wfn.org | Profile of Bishops Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., NCC President 2004-2005

["Carol Fouke" <cfouke@ncccusa.org>]

Profile of Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., NCC President 2004-2005

Profile of C.M.E. Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., NCC President 2004-5
Actively Combating Poverty in His District, Hoyt Aims to Add 'Feet' to the
NCC's Poverty Mobilization

NCC Newsroom Nov. 4-6: 601-206-3181 (Crown Room, Jackson Hilton)
Or Mobile 702-523-4006 or 917-690-6075

November 3, 2003, Jackson, Miss. -- The National Council of Churches'
incoming president, Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., of Shreveport, La., is a
leader in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church-one of the Council's
seven historically Black member communions. He also is a New Testament
scholar, a preacher, writer, teacher, administrator and pastor.

According to those who know him best, however, you haven't adequately
described Bishop Hoyt until you also lift up his generous spirit. "He has a
heart for the people," as put by his longtime friend and colleague, Bishop
Ronald Cunningham, also a Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) bishop, and a
member of the NCC Executive Board.

In his current role as presiding bishop of the CME's Fourth Episcopal
District, Hoyt is looking out for the needs of 240 pastors and 320
congregations in an area that covers all of Mississippi and Louisiana. "Many
of these pastors are tentmakers," he says. Like the Apostle Paul in the
early days of Christianity, whose "day job" was making tents, they have
part-time or full-time jobs in addition to their pastoral duties. In the
case of the Delta Region pastors, whose annual salaries range from $35,000
to a low of $1,000, tentmaking is a financial necessity. "It's hard to get
pastors to meetings, when you don't have the financial resources to back
them up," says Hoyt, measuring the impact of financial challenges on the
everyday work of the church.

"My greatest wish is to have supplementary salary for these preachers,
adequate housing, scholarships for their children," he says, but "our
Mississippi and Louisiana economic doldrums and scarce jobs" make it
difficult for average churchgoers to contribute more than they are already
giving. As one step toward a solution, Hoyt has organized special
fundraising dinners, each one aiming to bring to the table 500 people who
are in a position to contribute $100 each.

Raised under the banner "Empowering Us to Help Us," the funds go for
scholarships, seed money for entrepreneurship, help for rural churches to
get computers, and also for social outreach efforts such as after-school
tutorial services and a "Family Matters" program. "When government comes
along and talks about faith-based initiatives, we've got it," Hoyt says.

"I'm also challenged to get education for my preachers," says Hoyt, who
himself began preaching in Evansville, Ind., when he was only 17 years
old-following in the footsteps of his father, an ordained CME minister. But
unlike most of the pastors in his episcopal area, Hoyt had the opportunity
to pursue many academic degrees. He earned the Bachelor of Arts degree from
CME-related Lane College in Jackson, Tenn. (1962); Master of Divinity degree
from Phillips School of Theology, a part of Atlanta's Interdenominational
Theological Center (1965); Master of Systematic Theology degree from New
York City's Union Theological Seminary (1967); and a Ph.D. degree in
religion from Duke University, Durham, N.C. (1975).

Hoyt is helping many Black pastors close the education gap, using as a model
a program he had a key role in establishing more than 20 years ago at
Hartford Seminary. The Black Ministries Certificate Program provides an
introductory theological education designed to meet the needs of leaders of
Black congregations regardless of whether or not they have the usual
prerequisite of a bachelor's degree. The course work, which can be completed
in two years, ranges from Scripture and theology to the nuts and bolts of
running a church and its programs. At Hartford, the program has trained over
1,000 lay and clergy persons.

Hoyt's Life Takes an Ecumenical Turn

Bishop Hoyt welcomes the opportunity to reach out even more broadly for just
ice and reconciliation through the work of the National Council of Churches,
whose 36 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox member communions comprise some
140,000 congregations and 50 million congregants. He notes, however, "It
never was my goal to be NCC president." Rather it was the biblical principle
of reconciliation that first drew him, as a student, to the ecumenical
movement, and served as polestar for a life that increasingly took an
ecumenical direction.

"I started out in the Black community," says Hoyt, who grew up in the CME
Church and remains firmly rooted in it. But a teacher at Lane College who
sent him to an interreligious, interracial meeting in Ohio in the 1960s
opened up new avenues to the young Hoyt-a way to act on the convictions of
his religious upbringing in a wider arena and to share the gifts he brought
as a CME member. His ecumenical career took off in 1974, when another mentor
placed him on the theology commission of the Consultation on Church Union
(COCU). Now known as Churches Uniting in Christ, the organization's nine
member communions have developed a new relationship, based on an agreement
to start living more fully into their unity in Christ.

Becoming ever more engaged in the ecumenical movement, Bishop Hoyt was one
of only two men to participate in COCU's commission on women in ministry; he
served on the committee that in the 1980s produced the Inclusive Language
Lectionary under the auspices of the NCC's former Division of Education and
Ministry; he has represented his denomination in various capacities at the
World Council of Churches; and he served as vice-president of the NCC's
Faith and Order Commission from 1995-1996. Most recently he served a
1999-2000 term as president of the Louisiana Interchurch Conference.

