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.
- Seeing differently (8/5/2019) - Bishop David Bard asks God to give everyone new eyes; eyes for seeing beyond racism to respond to parents and their children at the U.S.-Mexico border in a new light ... The wedding service had ended. Pictures had been taken, including a few along the shores of Lake Superior on a beautiful day. Our daughter Sarah was married, and we were going to continue to celebrate with dinner and dancing. Sarah asked both her older brother and older sister to say a few words as part of the evening’s toasts. Those moments will be etched in my memory forever, filled… ...Read More
- Life flows on (7/2/2019) - In this month's, Joyful Journey blog, Bishop David Bard suggests that the "ordinary time" of summer is an opportunity to remember that life and ministry go on ... On June 6, United Methodist theologian, Schubert Ogden died. He was 91. Ogden taught for many years at Southern Methodist University (SMU) where he was also a long-time director of the Graduate Program in Religious Studies. I first “met” Schubert Ogden when I was inquiring about doctoral programs while serving my first pastoral appointment in the far reaches of northern Minnesota. He responded clearly and graciously to my inquiry, telling me that… ...Read More
- Unfinished business of AC 2019 (6/4/2019) - Home from Annual Conference, Bishop David Bard actions taken at the 2019 session and reflects on what is yet unfinished as United Methodists move forward toward the 2020 General Conference ... Coming from the 2019 Annual Conference session for the first ever Michigan Conference of The United Methodist Church, I recall words I read a number of years ago in a small magazine called The Sun. The editor was interviewing a psychologist named Francis Weller, someone I had never heard of before. In the interview, Weller offered these words: “The work of the mature person is to carry grief in… ...Read More