Southeast Asia Graduate School of Theology; Doctor of Ministry, Union Theological Seminary, Cavite; and Doctor of Education (candidate) De La Salle University, Manila. He was a local pastor for 12 years, Cagayan de Oro, Malaybalay, Bukidnon, Bayombong and Solano, Nueva Vizcaya Chaplain, Children's Garden, Taytay, Rizal College Director/President, Aldersgate College, Solano, Nueva Vi zcaya District Superintendent (6 years) in South Isabela, Nueva Vizcay a, and Quirino Dean of Academic Affairs (8 years), UTS, Cavite Faculty member, UTS, Cavite Part-time Professor, Graduate School of Education, PCU, Cavite Exchange Pastor, Tarzana, CA, USA, 1997 President, Methodist Youth Fellowship, Mindanao, 1959-1961; Member, Evangelistic Team, NVQIW, UMC, 1971-1978 Principal Delegate to the Philippines Central Conference, 1972- 2000. In addition, he serves or has served as Chairman, NPAC Board of Discipleship 1974-1978; Member, Board of Trustees, Eveland College, Isabela 1981-1984; Vice Chairman, Board of Education 1984; Principal Delegate to the General Conference, 1984; Member, PCC Coordinating Council, 1984-1988; Member, Connectional Process Team, General Conference, 1996-2000; Chaplain for 5 years, Magat Lodge 68 F&AM, 1971; Chair, Board of Trustees, Quirino Province Livelihood and Development Center, Inc, 1984-88; Chair, Board of Trustees, Nueva Vizcaya Rural, Socio-Economic and Religious Life, Inc., 1985-87; Vice-Chair, Northern Luzon Ecumenical Council, 1985-87; Coordinator, South East Asia Graduate School of Theology, Philippine Area, 1990-96; Member, Philippine Theological Society, 1988-2000; Affiliate Member-Officer, PCCL University Church, Dasmarinas, Cavite, 1990-2000. Benjamin A. Justo was elected to the episcopacy from the Northeast Philippines Annual Conference on the 7th Ballot, Dec. 16, 2000, during the 2000 PCC Session. He was assigned to serve the Baguio Episcopal Area, and served there until his retirement in 2008.

Charlene Kammerer

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Charlene Payne Kammerer is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1996- 2012. ------------------------ Bishop Kammerer was born in Orlando, Florida and grew up in Winter Garden where her home church was First United Methodist. She graduated from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, with a B.A. degree in Religion and philosophy. She continued her preparation for Christian ministry by obtaining the Master of Christian Education and Master of Divinity degrees from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. She was ordained deacon and elder in the Florida Conference. She received a Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Charlene P. Kammerer was elected to the episcopacy in 1996, and assigned to the Western North Carolina Conference of the Charlotte Area. She served there until 2004, when she was assigned to the Virginia Conference. Charlene's service in the church has included equal years in parish ministries and connectional ministries, including service as a campus minister at Duke University and a District Superintendent of the Tallahassee District, Florida Conference. Her long-time interests in ministry include higher education, mission involvement, and the spirituality of administration. She has served as a director of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women and as director of the General Board of Global Ministries, including Chairperson of the United Methodist Committee on Relief from 1992-1996. She has received the Outstanding Alumnae Award from both Wesleyan College and Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Bethune-Cookman College, Daytona Beach, Florida in 1989. She has led Disciple Bible study groups, retreats and taught in Schools of Mission. Charlene was married to Leigh Kammerer on August 29, 1970. They have one son, Christopher Hal. Charlene and Leigh have been partners in ministry since being students together at seminary.

Owan Kasap

Active

Africa

Congo Central Conference

Southern Congo Episcopal Area

Kainda Katembo

Retired

Africa

Congo Central Conference

Jonathan Keaton

Retired

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1996-2016. ------------------------ He was assigned to serve as episcopal leader of the Illinois Area of the United Methodist Church September 1, 2012 until he retired. From 2004-2012, he served as the resident bishop of the Michigan Area, which includes the Detroit and West Michigan Conferences. Prior to Michigan he served as the resident bishop of the Ohio East Area for eight years. Bishop Keaton was elected to the Episcopacy in 1996 after serving as the district superintendent of the Aurora District in the Northern Illinois Annual Conference. Prior to that, he was an Associate Council Director in Northern Illinois. Bishop Keaton also served two churches: Broadway UMC in Rockford, Ill. and St. Luke UMC in Chicago, Ill. Bishop Keaton was elected to three General Conference delegations with the Northern Illinois Conference. Bishop Keaton has served as a member of the General Council on Ministries from 1988-1996; the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry from 2009-2012. Bishop Keaton chaired the denominational initiative, Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century (SBC-21) from 1996-2008.  Bishop Keaton is serving as a member of the Council of Bishop’s Leadership Team on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations. Bishop Keaton graduated with a Master of Divinity Studies from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary where he later received a Doctorate in Sacred Theology. Bishop Keaton received his Bachelor of Science in Biology degree from Philander Smith College. Bishop Keaton has co-authored two books, “The Confessions of Three Ebony Bishops" with Bishop Edsel A. Ammons and Bishop Ernest S. Lyght and “Our Father, Where Are the Fathers?” with Bishop Ernest S. Lyght. Bishop Keaton and his wife, Beverly, have been blessed with three children: Jonathan II and his wife Lisa reside in Illinois with the Bishop and Mrs. Keaton’s two granddaughters, Maliah and Amara.

Eduard Khegay

Active

Europe

Northern Europe and Eurasia Central Conference

Eurasia Episcopal Area

Deborah Kiesey

Retired

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 2004 to 2016. From April 2 - December 31, 2022, Bishop Kiesey was assigned as interim bishop to the Iowa Area and Dakotas-Minnesota Area (supervising the Dakotas Annual Conference). ------------------------ Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey was born in Sioux City, Iowa, to Reverend Dr. Lyle and Betty Lieder. She is the middle child of five. Her father served, and therefore she lived, in a variety of places in Iowa, including Hornick, Sioux City, Odebolt, Eagle Grove, Spencer and Mason City, where she graduated from high school. She attended Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, where she graduated with honors with a double major in Religion and Piano Performance. She was named Outstanding Alumna of the Year for Morningside College. Deb first felt a call to the ordained ministry while a student at Boston University School of Theology and she earned her Master of Divinity degree there. Upon ordination, she served the following Iowa churches: Richland/Ollie, Washington, Mt. Pleasant, and Iowa City. In 2001 she was appointed to the Waterloo District and served there until her election to the episcopacy in 2004 by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference and appointed to the Dakotas Area. Deb has been a delegate to General Conference since 1988 and was the first elected clergy from the Iowa Conference in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004. Throughout her ministry she has had the privilege of serving on a wide range of committees and boards, including the Board of Trustees for Iowa Wesleyan College, Morningside College and Dakota Wesleyan University. After serving 8 years in the Dakotas Area, she was assigned to the Michigan Area in July 2012 until her retirement. She was married to D. Bradley Kiesey, an attorney from Washington, Iowa who passed in 2021. They were blessed with two adult sons, Joel and Aaron.

James King

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Walter Klaiber

Retired

Europe

Bishop Walter Klaiber is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1989-2005. ------------------------ Walter Klaiber was born in Ulm, Germany. Having studied Protestant Theology at the Theological Seminary in Reutlingen and the Universities of Göttingen and Tübingen, he graduated and served as the pastor of an Evangelical United Brethren congregation in Nürnberg. He was ordained into the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1966. Form 1969-1971, he was Assistant Lecturer in New Testament with Professor Dr. Ernst Käsemann; from 1971-1989 he held the position of Lecturer in New Testament Studies and Greek at Reutlingen United Methodist Theological Seminary. He continued his studies, earning the Doctor of Theology degree from the University of Tübingen in 1971; his doctoral dissertation was published in German under the title: Rechtfertigung und Gemeinde (Justification and the Church), 1982. In the years 1977-1989 he was Dean of the United Methodist Theological Seminary at Reutlingen. He was elected Bishop of the United Methodist Church in 1989 and was assigned to the Germany Central conference (then West Germany). After the Reunification of the separated Central Conferences in East and West Germany in 1992 he was elected Bishop for the whole area. Walter Klaiber retired April 2005 as an active bishop of the church, but he still serves as the Chair of the Council of Christian Churches in Germany and as President of the German Bible Society. From 2001 till 2006 he has been one of the Presidents of the World Methodist Council. He has written several books; published in English are: Embraced by the Spirit (out of print); Call and Response. Biblical Foundations of a Theology of Evangelism (Abingdon 1997); and together with Manfred Marquardt: Living Grace. Outline of a Theology of The United Methodist Church (Abingdon 2002).His newest book in English is Justified before God (Abingdon 2006 forthcoming). His latest publication in German is a book on Genesis 1-11 and the implications of the biblical account of the Creation and the first phase of the history of humankind on our present understanding of God, nature and human beings (Schöpfung, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2005). He was married to Annegret Klaiber, M.D. who passed on July 23, 2022. From that union, they had three sons and four grandchildren.

Active

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Mississippi Episcopal Area

Bishop Sharma D. Lewis, resident bishop of The Mississippi Episcopal area, comes to Mississippi after having served the past six years in the Richmond area of the Virginia Annual Conference.  She was assigned to The Mississippi Annual Conference by the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference’s Committee on Episcopacy in November 2022. Her assignment in Mississippi began January 1, 2023.  Bishop Lewis was the first African American woman to be elected bishop in the Southeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church in 2016. Prior to her election in 2016, she held a distinguished record of service in the North Georgia Conference including her appointment as district superintendent of the Atlanta-Decatur-Oxford District in 2010. In 2007, Bishop Lewis’ remarkable pastoral leadership at Wesley Chapel, a three-year tenure, led to over 600 new and restored members and worship attendance doubled. While there, her visibility as a strong spiritual and pastoral leader propelled her into numerous leadership roles in the local community, including Hands on Henry County and Many Hearts, Many Hands McDonough. Her ministry here culminated as she received the Harry Denman Award for Evangelism in 2010 as well as the G. Ross Freeman Leadership Award. Prior to these roles, Bishop Lewis was appointed in 1999 as the associate (and subsequently senior associate) pastor of the 8,000-member Ben Hill United Methodist Church in Atlanta and as senior pastor of the Powers Ferry UMC, a cross-racial assignment in Marietta, Ga. Bishop Lewis has offered her gifts to The United Methodist Church in a variety of ways. She is currently the Vice and Personnel Chair of the Gammon Theological Seminary Board of Trustees. She is a member of the Black Clergywomen and Black Methodist for Church Renewal (BMCR) of The United Methodist Church. Bishop Lewis has also been appointed as the liaison to the Interagency Sexual Ethics Task Force (IASETF), a taskforce of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women. She served on the Board of Governors for Wesley Theological Seminary and as ex-officio of the five United Methodist colleges in the Virginia Conference. She is also a member of the Southeastern Jurisdiction (SEJ) Committee on Coordination and Accountability (CCA) and a member of the Study Commission Ministry (GBHEM). Bishop Lewis currently serves on the Board for the International Foundation for Ewha Womans University, Inc. Bishop Lewis served on and is a past member of the World Methodist Evangelism Committee (WME). The North Georgia Annual Conference honored Bishop Lewis by electing her as the first African American female to lead the delegation to the 2012 General and Jurisdictional Conferences. In 2015, she was once again voted to lead the delegation to the 2016 General and Jurisdictional Conferences. Bishop Lewis was born and raised in Statesboro, Ga. in a loving Methodist family where individuals have answered God’s call to serve the church and to minister to God’s people. A graduate of Mercer University (B.S., Biology, 1985), the University of West Georgia (M.S., Biology, 1988) and Gammon Theological Seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center (M.Div., 1999), Bishop Lewis worked as a research biologist and chemist prior to surrendering to God’s call upon her life. She has led mission experiences to Jamaica, Kenya and the Philippines. Bishop Lewis is the recipient of the Wesleyan Theological Society Award and the Scouting Silver Torch Award. She is the recipient of the 2014 Gammon Theological Seminary Distinguished Alumna and Trailblazer Award given by The National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inc., Metropolitan Atlanta Chapter. Bishop Lewis is a member of the Atlanta Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She has received the Delta Sigma Theta Pinnacle and Torch Award. She is the author of Journey to Transformation, (Lenten Study), and Struggle to the Cross, (Lenten Study).

William Lewis

Retired

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Bishop William Bryant Lewis is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1988-1996. -------------------- William Bryant Lewis was born in Pinckneyville, Illinois, the third child of Harmon Eracie Lewis. Sr., and Ethel Brown Lewis. The family moved to Carterville, Illinois, and Bill grew up and attended public schools there, except for a WWII interlude when his father followed the defense industry and the family lived for a while in Metropolis, Illinois, and Knoxville, Tennessee. Graduating from Carterville Community High School, he responded to a call to the ministry and entered Southern Illinois University. After receiving an A.B. degree from SIU he attended Perkins School of Theology and Vanderbilt Divinity School for two quarters each, then completed his M.Div. at Drew Theological School. Following a year of graduate study at Drew, Bill returned to the Southern Illinois Conference and was appointed to the Vienna Methodist Church. During the next two years he continued his graduate studies at Vanderbilt University and completed his Ph.D. there. During the years at Vienna a Larger Parish was developed under Bill's direction that encompassed a two-county area and included 26 churches. Following pastorates at Murphysboro and Edwardsville of six and eleven years respectively, Bill served a term as Superintendent of the Carbondale District. In 1986 he was appointed Pastor of Union United Methodist Church, Belleville, Illinois, from which he was elected to the episcopacy by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference in 1988. He was assigned to the Dakotas area and served there until his retirement in 1996. Janet Mae Dean and Bill Lewis were married in Carterville, Illinois on December 23, 1951. Their three children, Becky, Connie, and Brad, are married and all three families live in Edwardsville, Illinois, where Bill and Janet now make their home in retirement. There are seven grandchildren.

Richard Looney

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Daniel Lunge

Active

Africa

Congo Central Conference

Central Congo Episcopal Area

Ernest Lyght

Retired

United States

Northeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Ernest Lyght is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1996-2012. ------------------------ The son of William and Attrue Lyght, he was born in Salisbury, Maryland. He received the B.A. degree in history from Morgan State University and the M.Div. degree from Drew University. Princeton Theological Seminary awarded him the Th. M. degree and the D.Min. degree. Bloomfield College (Bloomfield, NJ) awarded him an honorary doctorate degree, as did Centenary College (Hackettstown, NJ) in 1996. The Peninsula-Delaware Conference ordained Ernest deacon and elder. He later transferred to the Southern New Jersey Conference, where he served three pastoral appointments: St. Mary Street Union Parish, Burlington, NJ; The Church of The Good shepherd, Willingboro, NJ; Old Orchards UMC, Cherry Hill, NJ. He then transferred to the former Northern New Jersey Conference and served for ten years as pastor of The St. Mark's UMC, Montclair, NJ. This pastorate was followed by a seven-year term as District Superintendent of the Raritan District. He served as a Jurisdictional Conference delegate in 1976 and a General Conference delegate in 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996. He has served on a variety of conference, community and general church agencies/boards, including the General Board of Church and Society (1984-1992) and the General Board of Global Ministries (1992-1996). He served as a Drew University Trustee from 1983 to 2004, when he was elected as a trustee emeritus. Bishop Lyght was elected to the episcopacy in 1996 and assigned him to the New York Area. In 2004 he was assigned to the West Virginia Area until his retirement. Ernest served as president of the United Methodist Men's Commission during the 2000-2004 quadrennium and served as a member of the General Council on Finance and Administration. He also served a second two-year term as secretary of the Council of Bishops. Ernest and Eleanor Bell Lyght have two sons, Eric and Erwyn, and two grandchildren, Corinne and Shawn. Publications: <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=1054780&rank=1&txtSearchQuery=Ernest+S.+Lyght" target="_blank">Our Father</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=1078194&rank=2&txtSearchQuery=Ernest+S.+Lyght" target="_blank">Our Father - eBook [ePub]</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=446147&rank=3&txtSearchQuery=Ernest+S.+Lyght" target="_blank">Many Faces, One Church</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=667101&rank=4&txtSearchQuery=Ernest+S.+Lyght" target="_blank">The Confessions of Three Ebony Bishops</a>

João Somane Machado

Retired

Africa

Tracy Smith Malone

Active

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Ohio East Episcopal Area

Bishop Tracy S. Malone was elected to the episcopacy in 2016. She is the Resident Bishop of the Ohio East Area, which includes the East Ohio Conference in the North Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church.  In addition to her episcopal assignment: 2020 - COB Secretary, two-year term  2022 - COB President-Designate as of April 29, 2022, two-year term    ------------------------ Bishop Tracy S. Malone was district superintendent of the Chicago Southern Region and was dean of the Northern Illinois Conference Cabinet when she was elected to the Episcopacy in 2016.  Prior to that appointment, Malone served several different churches, the last of which was Gary United Methodist Church in Wheaton, Illinois, where she was senior pastor.  She currently serves as president of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women and is a member of the Board of Trustees at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.  As resident bishop, she also serves on the Boards of Trustees at our United Methodist-affiliated colleges, seminaries and organizations in East Ohio. Malone was elected to represent the Northern Illinois Conference as a delegate at General/Jurisdictional Conferences in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016.  She was chairperson of the delegation in 2012 and served as chairperson of the Agenda and Calendar Committee in 2016. During her ministry, Malone has taught courses as an adjunct professor at Aurora University and at Northern Baptist Seminary in Lombard, Illinois.  She has also published articles, blogs, and book reviews, and has written chapters for several books.  Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Malone is the daughter of the late Rev. Willie and the late April Smith. She received her call to ministry at the early age of 13.  Malone earned a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies and Sociology, with a minor in Computer Science, from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. She has a Master of Divinity degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Malone earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.  She and her husband Derrick Malone are the parents of two daughters.

