SEJ Committee on Episcopacy announces Debra Wallace-Padgett to be Bishop of Birmingham Area

7/19/2012
Danette Clifton

As the Thursday evening session of the 2012 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference concluded, the SEJ Committee on Episcopacy announced the Episcopal assignments for the Southeastern Jurisdiction for the 2012-16 quadrennium.

The announcement included that Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett will be the new Bishop of the North Alabama Conference.

Below is the complete list of SEJ Episcopal Assignments:

  • Alabama-West Florida Area (Alabama West Florida Conference) Bishop Paul L. Leeland
  • Birmingham Area (North Alabama Conference) Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett
  • Charlotte Area (Western North Carolina Conference) Bishop Larry M. Goodpaster
  • Columbia Area (South Carolina Conference) Bishop L. Jonathan Holston
  • Florida Area (Florida Conference) Bishop Kenneth H. Carter Jr.
  • Knoxville Area (Holston Conference) Bishop Mary Virginia Taylor
  • Louisville Area (Kentucky and Red Bird Missionary Conferences) Bishop Lindsey Davis
  • Mississippi Area (Mississippi Conference) Bishop James E. Swanson, Sr.
  • Nashville Area (Tennessee and Memphis Conferences) Bishop William T. McAlilly
  • North Georgia Area (North Georgia Conference) Bishop B. Michael Watson
  • Raleigh Area (North Carolina Conference) Bishop Hope Morgan Ward
  • Richmond Area (Virginia Conference) Bishop Young Jin Cho
  • South Georgia Area (South Georgia Conference) Bishop James R. King Jr.
     

The Bishops will begin their new assignments on Sept. 1, 2012.

About Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett
 

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Rev. Dr. Debra Wallace-Padgett was elected to the Episcopacy by the 2012 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference.

At the time of her election she is serving as Lead Pastor of St. Luke UMC, Lexington. Wallace-Padgett has been in her current appointment for eight years. During her tenure St. Luke has grown in membership and worship attendance, strengthened its infrastructure, built a Ministry Life Center and launched a multi-cultural worship service.

Her previous service to the church includes six years as District Superintendent of the Prestonsburg District, with two years as Dean of the Cabinet. Additionally she has served in a variety of roles in the Kentucky Conference as well as on the Jurisdictional and General Conference levels. These include Board of Ministries; District Committee On Ministries/Local Pastors team chair; Methodist Home Board chair; Kentucky Conference Education chair; Kentucky Episcopacy Committee chair; Primary Task Team; Children and Poverty Board; SEJ Episcopacy Committee member; GCSRW Board, (2004-20012); World Methodist Council; General Conference and SEJ delegate (2000, 2004, 2008). Wallace-Padgett was the first clergy elected in 2008 and in 2012.

Prior to election as Bishop, she noted the following five disciplines, which are the framework of her understanding of servant leadership,  which form the core of her spiritual architecture and the heart of her ministry.

  • Collaborating Leadership: Developing a Strong Team
  • Enabling Systemic Change: Drawing the Right Blueprint
  • Facilitating Cohesiveness: Designing a Unit That Works Together
  • Executing with Integrity: Doing it the Right Way
  • Growing in Grace: Developing by Divine Power

Wallace-Padgett is a graduate of Berea College (B.A. in Physical Education), Scarritt College and Graduate School (M.A. in Christian Education), Lexington Theological Seminary (M. Div.) and Asbury Theological Seminary (D. Min).

She is married to Rev. Lee Padgett, a deacon in the United Methodist Church who serves as Executive Director of Aldersgate Camp and Retreat Center. They have two children, Leanndra (20) and Andrew (17). Wallace-Padgett, is the daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Frank Wallace. Reverend Wallace is a United Methodist elder.

More Information:
http://www.debbiewallace-padgett.com

News story:
Deborah Wallace-Padgett elected a bishop of The United Methodist Church by Cathy L. Bruce
http://elections.umc.org/debbie-wallace-padgett-elected-a-bishop-of-the-united-methodist-church
 

