In this special “Meet a Bishop” episode of “Get Your Spirit in Shape,” we talk with Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth about his faith journey that has led the Alabama native to his current appointment as resident bishop of the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area in the Western Jurisdiction. When Bridgeforth was 9 years old, he prayed aloud at his small church, resulting in a standing ovation. His grandma then squeezed his cheeks and proclaimed that her grandson would preach one day. Though he was intent on becoming an architect, a stint in the U.S. Air Force set the teen on a path of discernment that ended with his call to ordained ministry being affirmed while serving communion to those living on the streets of south Los Angeles.
Guest: Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth
- Bishop Cedrick serves the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area of the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church.
- Learn more about Bishop Cedrick at the Council of Bishops website.
- Bishop Cedrick is resident bishop for the Alaska Conference, the Oregon-Idaho Conference and the Pacific Northwest Conference.
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This episode posted on July 7, 2023.
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Transcript
"Safer Sanctuaries: Nurturing Trust withing Faith Communities" is a new and comprehensive resource that continues the tradition of Safe Sanctuaries ministry by buildiing on its trusted policies and procedures. To learn more, go to SaferSanctuaries.org or call 800-972-0433.
Prologue
When Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth was 9 years old, he prayed aloud at his small Alabama church, resulting in a standing ovation. His grandma then squeezed his cheeks and proclaimed that her grandson would preach one day. Though he was intent on becoming an architect, a stint in the U.S. Air Force set the teen on a path of discernment that ended with his call to ordained ministry being affirmed while serving communion to those living on the streets of south Los Angeles.
Conversation
Crystal Caviness, host: Bishop Cedrick, welcome to “Get Your Spirit in Shape.”
Bishop Cedrick: Thank you for having me. Crystal.
Crystal: You're here today as a part of our Meet A Bishop series, and this part of “Get Your Spirit in Shape” is an opportunity for United Methodists across the connection to get to know you a little bit, to get to know you, not as a bishop necessarily, but as a fellow United Methodist, and to learn about your faith journey, including your call to ministry and your path to be an elected bishop. So we're excited to have that conversation with you today.
You were elected Bishop in November of 2022, and you began serving just this past January as the resident bishop of the Greater Northwest Episcopal area in the Western Jurisdiction. Wow. That is a mouthful, but it encompasses a lot. So it should be a mouthful. When I read your bio, I was struck by several things. You were raised in the south, in Alabama.
You grew up attending regularly, both a Baptist church and a United Methodist church. And then you relocated to the West coast for your Masters of Divinity and your Doctor of Education degrees. Then you served churches in predominantly black congregations in L.A. as well as multi-ethnic and multicultural ministries throughout Southern California. Then you went on to become a D.S., a district superintendent, in the California Pacific Conference, which is one of the most diverse regions of The United Methodist Church. So now as bishop of this Greater Northwest Episcopal area in the Western Jurisdiction, you have churches in Alaska. You have churches in Hawaii, you have churches in Oregon, Idaho, Guam. So how have all of these prior experience kind of congealed to prepare you for the role that you're in right now?
Bishop Cedrick: Wow, Crystal, that's a big question and Guam is actually a part of the California Pacific Conference, but we gladly receive it in the greater Northwest area because I visited there a few times and loved it. But, you know, I think the ministry in Southern California prepared me for ministry just about anywhere in the world. You talk about every ministry context being one that's distinctly United Methodist, but there is a particular ecumenical spirit in most of our congregations because most people are transplants. They've come from other faith traditions, other Christian expressions and have decided to become United Methodists. There are, of course, there are people who were born and raised in Southern California as United Methodist. However, it's a place where people come to from all around the world. So you have sort of this melding of religious ideas and thoughts that come together in just your regular 50-member United Methodist congregations.
And you have to find a way to make that work on top of the political and theological landscape that sort of diversity brings to bear. And so now being up in the Greater Northwest Episcopal area of The United Methodist Church, you know, we have this difference of ethnicities, language, culture that's here, that's rooted in the indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest and also the Alaska Native cultures and indigenous cultures and Alaska. That's another layer that I'm not all that familiar with, but I'm having to open my heart and mind to it. And I think ministry in Southern California just opened me to just be prepared to stay open, to listen, to learn and just take it in.