Joel Martinez

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Joel Martinez is a retired Bishop of the United Methodist Church, having served from 1992-2008. ------------------------ Joel is the grandson of sharecropper farmers who came to the U. S. at the turn of the century. He was born in Seguin, TX, to Guadalupe and Dora Martinez. He graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a B.A. in history. While in El Paso, he met Raquel Mora, a Methodist pastor's daughter. They married on June 9, 1961, and Joel enrolled in Perkins School of Theology in the fall of 1961. Ordained deacon and elder by Bishop Paul E. Martin, Joel held membership in the Rio Grande Conference until his election to the episcopacy in 1992. Pastoral appointments were in Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso. He served as Director of Planning and Development at Newark Houchen Center in El Paso and later, Executive Secretary, Office of Ethnic and Language Ministries, National Division, GBGM. Joel served as district superintendent in the Rio Grande Conference and as President of the Greater Dallas Community of Churches. He was a delegate to the Seventh Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Canberra, Australia, 1991. From early exposure to the plight of farm workers, and in student ministry to migrant workers, Joel learned to appreciate the urgent need for poor people to organize in order to participate more equitably in society. He worked with Cesar Chavez during the 1970's, worked to establish the first federally funded health clinic for the poor in El Paso, was a founding member of the National Hispanic Caucus in the UMC in 1970, and supported the organizing of poor fishermen on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico in the late 1970's. Joel worked on the initial proposals to the 1976 General Conference for a Missional Priority on the Ethnic Minority Local Church. He chaired the National Missional Priority Coordinating Committee in 1984-88. He chaired the National Plan for Hispanic Ministries National Committee (1992-2000). From 1992-2000 Joel was assigned to the Nebraska Episcopal Area. In 2000 he was re-assigned to the San Antonio Area where he served until his retirement in 2008.. He served as President of the General Board of Global Ministries for 2000-2008, and as the Interim General Secretary in 2009-2010. Joel is interested in fostering closer relationships between the UMC and the churches in Latin America and the Caribbean. He reads and writes church history with an emphasis on the contributions of Hispanics to the ecumenical church. He enjoys reading, playing golf, and spectator sports - especially track, baseball and football. In 1995 Joel was honored with the Perkins Distinguished Alumni Award. Raquel and Joel have three children: Patty, John and spouse Carol, and Rebecca.

Marcus Matthews

Retired

United States

Northeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Marcus Matthews is a retired bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 2004-2016. Bishop Matthews is a former Executive Secretary of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church (UMC), a position he held from September 1, 2016 to August 2020.  Previously, Bishop Matthews served as the Resident Bishop of the Baltimore-Washington Conference from 2012-2016. <h4>------------------------ Early life</h4> Bishop Matthews was born in Florence, South Carolina. His home church, Cumberland UMC, had a pivotal influence on his life. At Cumberland, he was one of the community developers in the first wave of the Black Community Developers program of the General Board of Global Ministries. In 1970, he was selected by the Ford Foundation's Leadership Development Program to conduct a year-long study of religious institutions such as the Delta Project in Mississippi; the General Commission on Religion and Race, and to do research on a project with juveniles in Syracuse, NY. <h4>Education and Ordination</h4> Bishop Matthews holds a bachelor's degree from South Carolina State College (1968); a master of divinity (MDiv) from Wesley Theological Seminary (1974); and a doctor of ministry (DMin) from New York Theological Seminary (1981).  He was ordained as a deacon by Bishop Paul Hardin, Jr. and he was ordained as an elder by Bishop James K. Matthew in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. <h4>Ordained Ministry</h4> At the beginning of his pastoral ministry, Matthews served as a student intern at Douglas Memorial UMC in Washington, D.C., for a year. He became an assistant pastor at Asbury UMC in Washington, where he continued as an associate for two years after his graduation from Wesley. Upon graduation, he served as pastor of Jones Memorial UMC in Washington, DC, (1976-1982) where he oversaw the building of a new sanctuary and established a community development program. He was pastor of Epworth Chapel UMC in Baltimore, from 1982 to 1986, when, during his pastorate, Epworth received 272 new members. <h4>Superintendency</h4> In 1986, Rev. Matthews was appointed District Superintendent of the Baltimore East District and in 1991 was appointed Conference Council Director, a position he held until being appointed Washington West District Superintendent in 1999. He was serving in that position when he was elected. <h4>Episcopacy</h4> Rev. Matthews was elected as a bishop of The United Methodist Church on July 14, 2004, by the Northeastern Jurisdiction on the first ballot.  He was assigned to serve the Philadelphia Episcopal Area (Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and Peninsula-Delaware Conference). In 2008, he was assigned to the New York West Area (Western New York Conference and North Central Conference). In 2010, he became the resident bishop of the Upper New York Area (and a new conference uniting four former conferences; Western New York, North Central, Troy, and Wyoming).  In 2012, he was assigned to the Washington Area (Baltimore-Washington Conference), where he served until his retirement in 2016. During his ministry, Bishop Matthews served on the General Commission on Religion and Race, the General Board of Global Ministries, Connection Process Team, the General Council on Ministries, Africa University Development Committee, World Methodist Council Executive Committee, and the Board of the Northeastern Jurisdiction Multi-Ethnic Center for Ministry. In 2004 he was elected Co-Chair of the Endorsing Committee of The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the UMC. He served as president of the GBHEM from 2008-2012. He was elected in 2005 to the Board of Directors of Africa University and he is currently the chair of the Board. <h4>Family</h4> Bishop Matthews is married to Barbara Walker Matthews and they have two children, Jaime S. Matthews and Marci Matthews, and five grandchildren. His interests include movies, reading, jogging, and playing with his grandchildren.

William Bill McAlilly

Active

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Nashville Episcopal Area

William T. (Bill) McAlilly is the bishop of the Nashville Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church. The Area includes the Memphis and Tennessee Conferences that cover middle and west Tennessee and western Kentucky. He was elected to the episcopacy at the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference in 2012 and was assigned as the resident bishop of the Memphis and Tennessee Annual Conferences beginning September 1, 2012.  ------------------------ A native of Mississippi, Bishop McAlilly earned a Bachelor of Arts in Religion, Millsaps College, Jackson, MS (1978) and a Masters of Divinity, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA (1981). He was ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church in 1979 and ordained elder in 1982. In the spring of 2017, Bishop McAlilly received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Rust College in Holly Springs, MS. McAlilly has served in a wide variety of ministry settings in Georgia and Mississippi–a small membership church, a new congregation, a county seat church, a newly organized congregation, and a large membership congregation. Likewise, he has served in a variety of roles including youth minister, associate minister, and lead pastor.   In 2006, he was appointed to serve as the District Superintendent of the Seashore District of the Mississippi Conference in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and worked closely with Disaster Response and United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).  He served in many capacities in the Mississippi Annual Conference including the Board of Directors of United Methodist Senior Services, Millsaps College, Mississippi Methodist Foundation; Board of Ordained Ministry; Design Team for the Residency in Ministry Program; and Development of the Transitions Seminar for Moving Pastors.  He has been a delegate to four Jurisdictional Conferences and three General Conferences. For the 2017-2020 quadrennium, Bishop McAlilly currently serves on the Connectional Table as president on the Board of Directors for the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM). He also is Co-Chair of the Endorsing Committee. He also serves on the Council of Bishops’ Leadership Teams on Leadership Development and on Leadership Discernment. In addition, he will serve on the Just Peace Board of Directors for this quadrennium, and as Chair of the Quadrennial Orientation for New Bishops Committee. He served as president of the Southeastern Jurisdiction College of Bishops in 2016-17 and continues to serve on the Southeastern Jurisdiction Committee on Coordination & Accountability. Bishop McAlilly currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Emory University, Atlanta, GA; the Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare Board, Memphis, TN; and the Board of Trustees of Martin College, Pulaski, TN. Compassion for the least and last has been at the heart of his emphasis on missions throughout his ministry—locally in the communities in which he has served and globally in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Democratic Republic of Congo.  Bishop McAlilly has a pastor’s heart with a vision for the reign of God. A lover of books, music, and movies, Bishop McAlilly also enjoys golf. He and his wife Lynn have been married since 1978. They have two married adult children: Chris McAlilly and Laura McAlilly Paulk, and five grandchildren.

Lawrence McCleskey

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Lawrence J. McCleskey is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1996-2008. ----------------------- Born in Atlanta, Georgia and reared there and in Tampa, Florida, Lawrence McCleskey is a graduate of Duke University (A.B.), Duke Divinity School (B.D.), and Princeton Theological Seminary (D.Min.). He was a delegate to both the Southeastern Jurisdictional and the General Conferences in 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996. He served from 1988-1996 as a member of the Division of Ordained Ministry of the Board of Higher Education and Ministry, and he chaired the Division of Ordained Ministry from 1992-1996. He was a member of the General Commission on Archives and History from 1996-2004, and he served as President from 2000-2004. He currently serves as Chair of the Division of Higher Education of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. He is a trustee of Duke University. J. Lawrence McCleskey was elected to the episcopacy in July 1996 and assigned to the Columbia Area (South Carolina Conference). Prior to his election, he served for thirty-three years as a member of the Western North Carolina Conference, where he was appointed to churches with memberships from 35 to 3700 members. He served six years as Superintendent of the Winston-Salem District, and at the time of his election he was Senior Minister of the Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte. In 2004, he was assigned to the Charlotte Area (Western North Carolina Conference) where he served until his retirement in 2008. Lawrence and Margaret Fowler McCleskey have three children: James is Director of the Washington, DC, Office of the Governor of North Carolina. Sarah is Director of Access Services for the Hofstra University Library in New York. Matthew is an on-air host and producer with WAMU, the National Public Radio affiliate at American University in Washington, DC.

Calvin McConnell

Retired

United States

Western Jurisdiction

Bishop Calvin McConnell is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1980-1996. ------------------------ Cal McConnell was born in Monte Vista, Colorado. His academic preparation for ministry included the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology, with a post-graduate Master of Sacred Theology degree from Andover Newton Theological School. Bishop Glen R. Phillips ordained him deacon and elder in the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference. He later transferred to the California-Nevada Conference and served in Williams, CA, and later as minister to youth at First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto and as Director of the Wesley Foundation at Stanford University. Subsequently, he transferred to the Oregon-Idaho Conference, serving as University Chaplain and Assistant Professor of Religion at Willamette University, before returning to his home conference and serving churches in Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs. He was a General Conference delegate in 1976 and 1980. For 34 years Cal McConnell was married to Dr. Mary McConnell who died in 1986; their family includes two sons, their two spouses and three grandchildren. Cal and Velma Duell were married in December of 1988. The Western Jurisdiction elected Calvin McConnell to the episcopacy in 1980 and assigned him to the Portland Area. In 1988 he was assigned to the Seattle Area. In his active episcopacy he served as President of The Upper Room, and was on the organizing Advisory Board of the Academy for Spiritual Formation, and a member of the editorial board of WEAVINGS: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life. He is past President of the General Commission on Religion and Race, and of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. He served as a trustee of Willamette University, the University of Puget Sound and the Iliff School of Theology. In 1992 he was named by Iliff as its fifth Distinguished Alumnus. He also holds honorary degrees from Rust College and University of Puget Sound. In retirement he was a founding member of the ecumenical extension seminary, Northwest House of Theological Studies in Salem, Oregon, where he taught for two years in the area of the formation and practice of spirituality. He retired from the episcopacy in 1996.

Michael McKee

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Michael McKee was elected to the episcopacy in 2012 and served as the resident bishop of the Dallas Area, which includes the North Texas Conference in the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. He retired on January 1, 2023.  ------------------------ Bishop McKee is a native of Fort Worth, Texas. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin (1973), a Master of Theology from Perkins School of Theology of Southern Methodist University (1978) and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Texas Wesleyan University (2005). He also was honored with the Perkins Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2017. He was ordained deacon in 1975 and ordained elder in 1979 in the Central Texas Annual Conference, where he served several churches, including 15 years as the senior pastor of First UMC, Hurst. He has held numerous offices including chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry and the Mid-Cities District Committee of Ordained Ministry. He was a delegate to three Jurisdictional Conferences and two General Conferences. In 2012, McKee was elected to the episcopacy by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference and assigned to serve as the resident bishop of the Dallas Area effective September 1. McKee is the immediate past-president of the South Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops. He is president of the Board of the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) of the UMC. He serves on the Boards of Trustees of Southern Methodist University, Texas Methodist Foundation, Southwestern University and Methodist Health System, Dallas. He is chair of the Executive Board of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. Mike and Joan (Craig) McKee have been married since 1975 and have two children: Erin, who lives with her husband, Darin, and sons, Knox and Ford, in California; and Meredith, who lives in Dallas. --- Spouse: Joan (Craig) McKee Children: Erin McKee, Chidsey Meredith McKee Education and Honors: Texas Wesleyan University, Doctor of Divinity, 2005 Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Master of Theology, 1978 The University of Texas at Austin, Bachelor of Arts, 1973 Ministry: Assigned to Dallas Area (North Texas Conference), effective Sept. 1, 2012 Senior Pastor, First United Methodist Church, Hurst, Texas, 1997 Present Pastor, Overton Park United Methodist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, 1992-97 Pastor, Meadowbrook United Methodist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, 1987-92 Pastor, First United Methodist Church, Joshua, Texas, 1982-87 Associate Minister, First United Methodist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, 1976-82 Associate Minister, Richland Hills United Methodist Church, 1973-76 Ordained Elder, Central Texas Conference, 1979 Ordained Deacon, Central Texas Conference, 1975 Membership: Central Texas Annual Conference Other: Delegate, General Conference, 2012, 2008, 2004 (alternate) Delegate, South Central Jurisdictional Conference, 2012, 2008, 2004 Director, General Board of Church and Society Chairperson, Texas Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, 2004 Present Chairperson, MidCities District Committee on Ordained Ministry, 2001-2011 Chairperson, Conference Camps and Assemblies Committee, 1992-2000 Member, Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, 1984-1992; Secretary, 1988-1992 Trustee, Glen Lake Camp Campus Ministry Committee Southern Methodist University Texas Methodist Foundation, Board Member, 1995-Present; Investment Committee, 1995-2000; Executive Committee, 2003 present; Board Chair, 2005-2006; Loan Committee, 2004-Present; Chair, Development/Stewardship Committee, 2002 and 2003; Chair, Long Range Planning, 2008-Present; Member, Clergy Leadership Initiative, 2010 Board of Trustees, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas; Member, Executive Committee; Chairperson, Facilities Planning Committee; Board of Trustees, Harris Methodist Health Systems; Chairperson, Pastoral Care Committee; Chairperson, Executive Board, Perkins School of Theology; Co-Chair, Campaign Steering Committee; Past Chairperson, Perkins Alumni Council Past President, Board of Directors, Women's Haven of Tarrant County Past Chairperson, Advisory Board and Member of Steering Committee, More Than Houses Campaign, Habitat for Humanity Founders Award, Trinity Area Habitat for Humanity, 2007 Bishop's Award in Preaching, Central Texas Annual Conference, 2010

Laura Merrill

Active

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Arkansas Episcopal Area

Rev. Laura Merrill was elected as a bishop by the South Central Jurisdiction on November 2, 2022.  --------------------------------------------------------- Early Life Bishop Merrill was born in San Antonio, Texas. Her father, Rev. J. Charles Merrill, and maternal grandfather were both Methodist pastors, and she grew up deeply affirmed by the local churches they served. As a young adult, she was selected for the 3-year Mission Intern Program (MIP) of the General Board of Global Ministries. She served at the Centro Ecuménico de Misión Urbana-Rural de la Iglesia, in Concepción, Chile, during the final days of the Pinochet dictatorship. Her U.S. assignment was with the Desert Southwest Conference Border Ministry in Tucson, Arizona, where she continued as a National Division missionary following the MIP.   Education and Ordination Bishop Merrill earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984 from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Following her time in Chile and Tucson, she attended Candler School of Theology at Emory University and in 1995 earned the Master of Divinity degree. She was ordained deacon in 1996 and elder in 1999 by Bishop Ray Owen in the Southwest Texas Conference.   Ordained Ministry Merrill’s local church appointments in the Southwest Texas Conference began in 1997 and included five years as associate at First UMC Victoria, two years at Los Fresnos UMC, and six years as senior pastor of Wimberley UMC. During this time, she grew in her love of the liturgical life of the congregation.   Superintendency In 2010, Merrill was appointed to the Cabinet and assigned as superintendent of the McAllen District, along the Texas-Mexico border. She worked to build relationships between churches and clergy in her district and those of the Rio Grande Conference (RGC), which shared many of the same communities. She served a brief time as superintendent of the Southern District of the RGC and was instrumental in the 2015 unification of the two conferences, resulting in the new Rio Texas Conference. In 2016, Merrill was appointed to the position of Executive Director of the Mission Vitality Center for Rio Texas, following the election of Ruben Saenz to the episcopacy. Ten months later, Bishop Robert Schnase appointed her as Assistant to the Bishop and Director of Clergy Excellence. Finally, in July 2021, Merrill was once again appointed as district superintendent, this time of the Capital District, in Austin.   Episcopacy At the November 2022 South Central Jurisdictional Conference, Merrill was elected to the episcopacy on the first ballot, along with Dee Williamston and David Wilson. The vote was historic, electing the first Black woman bishop in the SCJ, two women for the first time in the SCJ, and a Native American for the first time in the denomination. Bishop Merrill was assigned to serve the Arkansas Conference, beginning January 1, 2023.   Connection Before her election, Bishop Merrill served two quadrennia on the committees that developed and implemented the National Plan for Hispanic Ministry. She also served as a member of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, and the Commission on General Conference. She served as a jurisdictional reserve delegate in 2008 and as first-elected clergy delegate to General Conference in 2012, 2016, and 2020.   Family Bishop Merrill is mother to Joe Sisto, a graduate student at Boston University, and Caroline Sisto, an undergraduate at Texas State University. Merrill enjoys the theater, live music, travel, thrift shops, time with her kids, and walks with her curious dog.