Comments

1. Jeremy Crowder wrote on 7/20/2012 6:21:33 AM
I'm hopeful this new Bishop will pick better Annual Conference speakers people outside the Emerging Church or Mega Church movements. I'd like to see some conservative leaders like from Asbury Theological Seminary a school of which the Bishop holds a Doctorate. My apology if it seems trivial but as a layman I doubt I can edure another large Church Pastor make comments about how backwards Alabama is on some law etc.
2. Warren Laird wrote on 7/20/2012 8:13:52 AM
Welcome to our new Bishop! With the Episcopal residence only a stone's throw away as well, let me say welcome to the neighborhood! You are in our thoughts and prayers as you transition into the Epsicopacy and your new role as Bishop of the North Alabama Conference.
3. Chris Depew wrote on 7/20/2012 2:18:14 PM
@Jeremy I am a 10th generation Alabamian. We need people that have pulled off large scale movements to show us how to do it and do it well. We have proven time and time again that we don't know how. We need to move forward into the next way of attracting new members. Look around, the UMC is dying. Not just because of this but because we don't move. We are scared of growth. Calling in a professor from Asbury who may or may not have ever led a church, isn't going to help. We must stick to Biblical principals, never swaying from that, and present them in a way that people are engaged. I hope that Dr. Wallace-Padgett shares my concern of lack of support for ministry candidates. In particular those under 35. I hope that she has and voices concern over the closed door conferences, being held in the coming months, about how to attract young clergy. I hope she tells the GBHEM that we don't need the same people making choices that have done it in the past. It is my hope that shares those concerns and acts on them. Lets choose to stop dying and start growing. Make it an active choice.
4. Charlie Brown wrote on 7/20/2012 4:03:42 PM
May the Lord bless us in this time of change and may our present episcopal leader and his family be blessed as he moves into retired service. May our incoming bishop be blessed of God to lead us, may she and her family find in North Alabama a place where they are welcomed, embraced and supported in the work that God has given her to do.
5. George Lair wrote on 7/20/2012 8:35:09 PM
Welcome Bishop Wallace-Padgett God bless you and guide you as you lead our conference. I pray for churches with Open Doors, Open Minds & Open Hearts attracting people to Christ rather than trying to recruit them. Let's put the Joy of the Lord & of the Holy Spirit in back in the church and have people coming to see what it is that brings us our Joy!
6. Dee Dowdy wrote on 7/20/2012 11:26:35 PM
I've heard from some of my friends in the Kentucky conference that she is a beloved and strong leader. She is kind,loving and gentle but is also strong,firm and fair. I, for one, am excited that she is coming to the NAC. Let's do all we can to support her.
7. Jeremy Crowder wrote on 7/21/2012 1:47:29 AM
@Chris I am 30 years old and my Pastor won the Denman Award this past Annual Conference. My Church grew not just in numbers but racical diversity for a couple years though we are at a plateau now. I favor having more local Pastors people with years of experience in careers rather than young clergy. Though I'm not opposed to young clergy it's not my primary issue. I want people that respect holiness people that will talk about the challenges we have with sin and Bishops along with Annual Conferences that promise to violate the Book of Discipline. Many great large Church Pastors in the UMC can bring this message Rob Renfroe would be an example. I doubt I'll have my way just throwing it out on the off chance it may make it to the new Bishop. With that said I'm praying for the new Bishop and may God bless her as she takes on the task of leading our conference.
8. Steve Lyles wrote on 7/21/2012 11:31:47 AM
Welcome Bishop Padgett and your family. We, the Lay Ministry team of the Conference are so excited that you were assigned to North Alabama. We look forward to supporting you and working with you in God's work in North Alabama. May God bless you, in this time of transition from Kentucky to Alabama? We thank the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the Kentucky Conference for sharing one of their best Clergy, in joining the College of Bishops and we thank Dr Bill Morgan and Dr. Gloria Holt for representing North Alabama and being able to help God send her to North Alabama. God was in the election of Bishops at Lake Junaluska at this Jurisdictional Conference and Bishop Padgett was a strong candidate from the very beginning. Her name was on our list to be elected from the very beginning...yet we had no idea she would be assigned to us...Thanks be to God!!!! for the match of Bishop Padgett to North Alabama....Now let's all together and go to work for God and our Conference... Steve Lyles and the Lay Ministry Team
9. Mike Holland wrote on 7/22/2012 11:40:41 PM
Welcome Bishop Rev. Dr. Debra Wallace-Padgett to our little gathering of churches. I pray your leadership will be blessed of God and embraced by all in this Conference. I personally am excited to have fresh eyes and ears in the conference. I know it is easy to fall into a place of fear or resort to our smal box of personal comfort and absolute tradition, but, I pray we remember that Jesus was about change for the better, Himself. I pray this is the better He has planned for us all. Let the Southern Hospitalty begin. We, as Methodist, Need to pour out our support of Bishop Rev. Dr. Debra Wallace-Padgett and embrace her with all the gifts and talents that God has given us to use for His Kingdom. And it still is His Kingdom in case we have forgotten. He placed her here, he just used the SEJ Committee on Episcopacy to do it with. We are blessed and highly favored children of the Most High God, and as such we should embrace and support our new Bishop with all that God has given us. So with that said let's change some lives for the Kingdom of God and be joyful in our service to Yaweh.