Crystal: You know, I appreciate what you said about the being United Methodist in Southern California in the Nineties I left the South where I grew up in North Carolina to live in L.A. for eight years and found just this church you're talking about, 50 members, United Methodist. And it was very intentional to be there. It wasn't that you were born into that church and your family went to that church. And I found after coming out of a situation where you go to the church you were born in and I was, you know, born into a Methodist church, I found that so invigorating. It was a very exciting time to be a part of that church and be a part of the ministries that came out of that. Are you finding that kind of intentionality in churches, in the churches that you're serving now? And that's such a, maybe that's not a fair question because there are hundreds and hundreds of churches.
Bishop Cedrick: <laugh> No, I, I think it's a fair question because when you're in a space like the one I'm in now, and it's not vastly different from where I served the last 25 years in Southern California, but this is the land of the nones, right? The non-religious, you know, context. It began here and still, you know, looms supreme in this area. So churches are intentional choices that people make, right? And because they're intentional choices people make, churches have to be clear about who they are and who they are not. So that when people make those choices to be a part of them, they know what they're getting right. And they know how to participate. It's not just a part of the culture, right? So it's something that people seek out because of a longing, because of communal connections, because of some theological expression that speaks to them. And so I think it helps the churches to be clearer about their identity, you know, when you're in an area like this.
Crystal: Yeah, I think you're right. That was my experience as well. Well, speaking of choices and being a part of the church, we've talked about your journey literally across the United States over the past 30 years or so, but in that journey, where did you first hear your call to ministry?
Bishop Cedrick: My first inkling of anything about a call was when I was 9 or 10 years old, in our little church there in Alabama. And my maternal grandmother, you know, came to me after I prayed this prayer at a youth service and I finished the prayer. There was a standing ovation in the congregation and my grandmother, you know, grabbed me by the sides of my cheeks and said, “Boy, one day you're going to preach, you're going to preach.” And I went running screaming out of the church. “I don't wanna preach, I don't wanna preach.” But that was my first sort of inkling there. And throughout my teenage years and into early adulthood, I continued to stay very involved in church, teaching Sunday school, volunteering wherever I could and just found voice and space there where I could express my giftings. And then while I was serving in the Air Force at the ripe old age of 19, I really felt that, you know, God was speaking to me in a very direct way that ministry was the pathway for me.
Now I was resistant to that because I wanted to be an architect and nothing more, just an architect. That's what I wanted to do. And I just went through a series of experiences and time over the next four or five years where I was just in real deep discernment, which sometimes looked like utter denial of just trying to figure out what God was saying and what my life would look like. Because what I did not see for myself was that weekly pastor who showed up to, you know, proclaim a sermon every Sunday. But I did see myself deeply involved in Christian vocation in some way. So I was open to that. I was not open to pastoring a local church. And it was actually in the process of doing the pastoring of a local church in my third year of seminary and ministering to those who are without homes and without direct family connections and food to sustain themselves serving communion to them on the streets of South Los Angeles. And hearing them call me “pastor” and asking when I would return and having them walk me from my bus stop to the church or to guard my car while I was visiting a family or sitting in my church. It was those folks on the street who really affirmed a call within me. And that's what opened me to ordained ministry.
Crystal: That's a really beautiful expression of love and faith. It sounds like that you being a part of that really helped in that discernment for you.
Bishop Cedrick: Yeah, and it was really the people outside the church, you know, who affirmed. And now of course I've always been affirmed within the church for my gifts of speaking and all, you know, sorts of things. But it was the, it was those on the streets and those who were outside the confines of a constructed religious community who really helped me see God's call upon me to something other than what I saw in myself. And something other than what the church was demanding of me. It was asking it, but it was the people on the street who really demanded it.
Crystal: You mentioned your time in the U.S. Air Force. Did you learn some skills or did you get tools as being a part of the U.S. military that has impacted your ministry?
Bishop Cedrick: Oh yeah, yeah. Funny story about that. When in basic training, I was the one helping everybody learn how to make their beds and, you know, fold their clothes and iron and, you know, and so people would always ask, you know, well, you know, how do you adjust to basic training so easy? It's like, because I grew up with my grandmother, so I knew how to do all those things. And so after being in her home, basic training was a breeze so <laugh> so I understood order. But what I took away from the Air Force was one, you make family and you make friends quickly. You don't have time to waste or to wait when you're in that sort of environment. And people were very open to receive you and whatever you had to offer for whatever time you had to offer it.
