wfn.org | Special jurisdictional session will elect new Southeastern bishop

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Jan. 22, 2001 News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71B{023}
  

By Michael Wacht*

(UMNS) - A special session of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference
will be held Feb. 26-28 in Lake Junaluska, N.C., with the purpose of
electing a new United Methodist bishop to replace the late Cornelius L.
Henderson.

The United Methodist Church's Southeastern Jurisdiction College of Bishops
made the decision Jan. 18 during a meeting in Marietta, Ga.

Although Bishop Henderson was appointed to the Florida Annual (regional)
Conference, the new bishop will not necessarily be appointed there,
according to Bishop Lindsey Davis, president of the college and leader of
the denomination's Atlanta Area. All of the jurisdiction's episcopal
appointments are open to review by the episcopal committee.

"We all understand that when we elect a new bishop, all appointments are
back on the table," he said. "We trust the episcopal committee to make the
best decisions for the whole church."

Each of the conferences in the jurisdiction will have the opportunity to
nominate someone for the episcopacy, but is not required to, according to
Davis.

Henderson, 66, died Dec. 7 after a two-year battle with multiple myeloma, a
cancer of the plasma cells. He had served only a few months of his second
four-year appointment to the Florida Conference.

Bishop J. Lloyd Knox, bishop of the Florida Conference, said the election is
the right thing to do. "Florida needs a strong, active bishop," he said.
"Florida is a strong conference with a lot going on. We need to plant a lot
of new churches and attend to the great diversity in the state."

Davis said the college of bishops believes that despite an anticipated cost
of $250,000 for the special session, a new election is the best way to
provide the Florida Conference with episcopal leadership. 

"We did consider the cost," he said, "but we felt the expense was necessary
... to provide the kind of leadership Florida needs -- a residential bishop
who will live in Lakeland and be immersed in the ministry of the
conference."

During the special session, the delegates will receive a report from a
finance committee about how to pay for the session, since it's not budgeted,
Davis said.

The Southeastern Jurisdiction is the largest of the denomination's five U.S.
regions, with 2.9 million members in nine states. Its offices are at Lake
Junaluska. 

Jurisdictional conferences are held every four years for the primary purpose
of electing bishops to replace those who are retiring. The church's five
jurisdictions met last July and elected 13 bishops.

The same delegates who represented their annual conferences at last summer's
Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference will be voting on the new bishop in
February.

The jurisdiction will make the episcopal candidates' biographical
information available on Feb. 13, said Joetta Rinehart, a jurisdictional
staff member. Candidates for bishop last summer will not be automatically
carried over as candidates this time. Instead, they will go through the
process of being nominated by their annual conference, church caucus or
other recognized United Methodist group.

The candidates will be introduced and voting will begin on the first day of
the special session. The session will conclude with the consecration of the
new bishop, Rinehart said.

The Southeastern Jurisdiction is posting information on the session at
www.sejac-umc.org/sej2001 online. 

# # #

*Wacht is the assistant editor of the Florida Annual Conference's edition of
the United Methodist Review. Tim Tanton with United Methodist News Service
contributed to this report.

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United Methodist News Service
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