Bishop Dan Schwerin’s first day serving as episcopal leader in the Northern Illinois Annual Conference was January 3. Bishop Schwerin grew up just north of us in Wisconsin, where he heard his call at Concord UMC, in the small town of Sullivan, near Waukesha. Prior to his election, he served in the Wisconsin Annual Conference office as Assistant to the Bishop.
Read MoreHere are 10 things that will help you get to know our new Bishop.
Read MoreThis month’s NIC Reporter is filled with images of welcome. In the conference these days, we are driven by welcome. You only need to look at the conference calendar to see all the ways in which we are engaged in welcoming Bishop Dan Schwerin as our new episcopal leader. From an Installation Service (on Sunday, February 26th) to Days on the District (the first two weeks of February), to a card shower of notes and well wishes, we have extended a welcome to Bishop Schwerin.
Read MoreBishop Dan Schwerin is pleased to announce two appointments, effective July 1, 2023. Rev. Fabiola Grandon-Mayer to the role of Director of Connectional Ministries (DCM), and Rev. Arlene Christopherson to the role of Assistant to the Bishop.
Read MoreAt the consecration service, Bishop Schwerin learned he would be assigned to the Northern Illinois Conference effective Jan. 1, 2023, for which he expressed his gratitude. “I've been your neighbor for many, many years. I am so grateful to be assigned to the Northern Illinois Annual Conference," said Schwerin. "You have a history of justice-seeking ministry that humbles me and makes me grateful to be called to be assigned to you. I look forward to making relationships with you, learning from you, and shepherding with you."
Read MoreWhen I think of being called into ministry, I think of my father. Oh, he wasn’t a pastor. He was a mechanic who quit school in the eighth grade and was mostly a “home” Baptist. That means he did not go to church very much. He was “spiritual” but not “religious” long before those were sociological categories.
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