Guest Commissioning Service Preacher: Bishop Grant Hagiya

Bishop Grant Hagiya was the resident bishop of the Los Angeles Area, which includes the California-Pacific Conference in the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. He was elected to the episcopacy in 2008. His prior Episcopal assignment was for eight years to the Greater Northwest Area, which included the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho, and Pacific Northwest Annual Conferences. On October 1, 2021, he also served as the Interim Bishop for the Desert Southwest Conference. Bishop Hagiya retired on January 1, 2023.

He currently serves as the Co-President and Professor of Leadership and Innovation at the Claremont School of Theology, bringing over 25 years of denominational leadership and seminary education experience to this role.

Keynote Speaker: Rev. Dr. Blair Thompson

Rev. Dr. Blair Thompson is chief learning and innovation officer at Wesleyan Impact Partners and Texas Methodist Foundation, where she and her team lead the organizations’ three Lilly Endowment-funded initiatives: Courageous Congregations Collaborative (C3), Courageous Leadership Imperative (CLI), and Phygital Preaching Fellows. She also leads Wesleyan Impact Partners’ Locke Innovative Leader Award process and cohorts of spiritual entrepreneurs. Blair is the creator and producer of the Igniting Imagination® podcast.

An ordained Elder in the Horizon Texas Conference, Blair is a seasoned speaker, writer, preacher, and facilitator. Her work focuses on expanding imagination, discerning purpose, and developing leaders across the Wesleyan ecosystem.

Blair joined Wesleyan Impact Partners in 2020 after more than a decade in pastoral ministry. She previously served as senior pastor at Arapaho UMC in Richardson, associate pastor at First UMC in downtown Dallas, and senior pastor at Frontenac UMC in Kansas.

She holds both a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from Perkins School of Theology, where her doctoral research explored pilgrimage as a formative practice for clergy leadership.