Council of Bishops elects Gregory Palmer president
Nov. 9, 2007 | LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (UMNS)
|
Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer
of Iowa is congratulated by
Bishop Janice Riggle Huie on his election to succeed her as president of The United
Methodist Council of Bishops.
His two-year term begins in
May 2008. A UMNS photo by
Linda Green.
|
Iowa Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer was elected Nov. 8 to lead
the worldwide Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church. He will
begin his two-year term as the council’s president in May 2008.
Palmer will succeed Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of Houston, whose term
expires during the 2008 General Conference meeting next spring in Fort
Worth, Texas.
A native of Philadelphia, Palmer has presided over the United
Methodist Iowa Annual (regional) Conference since 2000, when he was
elected to the episcopacy. In Iowa, he oversees nearly 194,000 United
Methodists in 840 congregations. His office is in Des Moines.
Ordained in 1981, Palmer was pastor of six churches and served as a
district superintendent in Ohio prior to being elected bishop.
Palmer, 53, received his undergraduate degree from George Washington
University, Washington, D.C., and earned his Master of Divinity from
Duke University Divinity School, Durham, N.C. He and his wife, Cynthia,
have two children. His father, the Rev. Herbert E. Palmer, is a retired
United Methodist pastor in Philadelphia.
The council also elected Bishop Donald Ott to succeed Bishop Roy Sano
as its executive secretary and Bishop Sharon Rader as ecumenical
officer, effective September 2008. The council elected Bishop Robert
Hayes of Oklahoma as secretary of the council, succeeding Bishop Ernest
Lyght.
The Council of Bishops represents 11.5 million United Methodists in
the United States, Africa, Europe and the Phililppines. It includes 69
active and 98 retired bishops.
News media contact: Linda Green, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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