Jane Middleton

Retired

United States

Northeastern Jurisdiction

Carlton Minnick

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Carlton Printess Minnick is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1980-1996. In 1993, he became the President of the Council of Bishops to serve a one-year term. ------------------------ Carlton Printess Minnick was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, but at an early age his family moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he attended the public schools. After a year in the School of Engineering at the University of Virginia and a year of marine engineering at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, he was employed as an engineer for an electric power company in Lynchburg. At the age of 23 he felt called by God to the ordained ministry and set out to complete his education. He earned the B.A. degree, cum laude, from Lynchburg College and the B.D. and Th.M. degrees from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He was ordained deacon and elder by Bishop Paul N. Garber and became a member of the Virginia Annual Conference. He holds honorary doctorates from Randolph-Macon College, Millsaps College, Rust College, Methodist College (Fayetteville, North Carolina) and North Carolina Wesleyan College. C.P. served two student pastorates and five full-time pastoral appointments in the Virginia Conference. While serving as Pastor of the St. James United Methodist Church in Ferrum, Virginia, he was also Chaplain and Professor of Bible at Ferrum College. He had completed two years as District Superintendent of the Alexandria District at the time of his election to the episcopacy. C. P. was elected clergy leader of the Virginia Conference delegation to the General Conferences of 1976 and 1980. He was elected to the episcopacy at the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference in 1980. He was assigned to the Jackson Area in 1980 and was appointed to the Raleigh Area in 1984. Prior to his election he served on the General Council on Finance and Administration. He has served as an episcopal member of the General Board of Church and Society and the General Board of Global Ministries. During the 1988-1992 quadrennium he was President of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. After his retirement in 1996, C.P. served for ten years as bishop-in-residence at Duke Divinity School, retiring from that ministry April 1, 2006. Mary Ann and C. P. were married on September 5, 1946, and are the parents of four children: Ann Wheeler, married to Jay Wheeler and residing in San Diego, California; Gregory, a pastor serving in the North Carolina Annual Conference; Patte Martin, married to Thomas N. Martin and living in St. Paul, Minnesota; and Jonathan, a pastor in the North Carolina Annual conference, married to Allana Harper and living in Raleigh, North Carolina. They have seven granddaughters (Wesley, Amanda, Savannah, Allison, Harper, Micah and Molly) and two grandsons (Christopher and Jonathan).

Cynthia Moore-Koikoi

Active

Northeastern Jurisdiction

Harrisburg Episcopal Area

Pittsburgh Episcopal Area

Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi was elected as a bishop of The United Methodist Church by delegates to the 2016 Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference, meeting in Lancaster, PA. She began her assignment to lead United Methodists in Western Pennsylvania on September 1, 2016.   As of September 1, 2021, Bishop Moore-Koikoi also serves as the Interim Bishop of the Harrisburg Episcopal Area.  ------------------------ Bishop Moore-Koikoi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Loyola College in Maryland in 1988, and a Masters of Arts and advanced certification in school psychology from the University of Maryland in 1992. She worked as a school psychologist for Anne Arundel County Public Schools for 17 years, serving in leadership roles as a layperson before answering her call to the ordained ministry. She answered that call while a member of Sharp Street Memorial UMC in Baltimore, her great-grandfather’s church and the church which sent her father into ministry. Her husband of three years, the Rev. Raphael Koikoi, currently serves as pastor there. The Bishop is familiar with church life and ministry in rural, urban and suburban settings. Growing up in a preacher’s family, when she was in elementary school, her father served a rural hilltop church. Later, they moved to serve a church in suburban Silver Spring, MD, where she went to junior high and high school. Attending Wesley Seminary, she was appointed as a student pastor to “a small congregation with a proud EUB heritage in a section of East Baltimore that was experiencing change.” The congregation had to learn how to navigate that change. Later she was appointed associate pastor at Calvary UMC, a large congregation in Annapolis. Ordained an elder in 2010, she served on the Conference staff working with churches on discipleship. She later served as district superintendent for the Greater Washington Area, and most recently as superintendent of the Baltimore Metropolitan District. In that role, she played a key spiritual role in the city in 2015 during the unrest after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. She helped to organize United Methodist churches to open their doors and minister to children and families whose schools were closed, and to meet other basic needs. She became the face of the United Methodist Church, and church volunteers in red T-shirts were visible walking through neighborhoods, praying for and ministering to people. Bishop Moore-Koikoi says she sees the work of bishops as “overseeing the work of the church, working prophetically, evangelically and apostolically with all as they cooperate with the Grace of God.” A key component of that, she believes, is leaving space for the transforming movement of the Holy Spirit, especially at times when the denomination is divided and many people wonder what the future holds. “That’s spiritual work -- remembering who God is and who God has called us to be,” she said. “We got God, so we got this.” Bishop Moore-Koikoi said she sees herself as a bridge-builder, clear and confident about what she believes, while respecting others who might not believe the same way. Her vision is of a diverse church that embraces justice and the life-saving love of Christ. As a new bishop, she’s committed to work for that. It won’t be easy, she said, “but I remind myself, God has got this. God is in control.

Susan Morrison

Retired

United States

Northeastern Jurisdiction

Gary Mueller

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Gary E. Mueller was elected to the episcopacy in 2012 by the South Central Jurisdiction. He served as the resident bishop of the Arkansas Area, which includes the Arkansas Conference in the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. He retired on January 1, 2023. ----------------------- After a friend invited him to attend UMYF his sophomore year of high school, Mueller came to a point of being ready to profess his faith in Christ. His call to ministry began to emerge a few years later, while he attended the University of Kansas. He went on to receive his theological education at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, and at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He was ordained an Elder in the North Texas Conference in 1981. Mueller remained in north Texas, serving pastoral appointments at First UMC Richardson, Brewster Memorial and McKenzie Memorial UMC, First United Methodist Church Roanoke-Trophy Club-Westlake, First UMC Denton and First UMC Plano. He also served for four years as Director of Connectional Ministries for the North Texas Conference Council. Before his election to the episcopacy, he held a number of leadership roles, including delegate to the 2012 General Conference; four-time delegate to the South Central Jurisdictional Conference; chair of the North Texas Conference Ministry Center Building Committee during the design and construction of a new Conference Ministry Center; representative on the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry Task Force; and chair of the North Texas Conference Board of Ordained Ministry from 2008 until 2012. He married Karen Goodman Mueller in 2016. Together, they have four adult children and spouses, Hailey and Stephen, Nick and Carrie, Kirk and Tiffany and Jeff and Dusty, as well as two adorable granddaughters, Madeline and Claire. Bishop Mueller’s passion is leading spiritual revival that results in vital congregations that make disciples of Jesus Christ, who then make disciples equipped to transform lives, communities and the world.   ----- Education and Honors: Perkins School of Theology, Master of Divinity, 1979 University of Kansas, Bachelor's degree Ministry: Ordained Deacon, North Texas Conference, 1978 Ordained Elder, North Texas Conference, 1981 Assigned to Arkansas Area (Arkansas Conference), effective Sept. 1, 2012 Senior Pastor, First United Methodist Church, Plano, Texas, 2002-Present Senior Pastor, First United Methodist Church, Denton, Texas, 1995-2002 Director, Council on Ministries, North Texas Annual Conference, 1991-1995 Pastor, First United Methodist Church Roanoke-Trophy Club-Westlake, Texas, 1988-1991 Pastor, McKenzie Memorial United Methodist Church, 1985-1988 Pastor, Brewster Memorial United Methodist Church, 1985-1988 Executive Pastor, First United Methodist Church, Richardson, Texas, 1982-1985 Associate Pastor for Evangelism, First United Methodist Church, Richardson, Texas, 1979-1982 Membership: North Texas Annual Conference Other: Delegate, General Conference 2012 Delegate, South Central Jurisdictional Conference, 2012, 2008, 2004, 2000, 1996 (alternate) Chair, Board of Ordained Ministry, 2008-Present Chair, Task Force to present proposed constitutional amendments to the North Texas Annual Conference, 2009 Chair, North Texas Conference Ministry Center Building Committee, 2003-2007 North Texas representative, South Central Jurisdiction Mission Council (Jurisdictional Executive Committee), 2000-2008 Chair, Board of Ordained Ministry Residency Committee, 1996-2004 South Central Jurisdiction representative, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry Task Force on residency during provisional membership, 1996-2000 Member, Aldersgate Covenant, 1994-1996 Primary author of legislation adopted by General Conference 1996 defining The United Methodist Church's mission statement "to make disciples of Jesus Christ." Chair, North Texas Conference Board of Ordained Ministry residency program design committee, 1988-1999

Albert Frederick Fritz Mutti

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Albert Frederick Mutti, III is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1992-2004. ------------------------ Bishop Mutti was born in Hopkins, Missouri, the son of Albert Frederick Mutti, Jr. and Phyllis M. Turner Mutti. All his life he has been identified by the nickname, "Fritz." Fritz holds academic degrees from Central Methodist College (A.B.), Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and Saint Paul School of Theology (D. Min.). Central Methodist College and Baker University awarded him honorary doctoral degrees. He was admitted on trial in the former Missouri Conference, and was admitted to full connection in the Missouri West Conference. He was ordained deacon and an elder by Bishop Eugene Frank. Fritz served in a variety of appointments in Missouri and Indiana. He was Pastor of the Union-Star Chapel-Oak Grove circuit for two years after graduating from seminary. Moving from there to Savannah he became the founding Pastor of Crossroads Ecumenical Cooperative Parish. For eight years he was a member of the Missouri West Conference staff serving as Director of Education and Camping and as Conference Council Director. In 1982 he was appointed Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church, Blue Springs. Bishop W.T. Handy, Jr., appointed him to the Central District in 1987 and to the Kansas City North District in 1989. During these years he was a delegate to five Jurisdictional Conferences and four General Conferences. He led the General Conference delegation in 1984, 1988 and 1992. He served as a director of the General Board of Discipleship (1980-1988), the General Board of Global Ministries (1988-1992), and the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns (1996- 2004). He served as Chairperson of the General Task Force on Concern for Workers (1996-2000), and President of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns (2000- 2004). In retirement, he serves as a member of the coordinating Council of Churches Uniting in Christ. He and Etta Mae serve as Coordinators of the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund. Fritz Mutti was elected to the episcopacy by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference in 1992 and assigned to the Kansas Area where he served until his retirement in 2004. He is married to Etta Mae McClurg Mutti and were parents of three sons. Etta Mae and Fritz are the authors of a book, Dancing in A Wheelchair.

Mande Muyombo

Active

Africa

Congo Central Conference

North Katanga Episcopal Area

Emerito Nacpil

Retired

Philippines

Bishop Emerito P. Nacpil is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1980-2001. In 1997, he became the President of the Council of Bishops to serve a one-year term. ------------------------ Emerito P. Nacpil was born in Tarlac, the Philippines. Beginning with student appointments, Emerito served local churches. During this time he was ordained both deacon and elder by Bishop José Valencia and joined the Philippines Annual Conference. He received a Bachelor of Theology from Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines and a B.A. from Philippine Christian College. He then came to the United States to attend Drew University from which he received his Ph.D. Returning home, Emerito Nacpil took up responsibilities at Union Theological Seminary, first as Professor, then Academic Dean, then President. During this time he was also Chairman of the Board of Ordained Ministry of the Middle Philippines Annual Conference. In 1974 Emerito Nacpil was named Executive Director of the Association of Theological Schools in Southeast Asia and Dean of the Southeast Asia Graduate School of Theology, the positions he was holding when the Philippines Central Conference elected him to the episcopacy in November, 1980. He had been Chairman of the Commission on Church Structure of the Philippines Central Conference for the past two quadrennia. Bishop Nacpil has also been very active in ecumenical affairs, serving on both the Faith and Order Commission and the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. Bishop Nacpil was assigned to the Manila Area where he administered the Mindanao Annual Conference, the Philippines Annual Conference and the Southwest Philippines Provisional Annual Conference. He retired in 2001. Angelina Baron del Rosario married Emerito P. Nacpil on April 16, 1956, when he was finishing his theological training at Union Seminary. She became a pastor's wife and mother of their two children, Newell and Cynthia.

Joaquina Nhanala

Active

Africa

Africa Central Conference

Mozambique Episcopal Area

Bishop Joaquina Filipe Nhanala is the Resident Bishop of the Mozambique Area, which includes Mozambique North, Mozambique South and South Africa Provisional Conferences in the Africa Central Conference of The United Methodist Church.   She was elected July 23, 2008, as the first female United Methodist bishop in Africa. ------------------------ Nhanala was the pastor of Matola United Methodist Church in Mozambique when she was elected. Besides serving a large church in Matola, a suburb of Maputo, Nhanala has coordinated women's projects for the Mozambique church and led a World Relief HIV/AIDS program designed to mobilize churches for education and advocacy in Mozambique's three southern provinces. Nhanala and the program were featured in the 2004 Bread for the World video, "Keep the Promise on Hunger and Health." Although she was baptized and confirmed as a Catholic her father's religion, Nhanala also attended her mother's Methodist church. Drawn to the youth programs, she became active in the Methodist church as a teen-ager. Nhanala is married to another United Methodist pastor, the Rev. Eugenio Tomas, and they have four adult children. She and her husband, who married in 1976, were both accepted for theological studies at the 1985 Mozambique Annual Conference and received sponsorship from the Women's Fellowship. They attended Gbarnga School of Theology in Liberia and Nhanala was ordained a deacon in 1989. When the civil war in Liberia disrupted the couple's studies, they moved to Ghana, where she completed her diploma in theology at Trinity College. The family then moved to Kenya, where she attended Limuru University and received a bachelor of divinity degree in 1995. In 1998, she graduated from Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology with a master's degree in Bible studies and theology and also served as a teacher and dean of students there. She speaks five native languages, as well as Portuguese and English.

Eben Nhiwatiwa

Active

Africa

Africa Central Conference

Zimbabwe Episcopal Area

Bishop Eben K. Nhiwatiwa was elected to the episcopacy in 2004. He is the Resident Bishop of the Zimbabwe Area, which includes the Zimbabwe East and Zimbabwe West conferences in the Africa Central Conference of The United Methodist Church.  ------------------------ He was born in Gandanzara Village, Makoni, Rusape, Zimbabwe. He graduated from Epworth Theological College, Harare, with a Diploma in Theology; from Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana, with a one-year Certificate in Theology; Graduate Certificate in Education from the University of Zimbabwe; BA from Goshen College, Indiana; MSC from Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, M.Th from Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, and a Ph.D. from Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois. Eben was ordained deacon by Bishop Abel Muzorewa and elder by Bishop Ralph Alton. He served a number of churches and more at Old Mutare Mission where he served from 1984-1991. In 1992 Eben was one of the pioneering professors at the newly-established Africa University in the Faculty of Theology where he lectured in Pastoral Theology. He served the church in various capacities from local, District to Conference levels. Eben was the Conference Secretary for the Zimbabwe Annual Conference from 1992 to 2000 and then in the same capacity for the Zimbabwe East Annual Conference from 2001 to 2004. In 1992 and 2000 he was elected delegate to the Africa Central Conference and then in 2004 he served the church as the clergy delegate and head of delegation for the Zimbabwe East Annual Conference. Eben Nhiwatiwa was elected Bishop of the church in August 2004. He is the Episcopal leader of two Annual Conferences, the Zimbabwe East and West. He currently serves as the Board member and Chair of the Finance Committee of the Africa University Board of Directors. At the November 2005 Council of Bishops , Eben was elected to represent Africa Central Conference and the church at the World Methodist Conference in South Korea, in July 2006. He says that his style of Episcopal leadership is based on the theology of the ministry of presence; that is, being with the people to make them disciples for Jesus Christ to make a difference in the world. Eben and Greater Taremeredzwa Munesi were married on June 2, 1979. They have two daughters Mable and Nyasha.

