Bishop Jones keynote speaker at Covenant Keepers 2011
10/22/2010
Bishop Scott Jones, resident bishop of the Kansas Area, will be the keynote speaker for Covenant Keepers 2011, to be held Feb. 28-March 1, at the Pere Marquette Hotel in Peoria.
Australian native and Dove Award-winning artist Grant Norsworthy will lead the worship.
The theme of the two-day gathering will be
The Evangelistic Love of God and Neighbor: Growing Evangelistically Effective Congregations. Online registration is now open at:
http://www.igrc.org/CK2011.
During Covenant Keepers, Shane Bishop, pastor of Fairview Heights Christ UMC and the 2010 Distinguished Evangelist of the Foundation for Evangelism, and Norsworthy will speak on Worship as Evangelism.
“I have every hope and expectation that this time together will challenge, inspire and equip us to engage the evangelistic mission of the church with passion, joy and savvy," said Bishop Gregory V. Palmer, in announcing the Covenant Keepers platform.
Jones is a graduate of the University of Kansas (B.A. in Philosophy, with highest honors and departmental honors, Phi Beta Kappa), and Perkins School of Theology of Southern Methodist University (Master of Theology, with high honors). In May 1992, he received a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Southern Methodist University. His dissertation research was focused on Wesley Studies and the History of Biblical Interpretation.
From 1986 to 1997, he served as pastor of three United Methodist churches in Prosper, Howe and Commerce, Texas. In 2003-2004, he served as interim pastor at Stonebridge UMC in McKinney, Texas. From 1997 to 2004, he served on the faculty of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. There he taught Evangelism, History of Christianity, United Methodist Studies and Wesley Studies courses. He was the director of the Center for the Advanced Study and Practice of Evangelism at SMU and was awarded the rank of associate professor with tenure in 2003.
Bishop Jones was ordained deacon in the Kansas East Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1978 and ordained elder in 1987 in the North Texas Conference. On July 16, 2004, he was elected bishop and consecrated on July 17, 2004, at the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. He was assigned to serve as the resident bishop of the Kansas Area as of Sept. 1, 2004.
He is the author of a number of books, his most recent works being: Staying at the Table: The Gift of Unity for United Methodists (2008), United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center (2002) and The Evangelistic Love of God and Neighbor: A Theology of Discipleship and Witness (2003), all from Abingdon Press.
Norsworthy originally came to the public’s attention as the bassist for the very popular Paul Colman Trio (pc3); firstly in Australia and New Zealand in the late 90’s and then in the USA in the early 2000’s. Since then, while living in Nashville, Tennessee, in the USA – Grant continued as the bassist for many artists; most significantly a three and a half year stint with million-selling ‘worship rockers’ SONICFLOOd. In March of 2008, Grant launched ‘word and song’ which combines his passions to teach through spoken word and to lead through music.
