wfn.org | Southeast to Elect 7 Bishops

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3002 notes).

Note 3001 by UMNS on June 10, 1996 at 15:49 Eastern (6573 characters).

SEARCH:   Southeastern Jurisdiction, bishops, elect, retirement

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CONTACT:  Joretta Purdue               287(11-15-18-21SE-71){3001}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722           June 10, 1996

Seven United Methodist bishops
to be elected in Southeast

                 by United Methodist News Service

     Seven new bishops will be elected July 16-19 at Lake
Junaluska, N.C., by United Methodist delegates from the
southeastern United States. 
     The Southeastern Jurisdiction will fill six vacancies created
by retirements and one by the death of Bishop Joseph B. Bethea of
the Columbia Episcopal Area.
     Retiring this year are Bishops H. Hasbrouck Hughes of the
Florida Area; L. Bevel Jones III, Charlotte; L. Lloyd Knox,
Atlanta; Clay Lee, Holston; C.P. Minnick Jr., Raleigh; and Thomas
R. Stockton, Richmond. 
     Bishop Robert H. Spain of Nashville, Tenn., who is filling
out the term of the late Bishop Bethea, will return to retirement.
     United Methodist bishops, elected for life, usually serve no
more than eight years in the same geographic area. Bishop Richard
C. Looney is completing his eighth year in the South Georgia Area.
The remaining six bishops are near the end of their fourth year in
their present assignment.
     Appointment of bishops to new areas will become effective
September 1. A total of 17 bishops will be elected by the five
quadrennial jurisdictions, all meeting the same week.
     The Southeastern Jurisdiction is the most populous of the
United Methodist Church's five U.S. jurisdictions, with 2,888,402
members. It also will have the largest jurisdictional conference
because the formula for determining representation is based on
membership.
     The 528 delegates include an equal number of clergy and lay
people elected at 16 annual (regional) conferences in the spring
of 1995. They come from an area that encompasses nine states
located between the East Coast and the Mississippi River. Although
Virginia and Kentucky make up most of the northern border, a small
area of West Virginia is included as well.
     A cleryperson may be elected to the church's highest office
without endorsement, but most receive an endorsement from their
annual conference delegation to the Jurisdictional Conference,
annual conferences, caucuses or other church groups. 
     The following have received endorsements from annual
conference delegations:
     -- the Rev. Kermit L. Braswell, superintendent of the Raleigh
District, North Carolina Annual Conference;
     -- the Rev. Ray W. Chamberlain Jr., superintendent of the
Richmond District, Virginia Annual Conference;
     -- the Rev. G. Lindsey Davis, superintendent of the Lexington
District, Kentucky Annual Conference plus Red Bird and Louisville
Annual Conferences;
     -- the Rev. E. Malone Dodson, pastor of First United
Methodist Church, Roswell, Ga., North Georgia Annual Conference;
     -- the Rev. Marion Edwards, pastor of St. Luke's United
Methodist Church, Columbus, Ga., South Georgia Annual Conference;
     -- the Rev. Charles L. Johnson Sr., director of the South
Carolina Annual Conference Council on Ministries;
     --the Rev. Charlene Payne Kammerer, pastor of St. Paul's
United Methodist Church, Tallahassee, Fla., Florida Annual
Conference;
     -- the Rev. Charles Lippse, pastor of First Broad Street
United Methodist Church, Kingsport, Tenn., Holston Annual
Conference;
     -- the Rev. Joe May, administrative assistant to Bishop
Marshall L. Meadors Jr., Mississippi Annual Conference;
     -- the Rev. J. Lawrence McCleskey, pastor of Myers Park
United Methodist Church, Charlotte, N.C., Western North Carolina
Annual Conference;
     -- the Rev. Joe E. Pennell Jr., pastor of Brentwood United
Methodist Church, Nashville, Tenn., Memphis and Tennessee Annual
Conferences;
     -- the Rev. Theodore H. Walter, superintendent Columbia
District, South Carolina Annual Conference; and 
     -- the Rev. Billy L. York, pastor of Trinity United Methodist
Church, Birmingham, Ala., North Alabama Annual Conference.
     Kammerer also has been endorsed by the clergywoman's
association of the Southeastern Jurisdiction.
     The Rev. Cornelius Henderson, president of Gammon Theological
Seminary in Atlanta, has been endorsed by the Gammon Theological
Seminary Alumni Association.
     The 16 annual conferences of the Southeastern Jurisdiction
may nominate candidates to the episcopacy during their 1996
sessions, which began May 10 but are occurring primarily in June.
And other groups may express support for individuals, who may or
may not have been nominated by an annual conference.
     For example, lay members of Georgia churches formerly served
by the Rev. William H. Hinson, pastor of First United Methodist
Church, Houston, Texas, are reported to be suggesting Hinson. And
friends of the Rev. Will Willimon, chaplain and professor at Duke
University, are said to be encouraging a draft of Willimon for the
episcopacy.
     At the jurisdictional conference in July, delegates write
their choices on a blank sheet for the first ballot. Any candidate
who receives a specified minimum number of valid votes is a
nominee. Sixty percent plus one vote is needed to elect in the
Southeastern Jurisdiction.
     The United Methodist Church, which numbers approximately 9.8
million worldwide, was formed in 1968 by the union of the
Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) and the Methodist churches.
Methodist bishops were elected at national gatherings until 1940.
The EUB Church followed that tradition until the 1968 merger.
     Bishops are considered general superintendents of the church
and are expected to "lead the church in its mission of witness and
service in the world."
     Following retirement, Hughes plans to live in Williamsburg,
Va.; Jones in Decatur, Ga.; Knox in St. Petersburg, Fla.; Lee in
Jackson, Miss.; Minnick in Raleigh, N.C.; and Thomas R. Stockton
in High Point, N.C.
                               # # #
     NOTE: United Methodist News Services will be coordinating the
news room operations at all five jurisdictional conferences.
Joretta Purdue will be coordinating the news room services for the
Southeastern Jurisdiction in cooperation with communicators from
the annual conferences of the jurisdiction.

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