OKLAHOMA CITY – Bishop Earl Bledsoe of the UMC’s North Texas Conference will be in retired status at the end of August, according to a surprise announcement at the end of the South Central Jurisdictional Conference here late Friday night. The episcopacy committee decided Tuesday to retire Bishop Bledsoe involuntarily, citing its concerns about his administrative skills and questions about his trustworthiness. The full South Central Jurisdictional Conference, meeting at Cox Convention Center here, approved that decision on Thursday. But the assumption had been that, under church law, he would remain [...]