July 21, 2008

By Kathy L. Gilbert
United Methodist News Service

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (UMNS) – Bishop Julius Calvin Trimble, the new United Methodist bishop in the North Central United States, has been assigned to the denomination’s Iowa Area for the next four years.

Assignments of bishops to all of the North Central Jurisdiction episcopal areas were announced July 19, during the consecration service for Trimble. They will take effect Sept. 1. The consecration service concluded the July 16-19 session of The United Methodist Church’s North Central Jurisdictional Conference.

Trimble was elected to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher. Bishop Gregory V. Palmer, president of the Council of Bishops, will move to the Illinois Area, where Christopher was leading the church’s Illinois Great Rivers Annual (regional) Conference. Palmer has been serving the Iowa Area (Iowa Conference).

The North Central College of Bishops requested that Bishop Bruce R. Ough remain in the Ohio West Area (West Ohio Conference), where he has already served two terms. Bishops typically serve one area for two four-year terms, but they may be appointed for up to 12 years for “missional reasons.”

The seven other active North Central bishops have served in their current locations for the past four years and have been assigned to second terms there. They are:

• Bishop Michael J. Coyner, Indiana Area (North and South Indiana annual conferences).
• Bishop Sally Dyck, Minnesota Area (Minnesota Conference).
• Bishop John L. Hopkins, Ohio East Area (East Ohio Conference).
• Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, Chicago Area (Northern Illinois Conference).
• Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton, Michigan Area (Detroit and West Michigan conferences).
• Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey, Dakota Area (Dakotas Conference).
• Bishop Linda Lee, Wisconsin Area (Wisconsin Conference).

The North Central Jurisdiction is home to United Methodists in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. The North Central is one of five U.S. jurisdictions along with seven central conferences that serve United Methodists around the globe.

The jurisdictional conferences meet every four years, primarily to elect bishops and to assign or reassign bishops to geographic areas.

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.