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.
[expand title="Read More" swaptitle="Read Less"]Within the General Church, Bard serves on the Study on Ministry Commission, the Committee on Faith and Order, and the North Central Jurisdiction Committee on Episcopacy. He has also previously served on the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the Commission on General Conference, and the Commission on Theological Education.
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.
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- Pastors, prophets, politics, & pandemics (6/1/2020) - In this month's Joyful Journey blog, Bishop David Bard, with heart broken open, talks about the appropriate place of politics in our decision making about coronavirus and actions against racism ... I am going to begin by asking for your patience. It is often best to focus on a single topic in this space, but I need to speak with you about a few matters. Thank you for your time. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, when we have all needed to find new ways to work and worship and interact, I have offered encouraging words to our pastors… ...Read More
- Hard travelin’ (5/4/2020) - Reflecting on Paul and Woodie Guthrie, Bishop David Bard talks about some things we are learning during this hard time of global pandemic ... “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.” (II Corinthians 4:8-10) From these words, and other New Testament accounts of his life, we know that Paul experienced difficulties and challenges. I don’t think he ever lived with… ...Read More
- Fear, faith, and Easter (3/30/2020) - Coronavirus has impacted us all. Bishop David Bard explores the nature of fear and the human response to it. He concludes, "So, maybe Easter is about both fear and joy."... There was a moment a few days ago, a powerful moment when an overwhelming feeling flooded through me. I felt I was having a dream, a deeply unpleasant dream, about a contagious virus sweeping our country, creating a situation in which we needed to confine ourselves to our homes as much as possible. It was that moment in the dream when you know you are dreaming and are just about… ...Read More