Tim Bias

Dr. Timothy Bias tells the story of trying to win his father’s approval as a child.

“I did anything I could to win my father’s attention and favor,” he said. “I would play sports and do things I knew he was interested in.”

It was only later in his teen years that Bias learned that the favor he sought as a child had already been demonstrated by his father’s adoption of Bias. It is that faith story that tells much about the life of Tim Bias.

“I found out that my father had already loved and accepted me years earlier and I hadn’t worked for it,” Bias says, recalling that serendipitous moment. “John Wesley called that prevenient grace – the grace that goes before us – that is neither earned nor merited. We merely accept it.”

Bias emerged as the Illinois Great Rivers Conference’s consensus candidate during a period of discernment by IGRC delegates. The endorsement was unanimously affirmed at the 2008 annual conference session.

“As we look at the essential qualities and characteristics of an episcopal leader – one whose life is biblically and theologically grounded; relational; a passion for connecting all people to God; integrity; and administrator, Tim Bias exemplifies all these qualities,” said Rev. Dr. J. Keith Zimmerman, superintendent of the Vermilion River District.

“Tim Bias is Christ-centered, center values, and gives Christ to others,” added Pete Paulson, lay delegate from Decatur Grace UMC.

Rev. Dr. Beverly Wilkes Null, herself an episcopal candidate in 2004, noted that Bias was a “globetrotter” that can serve our worldwide church. “The winds of change are blowing in The United Methodist Church and a bishop must have a global perspective of what it means to be The United Methodist Church in our shared 21st century context. Tim Bias has the necessary gifts and graces.”