wfn.org | Florida United Methodist Bishop Cornelius Henderson dies

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Dec. 7, 2000  News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn. 10-21-31-71BP{551}

NOTE: A head-and-shoulders photo of Bishop Henderson is available for use
with this story.  

By United Methodist News Service

United Methodist Bishop Cornelius L. Henderson, leader of the church's
Florida Area, died Dec. 7 in Atlanta after a long battle with cancer and
kidney failure.

Henderson, 66, was elected a bishop by the church's nine-state Southeastern
Jurisdiction in 1996 and was beginning his second four-year term in Florida,
with offices and residence in Lakeland.

He was diagnosed in February 1999 with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the
immune system that causes uncontrolled reproduction of plasma cells. He had
been under hospice care in Atlanta since the Thanksgiving holidays.

Henderson left behind a legacy of love, according to the Rev. Keith Ewing,
Henderson's assistant. "He loved children, he loved those who did not know
Jesus Christ, he loved the pastors and laity under his care, he loved the
dispossessed and the marginalized, and, most of all, he loved his family."  

Ewing said Henderson brought excitement and enthusiasm to the Florida Annual
Conference (which constitutes the church's Florida Area). "He convinced us
that we could do better ... and improve we did," Ewing said. Membership in
the Florida churches increased for the first time in eight years in 1999.
Ewing credits Henderson's leadership with that growth.
  
In 1993, Henderson was featured as one of the "Outstanding Black Preachers
in America" by Ebony magazine.

When elected a bishop, he was serving as president-dean of United
Methodist-related Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta. Previously, he was
senior pastor of Ben Hill United Methodist Church in Atlanta, one of the
largest black congregations in the denomination.  

He had also served as superintendent of the Atlanta-Emory and Atlanta North
districts of the North Georgia (regional) Annual Conference; a staff member
of the churchwide Board of Discipleship in Nashville, Tenn.; director of the
North Georgia Program Council; and pastor of churches in Atlanta, Griffin,
Jonesboro, Athens and Commerce, Ga.

Henderson is survived by his wife, Dorothye Carithers Henderson; daughter,
Leah Dor-Lyn
Henderson Smith, and son-in-law, Disraeli Smith Sr., and their sons,
Disraeli Smith II and Cornelius Linton Henderson Smith of College Park, Ga.

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12, at Ben Hill
Church.  

Bishop Lindsey Davis, president of the Southeastern Jurisdictional College
of Bishops, will name an interim bishop to lead the Florida Conference. The
interim bishop will serve until the denomination's Council of Bishops and
the Southeastern Jurisdiction's College of Bishops name a retired bishop to
serve out the remainder of Henderson's term, which ends June 2004, or until
they call a special session of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference to
elect a new bishop. Delegates to such a gathering would be the same as those
elected by annual (regional) conferences to the most recent jurisdictional
conference held in July at Lake Junaluska, N.C.  Five such jurisdictional
gatherings are held in the United States every four years to elect new
bishops and to assign all bishops to areas of service for the next
quadrennium. 

Henderson earned his bachelor of arts degree from Clark College, his master
of divinity degree from Gammon Theological Seminary, and his master of
sacred theology degree from the Interdenominational Theological Center, all
in Atlanta. He has received honorary doctorates from five United
Methodist-related colleges and universities.

Henderson's greatest passion was evangelism. At the time of his election as
bishop, he observed that the biblical mandate to "Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations..." was directed to Christians as the "great
commission," not the "great suggestion."   

Henderson had the distinction of serving as pastor of the same local church
twice, a rarity among United Methodist clergy who are appointed annually.
While he was at Ben Hill Church in 1984 and 1985, the congregation was given
awards for receiving the most members on confession of faith (new
Christians) and for having the largest net increase in membership in the
Atlanta-College Park District. Membership increased from 400 to more than
4,500, making Ben Hill one of the fastest-growing churches in the
denomination.   

After a six-year stint as superintendent of the Atlanta-Emory District,
Henderson served another two years at Ben Hill. At that time, membership was
l6,700, making it the largest predominantly African-American United
Methodist congregation in the world and the largest United Methodist church
in the denomination's Southeastern Jurisdiction. The church today has nearly
9,000 members.

Beginning in 1980, Henderson was a delegate to five consecutive General
Conferences, the church's top legislative assembly, which meets every four
years. He served on many church agencies in Georgia and throughout the
denomination. He has been an executive committee member of the World
Methodist Council and has participated in missions to countries around the
world. He was secretary to the governing body of the United Methodist
Publishing House in Nashville from 1980 to 1992; vice chairman of the Gammon
Theological Seminary board of trustees; chairman of the church committee of
the United Negro College Fund; founder of the National Black College Gospel
Choir Workshop; president of the Atlanta Chapter of PUSH; and chairman of
the Morehouse School of Medicine advisory board. He was the founder of
Concerned Black Clergy of Metro Atlanta.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that gifts be directed to the Bishop
Cornelius L. Henderson Scholarship Fund at Gammon Theological Seminary, P.O.
Box 92426, 653 Beckwith St. S.W., Atlanta, GA  30314.  
# # #

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United Methodist News Service
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