So I think that was helpful. I also, I've always had, um, when I take those spiritual gift inventory things that, you know, you start taking, you know, at youth camp and all that, it was always teaching and administration. I've always been my two gifts that, that have been expressed in those sort of aptitude tests or whatever. But then also those have shown up in my work whether I was at, you know, a cook at Sonic Drive-in or a security police specialist in the United States Air Force. But it was the Air Force that added that element of professionalism and consistency that I had not known in any other realm. And that's something that I brought forward into my professional life and adulthood.
Crystal: You talk about crediting your grandmother with this orderly home and orderly life, and then really building on that, is that part of what drew you to architecture, do you think was just the orderliness and the precision of that field?
Bishop Cedrick: Probably. And, and it was that my grandfather was a farmer at heart, but was always building something around the house. And I would find myself trying to sketch out whatever he was, you know, if it was a box, you know, a flower box he was building, I'd find myself, you know, kind of sketching that out. And I had two uncles who were also, um, they called themselves carpenters. And so they would do like additions for folks and things like that. And sometimes I would go with them on jobs and I, you know, we'd be in the house and nobody else would be there. And I would walk around and I would see what they were adding and I would, I would just be able to envision what that was going to look like, and then I would draw the rest of the house in relation to that.
I just took that up on my own from just a sense of curiosity, probably more than anything. And then one of my teachers saw that I had a knack for this because I would get done with all my work and then I would just take out notebook paper and I would just sketch out floor plans, you know, or I'd do it on my desk. And so <laugh> so they would just leave me alone and let me, let me do my little floor plans. And so I think it was a curiosity, , that was brought on by some early exposure and it was a way for me to be artistic, , in a space that didn't always encourage that in other people. So it was a way for me to do it and not be ridiculed for it. It was a way for me to do it and not really involve anybody else in it as well. So I would say there's multiple factors involved there.
Crystal: Since you didn't go the architect path and God took you on the ministry path, do you have an outlet for that artistic gift that you demonstrated early in your life?
Bishop Cedrick: Crystal, every place I have served and every placement, every appointment has had some construction and rehab elements to it. That very first appointment that I had in South Los Angeles when I arrived, the parsonage, which was less than 10 feet away from the church, had burned. And so my first order of business as a part-time student local pastor, which is the lowest on the rung of appointments that you can have, I had it first order of business was to restore that building and instead of rebuilding it as a parsonage, we held some community meetings and met with the congregation of 12 to 15 people and decided we would make it, we would build it back, but it would be a community center instead of a parsonage. And so that was a piece when I was district superintendent, we had some closed church properties that we repurposed and built into affordable housing, some for seniors, some for emancipated young people.
So to be able to sit in the meetings with those developers and be able to read blueprints and know what it was about, you know, in another church we tore down a whole sit building that sat on a city block and, you know, or imagining what could go on that block, I could envision that in my role now several of our congregations are looking at addressing housing. And so we're looking at, you know, ways of repurposing some of our underutilized land on existing spaces and, , just some non-producing assets all over these four states where we are. And so all of that interest has come to bear in experiences that, that I've been able to express in every single setting of ministry. So I I've gotten to live it out, you know, so those two drafting classes and that blueprint reading class has gone a long way.
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Crystal: I love hearing how God has just really knitted together all of your life experiences for such a time as this.
Bishop Cedrick: Oh, it's wild. It's wild. <laugh>.
Crystal: So as you travel across the Pacific Northwest and you're meeting United Methodists, what are you most excited about?
Bishop Cedrick: You know, I had to hit the ground running, as did all of the class of 2022, because we all began in January, which is the absolute worst time for anyone to start an Episcopal assignment anywhere in the world because you land at the time where appointment making begins and you're also in the budget setting process for a year and a half from the time where you're sitting with people that you don't even know. So anyway, that's just a plug no more January one start dates for newly elected bishops. But, but in these five months, five and a half months that I've been here, I've had to do some quick and deep listening. And so some of the things that I was able to identify across the four states where we have three annual conferences, three very different and distinct systems, but over four states, it was very clear to me that ministry in the area of housing and health were very important.
That that's where people were either moving into or wanting greater resourcing and understanding about how to be in ministry in their area because housing is so unaffordable here. And it was very clear to me that most folks, even those who consider themselves middle class or you know, upper middle class are, but too bad decisions away from being houseless themselves. And they may not even be bad decisions Crystal, they may just be decisions, right? Just because of the way the economy works here. So that was commonality across the three conferences was around housing and then around health. And health was a bigger sort of category, , where I was able to pull things together around, climate justice, public health, mental health concerns, you know, all all of that in that area because we have the opioid crises is just alive and well, across the country.
