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Bishop-Elect Burgos
The Rev. Héctor Burgos addresses the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference after being elected bishop on Nov. 2. Burgos, who has been serving as a district superintendent in the Greater New Jersey Conference, was elected on the third ballot. His wife, Jazelis Burgos, is at his side. The conference is meeting Nov. 2-4 in College Park, Md. (Photo by the Rev. Thomas Kim, UM News.)
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Plambeck election
The Rev. Lanette Plambeck and her fellow delegates from the Iowa Annual Conference celebrate her election as bishop on the North Central Jurisdiction's third ballot. (UM Screenshot from Minnesota Conference Twitter)
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Bishop-elect Shelton
Bishop-elect Connie Shelton thanks Southeastern Jurisdiction delegates for her election on Nov. 2. (Southeastern Jurisdiction Conference Photo by Matt Brodie)
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Dee Williamston
The Rev. Dee Williamston speaks during a candidates' forum at the South Central Jurisdiction conference Nov. 2. Rev. Williamson was elected a bishop on the first ballot along with Rev. Laura Merrill and Rev. David Wilson. (Conference photo)
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Laura Merrill
The Rev. Laura Merrill speaks during a candidate forum in South Central Jurisdiction. (Conference Photo)
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Celebrating
Native American United Methodists celebrate the election of the Rev. David Wilson as the denomination's first Native American bishop. From left are the Rev. Eli McHenry, Anne Marshall, Rev. Margaret Johnson, Bishop Wilson, Rev. Josephine Deere, Bishop Jimmy Nunn and Patsy Eyachabbe. (Photo Courtesy of Anne Marshall / Facebook)
UPDATE 7:30 P.M. Nov. 2 – The Rev. Héctor A. Burgos, a district superintendent from the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference, was elected a bishop in the Northeastern Jurisdiction, the first Hispanic bishop for the region. Born in Puerto Rico, he is active in MARCHA, the association representing Latinx/Hispanic interests in the UMC.
Assistant to the bishop in Iowa Annual Conference, the Rev. Lanette Plambeck was elected a bishop by North Central Jurisdiction delegates on the third ballot.
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Kennetha Bigham-Tsai
Bishop-Elect Kennetha Bigham-Tsai and her spouse, Keith Tsai, are greeted onstage after her election by North Central Jurisdiction delegates. (UM Insight Screenshot)
Delegates to the five U.S. jurisdictions of The United Methodist Church clearly came to their gatherings with their minds made up. In the space of some four hours, delegates elected five candidates – four them on first ballots.
The stunner came from the South Central Jurisdiction, where at 4:21 p.m. Nov. 2 in Houston the first ballot results showed all three bishops allotted to the region were elected:
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Dee Williamston
The Rev. Dee Williamston speaks during a candidates' forum at the South Central Jurisdiction conference Nov. 2. Rev. Williamson was elected a bishop on the first ballot along with Rev. Laura Merrill and Rev. David Wilson. (Conference photo)
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Laura Merrill
The Rev. Laura Merrill speaks during a candidate forum in South Central Jurisdiction. (Conference Photo)
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David Wilson
The Rev. David Wilson speaks during a candidate forum in the South Central Jurisdiction. (Conference photo)
- The Rev. Dee Williamston, assistant to the bishop in the Great Plains Annual Conference;
- The Rev. Laura Merrill, district superintendent in the Rio Texas Annual Conference; and
- The Rev. David Wilson, conference superintendent of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.
South Central also demolished its racist history with its bishop elections.
Bishop-elect Williamston became the first Black clergywoman elevated by delegates. According to a report by Great Plains communicator David Burke, she has been assistant to the bishop and director of clergy excellence at the Great Plains Conference since 2021. Previously she was a district superintendent for seven years. A specialist in evangelism and Black church studies, Bishop-elect Williamston is scheduled to receive a Doctor of Ministry degree in transformational leadership from Phillips Theological Seminary in May 2023.