Alfred L. Norris

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Alfred L. Norris, Sr., is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1992-2004. ------------------------ Alfred L. Norris, Sr. was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana. He is a child of the church, the first son of Mrs. Adele Washington Norris and the late Reverend L.H.P. Norris. Educated in the public schools of Louisiana, he received his high school diploma from the Southern University Laboratory School, Baton Rouge. He furthered his formal education at Dillard University in New Orleans, obtaining a B.A. degree. He completed his seminary education at Gammon Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Georgia, with an M.Div. degree, and was later honored with a D.D. degree. Several other institutions have bestowed honorary degrees upon him. Norris was ordained deacon and then elder by Bishop Noah Moore. In the Louisiana Annual Conference, he has served as pastor of the following churches: Haven; Peck; First Street and Mount Zion. From 1968-1972 he was Director of Recruitment for Gammon Theological Seminary. He was District Superintendent of the New Orleans/Houma District of the Louisiana Annual Conference from 1974-1880, and he served as President of Gammon Theological Seminary of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta from 1985-1992. Norris participated in a Preaching Mission to Latin America in September 1967, was Guest Preacher for "Bishop's Week" at Mount Sequoyah, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in June of 1980, and served as Guest Preacher for the Liberia Annual Conference in February, 1988. He has been the guest preacher or lecturer at numerous other conferences, seminars, church services and religious activities nationwide. Norris was a delegate to the General Conferences of 1976, 1984, 1988 and 1992 and was elected to lead the Louisiana Conference Delegation in 1992. He was a delegate to the World Methodist Conference each quinquennium since 1976. While in Louisiana, he served as Chairman of the Board of Ordained Ministry from 1980-1988. Additionally, he served on the Board of Publications of the United Methodist Church and was a member of the Association of United Methodist Theological Schools. Alfred Norris was elected to the episcopacy by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference in 1992 and was assigned to the Northwest Texas/New Mexico Area, with headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the 2000 Jurisdictional Conference, he was assigned to the Houston Area. From 1996 until 2004, he was a member of GCFA, serving as President from 2000-2004. He retired in 2004 and returned to Gammon Theological Seminary to serve as Bishop-in-Residence. Bishop Norris is a 33º Mason. He and his wife, Mackie L. Harper Norris, have a son, Alfred, II (Lisa), daughter Angela R. Johnson (Tyrone) and four grandchildren, Alfred, III (Trey) and Justin Douglass Norris, and Mark David and Faith Rachelle Johnson. The Norrises reside in Jonesboro, GA.

Nkulu Ntanda Ntambo

Retired

Africa

Congo Central Conference

Bishop Nkulu Ntanda Ntambo is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1996-2016. ------------------------ He was born at Kailo in then Zaire. His father is deceased, but his mother Kahole Julienne is still alive. He has been a Christian since childhood. Ntambo finished his six years of elementary school in Kabongo. He went to secondary school in Lubumbashi for six years. Then he went to seminary for four years in Mulungwishi. He has a Master of Divinity degree from Nairobi International School of Theology in Nairobi, Kenya. His professional activities include: 1967-1972, Elementary School Teacher; 1976-1977. Senior Pastor at the parish in Lubudi; 1977-1982, District Superintendent Bukama-Lubudi; 1982-1983, Bishop's Secretary; 1987-1989; District Superintendent Kamina; 1987-1993, Christian Education Director, North Shaba; 1992-1992, Senior Director at Kamina-Ville UMC. Bishop Ntambo worked as Assistant Legal Representative of North Shaba for sixteen years (1977-1993). He occupied the following positions: Executive Committee Vice-President; Secretary for Swahili-speaking people at the North Shaba Annual Conference; General Board of Global Ministries director; interpreter at the 1992 General Conference in Louisville; chairperson of the North Shaba Aviation Committee, Construction Committee, Ordained Ministry Committee; IPIM in the country of Burundi (1993-on as D.S., Supervisor and spiritual coordinator for refugees). This year he was the North Shaba delegation leader for the Central Conference at Wembo-Nyama. Bishop Ntambo planted about 157 churches in the region of Bukuma and Lubudi. He opened two congregations in Nairobi. During his ministry he visited the following countries in order to fulfill his tasks: Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Senegal, Zambia, U.S.A., Israel, Angola, Gambia, and South Africa. He was elected to the episcopacy in 1996 and serves the North Katanga Area, Democratic Republic of Congo until his retirement. He was married to Nshimba Nkulu, who passed on June 29, 2022. From that union, they had eight children (three boys and five girls).

James Jimmy Nunn

Active

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Northwest Texas-New Mexico Episcopal Area

Oklahoma Episcopal Area

Karen Oliveto

Active

United States

Western Jurisdiction

Mountain Sky Episcopal Area

Karen P. Oliveto was consecrated as a bishop of The United Methodist Church on July 16, 2016 in Scottsdale, Ariz., and assigned for the 2016-2020 quadrennium to the Mountain Sky Episcopal Area, which includes 360 congregations in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and a small section of Idaho. Bishop Oliveto was elected to the episcopacy after serving as the first woman pastor of the 12,000-member Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco, Calif. She is the first woman to serve as senior pastor of one of The United Methodist Church’s 100 largest congregations. She served Glide from 2008 until her election as bishop. Born on Good Friday in 1958, in the aptly named community of Babylon, N.Y. Bishop Oliveto grew up in her local United Methodist Church, being active in Sunday School and the youth group, believing from an early age that God was calling her into ministry. She earned her B.A. in Psychology, cum laude, from Drew University, Madison, N.J., in 1980. She earned her Master in Divinity from Pacific School of Religion, Berkley, Calif., in 1983, a Master in Philosophy from Drew University in 1991, and a PhD in the Sociology of Religion from Drew University in 2002. She was ordained as an Elder in the New York Conference of The United Methodist Church in 1985. She transferred her clergy membership to the California-Nevada Annual Conference in July 1997.   Bishop Oliveto was twice elected as a delegate, in 2004 and 2016 to The United Methodist Church’s General Conference, its top legislative body. She was elected as a delegate to the Western Jurisdictional Conference in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. She has been a part of the denomination’s General Board of Higher Education and Ministry’s Lead Women Pastor Project, and has been a mentor to other clergywomen believing they are called to pastor large churches. Bishop Oliveto has served in rural and urban settings as well as parish and campus settings in NY and California. She has also served as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Pacific School of Religion and has been an adjunct professor of United Methodist Studies at the school from 2004 to 2016. She has also been an adjunct professor in Prophetic Leadership for the Doctor of Ministry program at Drew University and was adjunct professor in Evangelism and Mission at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas. Most recently, she taught a course on Prophetic Leadership Through Pastoral Engagement at Illif School of Theology. Bishop Oliveto is the co-author of Talking About Homosexuality: A Congregational Resource (Pilgrim Press: 2004), and the author of Our Strangely Warmed Hearts: Coming Out into God's Call (Abingdon, 2018) and Together at the Table: Diversity without Division in The United Methodist Church (Westminster John Knox: 2018). Bishop Oliveto has the distinction of being the first openly lesbian bishop in The United Methodist Church. She and her wife, Robin Ridenour, a nurse anesthetist and United Methodist deaconess, met in Junior High Church Camp and have been together for 24 years. They were married in 2014. Bishop Oliveto was named by NBC as one of 30 contemporary LGBTQ change-makers as part of their #Pride50 series. She was also named one of the Faith Leaders to Watch in 2021 by the Center for American Progress.

Øystein Olsen

Retired

Europe

Bishop Øystein Olsen is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 2001-2009. ------------------------ Øystein Olsen was born in Narvik, Northern Norway. His parents were Methodists, and he grew up in and became a member of the United Methodist Church in a country with a 90% Lutheran population. He started singing in a boys' choir at the age of 7 and has liked singing since then. Øystein earned a diploma from The UMC Nordic Theological Seminary in Gothenburg, Sweden, and was ordained deacon and elder by Bishop Ole Borgen. He obtained additional education in Pastoral Supervision (ABV). His has served as local church pastor in the southern part of Norway for the following congregations: Egersund; Bergen Central, as youth pastor (50%) and Bethany Hospital as hospital chaplain (50%); Halden; "pastor in charge" in Strömstad, Sweden; Skien; Kjølberg; Oslo Immanuel. He was elected to the episcopacy in March of 2001, and served the Nordic and Baltic Area until his retirement in 2009. He has served on the General Council on Ministries 1996-2000, as member and officer, re-elected 2000-2004; Central Conference Executive Committee/Committee on Episcopacy since 1987; Delegate to NE Central Conference 1985-1997; the Norwegian Annual Conference Committee on Episcopacy from 1989, chair 1989-2001; Annual Conference Board of Ordained Ministry 1980-96, 7 years as chair; Annual Conference Church Board of UMC Norway 1981-1989 (1978-81 substitute); as well as other committees and task forces in the Annual Conference, districts and local churches. In addition, for four years he served as the Norway Annual Conference representative in Nordic Ecumenical Council. After his election to the episcopacy, Bishop Olsen served as Chair of ECOM (European Commission on Mission), a joint coordinating commission between the European UMC episcopal Areas and the British Methodist Churches in Europe; as Chair of EMC (European Methodist Council), a European equivalent to WMC; The Bishops' Initiative: Children and Poverty Task Force and Vice President and Director of GBGM. In 1967, he married Toril, who is a special education teacher. Their children are: daughter, Elisabeth and two sons, Geir Thomas and Trond Christian. All three are married and live in the Oslo region. The Olsens have three grandchildren: Nicolai, Hannah and Natascha.

Fama Onema

Retired

Africa

Bishop Fama Onema is a retired bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1972-2005. ------------------------ Bishop Onema was born in Utuhi, Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Belgian Congo. He had his secondary school and theological education in Africa, and was ordained deacon by Bishop Newell Booth. Later, Fama Onema went with his family to Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa, where he received his B.A. majoring in Philosophy and Sociology. After returning to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Fama Onema was ordained elder by Bishop John Wesley Shungu, joined the Central Congo Annual Conference and served as Pastor Youth Director as well as statistician for the Africa Central Conference. He was active in his annual conference, including serving as secretary. He was also Director of the Pastors School, Director of a secondary school and in, 1971, became professor at the ecumenical theological school in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On August 28, 1972, Fama Onema was elected to the episcopacy by the Africa Central Conference at Blantyre Malawi and assigned to the all Congo Area, 1972-1976. After 1976, he was assigned to the Central Congo area. He was Moderator of National Synod for 11 years and President of the Executive Committee of L´Église du Christ au Congo ("The Church of Christ in Congo") for 12 years. He held the position of President of Administration, Council of the Faculty of Protestant Theology in Congo (now Protestant University of Kinshasa). He was a founder of Methodist Patrice Emergy Lumumba University in 1980, which now has five faculties and four colleges (Education, Agriculture, Nursery, Home Economics, Theology, Law and Medicine). He is a member of the General Committee of All Africa Conference Churches, and was Vice-President of All Africa Conference of Churches, and President of the French Protestant Church of Africa. He has lectured for many institutions and seminaries in Congo and abroad. He has a Degree Diploma dis Etudes Superiores (D.S.), two Honorary Degrees and is working on a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion on Culture and Gospel. Ekoko and Fama were married on June 5, 1952. They have nine children: Fama, Muyala, Pende, Tawa, Walu, Shaumba, Utshudi, Omba and Shaku.

Donald Ott

Retired

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

<div>Bishop Donald Ott is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1992-2000. ------------------------</div> <div> </div> <div>EDUCATION</div> <div>Bishop Ott was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attended the following schools:</div> <ul> <li>Milwaukee Public Schools</li> <li>Carroll College (now University) (B.A. 1961) in Waukesha, WI</li> <li>Perkins School of Theology, Dallas TX</li> <li>The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee</li> <li>Garrett Theological Seminary (now Garrett Evangelical) (B.D./M.Div. 1965) in Evanston, IL</li> </ul> <div>Adrian College, Adrian, MI, Albion College, Albion, MI and Garrett Evangelical conferred honorary degrees, Divinity (1994), Sacred Theology (1997), and Divinity (2012) respectively.</div> <div> </div> <div>EPISCOPACY</div> <div>Don Ott was elected to the episcopacy by the North Central Jurisdiction in 1992. He was assigned to the Michigan Area, which includes the Detroit and West Michigan Conferences. He retired in 2000.</div> <div> </div> <div>SUPERINDENDENCY, APPOINTMENTS, GENERAL CONFERENCE</div> <div>At the time of his election as bishop, Don Ott was serving as the District Superintendent of the Milwaukee District, WI Conference.</div> <div> </div> <div>Prior to that appointment in 1987, he served as pastor at:</div> <ul> <li>First UMC, Green Bay, WI</li> <li>Christ Church-United Methodist, Racine, WI</li> <li>Wesley UMC, Kenosha, WI</li> <li>Pleasant Prairie UMC, Pleasant Prairie, WI</li> </ul> <div>He was an Associate Council Director and Council Director of the Wisconsin Conference UMC in the periods of 1974-1982. He was elected a delegate to the General Conferences of 1980-1992 and the North Central Jurisdictional Conferences of 1976-1992. GENERAL AGENCIES / ORGANIZATIONS</div> <div>Bishop Ott was elected to or assigned to the following agencies of The United Methodist Church:</div> <ul> <li>The General Council on Finance and Administration (Vice President 1997-2000)</li> <li>The JUSTPEACE Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation</li> <li>Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary Board of Trustees</li> <li>The General Board of Global Ministries</li> <li>The United Methodist Development Fund (President 1992-1996)</li> <li>United Methodist Communications</li> </ul> <div>RETIREMENT</div> <div>In retirement, Don Ott was employed by the Council of Bishops to coordinate the Episcopal Initiative on Children and Poverty, 2001-2004. He served the Council as Retiree Correspondent 2008-2012. He was a long time member of the governing Board of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families and is a member of the City of Pewaukee, WI Committee on Public Works.  </div> <div>FAMILY</div> <div>Don and Jan Ott were married December 21, 1963. They are the parents of two children, Denise Lynne Shircel (Thomas) of Kenosha, WI; and Duane Donald Ott (Megan) of Oshkosh, WI. They have seven grandchildren: Nicolas and Madelyn, Brady and Kennedy Ott; Tyler, Amy and Cora Shircel.</div>

Bruce Ough

Retired

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Bruce R. Ough is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 2000-2020.  In 2016, Bishop Ough became the President of the Council of Bishops to serve a two-year term. He is currently Executive Secretary of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church (UMC), a position he has held since Sept. 1, 2020.  The Executive Secretary is charged with the day-to-day running of the Council of Bishops' office in Washington, D.C.  He is also a member of the Council of Bishops Executive Committee. ----------------------------------- Previously, Bishop Ough served as the resident bishop of the Dakotas-Minnesota Area of The United Methodist Church, where he served from September 1, 2012. Prior to his assignment to the Dakotas-Minnesota Area, he served for 12 years as the resident bishop of the West Ohio Area. Bruce was ordained deacon in 1975 and elder in 1979 in the former North Dakota Conference and served as Council Director and Camp Program Director in the Dakotas, as Director of Oakwood Spiritual Life Center in Indiana, and as senior pastor, district superintendent and Director of the Council of Ministries in the Iowa conference. A 1973 graduate of North Dakota State University, Bishop Ough earned a master of divinity degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1978. In addition, he has done graduate work at Northwestern University and completed the Upper Room’s two-year Academy for Spiritual Formation program, for which he also served on the Leadership Team. Bishop Ough was elected as a delegate to numerous General and North Central Jurisdiction Conferences and has served as a member of several jurisdictional and general church agencies. He was appointed bishop of the Southeast Asia Mission (Vietnam, Laos and Thailand) from 2010 – 2015, served as the president of the North Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops and chaired the Council of Bishops’ Plan Team on Missional Focus. He chaired the United Methodist Connectional Table for the 2012 – 2016 quadrennium, served as President of the Council of Bishops from 2016 – 2018, and currently serves as the Executive Secretary of the Council of Bishops in addition to his continued leadership as Resident Bishop of the Dakotas-Minnesota Area through December 31, 2020. Bishop Ough is past president of the Ohio Council of Churches and has been involved with the Minnesota Council of Churches during his years in the Dakotas- Minnesota Area. He serves on the Board of Trustees for Dakota Wesleyan University, Hamline University, and the E. Stanley Jones Foundation, and he has received an honorary doctorate from Dakota Wesleyan University. In May 2020, Bishop Ough was named Distinguished Alum for Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.  Bruce is married to Charlene Ough; they are the parents of three sons and seven grandchildren.

