The South Central Jurisdiction Episcopacy Committee decided to leave the NM Conference without an episcopal leader for now, but there will be an announcement shortly after Jurisdictional Conferences throughout the U.S. are concluded.

As Rev. Amy Lippoldt, Chair of the SCJ Episcopacy said, “This is not out of a lack of regard or concern for the NM Conference but quite the opposite. We believe that the best episcopal leader for NM is not currently in our jurisdiction. There have been conversations over the last weeks of what it would be like for the Council of Bishops to assign another bishop outside of the SCJ to lead NM during this quadrennium. The leaders of the NM Conference have been involved in all of these conversations and there is a great hopefulness among them about what lies ahead. We are refraining from sharing the exact nature of this arrangement at this moment out of respect for the process of election and assignment that’s going on in other jurisdictions. I expect that we’ll be able to finalize the arrangement soon after jurisdictional conference concludes.”

Far from the NM Conference feeling like an afterthought, this is our Delegation and the jurisdictional leaders working as hard and as creatively as they can to make the right episcopal assignment for our Conference. Albuquerque DS, Ross Whiteaker commented, “We have served together through many bishops and have remained true to who we are through, and with their leadership. Our job is to be faithful and to trust that as we seek first the Kingdom, all will fall into place.” As soon as a new bishop is assigned to NM Conference, we will share the information.

During the SCJ Episcopacy Committee Report, it was also announced that Bishop Cynthia Harvey would be the Episcopal Leader of Rio Texas and Texas Conference. Bishop Laura Merrill would serve Oklahoma, Oklahoma Indian Missionary and Arkansas Conferences. All other bishops would be unchanged.

The SCJ Conferences continues tomorrow and until noon on Friday.