Bishop Jones to speak at Commencement May 14

CONTACT: Leslie Eikleberry, Director of Public Relations, 785-827-5541 ext. 1127

March 14, 2005

All across campus, students and university personnel are preparing for Kansas Wesleyan University’s upcoming Commencement May 14.

The Reverend Dr. Scott Jones, the new Bishop of the Kansas East and Kansas West Conferences of the United Methodist Church, will be the Commencement speaker.

Commencement Day activities will begin with the Baccalaureate Service at 10:30 a.m. at University United Methodist Church. Commencement is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. at the Salina Bicentennial Center.

Bishop Jones was born May 23, 1954, in Nashville, Tennessee. He was raised in Illinois, Indiana, and Colorado before graduating from the University of Kansas. When asked where he’s from, Bishop Jones often answers, “I’m from all over.”

Bishop Jones was ordained a deacon in the Kansas East Annual Conference in 1978 and an elder in 1987 in the North Texas Annual Conference. He has lived in Texas since 1977, when he went to Perkins School of Theology as a student.

During his ministry in Texas, Bishop Jones served local churches for 11 years. He was pastor of First UMC in Prosper, Texas, from 1986 to 1991; First UMC in Howe, Texas from 1991 to 1995; and First UMC in Commerce, Texas, from 1995 to 1997. During his local church ministry, Bishop Jones was adjunct faculty at Perkins, teaching United Methodist history. He is in his first year as Bishop of the Kansas East and Kansas West Conferences.

One of Bishop Jones’ passions has been to help the United Methodist Church focus on its mission. In 1997, Jones returned to Perkins as McCreless Assistant/Associate Professor of Evangelism and served as director of the Center for the Advanced Study and Practice of Evangelism. He has spent the past seven years preaching and teaching around the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Bishop Jones met his wife, Mary Lou Reece, at the University of Kansas, and they married Aug. 18, 1979. Reece is the president of Reece Construction, with offices in Salina and Scandia in Kansas, as well as in Prosper, Texas. The couple has three children: Jameson, Arthur and Marynell. Jameson is a student at Stanford University and Arthur and Marynell are students at the University of Kansas.