Israel Maestrado Painit

Active

Philippines

Davao Episcopal Area

Bishop Israel Maestrado Painit Bishop Painit is a resident bishop of the Davao Episcopal Area, Philippines. He was elected on November 26, 2022, during the Philippine Central conference special session held in WUP, Cabanatuan City. Before becoming a bishop, he served as a global missionary in Southeast Asia for 4 years (2018-2022) as a country director.   Early life Bishop Painit was born in Esperanza Agusan del Sur, Philippines. He was raised from a poor family with 9 siblings and the eldest son of Ms Bebiana and Mr. Samuel Painit. He was a working student beginning from his secondary school due to poverty. The community had been experiencing insurgency-related problems while he was still young, which pushed him to strive more and find his path. He found the road to pastoral ministry in 1993.     Education and ordination Bishop Painit hold a bachelor’s degree from the only Methodist college in Mindanao, Southern Philippines Methodist Colleges, Inc. - the southern part of the Philippines (1999); a Master of Divinity (MDiv) from Wesley Divinity School-Wesleyan University Philippines (2002); and will complete his thesis for another master's degree from the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP-Davao) for his masters in Public Administration (MPA). He was ordained elder of the UMC in 2004 by the Bishop Leo A. Soriano. Ordained Ministry He entered in the ministry at the age of 16 years old in 1993. Being raised in a poor family had been a great factor why he entered in the ministry because of the mission support without realizing that was God’s way of calling him. He has served many churches in his 19 years of pastoral ministry mostly in complex communities where there are presence of Muslims and indigenous peoples around. Those years shaped him to be a better pastor and a community organizer doing community development programs to indigenous peoples. With that passion to serve, he was able to chair the Philippine central conference’s Board of Church and society for 4 years and actively participate in many forums, peace and justice advocacies, and trainings. Bishop Painit became a general conference delegate in 2012 and served in many leadership roles in the Philippines before becoming a district superintendent.   Superintendency & Missionary work In 2013, he was appointed a district superintendent of the southeast district of the East Mindanao Philippines (EMPAC) by the bishop Ciriaco Francisco (4 years) and Bishop Rodolfo A. Juan (2 years) at the same time serving as a director of the Davao United Methodist mission center for 3 years. In 2018, God called him to global missionary work serving as the country director of mission in Southeast Asia under the Global Ministries where he served for four fruitful and meaningful years (2018-2022). It was in that capacity when God called him to be a bishop of the UMC in the Philippines in November 2022.   Episcopacy Bishop Painit was elected one of the 3 bishops on November 26, 2022 by the Philippine central conference special session on the 23rd ballot and considered to be the youngest bishop in the history of the Philippine UMC (46 years old). He is assigned to the Davao Episcopal area comprising the 2 major Islands of the Philippines (Mindanao and Visayas). Also, he has been elected as vice-President of the PCC-College of Bishops and assigned to 3 important boards in the Philippine central conference, The PCC-Lay Organizations, Division of the Ordained Ministry and the Board of Church and Society.   Family Bishop Painit is married to Ms Melody Fe Agayan Geralde and gifted with 3 children. The eldest child is a registered medical technologist (Jyrah Camille); Marx Merel (Grade 11- 16 years old) and Chen Zachary (grade 7- 12 years old). His passion is community organizing. Bishop Painit loves singing and creating art works. His other interests include playing basketball and billiards.

Gregory V. Palmer

Active

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Ohio West Episcopal Area

Bishop Gregory V. Palmer was elected to the episcopacy in 2000. He is the Resident Bishop of the Ohio West Area, which includes the Ohio West Conference in the North Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. In 2008, he became the President of the Council of Bishops to serve a two-year term. From July 1, 2021 through January 1, 2022, Bishop Palmer also served as an interim bishop of the Illinois Great River Area.    ------------------------ Bishop Palmer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University, and later earned his Master of Divinity degree from Duke University. In 1999 he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Baldwin-Wallace College. He was ordained deacon by Bishop James M. Ault in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and ordained an elder by Bishop James S. Thomas in the East Ohio Conference. Greg served as Senior Pastor of the United Methodist Church of Berea, Ohio, for seven years. Prior to that he had been a district superintendent, and had served churches in both Ohio and North Carolina. He was the organizing pastor of the James S. Thomas United Methodist Church of Canton, Ohio. Gregory Vaughn Palmer was elected to the episcopacy in 2000 and was appointed to the Iowa Area, which he began serving on September 1, 2000. In 2008 he was assigned to the Illinois Area. After serving in the Illinois Area for four years, he was assigned to the West Ohio Annual Conference in July 2012. Bishop Palmer has served the church in other ways: President of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Canton, Senegal Task Force of the General Board of Global Ministries, General and Jurisdictional Delegate, as a teacher at Pastor's School in the Burundi Annual Conference and Trustee of Baldwin-Wallace College, Ohio Wesleyan University and United Theological Seminary. He served as President of the Council of Bishops from 2008-2010. In addition, Bishop Palmer has served the communities in which he has lived: Trustee of the Berea Children's Home and Family Services Board, Board of Zoning and Appeals in Cleveland and Trustee of the Regional Transit Authority in Canton. He and his wife, Cynthia, have two children: Monica and Aaron.

Jeremiah Park

Retired

United States

Northeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Jeremiah J. Park is a retired Bishop in The United Methodist Church. He was elected to the episcopacy in 2004 by the Northeastern Jurisdiction and retired in 2021, where he was the Resident Bishop of the Harrisburg Area, which includes the Susquehanna Conference.  ------------------------ He was born in Jae Chun, Korea. He graduated from Seoul Methodist Theological School, as an honor student, with a Bachelor of Divinity degree and cum laude from the Theological School of Drew University with the M.Div. degree. He received his D. Min. degree from the same school in 1990. Jeremiah was ordained deacon by Bishop C. Dale White (Northern New Jersey Annual Conference) and elder by Bishop Joseph H. Yeakel (Western New York Annual Conference). For nine years he served as pastor in Rochester, New York,  and Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. From 1988 to 1994 he served the Multi-Ethnic Center for Ministry of the Northeastern Jurisdiction, as Associate Director. From 1994 to1996 he served as Associate Council Director and then as Council Director for two years in the Northern New Jersey Annual Conference. During his tenure on staff of the conference, he was instrumental in raising funds for building a Memorial Chapel in memory of Henry G. Appenzeller, the first Methodist missionary from America to Korea, at Aldersgate Center in Swartswood, New Jersey. In 1998 he became the District Superintendent of the Hudson District of the Northern New Jersey Annual Conference, which was changed to the Palisades District in 2000. He was District Superintendent when he was elected bishop. Jeremiah was first elected a delegate to the Jurisdictional Conference in 1996. He was elected a delegate to the General Conference in 2000 and 2004. He served on the Vision Table, Program and Arrangements Committee, Board of Directors of the Multi-Ethnic Center for Ministry, and the Korean-American Mission of the Northeastern Jurisdiction (NEJ). He served as Chairperson of the Conference Commission on Religion and Race and the Multi-Ethnic Ministries Coordinating Committee. Upon his election to the episcopacy by the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference in 2004, Jeremiah was assigned as Resident Bishop of the New York Area and the NEJ Korean-American Mission. The Council of Bishops assigned him to serve on the National United Methodist Council on Korean-American Ministries and the Connectional Ministries Funding Patterns Task Force. After serving the New York Area for 8 years, he was assigned to the Harrisburg Area in July 2012. On February 16, 1974, Elizabeth (Lisa) Hyeja and Jeremiah were married. They emigrated to the US in 1976, and have two children: Cathy, who was married to George Wang in 2003, and Matthew.

Africa

West Africa Central Conference

Liberia Episcopal Area

Sharon Rader

Retired

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1992-2004.  ------------------------ Sharon Zimmerman was born in Battle Creek, Michigan. She graduated from North Central College in 1961 with a B.A. degree in Elementary Education and taught in Michigan, Ohio, and New Jersey. During that time she did graduate work at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. She later graduated from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. Adrian College conferred an honorary doctorate in 1989. She has been a trustee of Albion College, North Central College, and Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. Sharon was ordained deacon in the Detroit Conference by Bishop Dwight Loder, and elder in the Northern Illinois Conference by Bishop Paul Washburn. She served as Pastor at Mayfair UMC, Chicago; Baseline UMC, Battle Creek, Michigan and University UMC, East Lansing, Michigan. From 1981-1986, she was a member of the West Michigan Conference Program staff with responsibilities for Global Ministries, New Church Development, and advocacy groups. At the time of her election to the episcopacy, she was the Grand Rapids (Michigan) District Superintendent. Sharon was elected to the 1980 North Central Jurisdictional Conference and to the 1984, 1988, and 1992 General and Jurisdictional Conferences. She served on the General Council on Ministries (where she chaired the Division on Research, Planning and Futuring); the General Commission on Communications; the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry; and for two years worked for the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women as the developer of a Talent Bank of Women in the United Methodist Church. Sharon Zimmerman Rader was elected to the episcopacy by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference in 1992 and assigned to the Wisconsin Area. Bishop Zimmerman has served in the following roles: <ul> <li>1996-2004 Secretary of the Council of Bishops.</li> <li>2004-2008 Executive Secretary for the Connectional Table.</li> <li>2008-2012 Ecumenical Officer for the Council of Bishops</li> </ul> She retired as an active bishop in 2008 and is currently Bishop-in-Residence at Garrett Evangelical Seminary.  Sharon and Blaine Rader are the parents of Matthew and Mary, and the grandparents of Ethan and Abigail Rader and Jasper and Zimm Davis.

Carlo A. Rapanut

Active

United States

Western Jurisdiction

Phoenix Episcopal Area

Bishop Carlo A. Rapanut was elected bishop in November 2022 by the Western Jurisdiction. He was assigned to the Phoenix episcopal area.  Carlo Axibal Rapanut is the eldest of two sons of Jose, a government employee, community organizer and ordained deacon of the UMC and Teofina, a university professor. He was born and raised in Baguio City, Philippines and was nurtured in faith in the Baguio City First United Methodist Church where, as a youth, he felt a call to serve.   Carlo went to the University of the Philippines (UP) where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1994. After college, he served as president of his annual conference United Methodist Youth Fellowship for four years and it was during that time that he discerned a call to ordained ministry.   After a brief stint working as a scriptwriter, anchor and voice-over talent for a local TV station and serving on staff managing databases for Bishop Daniel C. Arichea, Carlo answered the call. He was first appointed to serve Philex Mines UMC in Benguet, Philippines in 1998 while he was finishing his Master of Management, major in Business Management (MBA equivalent), also from UP.   Carlo attended Wesley Divinity School in Cabanatuan City, Philippines where he finished his Master of Divinity, magna cum laude, in 2003. He served the Baguio City First UMC for 6 years, first as associate pastor while he was in seminary and then as senior pastor after his graduation.   In 2006, Carlo was ordained elder in the Northwest Philippines Annual Conference by Bishop Benjamin A. Justo who also appointed him to serve as his Assistant to the Bishop in the Baguio Episcopal Area. In 2008, Carlo and his family answered the call to serve in the Alaska Missionary Conference and was appointed to the UMC of Chugiak where he served for six years.   Bishop Grant J. Hagiya invited Carlo in 2014 to serve on the cabinet of the Greater Northwest Area as Conference Superintendent and Director of Connectional Ministries of the Alaska Conference. He also served as one of the deans of the cabinet, representing Alaska. Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky continued this appointment and then eventually invited Carlo to be her Assistant to the Bishop in 2021. It was from that role that he was elected to the episcopacy by the Western Jurisdiction on November 4, 2022 in Salt Lake City, UT.   Carlo’s leadership in the church included service as delegate to the Philippines Central Conference (1996 as a layperson & 2008 as clergy), Western Jurisdictional Conference (2016 as head of delegation) and General Conference (2016 & 2019 as head of delegation). He also was a director of the General Board of Global Ministries (2016-2022) where he served on the Mission Engagement and the Policy and By-laws committees. In both the Northwest Philippines Annual Conference and the Alaska Conference, Carlo served on various boards and agencies as member and chair.   Carlo is joyfully married to Zoraida “Radie” Sanchez Rapanut, a certified public bookkeeper. They make a home with their two sons Karl Caleb and Titus Carl. Carlo fell in love with long-distance running as an adult and has done many races in the past 10 years from 10Ks to Ultra marathons. He also enjoys cycling, photography, and hiking with Radie.

Harald Rückert

Active

Europe

Germany Central Conference

Germany Episcopal Area

Bishop Harald Rückert was elected to the episcopacy in 2016. He is the Resident Bishop of the Germany Area, which includes the Germany Conference in the Europe Central Conference of The United Methodist Church. ------------------------ Bishop Rückert was born in 1958 in Nuremberg where he grew up. After passing his university entrance examinations, he studied Food Technology at the TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan in Munich, before finding his way to the pastoral ministry of the United Methodist Church.  After a twelve-month internship with the South Germany Annual Conference in Munich-Enhuberstrasse (now the Erlöserkirche), he studied Theology from 1980 to 1984 at the UMC Theological Seminary in Reutlingen (now Reutlingen School of Theology). Harald Rückert gained his first experience as a pastor in local church ministry for the UMC from 1984 to 1988 in the Hof-Stammbach circuit, in north eastern Bavaria. He was also ordained during this period (1986). From 1988 onwards, he worked for 12 years as leading pastor in the Schweinfurt-Würzburg circuit in north Bavaria, followed by ten years as Superintendent with responsibility for the Reutlingen District. From 2010 to 2017 he was leading pastor in the Erlöserkirche circuit in Reutlingen.   Since starting his pastoral work in the Hof-Stammbach circuit, where he was responsible for launching the church congregation in Stammbach, Rückert has looked in depth at issues of establishing churches, church leadership and development management. Advanced training courses on the management of social organisations and time management together with staff leadership and mentoring have qualified him to play a major role in developing and running the Church Leadership course. This course model provides probationary pastors in local church ministry with intensive mentoring during their second phase of training after completing their theology degrees. While Superintendent for the Reutlingen District, he also chaired the Committee for New Mission (later: church planting group) for church planting projects and activities involved in establishing new churches, also playing a major role in setting up and organising the Youth Church Karlsruhe.  Besides his work in local church ministry and special ministry, Harald Rückert was also involved in assignments and auxiliary activities in many areas of the UMC and also going over and beyond the UMC:   <h4>In the UMC </h4> Since 1992  Member of the Germany Central Conference   Since 1991 Delivering training courses for full-time ministers on church leadership and selfmanagement/burn-out prevention 2006-2010 Setting up and organising the Youth Church Karlsruhe as Chair of the Youth Church Group 2001-2010 Chair of the Committee for for New Mission (later: church planting group) 1991-1997 Developing and delivering the Church Leadership course for probationary pastors  <h4>Ecumenical activities</h4> 2005-2010 Member of the Board of ACK Baden-Württemberg 2000-2010 Member of the Delegates Assembly of ACK Baden-Württemberg  <h4>Interreligious dialogue</h4> Since 2016  Free-church representative for the National ACK on the steering committee for the »Do You Know Who I am?« project (National ACK, Central Council of Jews in Germany and four national Moslem associations)  <h4>Institutional Welfare</h4> Since 1987  Member of the Supervisory Board of the Martha-Maria Diaconal Work   2006-2010 Church Council Delegate on the Supervisory Board of the »Diaconal Works« Bethanien and Bethesda 2000-2012 Chairman of »Lebenszentrum Ebhausen e.V.« (after-care facility for people with addiction problems)  <h4>International</h4> 2016 Advisory member of the General Conference delegated by the Connectional Table 2010-2016  Member of the Connectional Table 2008, 2012 Delegate for the South German Annual Conference to the General Conference 1995 Two months pastoral ministry at the First United Methodist Church, Osceola, Arkansas, USA as part of the exchange programme run by the World Methodist Council  Harald Rückert is married; he and his wife have three grown-up children.

Ruben Saenz

Active

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Dallas Episcopal Area

Fort Worth Episcopal Area

Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. is a native of South Texas and a lifelong United Methodist. He was elected bishop in 2016 at the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. Assignments: July 2016 - Resident Bishop, Great Plains Conference, Great Plains Episcopal Area. January 1, 2022 - Interim Bishop, Central Texas Conference, Fort Worth Episcopal Area. January 1, 2023 - Resident Bishop, North Texas Conference, Dallas Episcopal Area.   In his role as an episcopal leader in Kansas and Nebraska, Bishop Saenz led three former conferences through a unification process that began in 2014. Under his leadership, the conference focused on the four pillars of a robust ministry and witness for Jesus Christ in the Wesleyan tradition: Love God; proclaim Christ; serve others, especially the poor; and seek justice.   Bishop Saenz is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, and a former high school teacher, high school football coach, and businessperson. He earned his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. As a pastor, he focused his ministry on intentional spiritual practice and formation, developing a lay apostolate, and giving people the tools and encouragement to move out of generational poverty. He served congregations in East Dallas, Oak Cliff Dallas, El Paso, and Edinburg, Texas. El Buen Pastor—The Good Shepherd—in Edinburg, Texas, was the largest Hispanic American United Methodist Church in the country during his pastoral tenure.   In 2010, he was appointed to serve as the Southwest Texas director of congregational and new church development, and he helped start 11 new churches before being named director of the conference connectional ministries and executive director of the Rio Texas Conference’s Mission Vitality Center in January 2015. In that role, he oversaw the conference’s missional strategies and objectives for congregational vitality, starting new churches, clergy and lay leadership vitality, uniting people, and transforming communities.     Bishop Saenz has been married to Maye since 1981. They have four children and ten grandchildren.