"Some of my colleagues in the Black community said, 'You're wasting your
time,' " Bishop Hoyt recalls, acknowledging that the ecumenical movement
continually strives to live up to its own high standards of racial
inclusivity but occasionally falls short. "Sometimes I did feel that," he
says, quickly adding, "but then I look around and see our mandate is to
bring unity to the people of God-not only for the churches but for humanity.
That's the challenge for me ... that's the emphasis I bring to the
ecumenical network ... bringing people together around their humanity, not
around their skin color, gender, class or disability."

As part of his service with the NCC Faith and Order Commission, Hoyt
participated in a 1989 delegation that visited Pope John Paul II at the
Vatican-and which provided a quintessentially Hoyt moment. It was a human
moment. It occurred when he offered the Pope a blessing and asked for his
signature on the flyleaf of a Catholic Bible. It soon became evident that
offering a blessing, instead of waiting for one, broke a formal rule of
Vatican etiquette, as did the request for an autograph. But Hoyt's sincere
spirit of Christian love brought a warm response from the Pope, who also
willingly placed his signature in the Bible, much to the surprise of others
at the gathering. Hoyt later reflected that his actions may have
inadvertently upset "the order of things," but in that moment, "the Spirit
was moving."

Installation Site Evokes Former and Current Anti-Poverty Efforts

Bishop Hoyt will begin a two-year term of office as the NCC's 22nd president
on Jan. 1, 2004, but his installation will be celebrated earlier-at the
close of the Nov. 4-6, 2003 annual meeting of the General Assembly, the
NCC's 280-member governing body. A special service of installation will be
held the evening of November 6 at Anderson United Methodist Church in
Jackson, Miss.-a city that holds a special place in the Council's history.

At the height of the Civil Rights Movement, "the NCC had a strong presence
in the Delta Region," says Hoyt. One of the major hubs of the Council's
Delta Ministry was located only a few miles from Jackson on the campus of
Mt. Beulah College, a school affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ). For a decade, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, the Delta
Ministry operated a cutting-edge community development program. Working with
people living in the deepest poverty, the program sought out local direction
and leadership, leaving a lasting legacy of empowerment in the area.

So, too, in the present day, "the NCC has to put itself on the cutting
edge," says Hoyt. "When I hear people talk about poverty ... it has to be
coupled with the fight against racism and gender inequality. And it has to
be accompanied with concrete action." For inspiration, he points to the
Social Creed of his own CME Church that clearly states that "for the church
to be silent in the face of need, injustice and exploitation is to deny the
Lord"-a principle shared throughout the ecumenical community.

Bishop Hoyt takes up his responsibility as president at a time when the NCC
is engaged in a multi-year Poverty Mobilization, and has said he will
encourage the churches to put "feet" under this effort. As one of the many
components of the Mobilization, the NCC has challenged federal priorities in
which military spending far outstrips spending for constructive social
purposes. A leading opponent of the Iraq War, the Council has warned that
the war would be hardest on people already in poverty, whose limited access
to quality health care, education and other necessities of life would drop
to even lower levels. The Mobilization lifts up best practices in the
struggle against poverty, works to change common wisdom about the
inevitability of poverty, and includes partnerships with many anti-poverty
organizations for collaboration in education, advocacy and service.

Hoyt also supports the Council's high-profile environmental efforts, which
take seriously the responsibility that lies with people of faith to be
stewards of God's creation. And he lifts up the value of the Council's
program for better interfaith relations, particularly its work toward better
Christian-Muslim understanding. "The stereotypes that too many Americans
hold about Muslims have become even more troublesome after September 11," he
says, and need to be countered with education and dialogue.

Promoting good relationships among Christians, Jews and Muslims is high on
his agenda. He currently serves as a vice-chair on the National Board of
Directors of the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), an
organization formerly known as the National Conference of Christians and
Jews, which works for understanding and respect among all races, religions
and cultures.

A Sought-After Lecturer and Preacher

A former teacher, Bishop Hoyt's new role at the NCC places him in a sort of
"national classroom" that debates issues of peace, justice and unity, and to
which he brings many qualifications. Before being ordained as a bishop in
1994, Hoyt had established a reputation as a distinguished scholar in
theological education. He is a former Professor of New Testament at Hartford
Seminary, Hartford, Ct. (1980-1994); Howard University School of Religion,
Washington, D.C. (1978-1980); and Interdenominational Theological Center
(1972-78). Earlier he pastored CME churches in North Carolina and New York.
He also served as pastor in United Methodist and Presbyterian congregations.

Renowned as a preacher, lecturer and leader of Bible studies, he has been
asked to speak at innumerable events across the country, including the
prestigious Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale Divinity School in 1993. He is
the author of three books on New Testament themes, co-author of three other
books, and contributor to many more. He was one of two senior editors for
the American Bible Society's 1999 Jubilee Bible, and he worked on The New
Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Version, sponsored by Oxford Press. He
also has written more than 40 articles for academic and church publications.

Hoyt has received many awards and accolades throughout his career. He has
received honorary doctoral degrees from Memphis Theological Seminary,
Memphis, Tenn.; Lane College, Jackson, Tenn.; Rust College, Holly Springs,
Miss.; Trinity College, Hartford, Ct.; and the Interdenominational
Theological Center, Atlanta, Ga. Among recent honors, he was elected in 2001
to a five-year term as president of the World Methodist Council, North
American Region. The Council links the family of Methodist churches and
related churches in the "Wesleyan tradition" in 135 countries.

Bishop Hoyt is married to Ocie Harriett Hoyt. They have two children and one
grandchild.

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