If you have ever heard her preach or sing – oh, can she evermore preach and sing – or watched her leadership skills in action, you had to know the Rev. Dr. Connie Shelton was headed for big things.
That moment has arrived: She’s now Bishop Connie Mitchell Shelton of the worldwide United Methodist Church.
Bishop Shelton became co-senior pastor with her husband, Joey Shelton, at Jackson’s Galloway United Methodist Church in 2008. She was elected to the episcopacy during the recent Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference, based at Lake Junaluska, N.C., part of the overall setup of the United Methodist Church.
U.S. federal judges have nothing on bishops of the United Methodist Church. People listen intently when they speak, both wear a lot of robes, and their appointments are for life.
My first memory of Connie, a 58-year-old native of Picayune and a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, was her role as a staff member of the Methodist Hour, a broadcast ministry of the Mississippi Conference of the Methodist Church, based in Hattiesburg. There she worked alongside then-director, the late Rev. Sam O. Morris.
Connie was appointed leader of that ministry when Morris became the senior pastor at Galloway in 1995, several years before the Sheltons’ own appointment at the church. Galloway UMC – named for Bishop Charles B. Galloway, 1849-1909 – is located across the street from the State Capitol and is considered the “flagship church” of Mississippi Methodism.
When Connie and Joey were appointed to Galloway, they succeeded the Rev. Ross Olivier, a South African widely known in Methodist circles. Olivier was a hard act to follow, but it was quickly obvious the Sheltons were up to the task.
The new bishop’s husband, Joey Shelton, was practicing law in Hattiesburg before their marriage. While serving as voluntary youth leaders at a local church, they decided to enter Duke University Divinity School to become full-time United Methodist pastors.
The Sheltons served as co-pastors at Galloway until 2015 when Connie accepted a position with the Mississippi UMC Conference office in Jackson, next door to Galloway. She was superintendent of the denomination’s East Jackson District when elected as a bishop.
Joey, a member of Millsaps College’s last undefeated football team in 1980 – playing under the legendary coach Harper Davis – worked on the Methodist-supported school’s staff, most recently as head of church relations and dean of chapel.
Bishop Shelton’s election to the high post comes at a time of extreme turmoil in the United Methodist Church. She has been assigned as bishop of the UMC’s North Carolina Conference, based near Raleigh, NC.
A Nov. 11 article in The Clarion-Ledger by Ross Reily explained that Shelton and other new bishops are coming to the leadership role amid “a denominational splintering over conflicting views on homosexuality in the ministry.”
Methodism joins other religious groups, including the Episcopal Church, in a ruckus over that question. Reily wrote, “The issues center around … a difference in opinion about whether someone who identifies as LGBTQ should be ordained in churches.”
The upshot of the controversy is that hundreds of United Methodist churches have disaffiliated from the denomination. Many more are considering such a move, particularly across the country’s southern end, including Mississippi.
Shelton said she dreams “of a church that welcomes and includes our diversity of the theological perspective, rooted in scriptural interpretation and following Jesus. I pray for faithful followers to move toward unity. ”
The Mississippi UMC Conference also will have a new leader in January as Bishop Sharma Lewis transfers here from the Richmond, Virginia area. Lewis is the first Black woman bishop in the UMC’s Southeastern Jurisdiction.
Mac Gordon is a native of McComb. He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com
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