Hope Morgan Ward has been assigned as the resident bishop of the Raleigh Area (North Carolina Conference), effective Sept. 1. The assignment was announced by the Episcopacy Committee of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference and approved by the conference at the end of the July 18-20 meeting at Lake Junaluska.
Bishop Ward, a clergy member of the NC Conference when elected to the episcopacy in 2004, is completing her eighth year as resident bishop of the Mississippi Conference. Her assignment to the NC Conference is effective Sept. 1. In additions to her local church appointments, Bishop Ward served as executive director of Conference Connectional Ministries and as Raleigh District superintendent.
Bishop Al Gwinn, resident bishop of the NC Conference for the past eight years, is retiring and will reside in his home state of Kentucky and in Florida.
Bishop Paul Leeland, assistant to the NC Conference bishop and director of Ministerial Relations when elected to the episcopacy in 2008, will begin his second four-year assignment as the resident bishop of the Alabama-West Florida Conference on Sept. 1.