But really, , showing itself here, we also have several of the white supremacists, you know, neo Christian hate groups call, you know, eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon and Idaho home. And so trying to do ministry in that context and people wanting a reality other than the one they have, you know, I I heard that over and over again. So, , housing and health were, um, you know, kind of the two categories. I was able to bring those in and, and start to talk about how we can work together across our area to affect, , change in, in housing and health. And, and that's been exciting because those are passions that I carry and areas where I've had experience over the last 25 years as well.
Crystal: You know, as you're talking about that, I'm realizing that's not inside the church. All that's outside the church. So this is about, you know, our churches, our members, being out in the communities and being out in there, you know, making a difference as we're called to do. So is that, that feels like maybe an added layer of education for you is to not only learn about your congregations, but learn about the communities in which they're located.
Bishop Cedrick: Oh, yeah. And to, to really push this reality narrative perspective. I don't know what you call it, but deep down in my soul, Crystal, I really sense that we're in a time, and if not a time, you know, around the world at least I'm in an area in an era of time where the church is not the lead voice and the church is not the lead resource center on very much, again, we're in the area where the nones run things and where non-religious ideas, ideologies, persons of faith, you know, are in charge politically, economically, educationally, you know, all the way across. And so what we're having to talk about here is how do we reframe how we do church? Because in many parts of the country, particularly the area where I grew up in, and to a certain extent in Southern California where I've done most of my ministry, the church still sits in a place where it can call people forward and lead in some significant ways.
That's not the case here. The church is not the lead voice because of the skepticism and because of the distance between the church and the established order of things here. So we're really talking about how the church moves from being in a position of leading to being in a position of partnering and sojourning with other organizations and institutions that are doing things that align with what the church wants to do or needs to be doing. Because there are truly organizations that are out churching the church. And so our best bet if we want to reach new people, more diverse people and younger people, it's to align ourselves with those institutions, organizations where they are already finding spirituality, where they're already making community and having the impact that's important to them to find ourselves aligned with those in a way that we are pushing those forward, supporting those movements going forward as opposed to that position that we've held historically where we've been out front calling everybody to go forth. And that's a total rework, a reframe of our mindset and our positioning. But if we're going to have deep and lasting impact, I don't see another way for us to do it
Crystal: That feels like it's such a sea change. Where do you even start with those conversations?
Bishop Cedrick: You know, I, I think, you know, going back just to the housing piece, right? To the housing piece, and this is not to say that the church doesn't have anything to offer. We do, we do. In fact, our superintendents and our lay leaders right now are working on identifying how much property, how much underutilized or unused property do we have in our area, right? So we may not have, you know, as my grandma would say, go gobs of people, but we have go gobs of land and buildings, right? And so, so around the issue of housing, we are not developers, we are not policy makers as it relates to how housing is supported or established in particular areas. But what we can bring to the housing conversation is our land. We can bring our land to those conversations, which we have a lot of, right?
And so we align ourselves with those networks and those organizations who already do housing well, but align with those who do it well and do it in a way that's important to us and speaks to our values as persons of faith and particularly as Wesleyans, , in this area. And so that, that's what I mean by that. It's, it's, so, it's not the church doing the building, it's the church bringing its building in its assets alongside similarly in the issue or in the area of health. We're not healthcare providers, you know, we are not mental health professionals, but what we do have are educational wings of our buildings that we will never, ever be able to fill on our own. But can we use those classroom spaces and those meeting rooms to offer up to mental health providers to use at a low or no cost in order to ensure that people in the communities around our church have access to mental health services.
Yeah, we can do that, right? So we can do more than bring our old clothes that we no longer want and put 'em on a hanger and, you know, let people come the first Thursday of the month and get them, or we can do far better than stuffed styrofoam containers, which is killing the environment, , full of food that many of us wouldn't eat if it were offered to us. But we can do more than put that together and offer it out on Saturday morning and say, we've done our part. Right? So those things are important that somebody's ministry, somebody's called to do it, and we are called to be a part of that. How there are some areas of ministry that we're called to be a part of that we don't get to lead, but we get to be a vi , a vital part of by bringing who we are and what we have to bear in those conversations.
