Cedrick Bridgeforth

Bridgeforth Among Four Blacks Elected as United Methodist Bishops

 The Rev. Cedrick D. Bridgeforth, director of innovation and communication in the California-Pacific Conference, has been elected a bishop by The United Methodist Church’s Western Jurisdiction. He becomes the first openly gay African American man to be elected a bishop in The United Methodist Church. Delegates elected Bridgeforth on Nov. 4 at the jurisdiction’s meeting at Christ United Methodist Church on the 18th ballot. He received 73 votes out of 93 valid ballots cast. He needed 63 to be elected. Current Western Jurisdiction rules require two-thirds of valid ballots. “It is the church where I found purpose — even when it felt like it was