Bishop-elect Merrill comes to the episcopacy from long and varied service in both U.S. and international ministries. According to the Rio Texas conference website, she was superintendent of the Capital District (Austin). She previously served as assistant to the bishop, director of connectional ministries and was actively involved in the merger of the former Southwest Texas and Rio Grande (Spanish-speaking) conferences. The daughter and granddaughter of United Methodist pastors, she served as a missionary in Chile and with the Desert Southwest Conference Border Ministry in Tucson, Ariz. Fluent in Spanish, she has extensive experience working with the poor and in cross-cultural ministries.
With his election, Bishop Wilson, also a candidate in 2016, becomes the first Native American elected to the episcopacy – ironically during the observance of Native American/Indigenous Peoples' Heritage Month in November. He has served in supervisory positions in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference for 19 years, as lead coordinator of the North Oklahoma City Native American ministry and as pastor of churches in Norman and Tahlequah, Okla.
South Central elections also broke with jurisdictional history, as the powerhouse conferences of Texas and North Texas did not have candidates rise to the episcopal office. Texas in particular is struggling at present with disaffiliations of nearly half of its 600 churches, while North Texas is in negotiations with St. Andrew UMC, a megachurch with 6,500 members, over its attempt to depart the denomination without adhering to the exit provisions required of other churches.
For about three short hours, the North Central Jurisdiction held the distinction of having elected a bishop on the first ballot when delegates elevated the Rev. Kennetha Bigham-Tsai. Bishop-elect Bigham-Tsai, top executive of the UMC's ministry coordinating body, the Connectional Table, has been a leader among centrist and unity forces since the divisive 2016 and 2019 General Conferences. She is also a supporter of reorganizing the UMC into continental regions to give more contextual flexibility to areas outside the United States.
Tom Berlin
Bishop-elect Tom Berlin, accompanied by his wife Karen (at left), thanks Southeastern Jurisdiction delegates after his election. (UM Insight Screenshot)
Plagued by initial technical difficulties with its voting system and by delegates writing in unannounced candidates, Southeastern Jurisdiction took four ballots to elect the clear front-runner, the Rev. Tom Berlin, as bishop. Senior pastor at Floris UMC in Herndon, Va., prior to his election, Bishop-elect Berlin has been a key figure in church-wide efforts to maintain unity in The United Methodist Church. Known as collaborative and accessible in working with church groups, he was one of the architects of the One Church Plan, a proposal to allow "local option" on the inclusion of LGBTQ persons, that was narrowly defeated by proponents of the Traditional Plan at the special called 2019 General Conference. According to a UM News report, "Berlin thanked his wife, Karen, and members of his Floris UMC staff, who drove to Lake Junaluska to support him."
Western Candidates
Candidates for bishop in the Western Jurisdiction were certified for future votes late on Nov. 2. In most jurisdictions, candidates who receive fewer than 10 votes are eliminated. (UM Insight Screenshot from Twitter)
As of 5 p.m. Nov. 2, Northeastern and Western Jurisdictions had yet to elect a bishop. Northeastern had 11 candidates from which to choose, including the Rev. Giovanni Arroyo, newly installed top executive of the General Commission on Religion and Race. Following a wide-open process of candidates' self-selection, Western Jurisdiction bore the heaviest burden of decision-making, even after its initial class of 33 candidates was whittled down to 18 by late afternoon.
All bishops are scheduled to be consecrated in services in their respective jurisdictions on Saturday, Nov. 5
In between ballots, delegates heard various oral and video reports and made significant decisions on church organization.
South Central delegates voted to combine the North Texas and Central Conferences into a single episcopal area. The bishop assigned to this area will have to cover a region extending from Austin in the south to the Texas-Oklahoma border in the north.
Southeastern delegates approved renaming the historic Redbird Missionary Conference to the Central Appalachian Missionary Conference. "The official name change reflects the full transformation of the Central Appalachian Missionary Conference, with conference priorities now focusing on health and wellness initiatives, community outreach, and leadership transformation," said a press release.
Balloting was scheduled to continue through the evening on Nov. 2. Insight will post more results as they occur.
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.