Bishop Ken Carter is a leader. As the current bishop of the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, he is guiding over 173,000 members through Hurricane Helene recovery. In addition to that, he serves as bishop-in-residence and a consulting faculty member at Duke Divinity School. He is also the former bishop of the Florida Conference, and served as the president of the Council of Bishops of the UMC from 2018-2020.
So, yes, Bishop Carter is a leader. But he leads with a spirit of openness, love, and concern for others. He values having supportive ecosystems of people to help each other, to be a point of connection during moments of pain and weakness and to offer that support back during times of strength. He leads with an eye toward adapting to the moment--not throwing out all traditions, but discerning what needs to be preserved, discarded, or simply rearranged to meet the current need.
Resources:
Listen to Bishop Carter’s previous episode on The Weight
Or listen to our conversations on leadership with Tod Bolsinger: Adaptive Leadership and Mistakes Good Leaders Make
Buy Bishop Carter’s books on Amazon, including Gardens in the Desert: How Adaptive Church Can Lead to a Whole New Life, co-authored with Michael Beck
Donate to Hurricane Helene relief through the United Methodist Committee on Relief