Bishop Lawrence L. Reddick III
Presiding Bishop of The First Episcopal District of
The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Bishop Lawrence Reddick, the 51 bishop elected in the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church, has been presiding bishop of the First Episcopal District since July 2010.
Born June 20, 1952, in Huntsville, Alabama, Bishop Reddick’s spiritual journey began at Phillips CME Church, Huntsville. He is one of seven children of the late Reverend and Mrs. L. L. Reddick, Jr.
A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University of Delaware, Ohio (Bachelor of Arts degree) and Duke Divinity School of Durham, North Carolina (Master of Divinity degree), he has also been conferred the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the United Theological Seminary and Bible College of Monroe, Louisiana, and the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Texas College, Tyler, Texas.
His journey into ordained ministry began in 1966 in Athens, Alabama (Frazier Chapel CME Church), when he was licensed to preach by the Reverend R. E. Brooks. He was ordained deacon in 1968 and ordained elder in 1969 by Bishop E. P. Murchison, and admitted into full connection in 1972 by Bishop C. A. Kirkendoll.
His ministerial appointments prior to being elected bishop were as follows:
· Pastor, Antioch CME Church (Paint Rock, Alabama), 1968-70;
· Youth Minister, Lane Metropolitan CME Church (Cleveland, Ohio), 1970-72;
· Supply Pastor, St. James CME Church (Lima, Ohio), Spring 1972;
· Supply Pastor, Frazier Chapel CME Church (Athens, Alabama), Fall 1972;
· Student Intern, South Guilford United Methodist Circuit (Greensboro, North Carolina), 1974-75;
· Pastor, Faucette Memorial CME Church (Durham, North Carolina), 1975-77;
· Pastor, St. John CME Church (Winston-Salem, North Carolina), 1977-78;
· Pastor, Scruggs Memorial CME Church (St. Louis, Missouri), 1978-82;
· Pastor, St. Mark CME Church (Birmingham, Alabama), 1987-90;
· Pastor, Adolphus Chapel CME Church (Holly Springs, Mississippi), 1992-94; and
· Presiding Elder, Aberdeen-Tupelo District (North-East Mississippi Region), 1994-98.
He was elected editor of The Christian Index, the Official Publication of the CME Church, in 1982. He was subsequently re-elected editor by the General Conferences of 1986, 1990, and 1994. He was elected bishop on July 1, 1998.
Upon his election to the episcopacy in 1998, he was assigned as bishop of the Tenth Episcopal District (including the work in Jamaica, Haiti, Liberia, Ghana, and Nigeria). He was assigned in 2002 and 2006 as bishop of the Fifth Episcopal District (which includes the work in Alabama and Florida). In 2010, he was assigned to the First Episcopal District, comprising the Regions in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Jamaica.
Bishop Reddick is secretary of the CME Church’s College of Bishops; as well as chair of the Lane College Trustee Board, the Committee to Develop a New CME Hymnal, the Compilation Committee for The Book of Discipline, Revised 2010, the Board of Directors of the CME Headquarters, and the Board of Directors of Collins Chapel Connectional Hospital/Health Care complex. He is also patron bishop of the Women’s Missionary Council.
Bishop Reddick is married to Mrs. Wynde Jones Reddick, is the father of five children (Jon, Janice, Iris, Rose, and Samuel), and the grandfather of two.
