The Rev. George R. Sumner, Jr., has received the required majority of consents to be consecrated as Bishop of Dallas.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe, General Convention’s registrar, have notified the diocese. Sumner was elected bishop on May 16. His ordination and consecration is scheduled for Nov. 14.
The Rt. Rev. Paul Lambert, Bishop Suffragan (and Pro Tem) of Dallas, wrote to the diocese:
We are very pleased by this good news and give thanks to God and the Church for reaffirming our choice for our next Apostolic Father in God.
We will move forward with our plans for the Bishop-elect’s Consecration on Saturday, November 14, 2015 at First United Methodist Church Dallas. The service will begin at 11 a.m.
Sumner, who was elected in May during a Special Convention on the fourth ballot, said he was happy to hear the news. “I am glad we’re ‘official.’ I am excited about what God has in store for us in the Diocese of Dallas. The theme of our upcoming convention is God’s saying ‘I have a plan for you,’ from Jeremiah, and so we believe. Let us keep praying in confidence in accordance with that word.”