For the past twelve years, Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett has faithfully served as the bishop of the North Alabama Conference. Several years into her tenure, the Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy assigned her also to the Holston Conference, which has churches in Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia. According to the Book of Discipline, she can no longer serve the North Alabama Conference because of term limits. She will continue to serve the Holston Conference and become the resident bishop of the West Virginia Conference. Her new assignment starts September 1st. We will miss her pastoral leadership and wish her well in her new ventures; however, we also have much to look forward to.
The Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy has assigned Bishop L. Jonathan Holston as the resident bishop of the newly named Alabama Panhandle Episcopal area. This new Episcopal area includes the Alabama-West Florida and North Alabama Conferences. While this new assignment includes two Episcopal areas, the Alabama-West Florida and North Alabama Conferences will remain two separate conferences.
Bishop Holston successfully served the South Carolina Annual Conference for twelve years and was elected to the episcopacy out of the North Georgia Conference in 2012. Before serving as a bishop, he was a North Georgia Conference clergy member. He has a heart for missions and an affinity for bringing people together in our shared mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ to transform the world.
I contacted a friend and colleague in the North Georgia Conference, Rev. Mike Selleck, who worked closely with Bishop Holston while serving appointments in North Georgia. Mike shared that “in addition to being the senior pastor of local churches, Reverend Holston (at that time) served several years on the Conference Council on Ministries as a Missions Specialist. Two key learnings emerged at that time. One was a firmer grasp of how the vital role of missions and outreach leads to healthy, well-grounded congregations. The other insight was that Reverend Holston had a natural facility for process and programming. It’s one thing to point and say, ‘We’re going over there,’ and another to say, ‘And after working together, we’ve determined this is how.’ Bishop Holston is very much a strategic thinker, and he brings his keen programmatic eye and process sensibility to every task he faces.”
I am excited about Bishop Holston’s leadership for North Alabama. Bishop Holston and his wife, Felicia, have expressed gratitude for their assignment to our annual conference. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for North Alabama through their leadership!
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