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Chicago Episcopal Area

Bishop Schwerin was assigned to the Northern Illinois Annual Conference, effective January 1, 2023. ------------------------------------------------- Early Life Bishop Schwerin was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He heard a call to ministry when he was seventeen at the Concord UMC, a few miles from where a Methodist circuit-rider in his family cast a shadow with his witness a lifetime before him.   Education and Ordination Bishop Schwerin holds a bachelor’s degree from Carroll University (1985), and a Master of Divinity (MDiv.) from Perkins School of Theology (1989). He received his first exposure to Bowen Family Systems Theory during the Perkins School of Theology Mentor Program (1992-1994). While serving as a student pastor in the Oklahoma Conference, he was ordained as a deacon by Bishop John Wesley Hardt (1987). After beginning his service in the Wisconsin Conference, he was ordained as an elder by Bishop David Lawson (1991). Ordained Ministry June 9th,1985, was Schwerin’s first Sunday in the pulpit, after having been appointed as a student pastor to Stephens United Methodist Church in Duncan, Oklahoma. The church became racially integrated and grew to become a full-time appointment. Following seminary, Schwerin was appointed to the Parfreyville UMC in Waupaca, Wisconsin, effective June 1, 1990. The church grew, renovated its building, and built a new parsonage. Schwerin was appointed as the founding pastor of Still Waters United Methodist Church in Jackson, Wisconsin on April 15, 1996, where he stayed through the chartering of the congregation as well as finishing its first phase building in 2000. Superintendency He was appointed as a District Superintendent of the Metro South District in 2002, and then appointed to serve both the Metro North and Metro South Districts from 2004-2007. Following his time as a District Superintendent, Bishop Schwerin was appointed to First UMC Waukesha, Waukesha, Wisconsin from 2007-2021. During that time the church led an ecumenical response to the issue of homelessness in the city, became a reconciling congregation, and developed a beloved community of non-profit partners that served families with children. After the General Conference of 2019, Dan was asked by Bishop Jung to lead a collaborative effort with Wisconsin Conference partners for Bishop Jung’s vision to increase racial justice and radical inclusion. Schwerin was appointed as the Assistant to the Bishop in the Wisconsin Conference in 2021. He was serving in that position when he was elected. Episcopacy Rev. Schwerin was elected as a bishop of The United Methodist Church on November 3, 2022, by the North Central Jurisdiction in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was consecrated on November 5th and assigned to the Northern Illinois Area, effective January 1, 2023. Family Bishop Schwerin is married to his wife, Julie. He is the father of two, Rachel Schwerin Kuschewski and Andrew Schwerin, as well as four grandchildren. Dan and Julie love evening walks and labyrinths. His debut poetry collection, ORS, from red moon press, won the Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Award in 2016.

Connie Shelton

Active

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Raleigh Episcopal Area

Active Elected November 2, 2022 Consecrated November 4, 2022 ---------------------------------------- Early life Bishop Shelton is a native of Picayune, MS. Youngest sibling of three, Shelton experienced loss at nine years of age when her mother died of cancer. As a single parent, her father reared her sister, Patty, brother, Alan, and Connie. During college, her brother was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. The pain and hope birthed from loss are central to Shelton’s ministry and calling. Shelton was reared in the Southern Baptist tradition. Her great-grandmother, Tameena Attaya, an immigrant from Lebanon, discovered Methodism upon her arrival in the U.S. in the early twentieth century. Attaya was a charter member of the Methodist Church in  Picayune, MS, in 1913. In 1986, Shelton found Methodist theology and ministry resonated with her life and subsequently joined Oak Grove United Methodist Church, Hattiesburg, MS, at twenty-one years old.   Education and Ordination Connie Mitchell Shelton is a graduate of Picayune Memorial High School, 1982. Shelton holds a bachelor’s degree in Radio, Television, and Film, the University of Southern MS, Hattiesburg, MS, 1986; a master’s degree in Public Relations, the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, 1990; a Master of Divinity from Duke University Divinity School, 1997; and a Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA, 2005.   Ordained Ministry/Appointments <ul> <li>In 1997, Shelton served three small membership churches in MS, two rural and one urban.</li> <li>In December of 1998, Shelton was appointed as Executive Director and preacher for The United Methodist Hour of MS television and radio broadcast that reached across the Southeastern United States.</li> <li>In January of 2005, Shelton was appointed as Field Education Director at Duke University Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina.</li> <li>In January of 2008, Shelton returned to Mississippi to serve historic Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church, a flagship congregation birthed in 1836.</li> <li>In July of 2013, Shelton was appointed Director of Connectional Ministries and Communications for the Mississippi Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.</li> <li>In July of 2015, Shelton was appointed as District Superintendent of the East Jackson District of the United Methodist Church.</li> <li>In July of 2022, the MS Conference Cabinet embarked on an experiment. Shelton was one of seven superintendents to add oversight of a partial district, along with her presently appointed East Jackson District.</li> </ul>   Episcopacy Rev. Dr. Shelton was elected as a bishop of The United Methodist Church on November 2, 2022, by the Southeastern Jurisdiction on the twelfth ballot.  She was assigned to serve the Raleigh Episcopal Area (North Carolina Conference) beginning January 1, 2023.   Family Bishop Shelton is married to Rev. Dr. John Joseph “Joey” Shelton, IV, and they have two daughters, Bailey and Jessica. Bishop Shelton enjoys music, deep friendships, restoring/reclaiming historic homes, and beach sunrises and sunsets.

Ann Sherer-Simpson

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Ann Brookshire Sherer-Simpson is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1992-2012. ------------------------. She was born in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the daughter of Homer W. and Annie Jo Haigwood Brookshire. She holds an associate degree from Mars Hill Junior College (NC), a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a master's degree from Andover Newton Theological School (MA), and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. She received the Emory Medal in 1999 and a Doctor of Divinity degree from Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri, in 2000. Ann was ordained deacon and elder in the Texas Conference. While in the Texas Conference, she served pastorates in White Oak, Texarkana, and at Westbury United Methodist Church in Houston. She also served as superintendent of the Nacogdoches District of the Texas Conference. She was elected to the episcopacy and consecrated at the 1992 South Central Jurisdictional Conference held in Forth Worth, Texas, and assigned to the Missouri Area where she served as Resident Bishop from 1992 to 2004. She was assigned to the Nebraska Area by the 2004 South Central Jurisdictional Conference, where she served until 2012. She was a delegate to General and Jurisdictional Conferences in 1984, 1988, and 1992. She was the chairperson for the Council of Bishops Initiative on Children and Poverty from 2000 until 2004. She served on The UMC General Board of Discipleship from 1997-2004 and served on the Book of Worship Committee from 1988 to 1992. From 1992 to 1996 she was president of the Commission on the Status and Role of Women. Shewas president of the UMC's General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns. Sheserved asvice chair of the Board of Trustees of Saint Paul School of Theology, a curator of Central Methodist University, and a member of the boards of trustees of the Lydia Patterson Institute, Southern Methodist University and Nebraska Wesleyan University. She has visited churches and shared in mission in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Korea, Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Finland, Nicaragua, Estonia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Her children are Robbie, his wife Jennifer and their son Max; and Ann Marie Trammell, grandson Michael Brookshire Trammell. In 2009, Ann married Wayne Simpson.

Dan Solomon

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Dan E. Solomon is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1988-2000. ------------------- He was born in Matador, Texas, in the heart of Texas ranch country on December 15, 1936. His parents were lifelong Methodists, as were his ancestors. Lazarus Solomon, an Irish Jew, came to America and later served with George Washington. His son, John, was converted to Christianity by a Methodist Circuit Rider. John's firstborn, John Wesley Solomon, became the first Methodist preacher in a subsequent line of nine Methodist preachers. A graduate of Tulia High School, Dan E. Solomon graduated in 1958 from McMurry College, Abilene, Texas, B.A., (summa cum laude) and from Perkins School of Theology, M. p. (with honors) in 1961. He received the Doctor of Ministry Degree from United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio, in 1973.  Both McMurry University and Perkins School of Theology have recognized him as a “Distinguished Alumnus.” Following a year as an Associate Pastor, First United Methodist Church, Plainview, Texas, Dan E. Solomon became the organizing Pastor of St. Stephen United Methodist Church, Amarillo, Texas. Subsequent appointments were St. John's, Corpus Christi; Kerrville District Superintendent; Travis Park, San Antonio; and First United Methodist, Corpus Christi. Solomon has chaired several General Conference legislative committees, as well as numerous Annual Conference boards and agencies. An author and lecturer, Solomon has been and continues to be active in civic and community work. He was elected to the episcopacy in 1988 by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference and assigned to the Oklahoma Area. In 1996, he was assigned to the Louisiana Area. In the 1996 quadrennium, he chaired the General Board of Global Ministries. After retiring in 2000, Solomon served as the Bishop in Residence at McMurry University.  He also served as President of the Texas United Methodist College Association. Fully retired, golf, sports, and exercise are his primary relaxation pursuits. Marcia Solomon retired from her accounting firm, MAS Business Service. Bishop Solomon has two sons, one daughter, and five grandchildren.

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Patrick Streiff

Active

Europe

Central and Southern Europe Central Conference

Central and Southern Europe Episcopal Area

Bishop Patrick Ph. Streiff, elected to the episcopacy in 2005, is the Resident Bishop of the Central and Southern Europe Area, which includes Central and Southern Europe Central Conference in the Europe Central Conference of The United Methodist Church. ----------------------------- He was born in Birsfelden near Basel (Switzerland). Having graduated school in Birsfelden and Muttenz, he studied at the Theological Seminary of the United Methodist Church in Reutlingen (Germany) and at the University of Bern (Switzerland). Later he did a doctorate (equivalent to Ph.D.) on John William Fletcher. Patrick Ph. Streiff was ordained elder in the Annual Conference Switzerland-Franceof the United Methodist Church. He served as pastor in Lausanne-Vevey, Neuchâtel and Biel/Bienne, located in the French-speaking part of Switzerland respectively on the border to this region. From 1998 to 2004 he was part-time director of the “Centre Méthodiste de Formation Théologique” in Lausanne (Switzerland), and from 1992 to 2004 he served as lecturer of modern Christian history at the University of Lausanne. His activities beyond the local church also included leadership functions on behalf of the European Section of the World Methodist Historical Society, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry and the Historical Commission of the United Methodist Church in Europe. He served as clergy delegate to General Conference in 1996, 2000 and 2004 and was consultant for theological education and for the Advisory Committee to the Bishops in Cambodia. Patrick Ph. Streiff was elected bishop of the United Methodist Church in Central and Southern Europe in 2005. He succeeded Heinrich Bolleter and assumed his office on May 1, 2006. His area covers twelve countries in Europe (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland) and two countries in Africa (Algeria, Tunisia). Besides his service in this very diverse Episcopal Area, Patrick Ph. Streiff is chairperson of the “Geneva Consultation” for theological education and leadership development in French-speaking Methodism (especially in Africa) and of the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters. In addition he is a member of the Connectional Table, of the Study Committee on the Worldwide Nature of the United Methodist Church, of the Task Force of Theological Education and Leadership Formation and of the Task Force “God’s Renewed Creation: A Call to Hope and Action.” In 1979, Heidi Albrecht and Patrick Ph. Streiff were married. They have four children: Rahel Esther, Corinne Simone, Manuel Andreas and Myriam Ruth.

James Swanson

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

James Edward Swanson Sr., elected to the episcopacy in 2004, was the resident bishop of the Mississippi Conference of The United Methodist Church.  He retired on January 1, 2023. ----------------------- His tenure in the Mississippi Conference began Sept. 1, 2012, with his first public appearance one day earlier to the conference’s Seashore District. He went there to be with those affected by Hurricane Isaac. The hurricane made landfall on August 28, 2012, causing additional devastation to Mississippi coastal communities recovering from Hurricane Katrina seven years earlier. Swanson listened to the people of Mississippi and discovered values deep within their hearts—love, generosity, justice and apprenticeship—thus, becoming the Core Four Values of the Mississippi Conference. It is from this Core Four that the churches seek to center their unique ministries. However, none of these values are accomplished alone. Swanson travels the Mississippi Conference teaching, “We are one Church in 1,030 locations.” His contagious spirit of hospitality, a determination to excel at being “the you” God created each person to be and spirited preaching has helped bring life, laughter and light to congregations in the Mississippi Conference and beyond. He continues to emphasize that winning people to Christ requires risk-taking love, and crossing old boundaries to discover where the Holy Spirit is at work. He is modeling with the extended cabinet how coaching can revolutionize ministry. Cabinet members and other conference groups meet for two eight-hour sessions each month to be trained in loving, learning and leading. Because of this coaching, Swanson continually asks Mississippians about their “glory sightings”—where they see God at work. Swanson was elected a bishop of The United Methodist Church during the 2004 Southeastern Jurisdiction Conference. He was assigned to the Holston Conference where the episcopal office is located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Swanson served the Holston Conference for eight years. Under his leadership, the Sudan Mission initiated. The number of United Methodist congregations in Sudan grew from three to 30 between 2006 and 2012. A residential home for Sudan’s district superintendent was built and used as a training site for clergy and laity of South Sudan. Plans were laid for Holston to raise funds for the campaign, Imagine No Malaria to prevent and treat the deadly malaria disease in Sub-Saharan Africa. The campaign resulted in $1.2 million dollars.   Swanson serves as the president of the General Commission of United Methodist Men for 2017-2020. He was re-elected to the post following his service for 2012-2016. Swanson is a member of the International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges and Universities (IAMSCU). He serves on the board of trustees for Emory University, Rust College and Millsaps College. He is also the chairman of the board of trustees at Gammon Theological Seminary. Swanson is a sought after preacher, workshop leader and lecturer. He has presented to people in Japan, Korea, Brazil, Russia, Estonia, Chile, Canada, the Holy Land, Egypt, Liberia, Sudan, Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe and throughout the United States. Bishop Swanson is the son of the late Carl Swanson and Arnola Triplett. He is married to Delphine Yvonne Ramsey Swanson. They have the joy of being parents to six adult children, Karen Latrese Swanson Jones married to Earl Jones Jr.; James Edward Swanson Jr. married to Yaki Bryant Swanson; Shondell Swanson married to Angela Drain; Carlton Eugene Swanson married to Ivis Rosario; Janae Evonne Swanson Brown married to Vernon and Joshua Emile’ Swanson married to LaShay. The Swansons are blessed with 15 grandchildren.

Mary Ann Swenson

Retired

United States

Western Jurisdiction

Bishop Mary Ann McDonald Swenson is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1992-2012. -------------------------- She was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She was raised in Jackson, Mississippi, where she was active in Sunday school, youth group, and choir at Capitol Street United Methodist Church. She graduated from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and received a Doctor of Ministry degree from the School of Theology at Claremont. Mary Ann was ordained both deacon and elder by Bishop Wilbur Choy. She served as Associate Pastor of Claremont United Methodist Church in Claremont, California; Pastor of Orchards United Methodist Church, Vancouver, Washington; District Superintendent of the Puget Sound District, Pacific Northwest Conference; Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church, Wenatchee, Washington. She also served as Youth Director for St. Luke's UMC, and Capitol Street UMC in Jackson, Mississippi, Elma UMC and Mason UMC in the PNW Conference, and Claremont UMC in Claremont, California. Mary Ann served as Dean of the Cabinet, PNW Conference. While assigned to First UMC Wenatchee, she also was President of the Board of Directors of the Rape Crisis and Domestic Violence Center and served on the North Central Washington AIDS Coalition. She has served as a director of the General Board of Discipleship and General Board of Global Ministries, where she also was the Chair of the Committee to Eliminate Institutional Racism and the Committee on Personnel and Nominations. She was an elected PNW Conference delegate to General and Jurisdictional Conferences in 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992. Mary Ann Swenson was elected to the episcopacy by the Western Jurisdictional Conference in 1992 and assigned to the Denver Area. During her tenure there she served again with the General Board of Discipleship and as President from 1996-2000. In 2000, she moved to the California-Pacific Annual Conference and began to serve with the GCFA, including the President of GCFA. Mary Ann McDonald married Jeff Swenson on August 31, 1968. On their 25th wedding anniversary, the Swensons received a tandem bicycle. Since that time they became avid riders, completing a California coast tour in 1994, an Oregon coast tour in 1995, Washington State tour in 1996, and riding to and from Annual Conference sessions. In the summer of 1998, they rode across the United States from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, covering 4059 miles in 58 days. In the California-Pacific Conference, they frequently rode to Sunday services wherever Mary Ann is preaching.  Jeff passed on Sunday, August 22, 2021.

Mary Virginia Taylor

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Mary Virginia Taylor is a Retired Bishop in The United Methodist Church. She was elected to the episcopacy in 2004 by the Southeastern Jurisdiction and retired in 2021, where she was the Resident Bishop for the Holston Conference.  ------------------------ Called Dindy by her friends and family, she was born in Washington, DC. She moved on her fifth birthday to Atlanta, Georgia, and at nine she joined the church on profession of faith, making Decatur First United Methodist Church her church home. After earning her Bachelor's Degree from the University of Georgia, Dindy completed her Master of Divinity degree at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. It was at Candler that she met Rusty Taylor. They were married in June of 1973 and began serving as a clergy couple. They were ordained deacons in 1974 and elders in 1976. Dindy served for 30 years as a member of the Holston Conference. It was in her fifth year as Cleveland District Superintendent that she was elected to the episcopacy in July, 2004, by the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference. On September 1, 2004, she became the first woman to serve as Resident Bishop of the Columbia Area (South Carolina Annual Conference) in the United Methodist Church. After serving the Columbia Area for 8 years, she was assigned to the Holston Area in 2012. She retired in 2021. Bishop Taylor has served six times as a delegate to the United Methodist General Conference and to the Jurisdictional Conferences. During those 20 years, she served on the General Council on Ministries and the General Board of Church and Society. She has been the chairperson of the Holston Conference Board of Ordained Ministry and the chairperson of the Conference Council on Finance and Administration. In September 2004, Bishop Taylor was elected to serve as president of the General Commission on Status and Role of Women. The Taylors are parents to two daughters: Mandy, who is married to Kyle Young, and Tiffany.

