South Central Jurisdictional Conference 2008
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Stay up to date on election results.
SCJ Election Results
Bishops Elected in SCJ
The South-Central Jurisdiction has elected three bishops. The Rev. W. Earl Bledsoe of College Station, Texas, was elected July 17. Bledsoe, 57, was superintendent of the Bryan/West District in the Texas Conference.
The Rev. John Michael "Mike" Lowry, executive director for New Church Development and Transformation for the Southwest Texas Conference, was elected bishop in the eleventh round of balloting.
Endorsed by the North Texas Conference's delegation to the 2008 General and Jurisdictional conferences, Dorff was elected on the 23rd ballot, receiving 187 of 292 votes cast.
For complete election coverage from United Methodist Communications, go to: SCJ Election Coverage
More stories are also located on the home page.
SCJ Election Coverage
- Rev. Stephanie Ahlschwede's Blog
The Rev. Stephanie Ahlschwede has press credentials and is the offical Nebraska Conference reporter for the 2008 Jurisdictional Conference. She will be taking photos and posting news about the Nebraska delegation on her blog.
The Rev. Seth Leypoldt shares his SCJ Conference experience using the Web
The Rev. Seth Leypoldt will give daily updates about his experience as a Jurisdictional Conference delegate through his blog entitled, "Electing a Bishop" on the Chadron UMC Web site.Click here to check it out.
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A UMNS report by Linda Green*
DALLAS-The owners of Southern Methodist University say a regional mission council was authorized to give the university permission to lease land to the President George W. Bush Presidential Center.
On July 17, the delegates to the South Central Jurisdictional Conference affirmed their Mission Council's action but also approved a petition protecting the integrity of both SMU and the jurisdiction itself by indicating that a proposed institute "does not speak" for either.
The South Central Jurisdictional Conference, which owns the university, says that it is "essential that the President George W. Bush Institute function in a manner that maintains the integrity of Southern Methodist University and the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church."
The public policy institute is to be one of three parts of a presidential center that will also include a library and museum. The institute has been opposed by United Methodists across the country who fear it will be a partisan think-tank. Supporters have said it would be an independent research facility.
The delegates note that the South Central Jurisdiction and The United Methodist Church are dedicated to academic freedom. The conference instructed the university to give a status report to its 2012 meeting about its relationship with the both the Bush Foundation and the institute.
"We will gladly give the report in four years … with an emphasis on the institute," said SMU president Gerald R. Turner. "That fits well with what we would normally do anyway."
The 297 jurisdictional conference delegates from eight states have differing views on locating the Bush Institute at United Methodist-related SMU. Opponents argued that the Mission Council did not follow church procedure and that the South Central Jurisdictional Conference is the entity to approve land use.
On July 16, while members of the opposition held briefings for delegates and the media, a petitions committee met for hours perfecting and rejecting three petitions about the policy institute and its relationship to the university and the jurisdiction.
In February, SMU officials approved giving the George W. Bush Foundation a 99-year lease to build a presidential library, museum and policy institute on school property. The lease is renewable up to 249 years.
That action came 11 months after a closed executive session in March 2007 when the Mission Council voted 10-4, with one abstention, to allow SMU to lease up to 36 acres on the southeast side of campus to the foundation. The policy institute - over which the school would have no control - would be run by an independent board. The library and museum will be operated by the National Archives and Records Administration. The entire project is to be financed with a private fund drive conducted by the George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation. Cost estimates hover around $500 million.
"Nearly every presidential library is created in controversy," said Turner, adding that the university and the Bush Foundation followed procedures in getting approval for leasing the land and "we acted in good faith."
President Bush and his wife, Laura, are United Methodists, and the first lady is a 1968 graduate of SMU.
Kansas Bishop Scott Jones, an SMU trustee, applauded the conference's affirmation for the Mission Council. He also acknowledged the concerns United Methodists in the jurisdiction and across the church have about the relationship between the Bush Institute and the university.
"I believe the leaders of SMU, both the trustees and university administration, carry the same concerns and, from my point of view as a trustee, this petition is very welcome."
But the Rev. Tex Sample, professor emeritus of church and society at Saint Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Mo., said the South Central Jurisdiction made both a "big mistake" and "a serious transgression" in subsidizing "the political goals of George W. Bush."
During a press conference after the hand vote, Sample said the South Central Jurisdiction "will live to rue the day this happened." He expressed disappointment in the conference's position, saying President Bush's policies conflict with church teaching.
Copy of the petition's recommendation:
"The South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church understands that the institute does not speak for the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church or Southern Methodist University. The South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church is dedicated to academic freedom and instructs Southern Methodist University to report back to the 2012 South Central Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church on the relationship with the institute and its impact on Southern Methodist University and the level of compliance of the foundation and the institute with the covenants of agreements protecting the integrity of Southern Methodist University and indirectly the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. Furthermore, the South Central Jurisdiction expects the institute to function in a manner that protects the integrity of both Southern Methodist University and the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church.