Gregory V. Palmer

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Gregory V. Palmer (1954- ) is an American Bishop of the United Methodist Church (U.M.C.), elected in 2000.

1 Birth and Family
2 Education
3 Ordained Ministry
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Birth and Family

Born 8 August 1954, Bishop Palmer is married to Cynthia Palmer. They have two children: Monica and Aaron.

[edit] Education

Greg was educated in the Philadelphia public schools. In 1976 he earned the B.A. degree at George Washington University. His M.Div. degree is from the Duke Divinity School (1979). He was awarded an honorary D.D. from Baldwin-Wallace College in May, 1999.

[edit] Ordained Ministry

Prior to his election to the Episcopacy, Bishop Palmer served as a Pastor and a District Superintendent. He entered the ministry in his home Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the U.M.C. in 1977. He served churches in North Carolina, where he was the Pastor of the Granville-Vance U.M. Charge in Oxford, North Carolina and of the Asbury Temple U.M.C. in Durham, North Carolina.

Transferring to the East Ohio Annual Conference in 1979, the Rev. Palmer served as Pastor of the East Glenville U.M.C. in Cleveland (1979-81), and of the Werner U.M.C. in Cleveland (1981-85). He then became the Organizing Pastor of the James S. Thomas U.M.C. in Canton, Ohio (1985-90). In 1990 Palmer was appointed the Superintendent of the Youngstown District of the East Ohio Conference. He served in this capacity until 1993, when he was appointed Pastor of the Berea U.M.C., Berea, Ohio. It was from this position that he was elected a Bishop by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference of the U.M.C.

Rev. Palmer was elected a Delegate from East Ohio to U.M. General and Jurisdictional Conferences (1988-2000), serving as the Delegation Chairperson in 1996. He served on the U.M. General Council on Ministries. He has been a Trustee of Baldwin-Wallace College, Ohio Wesleyan University, and United Theological Seminary. He has also been an Adjunct Instructor in Religion at Baldwin-Wallace.

Bishop Palmer is serving his second quadrennium as Resident Bishop of the Iowa Episcopal Area (Iowa Annual Conference), assigned there in 2000. He is the President-Designate of the U.M. Council of Bishops, elected in November 2005.