10. Deryl Whittle wrote on 8/4/2012 5:29:06 PM
On behalf of the North Alabama Conference let me just say welcome to Birmingham.As the saying goes we will treat you so many ways your bound to like one of them.As one of the lay leaders at Village Falls UMC just wanted to welcome you.I am praying that our Lord will bless you tremendously.
11. Lea Ann Young Johnson wrote on 8/13/2012 4:13:43 PM
Debbie has been a friend and colleague for several years in the KY Annual Conference. She is loved and respected by all who know her personally, as a pastor, and even if they have just heard her speak from the conference floor. She is kind and gentle yet firm in her biblical convictions and even more in her love for Christ. She will bless you all. We are sad to lose her, but for the good of the kingdom we wish her well coming your way.
12. Andy Tillman wrote on 12/12/2012 6:02:10 PM
Welcome Dr. Debra Wallace-Padgett. I look forward to hearing your guidance and direction for our conference. Just a couple of observations, that I hope will inform your prayerful introspection. First, it is unclear to me whether local churches are earnestly seeking to accomplish God's Will. I can't know how all congregations try to accomplish this, but my sense at my own church is that we are not really trying to accomplish God's Will at all. God's Will is rarely mentioned by most of our leaders when we are doing church planning. And, we allow A LOT of leven to enter into our important church processes. For example, our last Church Council Chair was determined when the then current Chair expressed his desire to "hand this over" to someone else, and he was seeking a volunteer who would assume the role. We have some number of people who think that is how we handle church leadership assignments, and it is an uphill and delicate battle to try to help our "leaders" now understand the way we should appoint our leaders. I am not a huge advocate of strict and onerous governance, but I think our pendulum has swung way too far in the opposite direction. How can we assure that our local churches are working within our governance framework to truly discover and pursue the Will of God, rather than the Will of Man? From my local church perspective, this is important and an area of relative weakness. My perspective and my opinion having also been a past chair, who encountered active opposition when I encouraged us to use our governance structure to pursue God's Will. I am especially pleased that you will bring a woman's perspective to your position. As you know, the vast majority of our pastors are men. But, the vast majority of our Children's Ministry people are women. And yet, if we are going to create highly committed Christians, statistically, the vast majority of that happens in Childhood, a factor that Jesus was obviously aware of. Sadly, adult conversions are relatively rare, relative to the abundance of Children we have growing up in the faith. And yet, what statistics about Children are we tracking on our conference dashboard, only Baptisms I think. How are the interests of this vitally important constituency represented among our leadership structure? In the local church? At the district and conference level? At my church, we are on our third pastor in a little more than 10 years, and, in some form or another, we have run off every single Children's Ministry Director and Youth Ministry we have ever had throughout our church's entire history. And, today, under the new pastor, Children's Ministry and Youth Pastor are not even allowed to have direct conversations with the Staff Parrish Relations Committee or the members of the SPRC, exactly the opposite of the way it is expressed in the Book of Discipline. In fact, if they do have direct communications, or if they refer to the Book of Discipline, that is viewed as grounds for termination. And yet, these are the very people who we would look to grow the vast majority of these highly committed Christians we have as our mission. They are under-represented, and, at least in my local church, they are neglected, at best, and, at worst, oppressed. We provide our pastor with the full complement of benefits for his family, health insurance, retirement benefits, parsonage. For the Children's and Youth Ministers, they're on their own for any benefits. Hopefully, their spouse works and has benefits from their company. These are all symptoms of a political structure in which the least amount of power is given to the people who we count on the most to help us accomplish our mission. Often, these same people are the most selfless and sacrificial Christians among us. They'll feel as though it is unChristian-like to speak up for themselves or for their ministries. That is why I feel we have a special obligation to support and protect them, their families and their ministries. So, 2 focus areas I would recommend: 1. Seeking God's Will and How do we do that? and 2. Improving the representation of Children's Ministry Personnel and Youth Ministers. By the way, I am a preacher's kid myself, so I am not anti-pastor. These are just informed observations from my 44 years in the United Methodist Church and, in more recent years, in my own role in church leadership.