Gregory Vaughn Palmer (born August 8, 1954) is an American bishop of The United Methodist Church, elected in 2000. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Herbert Palmer, is also a United Methodist pastor.
He 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). Palmer was awarded an honorary D.D. from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1999.
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 United Methodist Church 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 United Methodist Church in Durham, North Carolina.
Transferring to the East Ohio Annual Conference in 1979, he served as pastor of the East Glenville United Methodist Church in Cleveland (1979–81), and of the Werner United Methodist Church in Cleveland (1981–85). He then became the Organizing Pastor of the James S. Thomas United Methodist Church in Canton, Ohio (1985–90). In 1990 Palmer was appointed 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 United Methodist Church in Berea, Ohio. It was from this position that he was elected a bishop by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Palmer was elected a delegate from East Ohio to United Methodist General and Jurisdictional Conferences (1988–2000), serving as the Delegation Chairperson in 1996. He served on the United Methodist 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 served as resident bishop of the Iowa Area from 2000 until 2008. He served his first quadrennium as resident bishop of the Illinois Episcopal Area (Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference), assigned there in 2008. He is serving the Ohio West Episcopal Area (West Ohio Annual Conference), assigned there in 2012. He was the president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops from May 2008 to May 2010. [1]
Bishop Palmer is married to Cynthia Palmer. They have two children.
Robert Sheldon Duecker was an American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1988.
A bishop is a senior role in many Methodist denominations that have an episcopal polity. The first Methodist bishops were appointed in America.
Charles Wesley Brashares (1891–1982) was an American bishop of The Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, elected in 1944.
Paul Elliott Martin was an American bishop of the Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, elected in 1944. He also distinguished himself as a Methodist pastor and district superintendent, as well as by notable service to his denomination.
Judith Craig is a retired American bishop of the United Methodist Church, whose primary field of service was the United States.
Edwin Charles Boulton was an American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1980.
George Lindsey Davis is an American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1996.
Jonathan Doyle Keaton is an American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1996.
Larry Martin Goodpaster is a bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 2000.
Earl Gladstone Hunt Jr. (1918–2005) was an American who distinguished himself as a Methodist pastor and evangelist, as the president of Emory and Henry College, as an author and theologian, as a bishop of The Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, and as a leader in World Methodism.
Richard Carl Looney is a retired American Bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1988.
Robert Eric Hayes Jr. is an American bishop of the United Methodist Church (U.M.C.), currently serving in the Oklahoma Annual Conference. Before being elected to the episcopacy in 2004, Hayes served as treasurer of the Texas Annual Conference. He has served as a pastor, district superintendent, and college chaplain.
Leroy Charles Hodapp distinguished himself as a Methodist pastor, district superintendent, Annual Conference official, and bishop of the United Methodist Church (U.M.C.) who was elected in 1976.
Albert Boynton Storms was a professor, university administrator, and Methodist theologian. He was President of Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa; and the second president of Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio.
An annual conference is a regional decision-making body in various Methodist denominations. Conferences are a key characteristic of the connectional system of government in Methodism. Annual conferences are composed primarily of the clergy members and a lay member or members from each charge. Each conference is a geographical division. In general, the smaller states in the United States hold one conference each, while larger states often include two or more conferences. Several annual conferences are held in other nations as well.
Bruce Robert Ough is a United Methodist Church bishop, elected in 2000.
Francis Enmer Kearns was a Methodist pastor, a professor of English, a member of denominational boards and agencies, a bluegrass musician, a bishop of The Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, and a visiting professor of a United Methodist Theological Seminary. He was the first resident bishop of the Ohio East Episcopal Area of The Methodist/United Methodist Church.
Ralph Kern Eutsler was an American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1984.
Lloyd Christ Wicke (1901–1996) was an American bishop of The Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, elected in 1948. When he died in 1996 he was the oldest of the 117 active and retired United Methodist Bishops at that time, as well as the last one elected during the decade of the 1940s.
Alfred Wesley Gwinn, Jr. is a former residing bishop of the North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He held the office of Bishop of North Carolina from 2004 to 2012. His offices were located in Raleigh, North Carolina.