wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 309-North Central U.S. bishops receive four-year assignments

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North Central U.S. bishops receive four-year assignments

Jul. 19, 2008    News media contact:   Kathy  Gilbert * (615) 7425470*   Nashville {309}

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

>By Kathy L. Gilbert*

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (UMNS)-Bishop Julius Calvin Trimble, the new United  Methodist bishop in the North Central United States, has been assigned  to the denomination's Iowa Area for the next four years.

Assignments of bishops to all of the North Central Jurisdiction  episcopal areas were announced July 19, during the consecration service  for Trimble. They will take effect Sept. 1. The consecration service  concluded the July 16-19 session of The United Methodist Church's North  Central Jurisdictional Conference.

Trimble was elected to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of  Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher. Bishop Gregory V. Palmer, president of  the Council of Bishops, will move to the Illinois Area, where  Christopher was leading the church's Illinois Great Rivers Annual  (regional) Conference. Palmer has been serving the Iowa Area (Iowa  Conference).

The North Central College of Bishops requested that Bishop Bruce R. Ough  remain in the Ohio West Area (West Ohio Conference), where he has  already served two terms. Bishops typically serve one area for two  four-year terms, but they may be appointed for up to 12 years for  "missional reasons."

The seven other active North Central bishops have served in their  current locations for the past four years and have been assigned to  second terms there. They are:

- Bishop Michael J. Coyner, Indiana Area (North and South Indiana annual  conferences). 
- Bishop Sally Dyck, Minnesota Area (Minnesota Conference). 
- Bishop John L. Hopkins, Ohio East Area (East Ohio Conference). 
- Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, Chicago Area (Northern Illinois Conference). 
- Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton, Michigan Area (Detroit and West Michigan  conferences). 
- Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey, Dakota Area (Dakotas Conference). 
- Bishop Linda Lee, Wisconsin Area (Wisconsin Conference).

The North Central Jurisdiction is home to United Methodists in North and  South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana  and Ohio. The North Central is one of five U.S. jurisdictions along with  seven central conferences that serve United Methodists around the globe.

The jurisdictional conferences meet every four years, primarily to elect  bishops and to assign or reassign bishops to geographic areas.

># # #

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in  Nashville, Tenn.

>********************

United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org

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