Crystal: It's really exciting to hear you talk about that, of just how we are in the world and how we're bringing what we can. Yeah. And that is true, that is true partnership for sure. I want to talk to you about a couple more things. I was reading as I was learning more about you. I was reading something and this kind of, this pertains to where we are in the denomination right now, you said that while division is often painful, it is not inherently wrong. I'd love for you to talk more about how we might find purpose and even healing in this space that we find ourselves in as United Methodists.
Bishop Cedrick: Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. Difference has never scared me. Distance has never bothered me because I think there are folks who are called to go to other places to do other things. I think our difference allows us to speak to different people in a variety of, of ways. I think we lose a lot when we focus on conformity and we focus on this idea that we all have to be the same, believe the same, act the same. Because if we live that way, all we'll ever have is exactly who we are doing and being exactly as we are. And that just seems so limiting and it excludes so much of the world and so many in the world that we proclaim to care about and want to see transformed, , in some way. And so I celebrate a variety of theological perspectives and persuasions.
I celebrate the fact that we have those within The United Methodist Church. I lament the fact that we've come to a place where there's this sense of we all need to believe the same in order to be the same. That's not the United Methodist Church I was raised in. And it's not the one that, you know, I ultimately signed up to be a part of. So that, that does, I I grieve that. I grieve that. I think if we are going to live out this expansive gospel that God has delivered to us, we have to be expansive in our theological perspectives, and we have to be expansive in the people groups that were open to being a part of the church, you know, and focus more on that than who we don't want to be a part of the church, right? I mean, I, I think people are smart enough to self-select, you know, and know t what is or isn't for them.
I don't think we need to, you know, create a list for people. I think people are smart enough to figure out whether or not wanted or welcomed or cannot grow. And so I think our work needs to be focused on how we open ourselves to more people, , with more diversity of thought. And so when people decide that because you're not, you know, exactly like me, you can't be with me, that's, those are playground rules that I don't think serve us well. Um, I think it sets us back. I think it speaks against just the grand theological perspective that we see in scripture. Um, just recently I was studying the Jacob and Esau narrative of how Jacob had gone off and done his own thing the way he wanted to do it, but there came a time where they came back together, right? They came back together, but they couldn't have stayed together. But they found a way to come back together after having some different experiences. And there's nothing in that text that says they came back together and were the same. All we know is that they came back together and they reconciled to be in relationship. That was it. And they lived on.
Crystal: You know, if we say that God created us each with unique gifts, you know, in a new unique way, and then we pursue this homogenous model, we're just denying the unique gifts that God put into each of us.
Bishop Cedrick: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And you see it even in the creation narrative. You see that every day, no matter how you read this, no matter what translation you see, that each iteration of creation was very different. Right. Very different even in the creation of humanity. Right. There were different expressions there. So, okay. You know, it's like, okay. And, , you know, and even as we get to the Noah text and then there's the recreation, there's variety that comes out of that. And so this business of limiting God to me is just dangerous territory. And this, this, because for me to step into a space where I can limit God's openness, God's expansiveness, God's variety, I'm deciding to be God. And that's always dangerous. That's always dangerous. Yeah. That I, I don't want to do that. Mm-hmm.
Crystal: <affirmative>, I just have two more questions for you and I feel like we could just talk for, I'd love to just talk for more hours, but, <laugh>, I'm going to respect your time and not do that, but, Bishop Cedrick, is there anything that you wanted to be sure we talked about today that we haven't yet had a chance to discuss?
Bishop Cedrick: You know, I, I think we've touched on it, Crystal, and it's just that I really want to be a part of the reframing, reshaping, you know, of The United Methodist Church to the point that the church is what it says it is. And that is about disciple making for the transformation of the world. I really believe that's possible for us if we get out of, get out of our mirrors, right? I've talked about this in my area. Get out of the mirror, stop looking at ourselves, talking to ourselves about ourselves and get in the windows and see what God is doing in the world. Because for too long we've been inside dealing with each other and the world has moved on. And my hope and my prayer is that we're able to catch up and to come alongside the world and be a part of the transformative work that is already happening out there, and it happening without us. And I want us to be out there and a part of that transformative that's happening around the world.
Crystal: Now I've heard it said that God will make sure God's work gets done. And if you're not willing to do it, God will find someone else to do that.
Bishop Cedrick: Oh, of course. There are many organizations out churching the church all around the world. I don't want to be out churched anymore.
