Here’s a corrected text of Judicial Council Decision 1230, reinstating Bishop Earl Bledsoe to active status. IN RE: Appeal of Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe Challenging the Action of the South Central Jurisdictional Committee on the Episcopacy and the 2012 South Central Jurisdictional Conference DIGEST Due to the numerous errors in violation of the principles of fair process and the inability to articulate what constitutes “best interests of the bishop and/or the Church” as provided in ¶ 408.3(a) of the 2008 Discipline, the Judicial Council overturns the action of the South [...]
Read More...Text of Judicial Council decision reinstating Bishop Bledsoe
November 12, 2012 Posted by Leave a Comment
Kind words, hugs and pain at event for Bishop Bledsoe
August 27, 2012 Posted by Leave a Comment
Bishop Earl Bledsoe said goodbye to the North Texas Conference at a reception for him Sunday that included many hugs and kind words, but also recognition of the pained circumstances of his departure. “I hold no ill will, no grudges, no nothing – but God’s love for you,” he told a crowd of about 250 at Trietsch Memorial UMC in Flower Mound, Texas. Bishop Bledsoe led the North Texas Conference for the last four years, but was involuntarily retired at the South Central Jurisdictional Conference in July. The jurisdictional conference’s [...]
Read More...Judicial Council to hear Bledsoe appeal in November
July 30, 2012 Posted by 13 Comments
The UMC’s Judicial Council will meet in November to consider Bishop Earl Bledsoe’s appeal of his involuntary retirement. The council released a statement today (Monday, July 30) saying that the meeting will begin on Nov. 9 and and end no later than Nov. 11. The hearing will likely be in Phoenix, but that will have to confirmed, the statement said. This will be a special meeting. The council had already set the docket for its scheduled October meeting, though one of the items on that docket is a request by the South Central [...]
Read More...Election Time: Three jurisdictions will choose bishops
July 13, 2012 Posted by 1 Comment
By J. Richard Peck, United Methodist News Service… The attention of the denomination will be focused beginning July 18 on the jurisdictional conferences, where 11 new U.S. bishops are expected to be elected in three jurisdictions. Like General Conference, the worldwide legislative gathering that met April 24 to May 4 in Tampa, Fla., jurisdictional conferences meet once every four years. Half the delegates will be lay people, and half will be clergy. The Book of Discipline, the denomination’s law book, stipulates that each annual conference is entitled to send twice [...]
Read More...Bishop Bledsoe: Issue is fairness, not race
June 26, 2012 Posted by Leave a Comment
By Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe, Special Contributor … Editor’s note: This column is adapted from a blog entry Bishop Bledsoe posted last week for the North Texas Conference website. He announced [...]
Read More...Questions Bishop Bledsoe evaluation
June 13, 2012 Posted by 1 Comment
I find it incredible that four years ago the Rev. W. Earl Bledsoe was selected for the position of United Methodist Bishop and now the South Central Jurisdiction episcopacy committee wants to remove him as episcopal leader of the North Texas Conference. I would like to know the benchmarks used for this decision, and the committee members’ educational qualifications. Also, I find it stunning that they could not find another conference that would consider taking him. Perhaps we need more transparency, not only for Bledsoe but for the integrity of the committee.I have known [...]
Read More...Bishop Bledsoe reverses course, says he’ll ‘fight like the devil’ to stay in post
June 5, 2012 Posted by 11 Comments
PLANO, TEXAS – Bishop Earl Bledsoe announced last Friday that he was retiring voluntarily, but late Tuesday afternoon reversed the decision in dramatic fashion, telling members of the North Texas Conference that he was being pushed out and had decided not to stand for it. “With your help we’re going to fight like the devil to claim the ministry that is here in North Texas,” he said at the close of Annual Conference, drawing applause from many and a standing ovation by some. “And we ain’t going nowhere unless somebody [...]
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North Texas bishop’s removal is not about race
By Christy Thomas, Special Contributor… Are we a racist Conference (North Texas) and Jurisdiction (South Central)? An extraordinarily incendiary commentary written by the Rev. Henry L. Masters Sr., the newly appointed senior pastor of St. Luke “Community” UMC in Dallas, and published in the Reporter, makes that accusation. He refers to the involuntary retirement of Bishop Earl Bledsoe of the North Texas Conference, which occurred through a vote by the jurisdictional episcopacy committee, approved by the full body of delegates. Dr. Masters wrote: “Under the guise of ‘increasing accountability’ lurks [...]
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