United Methodists elect four new bishops in South Central

July 16, 2004                       

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (UMNS) – Four new bishops will lead United Methodists in the denomination’s South Central Jurisdiction.

Bishop Robert Hayes

During a July 14-17 conference in Corpus Christi, Texas, 340 delegates named the new episcopal leaders and conducted other business.

New bishops, in order of election, are the Rev. Robert E. Hayes, Jr. Texas Annual (regional) Conference; the Rev. Robert C. Schnase, Southwest Texas Annual Conference; the Rev. Scott J. Jones, North Texas Annual Conference; and the Rev. Charles N. Crutchfield, New Mexico Annual Conference.

Hayes and his wife, Delilah “Dee,” have three young adult children: Joya Randle-Hayes, Robert E. Hayes III and Ryan Ethan Hayes.

Schnase, 46, is senior pastor of First United Methodist Church, McAllen, Texas, a post he has held since 1989. He also served as an associate at McAllen First for a year while in seminary. Other pastorates have been at Wesley United Methodist Church, Harlingen, Texas, 1984-89, and on the Farnham and Alton Circuit of the British Methodist Conference in 1982-83.

Bishop Robert Schnase

Graduating cum laude with a master of theology from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Schnase graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He also spent four summers in language study at the Instituto Latinoamericano de Idiomas in Costa Rica.

A delegate to the 2000 and 2004 General Conferences of the United Methodist Church, Schnase also served as a delegate to the South Central Jurisdictional Conferences in 1996, 2000 and 2004. He is a member of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry and has led retreats for the board’s national gathering of chairs of orders. He is the author of Ambition in Ministry: Our Spiritual Struggle with Success, Achievement and Competition and contributed chapters to Grandparenting and the Spiritual Journey and Reflections on Marriage and Spiritual Growth.

Schnase and his wife, Esther Washington Schnase, have two children: Karl, 16, and Paul, 12.

Jones, 50, is director of the Center for the Advanced Study and Practice of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology. Before joining the Perkins faculty in 1997, he pastored United Methodist congregations in Prosper, Howe and Commerce, Texas.

A member of the Joint International Commission for Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Methodist Council since 1996, Jones is also a member of the Council’s executive committee. He was a delegate to the United Methodist General Conference and the South Central Jurisdictional Conference in 1996, 2000 and 2004.

Bishop Scott Jones

Jones earned a doctorate in religious studies from Southern Methodist University in 1992 after receiving his master of theology degree with highest honors from Perkins and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Kansas, also with highest honors. His books include The Evangelistic Love of God and Neighbor: A Theology of Witness and Discipleship and United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center.

Jones and his wife, Mary Lou Reece, are the parents of three children: Jameson, Arthur and Marynell.

Crutchfield, 60, is senior pastor of Central United Methodist Church, Albuquerque, N.M., where he has served since 1997. From 1994 to 1997, he was superintendent of the El Paso District of the New Mexico Conference. Earlier appointments placed him at Trinity-First United Methodist Church, El Paso, Texas (1990-1994); First United Methodist Church, Odessa, Texas (1983-1990); First United Methodist Church, Carlsbad, N.M. (1979-1983); St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Hobbs, N.M. (1977-1979); Asbury United Methodist Church, Odessa (1973-77); and Community United Methodist Church, Ruidoso, N.M. (1969-1973).

After earning a master of divinity degree at Duke Divinity School, Duke University, Durham, N.C., Crutchfield engaged in post-graduate studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Southern Methodist University and received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from McMurry University, Abilene, Texas.

Bishop Charles N. Crutchfield

Crutchfield serves as president of the board of trustees of United Methodist-related Lydia Patterson Institute in El Paso, Texas. A delegate to the United Methodist General Conference and the South Central Jurisdictional Conference in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004, he has also been a delegate to the World Methodist Conference, the Institute for World Evangelism and a representative to the Council on Evangelism for the United Methodist Church. He is also a respondent to the 2004 Dominican Ecclesiastical Institute.

Crutchfield and his wife, Karen Sue Jenkins, are the parents of Melissa Anne Crutchfield, Washington, D.C., and Scott Lee Crutchfield (deceased).

News media contact: Linda Green, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470. E-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.