New United Methodist bishop elected for Kansas, Nebraska

The Great Plains Conference of the United Methodist Church – which includes Kansas – has a new bishop.

Ruben Saenz Jr. was elected bishop of the Great Plains Conference on Thursday, during the South Central Jurisdictional Conference at the Hyatt Regency Wichita.

Saenz was consecrated as bishop of the conference, which includes Kansas and Nebraska, at a ceremony early Saturday at First United Methodist Church in downtown Wichita.

He succeeds Bishop Scott Jones, who had been bishop in Kansas since 2004.

According to the church, bishops have a traditional term limit of 12 years.

At the conference this week, Jones was elected bishop of the Texas Annual Conference, which is based primarily in Houston.

This is the first time Saenz has been elected a bishop. He had previously served as an official in the Rio Texas Conference, based in San Antonio.

He holds a doctor of ministry degree from Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology.

Saenz, who is Hispanic, spoke at a news conference following the announcement of his election, a news release said. He said he did not set out to be an episcopal leader, but was encouraged by others to be open to the possibility.

“I think of it as drops in a sponge,” he said, according to the release. “The first 100 drops are insignificant but after a while, it gets heavy and saturated. It was the affirmation of many people I’ve been associated with over the years. It has been a long season of discernment.”

This story was originally published July 16, 2016 at 8:54 PM with the headline "New United Methodist bishop elected for Kansas, Nebraska."