eoac16 | Speakers



Speakers

Bishop John L. Hopkins

Bishop John L. Hopkins

  • Service of Commemoration and Holy Communion
  • Celebration of Retirement
  • Service of Comminssioning and Ordination

Resident Bishop
East Ohio Conference

Bishop John L. Hopkins was assigned to the East Ohio Conference in 2004, following eight years as bishop of the Minnesota Annual Conference. 

He currently serves on the General Board of Church and Society.  From 2004-2012 he served as chair of The Connectional Table, that is responsible for the discernment and articulation of the vision for the church, and for the stewardship of the mission, ministries, and resources of The United Methodist Church

Hopkins previously served on the Executive Committee of The Council of Bishops, on the General Council on Ministries, and on the United Methodist Publishing House.  He was a General Conference delegate in 1984, 1988 and 1996.

Prior to being elected to the episcopacy, Hopkins was senior pastor of the Methodist Temple in Evansville, Ind., director for the North Indiana Conference Council on Ministries, campus minister at Ball State University, pastor of a two-point charge, and Protestant chaplain at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, NH.  He was ordained a deacon in 1972 and an elder in 1975.

Hopkins was instrumental in the creation and launch of Operation Classroom in 1985.  In 2013, he returned to many of those schools in Liberia and Sierra Leone while traveling in Africa with a team from East Ohio. 

 

Bishop Peater D. Weaver

Bishop Peter D. Weaver

  • Tuesday Moring Worship
  • Thursday Morning Worship

Retired
United States

Bishop Peter D. Weaver was elected to the episcopacy in 1996 and assigned to serve the Philadelphia Area. During eight years there as bishop, he shepherded the start of more than 30 new congregations and helped found Good Schools Pennsylvania, which focused on public education reform.

In 2004, Weaver was assigned to the Boston Area, where he focused congregations on being "Transformed by the Holy Spirit, united in trust, and boldly proclaiming Christ to the world."  He retired in 2012 and now serves as Executive Secretary of the Council of Bishops in Washington, DC.

He was ordained a deacon and an elder in the Western Pennsylvania Conference, where he developed inclusive ministries with urban youth, the poor, the homeless, and adults of all ages. During those years, he served on many community Boards and was adjunct faculty for both Drew and Pittsburgh Theological Seminaries.

In 2004 Weaver became the first president of the Council of Bishops to be nominated by the discernment process and elected for a two-year term.  He was a delegate to the 1984-1996 General Conferences and delivered the Episcopal Address to the 2012 General Conference.

Born into a parsonage family in Greenville, Pennsylvania, Weaver received a Bachelor of Arts degree from West Virginia Wesleyan, a Master of Divinity from Drew University, a Doctor of Theology from Boston University, and four honorary degrees.

Bishop Gregory V. Palmer

Bishop Gregory V. Palmer

  • Wednesday Morning Worship

Resident Bishop
West Ohio Conference

Bishop Gregory V. Palmer was elected to the episcopacy in 2000, while serving in the East Ohio Conference as senior pastor of the United Methodist Church of Berea (North Coast District).  He served eight years as bishop of the Iowa Conference and then four years in the Illinois-Great Rivers Conference before being assigned to the West Ohio Conference in 2012.

Prior to his seven years at UMC Berea, Palmer was superintendent of the Youngstown District, was the organizing pastor of James S. Thomas UMC (Canal District) in Canton and served Werner and East Glenville UMCs. 

Palmer has served The United Methodist Church in many ways: as a member of the Board of Ordained Ministry, the General Council on Ministries, and the Senegal Task Force of the General Board of Global Ministries; as President of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Canton; and as a General and Jurisdictional Delegate.

He has also served on the Ministry Study Commission, been a study leader for Schools of Christian Mission, a teacher at Pastor's School in the Burundi Annual Conference, and a trustee for Baldwin-Wallace College, Ohio Wesleyan University and United Theological Seminary. He was elected President of the Council of Bishops from 2008-2010.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Palmer received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University, and later earned his Master of Divinity degree from Duke University. In 1999 he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea.