From the Diocesan Home page:
“On the second ballot of today’s electing convention, the Rev. Rayford Ray was elected as the eleventh bishop of the Diocese of Northern Michigan.
Results:Delegates: 88 present, 59 required to elect. Metz: 6, Ray: 59, Tharakan: 23
Congregations: 25 present, 13 required to elect. Metz: 1, Ray: 16, Tharakan: 6″
Bishop-elect Ray’s biography is posted on the diocesan here. (That link appears broken at the moment, but here’s the google cache of the page.)
The news release from the Diocese follows:
Rayford Ray Elected Eleventh Bishop of Northern Michigan
ESCANABA, Michigan, December 4, 2010–The Rev. Rayford Ray, a member of the Episcopal Ministry Support Team in the Diocese of Northern Michigan, has been elected as the diocese’s 11th bishop.
Ray, 54, a four-time deputy to General Convention who serves several parishes in the south central region of the diocese, was elected on the second ballot from a slate of three nominees at a convention held at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Escanaba.
“We are a life giving people here in this diocese,” said Ray, who visited the convention after his election. “It is an exciting time as we will partner together as we look at the possibilities that stand before us. We have much to do, but we will do it together as we proclaim the Gospel as we know in in Jesus Christ.”
During more than 20 years in the diocese, Ray has worked as a ministry development coordinator and collaborated with parishes across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He was recently an adjunct instructor at Episcopal Divinity School. An alumnus of Nashota House, he lives in Rapid River, Michigan with his wife, Suzanne Ray. They have three grown children and four grandchildren.
The other nominees were Rev. Dr. Susanna E. Metz, executive director of the Center for Ministry in Small Churches at the University of the South, Sewanee, TN and the Rev. Jos Tharakan, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Russellville, AR. Another nominee, the Rev. Nigel Taber-Hamilton, rector of St. Augustine’s-in-the-Woods Episcopal in Freeland, WA, withdrew his name from consideration after the walkabouts held November 5-7.
Northern Michigan has been without a diocesan bishop since the Rt. Rev. Jim Kelsey died in a car accident in June 2007. In February 2009, the diocese elected the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester as bishop, but he did not receive the consent of the wider church. Bishop Tom Ray (no relation to the bishop-elect) serves as assisting bishop. The canonical authority in the diocese since Bishop Kelsey’s death has been the Standing Committee.
“My prayer is that this election will mark the beginning of renewed life here,” said the Rt. Rev. Bruce Caldwell, retired bishop of Wyoming, who served as consultant to the ten-member search committee and preached at the electing convention. “That you will leave the troubles of the past and that you will face the challenges of the future head on, head up and alive in the spirit.”
The diocese, founded in 1895, encompasses 27 congregations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Its ten-member search committee included representatives elected from each of the diocese’s four regions, the Diocesan Council, the Standing Committee and the Rev. Charlie Piper, a priest of the diocese.
The diocese, founded in 1895, encompasses 27 congregations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Under the canons (III.11.4) of the Episcopal Church, a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to the bishop-elect’s ordination as bishop within 120 days of receiving notice of the election.