Bishop David Alan Bard
Bishop David Alan Bard is the presiding bishop of the Michigan Area. Prior to arriving in Michigan in September 2016, Bishop Bard was serving at First United Methodist Church in Duluth, Minnesota since 2005. He was elected to the episcopacy on July 13, 2016 at the North Central Jurisdictional Conference held in Peoria, IL. He has been in ministry for more than 30 years and served in many roles within both the Minnesota Annual Conference and the General Church.
Bard was a General and Jurisdictional Conference delegate in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012. He was an episcopal nominee in both 2004 and 2008.
Within the Minnesota Conference, Bard was chair of the Episcopacy Committee and the Higher Education Ministry Team, and he served on the Board of Ordained Ministry and the Congregational Response Team. He was also the conference parliamentarian. He was a district superintendent from 1998 to 2005 and spent three years on the Commission on Religion and Race.
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Bishop Bard received a BA from the University of Minnesota, Duluth in 1981; his Master of Divinity was earned at United Theological Seminary, Twin Cities 1984; and in 1994 he received a Ph.D. from Southern Methodist University with a focus on Christian ethics
Bard has a wife, Julie, and three adult children. In his free time, he enjoys music, reading, baseball, and walking outside.
- Getting ready for Annual Conference (4/29/2019) - In the May edition of his blog, A Joyful Journey, Bishop David Bard remembers his first ever Annual Conference in 1983 and reflects on the upcoming 2019 Michigan Annual Conference ... It was 1983, and I was headed for my first ever United Methodist Annual Conference (this one in Minnesota). I was a seminary student at the time and was scheduled to meet with my District Committee on Ordained Ministry just before the Annual Conference session so that I could be certified as a candidate. I was hoping for that status as I was going to graduate from seminary… ...Read More
- Hope caked with mud (4/1/2019) - Bishop David Bard anticipates Easter blessings and talks about grief and hope in this month's edition of A Joyful Journey ... But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. I Thessalonians 4:13 First Thessalonians is considered to be the earliest Christian text that we have in our New Testament. Even though it is an early Christian text, already some who have been part of the community of followers of Jesus have died. There is grief and sadness. Those… ...Read More
- A journey in ashes (3/5/2019) - "I invite you, on the heels of General Conference, to observe a holy Lent," says Michigan Bishop David Bard. His counsel, "slow down and dig deep" in this uncertain time ... If you are taking time to read this, you may be expecting another word about the recently completed special session of the General Conference of The United Methodist Church. Though General Conference will certainly not be absent from this essay, it will serve more as background than foreground. My previous letter containing initial reflections on General Conference has been shared, and thank you for sharing it with others. I… ...Read More