We are blessed to have three tremendous speakers with us for the 2025 Great Plains Annual Conference session in Salina, Kansas. We would like to introduce them to you here.
Bishop Gregory Palmer will preach at our opening worship service Thursday, June 5. We know he will do a great job of setting the scene for us with our theme for 2025: “Loving God.” Bishop Palmer was elected to the episcopacy in 2000 and served most recently in the West Ohio Conference until his retirement Sept. 1, 2024. Bishop Palmer served as president of the Council of Bishops from 2008-2010. His undergraduate degree is from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He earned his master’s of divinity degree from Duke Theological Seminary, and received an honorary doctorate of divinity degree from Baldwin-Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.
Dr. Ashley Boggan D., general secretary from the General Commission on Archives and History, will serve as our keynote speaker. She will talk to us about our denomination’s history of loving God and about what it means to be “vile,” but in a positive way. She will help us understand how the past can shape our vision for a more equitable future for all United Methodists. Her Methodist lineage dates back to her great-great-great grandfathers, who were Methodist circuit riders. She has served as director of United Methodist Studes and assistant professor of Christian History at Hood Theological Seminary in Salisbury, N.C., director of Women’s and Gender Studes and assistant professor of religion at High Point University in High Point, N.C., and as staff for the Connectional Table. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School and her PhD in Methodist/Wesleyan Studies and Women’s/Gender Studies from Drew Theological School’s Graduate Division of Religion. Her fourth book, “Wesleyan Vile-tality: Reclaiming the Heart of Methodist Identity,” is due for release April 1
Bishop Bruce Blake will preach during our ordination service on Saturday, June 7. He was elected to the episcopacy in 1988 and served in the former North Texas Conference before being assigned to the Oklahoma Conference in 1996, where he served until he retired in 2004. Bishop Blake served as a mentor to Bishop David Wilson, and he retired to Winfield, Kansas. Prior to his election to the episcopacy, Bishop Blake served at Ransom-Brownell, Herington, and Derby Woodlawn UMCs in Kansas. He served as program director for the former Kansas West Conference and as president of Southwestern College from 1984 to 1988. Bishop Blake is a graduate of Wichita East High School. He earned degrees at Friends University in Wichita and Drew University School of Theology in Madison, N.J.