wfn.org | Re: United Methodist Daily News note 3000

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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 (3071 notes).

Note 3070 by UMNS on July 22, 1996 at 16:08 Eastern (4755 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally                     356(13-21NE){3070}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470             July 22, 1996

United Methodists elect
four new bishops in Northeast

     AMHERST, Mass. (UMNS) -- Four new bishops have been elected
by the Northeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church
and will begin work in their respective episcopal areas Sept. 1.
     The elections to replace four retiring bishops occured July
17-18 during the jurisdiction's quadrennial meeting here.  The
Northeast has a total of 10 episcopal areas.
     Two of the four elected were African American: the Rev.
Alfred Johnson, 46, of the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference,
and the Rev. Ernest S. Lyght, 52, of the Northern New Jersey
Conference.
     Also elected were the Rev. Susan Wolfe Hassinger, 53, of the
Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference and the Rev., Peter D.
Weaver, 51, of the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference.
     Johnson received 211 votes on the 13th ballot -- 197 were
needed -- to become the first elected.  He was followed by
Hassinger, Lyght and Weaver.
     Retiring are Bishops Joseph H. Yeakel of Washington; William
Boyd Grove of Albany, N.Y.; F. Herbert Skeete of Boston; and
Forrest Stith of New York who has been on disability leave.
     United Methodist bishops are elected for life but there is a
mandatory retirement age.  There are 50 active U.S. bishops and 17
outside the United States.
     The Northeastern Jurisdiction includes the states of Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland,
West Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania, along with the District of Columbia.
     Currently a superintendent in the Harry Hosier District in
Eastern Pennsylvania Johnson also served in 1993 as superintendent
in the Philadelphia South District.  He was executive director of
United Methodist Metro Ministries, Inc., 1988-93 and has served as
pastor of churches in Leola, Philadelphia and Chester.
     Johnson has been a delegate to the 1988, 1992 and 1996 United
Methodist General Conferences -- the church's top legislative body
-- a representative to the National Council of Churches and a
director of the denomination's Board of Global Ministries.
     He earned a bachelor's degree from Albright College, Reading,
Pa., in 1972; a master's from Boston University School of Theology
in 1975 and a doctor of ministgry from Wesley Theological
Seminary, Washington, in 1994.
     Hassinger has been director of the office of resourcing for
the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference since January 1995.  She also
briefly served as associate director there.  From 1988 to 1994,
she was a conference consultant, working in areas such as conflict
intervention, strategic planning and staff development.  She was
superintendent of the Allentown District 1983-88 and served as
pastor in Mt. Gretna and Fleetwood.
     She served as a director of the United Methodist Board of
Discipleship 1992-96 and the Board of Global Ministries 1980-88.
     Hassinger received a bachelor's degree from Lebanon Valley
College, Annville, Pa., in 1964 and a master of divinity deree
from Lancaster, Pa., Theological Seminary in 1968.
     Lyght has been superintendent of the Raritan District in
Northern New Jersey since 1989.  Before that, he had served as
pastor at churches in Montclair, Cherry Hill, Willingboro and
Burlington.
     He was a director of the Board of Global Ministries 1992-96
and the denomination's Board of Church and Society 1984-92.  He
was a General Conference delegate in 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 and
a World Methodist Conference delegate in 1986 and 1991.
     Lyght earned a bachelor's degree from Morgan State University
in 1965, a master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological
Seminary in 1970 and a doctor of ministry degree from Princeton in
1979.
     Weaver has been senior pastor of First United Methodist
Church in Pittsburgh since 1988.  He served at Smithfield United
Methodist Church there 1977-88 and as a pastor in Whitaker, Pa.,
1971-77.
     He has been a director of the denomination's General Council
on Ministries and was a General Conference delegate in 1984, 1988,
1992 and 1996.
     Weaver received a bachelor's degree from West Virginia
Wesleyan College in 1966, a master of divinity degree from Drew
University Theological School in 1969 and a doctorate in theology
from Boston University in 1975.
                              #  #  #
     NOTE:  Photos of the new bishops are available electronically
or by mail.  Call Mike DuBose (615) 742-5150.

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