Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church
Bishop Roy I. Sano, Executive Secretary
100 Maryland Ave. NE
Washington, D.C. 20002
(202) 547-6270
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 8, 2007
Contact: Stephen Drachler (615) 417-9284
[email protected]
Iowa Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer to Lead United Methodist Bishops
LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C.: Iowa Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer was elected today 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.
A native of Philadelphia, Bishop Palmer has presided over the Iowa (regional) Conference of The United Methodist Church since 2000, when he was elected to the episcopacy. There are nearly 194,000 United Methodists in 840 congregations in Iowa. His office is in Des Moines.
Bishop Palmer succeeds Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of Houston, whose two-year term expires in May during the denomination's quadrennial General Conference.
Bishop Palmer received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and earned his master's in divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School, Durham, N.C. He was ordained in 1981. He pastored six churches and served as a district superintendent in Ohio prior to being elected bishop.
He and his wife, Cynthia, are the parents of two children. His father, Herbert E. Palmer, is a retired United Methodist pastor in Philadelphia.
The council is comprised of 69 active and 98 retired bishops in the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Philippines. There are more than 11 million United Methodists around the world.
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