Episcopal Information

photo by UMNS Linda Green

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bishops elected to serve in the South Central Jurisdiction (3): 

 Bishop Mike Lowry bio attached
     On the 11th ballot, with 189 votes out of a possible 294, Mike Lowry was elected to the episcopacy of the United Methodist Church by delegates of the South Central Jurisdictional Conference on July 18, 2008. 
     John Michael “Mike” Lowry is executive director for New Church Development and Transformation for the Southwest Texas Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
     The Dr. Lowry received a master’s degree in theology from Perkins School of Theology and a doctorate from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
     He was ordained a deacon in the Northern Illinois Conference in 1974, and an elder in the Southwest Texas Conference in 1978. He served in North Texas as associate pastor at Plymouth Park UMC in Irving. He also was pastor of St. Paul’s in Kerrville and senior pastor of Wesley in Harlingen, Asbury in Corpus Christi, Bethany in Austin, and University UMC in San Antonio.
     Dr. Lowry has been chair of his conference’s Board of Ordained Ministry, Committee on Church Extension, and Council on Church Revitalization and Church Extension. He is a board member for the Texas Methodist Foundation, United Methodist Publishing House, Perkins School of Theology and Southwestern University.
   He and his wife, Jolynn, have a grown son and daughter. 

Bishop Earl Bledsoe bio attached  see photo
     Earl Bledsoe has been elected to the episcopacy of the United Methodist Church on the South Central Jurisdiction's 3rd ballot. With 289 eligible ballots, 174 votes were needed for election. Bishop Bledsoe received 186 votes.
     The son of a United Methodist pastor, Dr. Bledsoe has a master¹s of divinity degree from Perkins School of Theology, where he was a Benjamin E. Mays Scholar in Hebrew and Greek. He has a doctorate from Drew University.
     Dr. Bledsoe has been a district superintendent since 2002 for the Bryan/West District in the Texas Conference. He has served as pastor for Spring Woods UMC in Houston, Cypress UMC and Bear Creek UMC in Houston. From 1990-93, he was director of teaching ministries for the Texas Conference. He was an assistant pastor at St. Andrews UMC in Fort Worth, and a part-time local pastor for Wyatt Memorial UMC in Amarillo and the Anahuac Circuit.
     Dr. Bledsoe is a jurisdictional member of the Connectional Table and was elected a General Conference delegate from 1992-2008. He chairs his conference¹s Board of Ordained Ministry and is president of the Council on Finance and Administration. He also chairs the Texas Methodist Foundation Board and Houston Board of Missions Revitalization Committee. He and his wife, Leslie, have six children.  

Bishop James Dorff  bio attached
     James Dorff was elected on the 23rd ballot with 187 votes.  Rev. Jim Dorff is in his third year as Area Provost for the North Texas Annual Conference. Prior appointments include Superintendent of the Dallas-Denton District, First UMC McKinney, First UMC Gainesville, Executive Director of the DFW Airport Chaplaincy, and Associate Pastor at Highland Park UMC. The last ten of his 17 years at Highland Park were served as Director of the Pastoral Care and Counseling Ministry.

      The Jurisdictional Episcopacy Committee has recommended, and the  delegates
have ratified, the placement of bishops for the 2008-2012 quadrennium.

Bishop Earl Bledsoe, North Texas
Bishop Mike Lowry, Central Texas
Bishop Jim Dorff, San Antonio Area (Southwest Texas and Rio Grande
Conferences).

All other bishops will continue in the episcopal areas they served for
the 2004-2008 quadrennium.

News media contact:   Linda  Green * (615) 7425470* Nashville {JC08004}

The three newly-elected bishops have been consecrated at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 19, in a worship service at First United Methodist Church of Dallas.

(Within each jurisdiction, a committee on episcopacy consists of one clergy and one lay person from each annual conference. The committee is responsible for reviewing the work and character of the bishops, and the committee assigns the bishops to their areas. The jurisdictional conference has the authority to affirm or reject the assignments. If the conference rejects the assignments, the committee must make new assignments.)

Bishops are elected by the jurisdictional conferences in the United States and by the central conferences outside of the United States. “Any clergy member of an annual conference is eligible to be elected a bishop. Nominations or endorsements of individuals are common, but not necessary for election....The number of votes needed to elect a bishop is determined by each jurisdictional conference but the church’s Book of Discipline recommends that at least 60 percent of those present and voting be required to elect. Bishops are consecrated at the jurisdictional conference and are expected to report for work in their new areas September 1.”

Bishops are assigned by their jurisdiction to serve a geographical area for a four-year term. There are 50 episcopal areas in the United States and 18 episcopal areas outside of the United States. New bishops may not be assigned to the area where they were a clergy member for at least four years after their election. According to ¶407 of the 2004 Book of Discipline, this restriction can be ignored by a two-thirds vote of the Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy and a two-thirds vote of the jurisdictional conference.
 
Before the 2008 General Conference, a bishop was required to move to a new episcopal area after serving two four-year terms unless a two-thirds majority of the jurisdictional committee on episcopacy and a two-thirds majority of the jurisdictional conference approved the bishop remaining in that appointment an additional four years. General Conference deleted the two-thirds vote requirement, so bishops may remain in an episcopal area for a third term without special action.   Bishops are elected for life and serve in their assignment until retirement (required by the Book of Discipline to be the jurisdictional conference following their 68th birthday).
 
The primary business of jurisdictional conferences is the election and assignment of bishops.