Pre-conference meetings helped the candidates for bishop in the North Central Jurisdictional Conference make the election process a positive experience, even for the seven candidates who weren’t selected.
Even as The United Methodist Church faces mounting disaffiliations, those who plan to remain United Methodist are working together more across jurisdictional lines. Jurisdictional conferences also elected more women and more people of color as bishops.
The Rev. Dan Schwerin was the third and final bishop elected for The United Methodist Church's North Central Jurisdictional Conference. He received 100 votes of the 166 valid ballots cast Nov. 3, giving him the 60% needed to be elected.
The Rev. Lanette Plambeck, a former intelligence analyst for the Army and the only endorsed candidate for bishop of the Iowa Annual Conference, was elected bishop on the third ballot at the North Central Jurisdictional Conference.
United Methodist bishops declined General Conference delegates’ calls for episcopal elections this year but opened the door to a vote on new leaders in 2022.
Church leaders praised the justice of the verdict against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd, but cautioned that much work lies ahead to overcome systemic racism.