Solito Toquero

Retired

Philippines

Julius Trimble

Active

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Indiana Episcopal Area

Bishop Julius C. Trimble was assigned, July 16, 2016, to the Indiana Episcopal Area or Indiana Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church – (INUMC), by the 184 delegates of the 2016 North Central Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church in Peoria, Illinois. He was elected and consecrated a bishop by the same jurisdiction in 2008 and served eight years as the resident bishop of the Iowa Conference of The United Methodist before his current assignment to Indiana. Trimble, a native of Chicago and a graduate of Illinois State University, earned his Master of Divinity degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Chicago and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Ashland Theological Seminary in Ohio. Trimble, ordained a deacon and elder in the Northern Illinois Conference of The United Methodist Church, served two churches in his home conference before receiving an appointment in and transferring his membership to the East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church (EOUMC). During his ministry in EOUMC, Trimble served churches in the Cleveland area and as the Superintendent of the Cleveland District from 1996-2003. Trimble has preached throughout the United States, Africa and the Holy Land. He is also the recipient of many honors and awards, including the Outstanding Alumni Award in 1998 from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, the 2007 Bishop James S. Thomas Social Action Award from the Methodist Federation for Social Action at Lakeside, Ohio, and a Doctor of Divinity from United Seminary in 2017 for work in social justice. As a general superintendent (bishop) of the Church, he continues to promote faith-based responses to domestic and trauma community, as well as encourages the establishment of mental health ministries at the local church and conference level. He is also an active advocate for social justice, faith-based initiatives to address gun violence, as well as immigration reform. In 2015, his book, “A Faithful Church, and a Healthy World: Reflections and Poems,” was published by the Iowa Conference of The United Methodist Church to support The United Methodist Church’s ongoing-initiative Imagine No Malaria. Additionally, in 2015, he received the Peace and Justice Award from the Iowa Conference Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA).   During the December 2017 Advent Commencement of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, Trimble delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in recognition of his exceptional spiritual leadership, compassion for all people, and powerful witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Ohio-based seminary noted his engagement in faith-based work to address social justice issues, as well as his work of advocacy for the United Methodist Global Health Initiative, especially in the efforts, make the world malaria and AIDS-free. Bishop Trimble married First Lady Racelder Grandberry-Trimble, a professional counselor and graduate of Methodist Theological School in Ohio, in May 1979. The couple has three adult children: Cameron, Candiace (Herman Wake), and Julius Thomas. In June 2018, the Trimbles celebrated the birth of their first granddaughter, Corrine. Bishop Trimble’s mission statement is “to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential” or “Be Encouraged” for short. Trimble currently serves as chairperson of the Development Committee and the Advisory Development Committee for Africa University, chairperson of the United Methodist Global AIDS Committee (UMGAC), serves on the Council of Bishops Immigration Task Force and is a Board member of Indiana University Health System. Trimble preached his first sermon when he was 16 years old based on the conversion of Saul in Acts 9:1-9 entitled “Picked out to be picked on.”   His latest book, 10 Reasons I am a Methodist was published in 2022 by Popular Truth Publishing.

Gabriel Unda

Active

Africa

Congo Central Conference

Eastern Congo Episcopal Area

Bishop Gabriel Yemba Unda has been re-elected as a United Methodist bishop by delegates at the Congo Central Conference meeting. Unda was the first bishop elected March 18 at the quadrennial meeting in Kamina, Democratic Republic of Congo. On the first ballot, he received 277 of 287 votes cast. He was elected from the East Congo Episcopal Area, and will continue to serve that area.  He was first elected bishop in 2012 after the East Congo Episcopal Area was created by General Conference. Now that he has been re-elected, Unda will serve as bishop for life. In his first term, Unda concentrated on rebuilding sanctuaries destroyed during war, but his focus now will be on building a skills center for women. “Women suffered the most during my area’s civil war and the center would equip them with training to improve their lives. When you heal a woman, you heal children and the nation too,” Unda said. During his tenure as bishop, Unda has overseen a part of the Congo that has experienced recurring violence since 1998, with millions dead or displaced from their homes. Geographically, the East Congo Conference is the largest in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The area defined by this conference encompasses the provinces of Maniema and North and South Kivu to the east — bordering Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda — and Oriental and Equateur across the northern part of the country — which borders South Sudan and the Central African Republic. The episcopal offices are in the city of Kindu, the capital of Maniema Province. Unda has worked with the <a href="https://www.tnumc.org/congowomenarise/" target="_blank">Tennessee, Memphis and California-Pacific Conferences to collaborate on “Congo Women Arise”</a>  — an initiative to address the needs of rape survivors in a location often called the “rape capital of the world.” Research reports <a href="http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/rape-victims-find-help-at-united-methodist-churches" target="_blank">that 12 percent of the country’s women have been raped</a> at least once and that 48 women are raped every hour. Unda has been working to <a href="http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/east-congo-tribes-of-pygmies-face-discrimination" target="_blank">evangelize the indigenous people known as pygmies</a>, as well as get them better access to education and health care. Unda is the youngest child in a family of six.  His mother died when he was 8 months old and he grew up under the care of missionaries. He studied theology in Mulungushi. His wife died 10 years ago, and he has eight surviving children.

Hans Växby

Retired

Europe

Debra Wallace-Padgett

Active

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Birmingham Episcopal Area

Holston Episcopal Area

Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett is the Resident Bishop of the Birmingham Episcopal Area. She was elected a Bishop of the United Methodist Church at the 2012 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference and assigned to the North Alabama Conference (Birmingham Episcopal Area) effective September 1, 2012. As of September 1, 2021, Bishop Wallace-Padgett will also serve as the Interim Bishop of the Holston Episcopal Area.  -----------------------   At the time of her election as a Bishop, she was the lead pastor of St. Luke United Methodist Church in Lexington, Kentucky — an appointment she served for eight years. During her tenure, St. Luke UMC grew in membership, strengthened its infrastructure, built a $4.5 million Ministry Life Center and launched a multi-cultural worship service. Her previous service in the Kentucky Conference includes six years as District Superintendent, three years as pastor of Paris First United Methodist Church and 11 years on staff at Lexington First United Methodist Church.   She is a graduate of Berea College (B.A. in Physical Education), Scarritt College and Graduate School (M.A. in Christian Education), Lexington Theological Seminary (M. Div.) and Asbury Theological Seminary (D. Min.).   She has served in a variety of roles in the Kentucky Annual Conference, Southeastern Jurisdiction and the General Church including: <ul> <li>Kentucky Conference Board of Ministries Methodist Home Board chair</li> <li>Kentucky Conference Education chair</li> <li>Kentucky Episcopacy Committee chair</li> <li>District Committee On Ministries / Local Pastors' team chair</li> <li>Primary Task Team Children and Poverty Board</li> <li>Delegate, General Conference, 2012, 2008, 2004, 2000</li> <li>Delegate, Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference, 2012, 2008, 2004, 2000</li> <li>Delegate, World Methodist Council</li> <li>Director, General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, 2004-20012</li> <li>Member, Southeastern Jurisdiction Episcopacy Committee</li> <li>President General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, 2012-2016</li> <li>Member of the Commission on a Way Forward, 2016-2019</li> </ul>   She currently the chair of the standing Committee on Evangelism for the World Methodist Council and a member of the Council of Bishops’ Executive Committee as Council Life Chair.   Bishop Wallace-Padgett is married to Rev. Lee Padgett, a retired deacon in the United Methodist Church. They are the parents of two young adult, Leanndra and Andrew.

Daniel Wandabula

Active

Africa

Africa Central Conference

East Africa Episcopal Area

Hope Ward

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Hope Morgan Ward is a Retired Bishop in The United Methodist Church. She was elected to the episcopacy in 2004 by the Southeastern Jurisdiction and retired in 2021, where she was the Resident Bishop of the North Carolina Conference - Raleigh Area in the Southeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. ------------------------ A native North Carolinian, she was raised on the Morgan family farm in northeastern North Carolina in the community of Corapeake. Her home church, Parkers United Methodist Church, is on a three point charge. Graduate of Duke University and Duke Divinity School. Met spouse Mike on a volunteer in mission workteam to Bolivia in 1975. They were married in 1977. Together, they served as teaching parents at the Methodist Home for Children in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has served as a youth director, Christian educator, pastor, Director of Connectional Ministries and district superintendent in the NC Conference. She was elected to the Episcopacy in July, 2004 and assigned to the Mississippi Conference in 2004 and 2008. In 2012, she was assigned to the North Carolina Conference. Served as president of the General Board of Global Ministries and as president of JustPeace, which is the Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation of the UMC. She now serves on the General Board of Church and Society and is the bishop assigned to give oversight of the Vietnam Mission Initiative. Her spouse, Mike Ward, is an educator. He has been a high school teacher, coach, principal, and local school superintendent. From 1997-2004, he served as North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction, an elected position. Mike is on the faculty of NC State University, consults across the United States on education, and is an advocate for children. She and Mike have two children and four grandchildren. Brooke Morgan Ward and her husband, Derek Taira, grandson, Morgan, and granddaughter, Nyla, live in Hawaii where they are on the faculty of the UH-Manoa in Honolulu. Jason Ward and his wife, Alison Greene, and grandsons, Amos and Theo, live in Atlanta, Georgia. Jason teaches history at Emory and Alison teaches at Candler.   She and Mike enjoy sailing and other seaside joys, jogging, and reading.

B. Michael Watson

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop B. Michael Watson is a Retired Bishop in The United Methodist Church, having served from 2000-2016. He previously served as the Ecumenical Officer of the Council of Bishops from 2016-2020. -------------------------- He was born into an active Methodist family in Dothan, Alabama. After graduating from Dothan High School, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and real estate from The University of Alabama, a Master of Divinity degree from Emory University's Candler School of Theology, and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Vanderbilt University. He was ordained deacon by Bishop W. Kenneth Goodson and elder by Bishop Carl J. Sanders. As a member of the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference, Mike Watson served as pastor of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Molino, Florida, and as pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Milton, Florida. He was appointed to start a new congregation in his hometown, where he served as founding pastor of Covenant United Methodist Church from 1979-1990. From 1990 until his election to the episcopacy in 2000, he served as the pastor of Dauphin Way United Methodist Church in Mobile, Alabama. Dr. Watson also served as president of the Mobile County School Board, which is the largest school system in the state of Alabama with more than 66,000 students and nearly 8,000 employees. He served as chairperson of his conference Board of Ordained Ministry, chairperson of the conference Three-year Covenant Community for Spiritual Formation, chairperson of the steering committee of the Southeastern Jurisdiction's larger church consultation, a member of the Emmaus Community, a trustee of several colleges, a member of Emory University's Clergy Advisory Council, president of two civic clubs, president of The University of Alabama alumni chapter, president of the ministerial union, board member of the United Way, Boys Club, Girl Scouts, Red Cross, and Inner City Mission. A delegate to World Methodist Conferences in Singapore (1991) and Brazil (1996), he is currently a member of the World Methodist Council and a member of the United Methodist National Youth Ministry Organization. Benjamin Michael Watson was elected to the episcopacy by the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference in 2000 and was assigned to the South Georgia Area. He served there until 2008, when he was assigned to the North Georgia Area. Margaret Lee married Benjamin Michael Watson on June 16, 1973, at First United Methodist Church, Dothan. Margaret and Mike have two children: Benjamin (Ben) Lee Watson and Elizabeth Margaret Watson and three grandchildren.

Peter Weaver

Retired

United States

Northeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Peter D. Weaver is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist, having served from 1996-2012. In 2004, he became the President of the Council of Bishops to serve a two-year term.. ----------------------- He was born into a parsonage family in Greenville, PA. He received degrees from West Virginia Wesleyan (B.A.), Drew University (M.Div.), and Boston University (Th.D.) and honorary degrees from Albright and Lebanon Valley Colleges. Ordained deacon and elder in the Western Pennsylvania Conference, he served the Whitaker United Methodist Church, Smithfield United Church, and First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh. Inclusive ministries with urban youth, the poor, industrial workers, the homeless, the arts, young adults, and older adults were developed during these pastorates with a focus on "making disciples of Jesus Christ." During these years, Pete served on many community Boards, was adjunct faculty for Drew and Pittsburgh Theological Seminaries, produced weekly radio programs, and helped found Bethlehem Haven for Homeless Women and "One Voice Against Racism." He was a delegate to the 1984-1996 General Conferences and chair of the Mission Division of the General Council on Ministries. Elected to the episcopacy in 1996, Peter Weaver served the Philadelphia Area (Eastern Pennsylvania and Peninsula Delaware Conferences) from 1996-2004. During this time, more than thirty new congregations were started, and he helped found "Good Schools Pennsylvania," focusing on public education reform. In 2004, he was assigned to the Boston Area (New England Conference) which is "focusing on being "Transformed by the Holy Spirit, united in trust, and boldly proclaiming Christ to the world." Pete was the first President of the Council of Bishops to be nominated by the "discernment process" and elected for a two-year term (2004-2006). He has also served on the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, and the General Board of Global Ministries. He has been an active member on the Boards of five colleges and universities and has worked with Jim Wallis and others to "Make Poverty History." The Weaver daughters and families include: Rebecca Hope Schelling and her husband, Brad, and daughter, Emory Grace; Sarah Joy Park and her husband, Jin, and daughter, Audrey Miseon; and Rachel Faith Weaver. Pete is married to the former Linda Sells.

Rosemarie Wenner

Retired

Europe

Germany Central Conference

Timothy Whitaker

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Woodie W. White

Retired

United States

North Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Woodie W. White is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1984-2004. In 1996, he became the President of the Council of Bishops to serve a one-year term. ------------------------- A native of New York City, Woodie White graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in New York. He attended Paine College in Augusta, Georgia. While attending Boston University School of Theology (S.T.B.) he served a pastorate in Worchester, Massachusetts. He then became a probationary member of the Detroit Annual Conference and was appointed as Associate Pastor and later, pastor, at East Grand Boulevard Methodist Church in Detroit. Subsequently, he began two years as Urban Missioner for the conference's work in Metropolitan Detroit. With the establishment of a General Commission on Religion and Race by The United Methodist Church in 1968, Woodie W. White became its first General Secretary, serving in that capacity until 1984 when the North Central Jurisdictional Conference elected him to the episcopacy and he was assigned to the Illinois Area (1984-1992). Bishop White was assigned to the Indiana Area in 1992, and he retired there in 2004. He is now serving as Bishop-in-Residence at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Bishop White holds honorary doctoral degrees from Adrian College, Rust College, McKendree College, Illinois Wesleyan University, McMurry College and Evansville University. He holds numerous other honors, including a Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University. He was on a four-person task force to examine racism and race relations in Australia and New Zealand for the Committee to Combat Racism of the World Council of Churches. He participated in preaching missions in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. He has written extensively for denominational and ecumenical periodicals and is coauthor of Racial Transition in the Church, Confessions of a Prairie Pilgrim, and Conversations of the Heart. Woodie and Jennie May "Kim" Tolson While have four daughters: Kimberly Yvette, Hope Angela, Valerie Elizabeth, Sharon Denise; one son, Bryan Michael, and two grandchildren.

D. Max Whitfield

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Richard Wilke

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Richard Byrd Wilke is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1984-1996. ------------------- Richard Byrd Wilke is a native of El Dorado, Kansas, son of Clarence and Pearl Byrd Wilke. He received degrees from Southern Methodist University, where he was president of the student body and Phi Beta Kappa; Yale Divinity School, receiving the senior preaching award; and Dubuque Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, summa cum laude. He has received additional honorary doctoral degrees from Southwestern College, Asbury Theological Seminary, and Dubuque Theological Seminary. Other honors include the Phillip Award for evangelism, the Boy Scout Silver Beaver award, and October 2005, the Alumni Award for Distinction in Ordained Ministry from Yale Divinity School. Dick served thirty years in ministry in Kansas, serving rural, suburban, and university churches. He preached for eleven years at First United Methodist Church in Wichita. Richard Wilke was elected to the episcopacy in 1984 by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference and was assigned to the Arkansas Area. He served that Area for twelve years, retiring in 1996. He currently is Bishop in Residence at Southwestern College. He and Julia have established the Foundation for the Institute for Discipleship at Southwestern. His book, And Are We Yet Alive? with the study videotape generated much discussion on issues surrounding the decline in membership of the United Methodist Church. Other books include: Signs and Wonders; Tell Me Again, I'm Listening; Our Father and The Pastor and Marriage Group Counseling. He and Julia coordinated, designed and wrote the Disciple Bible Study. Disciple is now impacting churches across America and around the world. Bishop Wilke has traveled in South America, Africa, Europe, South East Asia and the Near East. He is widely known as a speaker and preacher, often serving as conference preacher and keynote speaker at regional and national meetings. Julia Kitchens married Richard Byrd Wilke on June 20, 1953. The Wilke's have four children: Stephen (Beth Richardson) parents of Krista Ranby, Katie Wilke, Joel and Julie; Paul (Janelle Dreier) parents of Michelle and Matthew; Susan (Robert Fuquay) parents of Julie, Sarah and Anna; and Sarah, Publisher of the Upper Room.

