California Nevada Conference

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Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr.
Resident Bishop, San Francisco Area

Bishop Brown is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. He was baptized, as a child, at Ames Memorial United Methodist Church in Baltimore. At the age of thirteen he felt a call to serve the church. At first he did not see himself serving as a pastor but he began preaching as a youth, and was encouraged to continue doing so.

He graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in Sociology in 1969 and from Wesley Seminary in 1974. He was planning to serve the church as a layperson, but while serving as a Wesley student intern, the call to ordained ministry became clear.

As a pastor the Bishop has served local churches, and administrative roles, in both the Western Pennsylvania and California-Nevada Annual Conferences. In the California-
Nevada Annual Conference, he was Conference Council Director from 1980-1983, Golden Gate District Superintendent from 1983-1987, senior pastor at Taylor Memorial UMC, Oakland (1987-1998) and senior pastor First UMC, Bakersfield (1998-2000).
Bishop Brown was elected and consecrated a bishop in July 2000.

He served as bishop of the Denver Area from September 2000 – August 2008. That area includes the states of Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.

Serving as resident bishop for California-Nevada Annual Conference since September 2008, he leads the over three hundred and fifty United Methodist Congregations and
Ministries in the Northern two-thirds of California and Northern Nevada. The Bishop also has General Church responsibilities, including a director on General Board of Global Ministries and President of United Methodist Development.

 

District Superintendent Jerry Smith
Great Northern District

Our District Superintendent Jerry Smith is a native of our Great Northern District, born and raised in rural Nevada.

He came to ministry as second career after serving in the military as an officer and self-employed for several years. As he became more involved in the life of the local church, he eventually answered God’s call to ordained ministry and entered Pacific School of Religion in 1983.

After graduation in 1986, he was appointed to St. Paul’s UMC in South San Francisco. His first superintendent, Warner Brown, placed him in that appointment. After three years, he was called to Windsor, CA. for ten years where the church completed a $2.3 million building program. His next appointment was Nevada City UMC for seven years before his appointment as the Nevada Sierra District Superintendent in 2006. In September 2010, he assumed the Superintendency of the newly created Great Northern District.

Jerry’s spouse, Barbara, is also an ordained Elder in the UMC and is serving as pastor of Pioneer UMC in Auburn, CA. They are the parents of four children (One daughter and three sons), four granddaughters and one great-granddaughter. Their home is in Nevada City, CA., a home they share with two dogs and two cats.