The Rev. Dr. William J. Abraham
Albert Cook Outler Professor of Wesley Studies, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.

Background Information


Ms. Emma Cantor
The Philippines









Mr. Solomon Chiripasi
Conference Treasurer, Zimbabwe Annual Conference








The Rev. Brandon Cho
Executive Director of the United Methodist Council on Korean American Ministries.


Ms. Erin Hawkins
Associate General Secretary, General Commission on Religion and Race

Ms. Erin Hawkins is one of the Associate General Secretaries of the General Commission on Religion and Race. She is the staff resource person to the Southeastern Jurisdiction and to the caucus, initiative, and programs serving the Black constituency of the United Methodist Church. A native of the Los Angeles area of California, Erin has a Bachelors degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from Indiana University.

Before accepting the position at the General Commission on Religion and Race, Erin served as Legislative Assistant to Juanita Millender-McDonald a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Erin is a second generation United Methodist and a life-long member of Saint Mark United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, California. She has had the opportunity to be involved in the various ministries of the church including grant writer and program developer, certified lay speaker, keynote speaker at the California Pacific Annual Conference Youth Service, and Los Angeles District Delegate to the Annual Conference. In addition, Erin’s interest and work in the areas of leadership development, young adult empowerment, and organizational theory give added dimension to her individual commitment to fight for equality and empowerment.


Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt
Presiding Bishop, 4th District, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

The 48th Bishop of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., was the first of the two bishops elected in the 1994 General Conference held in Memphis, TN. He came to the Episcopal office as a preacher and distinguished scholar in theological education. He was born March 14, 1941 to Reverend Thomas L. Hoyt, Sr. and Ida Wells Hoyt in Fayette, AL.

Bishop Hoyt's academic training is both thorough and extensive. He earned the BA degree from Lane College, Jackson, TN in 1962, the M.Div. degree from Phillips School of Theology of The Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA, the S.T.M. degree from the Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1967, and the Ph.D. degree from Duke University, Durham, NC in 1975. He was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree from Trinity College in 1994.

His ministry included pastoral service of several CME churches in North Carolina and New York and more than twenty years as a professor of theology. He has served as Assistant Professor of New Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA, the School of Religion at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Professor of New Testament and Director, Black Ministries Certificate Program at Hartford Seminary in Hartfort, CT. He has written more than thirty-five articles for professional journals and publications, and has shared in group projects that resulted in published books, including the influential Stony the Road We Trod: An African American Biblical Interpretation. Ed. by Cain Hope Felder (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992). Bishop Hoyt's most renown lectures were the Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale Divinity School in 1993, one of the oldest and most prestigious lectureships in the academic community.

Awards and Honors bestowed on Bishop Hoyt are numerous, including a visit to Pope John Paul II with a delegation from the National Council of Churches, delegate to the World Council of Churches in Porto, Alegre, Brazil in 1987, and CME representative at the World Council of Churches meeting on Faith and Order at Santiago De Compstela, Spain in 1993.

Upon his election to the Episcopacy, he was assigned to the Fourth Episcopal District. He is the Chair of the Department of Lay Activities of the CME Church and was the Chair of the 125th CME Church Anniversary Celebration Committee.

He is married to Ocie (nee Oden) Hoyt, and is the father of two children, Doria and Thomas III. His office and headquarters are in Shreveport, LA.

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