Crystal: Well, the last question I have, and actually I take that back, I have two more questions. I read that you are a serious cyclist and that you bike. And I don't know if it's this summer, but recently you completed the AIDS/Lifecycle, which is a 545-mile bike track from San Francisco to Los Angeles. That seems so intense, <laugh>. I've driven that route and there's mountains and long stretches with nothing. And you did that on a bike. I'd love to hear more about that journey for you and also why you bike, why what that does. And maybe it, it kind of leads into the last question, which is how do you keep your own spirit in shape? So, and if it doesn't that's okay, but it, you know, I wanted to ask those two things for sure before we finish up.
Bishop Cedrick: Yeah, it definitely connects. I started riding because I, one, I, I set the goal for myself to complete the, the AIDS Lifecycle ride because several years ago I met someone who was training for that. And when he told me what it was about that it was raising funds for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, specifically for their direct services unit, for those living with HIV and AIDS, that all the funds raise go directly to direct services. The day the dollar arrives is the day the dollar gets used. And that just spoke to me. And so I set a goal for myself to do that at least once. And so I said, well, if I'm going to do that, I need to get a bike. And if I get a bike, I need to start riding, I need to start training.
And I found community in the AIDS Lifecycle space of people, ike-minded, you know, just wanting to help. And some are there for their own story, their own journey, partners, they've lost family members, they've known coworkers through the years. And so it's, it's people from all walks of life who are part of this AIDS Lifecycle community. And so in a lot of ways they've become my second church, you know, of, of being with them. And I find that when I'm out riding, that my spirit opens. I used to be a runner and I did marathons and half marathons and all that. And until friends of mine started getting cortisone shots and knee replacements and I said, the commonality here is we're all runners, so let me stop running. And so cycling came along at just the right time. But I find that when I'm out riding along the beach or riding up into the mountains, that my mind lets go and my spirit opens.
Because my, my spirit doesn't open when my mouth is open or when my mind is running. So when my mind stops running and I close my mouth, my spirit opens. And when I'm cycling, that happens, I get clarity. It's, it's similar to that feeling when I've been, you know, walking a labyrinth and you have that aha and that release of Oh, I got it. You know, and it's just this euphoric thing. When I'm riding alone, it happens also when I'm riding with a group, you'll hear something that just clicks and it's like, that's a God moment, that's a god statement right there. That along with my daily practice devotional practice, of reading and and prayer, I, I need all three of those <laugh> in order to be whole. So I sneak in my cycling where I can. With this new schedule, I'm having to figure it out in a different way than, than I did, than I did before in the different terrain with different weather. But it's still, you know, that space where my spirit just opens, , in a way that it doesn't in other spaces.
Crystal: Well, that sure is a, that is an affirmation or a, a plug maybe for cycling. That's sounds so inspiring for sure. Bishop Cedrick, thank you for being a guest on "Get Your Spirit in Shape" today. It's been a delight to have this conversation. Thank you for serving The United Methodist Church in the way that you are. You are a blessing to the whole denomination and I'm just really glad that we got to talk for a few minutes today.
Bishop Cedrick: Yeah, thank you Crystal. And, , likewise. I could talk to you all day, so whenever you want to chat again, let me know. , <laugh>, I enjoyed this.
Crystal: Thank you. It was a lot of fun. Thank you. All right, have a great day.
Bishop Cedrick: Thank you.
Epilogue
That was Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth sharing about his faith journey that took him from a small Alabama church to serving United Methodist for 25 years in Los Angeles and now being appointed as resident bishop of the Greater Northwest Episcopal area in the Western jurisdiction. To learn more about Bishop Cedrick, go to umc.org/podcast and look for this episode where you will find helpful links and a transcript of our conversation. If you have questions or comments, feel free to email me at a special email address just for “Get Your Spirit in Shape” listeners, gysis@umcom.org.If you enjoyed today’s episode, we invite you to leave a review on the podcast platform where you listen.
Thank you so much for joining us for “Get Your Spirit in Shape.” I’m Crystal Caviness and I look forward to the next time that we are together.
Today's "Get Your Spirit in Shape" episode was sponsored by a new resource from the Upper Room and Discipleship Ministries titled "Safer Sanctuaries: Nurturing Trust within Faith Communities." This comprehensive resource continues the tradition of Safe Sanctuaries ministry by building on its trusted policies and procedues. This resource contains theological grounding for the work of abuse prevention, basic guidelines for risk reduction, age-level specific guidance and step-by-step instructions on how to develop, revise, update and implement an abuse prevention plan. To learn more, go to SaferSanctuaries.org or call 800-972-0433.