Delores J. Williamston

Active

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Louisiana Episcopal Area

<div>Bishop Delores  J. Williamston is a newly elected bishop of The United Methodist Church, assigned January 1, 2022, to the Louisiana Conference / South Central Jurisdiction. </div> <div> </div> <div>Early Life </div> <div>Bishop Williamston was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado and grew up in Topeka Kansas. Her home church is Asbury Mt. Olive UMC where the influence of the church members and pastors provided a powerful witness to her engagement in the church and community life.  Bishop Williamston is a second career elder and served twenty-two years (1982-2004) in the Kansas Army National Guard before entering ministry in the United Methodist Church. She retired at the rank of Sargent First Class (SFC) and served in military pay and accounting (1988-2000). She eventually became the Chief Supervisor of Finance and Accounting at the United States Property and Finance Office (2000-2003) in Topeka Kansas.    </div> <div>Education and Ordination                                                      </div> <div>Bishop Williamston received her General Education Diploma in 1982. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Manhattan Christian College (2000); a Master of Divinity (MDiv) from Saint Paul School of Theology (2007) specializing in Evangelism and Black Church Ministries. She is completing her Doctoral studies at Phillips Theological Seminary in 2023. She was ordained an elder in June of 2010 in the former Kansas East Conference, which later became the Great Plains Conference in 2013.</div> <div> Ordained Ministry</div> <div>Bishop Williamston began her pastoral ministry serving as a part-time associate licensed local pastor in Topeka Kansas until she graduated from Saint Paul School of Theology 2002-2007. Upon graduation, she served as pastor of Mentor UMC in Mentor, Kansas from 2007-2010. She was the pastor of Mentor-Quayle from 2009-2010 in Mentor and Salina Kansas. She was appointed to serve as the pastor of Independence UMC in Independence Kansas from 2010-2014. She was appointed to serve as a district superintendent from 2014-2021 in three districts. In 2021 she was appointed to serve as the Director of Clergy Excellence and Assistant to the Bishop in the Great Plains Conference. She was serving in that position when she was elected to the episcopacy in 2022.</div> <div> </div> <div>Superintendency</div> <div>In 2014, Rev. Williamston was appointed District Superintendent of the Salina District in Kansas. In 2017 she was appointed to serve an additional portion of the Hays District serving both the Salina and Hays Districts in Kansas. In 2020-2021 she was reappointed to serve both the Salina and Hutchinson districts in Kansas before being appointed to serve as the Director of Clergy Excellence and Assistant to the Bishop 2021-2022.  </div> <div>Episcopacy </div> <div>Rev. Williamston was elected bishop of The United Methodist Church on November 2, 2022, by the South Central Jurisdiction on the first ballot. She was elected first of three on the one and only ballot and the first Black woman elected in the South Central Jurisdiction as bishop. She is currently assigned to serve the Louisiana Episcopal Area.   Connection In 2018 Rev. Williamston served as a delegate to the Christian Communities Together Ecumenical Concerns (COB). In 2019, she was elected a 2020 General Conference delegate.   </div> <div>Family</div> <div>Bishop Williamston has one son Jerome Jr., daughter-in-law Mercedes and seven grandchildren. Her interests include movies, reading, bike riding, walking, painting, crochet, traveling and host of other interest. She enjoys playing with her grandchildren and pet Shih Tzu. </div>

William Willimon

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop William Willimon is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 2004-2012. -------------------------- He was born in Greenville, South Carolina. He has degrees from Wofford College, Yale Divinity School, and Emory University. Ten colleges and universities have given him honorary degrees. He was ordained elder in the South Carolina Conference and served churches in Georgia and South Carolina. He joined the Duke Divinity School faculty in 1976 where he served as professor and taught courses in liturgy and homiletics. Twice he has been guest professor at universities in Germany. He is the author of more than sixty books, some of which have been translated into six different languages. Over a million copies of his books have been sold. In 2004 a group of homileticians published a book that examines Will's preaching, Peculiar Prophet: Will Willimon and the Art of Preaching. In 1984 he was named Dean of the Chapel at Duke University, a post that he held for twenty years before being elected to the episcopacy by the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference in 2004. He served the Birmingham, Alabama area. Patricia (Patsy) Parker and Will Willimon were married in 1969, and Patsy and Will have two married children, Harriet Willimon Putman, a social worker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and William Parker Willimon, a development officer at the University of Georgia in Athens. Publications: <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=1214910&rank=1&txtSearchQuery=William+Willimon" target="_blank">Resident Aliens</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=1189684&rank=2&txtSearchQuery=William+Willimon" target="_blank">Incarnation</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=1096718&rank=3&txtSearchQuery=William+Willimon" target="_blank">CEB Common English Wesley Study Bible, DecoTone</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/search.aspx?ddlSearchScope=author&txtSearchQuery=William+Willimon" target="_blank">Complete List</a>

Richard Wills

Retired

United States

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Bishop Richard Wills is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 2004-2012. --------------------- Richard "Dick" Wills was born in Texas, graduated from Florida Southern University with a B.S. in psychology and received his M. Div. from Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He was granted honorary doctorates from both Bethune-Cookman College and Florida Southern College. Dick accepted Christ and felt the call to be a pastor while in the seventh grade in South Houston, Texas. His family moved to Miami, and Dick was ordained in the Florida Annual Conference as a deacon and as an elder. For 18 years he served as senior pastor of Christ Church United Methodist in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. It was while serving there a friend suggested he attend the World Methodist Evangelism Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. This was the beginning of spiritual renewal in his life that deeply affected his life and leadership in the church. In 2000 Dick authored the book, Waking to God's Dream. On June 12, 1965, Dick married Eileen Willis. They have four children and ten grandchildren. Eileen served as the principal of Andrew Jackson Elementary School in Old Hickory, Tennessee. Dick was first elected a delegate to the General Conference in 1988 and then to successive General Conferences, 1992-2004. Twice he was the head of the conference delegation. In 2004 the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference elected him to the episcopacy and he was assigned to the Nashville Area. Publications: <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=1208480&rank=1&txtSearchQuery=Richard+Wills" target="_blank">Waking to God's Dream - eBook [ePub]</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=754774&rank=2&txtSearchQuery=Richard+Wills" target="_blank">Martin Luther King, JR., and the Image of God</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=438442&rank=3&txtSearchQuery=Richard+Wills" target="_blank">Waking to God's Dream</a> <a href="http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=439502&rank=4&txtSearchQuery=Richard+Wills" target="_blank">Waking to God's Dream - eBook [Adobe]</a>

David M. Wilson

Active

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Great Plains Episcopal Area

Rev. Dr. David M. Wilson has served as resident bishop of the Great Plains Conference of The United Methodist Church since January 1, 2023. He was elected to the episcopal office on November 2, 2022, on a historic vote by the South Central Jurisdiction’s delegates, when Bishop Wilson was one of three people elected on the first and only ballot needed to fill bishop vacancies.   Bishop Wilson, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, holds the distinction of being the first Native American elected to serve as a bishop in the history of The United Methodist Church.   Prior to election, Bishop Wilson served as assistant to the bishop of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference (OIMC), which is comprised of 81 Native American churches in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. He previously served as the OIMC superintendent for 18 years.     Bishop Wilson was ordained as an elder in 1995 and served charges in Tahlequah and Norman, Oklahoma. During his term as conference superintendent, he also served as the pastor of Norman First American UMC in Norman, Oklahoma, and during his tenure the church grew and completed their building construction in 2007.   Bishop Wilson served as a campus minister and youth director for many years. He has served on the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, Connectional Table and the General Board of Global Ministries, of which he is currently a member. He also served on the General Commission on General Conference.   Bishop Wilson received his associate’s degree in mass communications from Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton, Oklahoma, and is a 1990 graduate of Oklahoma City University, with a bachelor’s of arts in mass communications. He earned his master’s of divinity degree from Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1994. He was the first clergy person from OIMC to graduate from Phillips Theological Seminary, and he was named the Phillips Distinguished Alumni for 2007. He received an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from Bacone College in 2009.   Other honors for Bishop Wilson include the Excellence in Teaching Award for adjunct faculty at Oklahoma City University in 2012, the Dr. John Edwards Memorial Leadership Award in 2016 by the AARP, and “Man of the Year” by the Changing Winds Cultural Society in 2017.   Among other interests, Bishop Wilson has served as an adjunct professor of religion for more than 15 years at Oklahoma City University, a United Methodist-related institution. He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Oklahoma City University and on the board for the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic. Bishop Wilson also has served as an adjunct professor at the Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology and has taught in the summer at the Perkins Course of Study Program. Among his many mission-outreach projects, he has served as director for the Rock the Native Vote, an initiative to engage Native Americans to vote in Oklahoma.   Bishop Wilson often lectures on Native American spirituality in classrooms and for groups across the denomination. In his personal time, he enjoys running and studying history, in particular Native American history. His grandfather, Calvin Wilson, was one of the Choctaw Code-Talkers from World War I. Bishop Wilson is single and resides in Topeka, Kansas.

Joe Wilson

Retired

United States

South Central Jurisdiction

Bishop Joe Wilson is a Retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 1992-2000. -------------------- Joe Wilson, a grandson descendent of one of the first circuit riders in East Texas, was born in Newton, Texas. His family moved shortly thereafter to Orange, Texas, where he completed high school. He attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, receiving a B.A. degree, Perkins School of Theology at SMU, where he was awarded a Masters of Theology and Drew University, where he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree. His doctoral project was on "The Nurture and Spiritual Formation of the Laity through Care Ministry." His first appointment upon graduation from seminary was the United Methodist Church in Calvert, Texas. He then moved to Tyler to pastor Asbury United Methodist where he led the congregation in the building of a new sanctuary. He served Rosebud UMC and Highlands UMC for three years each. In 1972 he was assigned to the League City United Methodist Church in Houston's Space Center, where he spent six years of ministry and built a new sanctuary. He moved to First United Methodist Church of Lake Jackson in 1978 and served this congregation for six years. Dr. Wilson then spent two years as the Texarkana District Superintendent before being appointed Area Provost (a cabinet position which included the responsibilities of Executive Director of the Annual Conference, Administrative Assistant to the Bishop and Chief Operations Officer of the United Methodist Center). In 1991-2 he was appointed Senior Pastor of Marvin United Methodist Church in Tyler, Texas. He has served on and chaired numerous conference, jurisdictional, general and world councils and boards, and has been honored with the distinguished Alumni Award from both Southwestern University and Perkins School of Theology. Zoe Strickland and Joe Wilson were married in 1959. Zoe and Joe have two children -- Mari, who lives in Austin with husband Richard, and Paul, who lives in Georgetown. They have five grandchildren. Joe Wilson was elected to the General and Jurisdictional Conference delegations of the Texas Conference in 1988 and 1992. He was elected bishop by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference in 1992 and was assigned to the Fort Worth Area, where he served for eight years before retirement in September, 2000. Zoe and Joe now live in Georgetown, Texas, where he serves as Bishop-in-Residence at Southwestern University, Texas' oldest university.

David Yemba

Retired

Africa

Congo Central Conference

Bishop David Kekumba Yemba is a retired bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 2005-2016.   Bishop Yemba has also served in the following capacities:   <ul> <li>2008-2016: The Moderator of the Committee on Faith and Order of The United Methodist Church</li> <li>2009-2019: Chancellor of Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe</li> <li>2017-2018: One of the three moderators of the Commission on a Way Forward, COB</li> </ul> --------------------- Born in Dungu, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bishop Yemba graduated from Université Libre du Congo with Licence en Théologie (Distinction) and from Université Strasbourg II des Sciences Humaines, Strasbourg, France, with Docteur-ès-Sciences Religieuses.   David was ordained deacon and elder in the Central Congo Annual Conference by Bishop John Wesley Shungu. He combines both academic and pastoral activities in his Christian ministry. He taught Systematic Theology and Ecumenical Studies in many institutions of higher learning, including Africa University where he served as founding Dean for almost fourteen years, with a certificate awarded for ten years of pioneer service (2022) to the University. He received the President’s Medallion of Leadership from Martin Methodist College, Pulaski, Tennessee in 2010 and Certificates of Appreciation for Service from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of The United Methodist Church, Nashville, Tennessee in 2012 and 2016. Before moving to Africa University in Zimbabwe, he served also as Dean and then as President of the Protestant Interdenominational Seminary in Kinshasa for twenty-one years. David Yemba is author of one book, Yemba, David K. Seigneur, apprends-nous à prier: une explication contextuelle de la prière de Notre Père. Kinshasa: Éditions CÉDI, 2017. He has also written several articles in theological journals and various church documents and reports. As to pastoral ministry, he served as chaplain of Katubue United High School and as one of the pastors of the International Protestant Parish of Kinshasa. He was an Administrative Assistant to the Bishop in the West Congo Annual Conference. David was elected delegate to the Africa Central Conference in 1972, 1980, 1984, and 1988 and to the General Conference in 1992. He also served as a member of the African Church Growth and Development Committee of the GBGM. The Congo Central Conference elected him to the episcopacy on February 12, 2005. He was re-elected in 2008. In addition to teaching, research, and administrative duties, David has served as a member of the following learning societies and national institutions: National Executive Board of Bible Society in the Congo, Oxford Institute of Methodist Studies, and Editorial Board of Quarterly Review with, for the latter, a certificate of recognition awarded. He was elected President of the Association of Theological Institutions in Francophone Africa, Vice President of the World Methodist Historical Society for Africa, and Moderator of Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, 1998-2006. He was elected one of the five Vice Presidents of The All-Africa Conference of Churches, 2008-2018; and Vice President of the National Board of Ethics and Election in the Rep. Dem. of the Congo.   Henriette K’Untu and David K. Yemba were married on August 24, 1969, at Wembo Nyama Mission. They have five children: Rosalie Ogar, Hélène Ngoy, Emmanuel Yemba, Joseph Yemba and Benjamin Yemba. They also have five grandchildren: Alexandra Ogar, David Ogar, Jonathan Ngoy, Pierre Ngoy, and Nicolas Ngoy.

John Yohanna

Active

Africa

West Africa Central Conference

Nigeria Episcopal Area

Stefan Zürcher

Active

Europe

Central and Southern Europe Central Conference

Central and Southern Europe Episcopal Area

Bishop Stefan Emanuel Zürcher, elected to the episcopacy in 2022, is the Resident Bishop of the Central and Southern Europe Area, which includes Central and Southern Europe Central Conference in the Europe Central Conference of The United Methodist Church. ----------------------------- Early life Stefan Zürcher was born in Solothurn (Switzerland) and grew up with his parents, grandparents and four siblings on a farm in Rüttenen. He attended the UMC Solothurn with his family as a child, where he made many friends. Through the lived faith in family and church, he grew into the faith at an early age and experienced the deep love of God and of many people. He completed his first years of school in Rüttenen and the Gymnasium in Solothurn.   Education and Ordination After graduating from the Gymnasium with the Matura, Stefan Zürcher studied at the ETH Zurich Agricultural Sciences and afterwards at the School of Theology of the United Methodist Church in Reutlingen (Germany). Later he did a doctorate (equivalent to Ph.D.) in Zurich on prayer from a Methodist perspective. He was ordained as an elder of The United Methodist Church by Bishop Heinrich Bolleter in the Annual Conference Switzerland-France-North Africa.   Ordained Ministry Stefan Zürcher served from 2000 to 2015 as a pastor in the three local churches Tann/Rüti-Wald-Hombrechtikon, located in the German-speaking part of Switzerland in the sunny Zürcher Oberland. He became a lecturer of the Lay Preachers’ Training in Switzerland which he led as director of formation from 2006 to 2015. From 2013 to 2023 he was chair of the working group Theology and Ordained Ministries and as such a member of the Executive Committee of the CC CSE and a delegate to the Central Conference since 2009.   Superintendency In 2015 to 2022 Stefan Zürcher was appointed District Superintendent of the District Northwestern Switzerland by Bishop Patrick Streiff. He was also lecturer for Methodist Theology and Doctrine in the Methodist e-Academy in Europe and a member of the Council of the Reutlingen School of Theology. At the global level he served as a member of the Connectional Table of the UMC. Since 2015 he has been an army chaplain.   Episcopacy In November 2022, Stefan Zürcher was elected bishop of the United Methodist Church in Central and Southern Europe. He succeeds Bishop Patrick Streiff and assumes his office on August 1, 2023. His area covers eleven countries in Europe (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Switzerland) and two countries in North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia). Besides his service in this very diverse Episcopal Area, Stefan Zürcher is a member of the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters.   Family In 1991, Valérie Allenbach and Stefan Zürcher were married. They have four children: Emanuel, Rahel, Simon and Micha. His interests include reading, road cycling, playing the violin, photographing plants and hiking.

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