The Rev. David Graves Elected United Methodist Bishop

  • Thursday, July 14, 2016
  • John Shearer
Rev. David Graves
Rev. David Graves
The Rev. David Graves, who formerly served at Hixson and Ooltewah United Methodist churches, was elected bishop Wednesday during the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference of the church in Lake Junaluska, N.C.

Mr.
Graves, the senior pastor at Ooltewah UMC from 2001-09 and the minister of youth and recreation at Hixson from 1989-94, was the second of five bishops elected to fill open positions around the Southeast. He was elected on the fourth ballot.


To be elected bishop, a candidate must receive 60 percent of the vote of the delegates.

The conference he will serve in the Southeast will be determined Thursday, and he will be consecrated along with the other newly elected bishops Friday morning. It will be a conference other than the Holston Conference in which Chattanooga is located, as current bishop the Rev. Mary Virginia “Dindy" Taylor will be serving another four-year term.

Mr. Graves, who has served as senior pastor of Church Street UMC in downtown Knoxville since 2015, is expected to assume his new position in the coming weeks.

Prior to coming to Church Street, Mr. Graves was district superintendent of the Kingsport District.

He is the third Church Street UMC senior pastor to be named bishop in recent decades. Dr. Richard Looney was elected in 1988, while Dr. Kenneth L. Carder was chosen in 1992.

Mr. Graves grew up in Knoxville and graduated from Knoxville Central High School in 1976. The position at Hixson UMC was his first ministerial appointment.
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