News and Views

Bishop Ernest Lyght, retired, will be preaching the service of Ordination and Consecration on Thursday evening.

The son of the Rev. William and AttrueLyght was born in Salisbury, Maryland. Growing up in a Methodist parsonage, he lived in Princess Anne, Chester, Pennsylvania, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Wilmington, Delaware. He received a B.A. degree in history from Morgan State University and the M.Div. degree from Drew University. Princeton Theological Seminary awarded him the Th.M. degree and the DMin degree.

The Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference elected him to the episcopacy in 1996 and assigned him to the New York Area. In 2004, he was assigned to the West Virginia Area.

Lyght served as president of the United Methodist Men’s Commission during the 2000-2004 quadrennium, and as a member of the General Council on Finance and Administration. He was also secretary of the Council of Bishops.

Bishop Lyght is the author of “Have You Faith in Christ? A Bishop’s Insight into the Historic Questions Asked of Those Seeking Admission into Full Connection in The United Methodist Church.” The book looks at each of the 19 questions candidates are asked by the bishop prior to ordination.

The responses, he writes, are both public and personal: “The candidates’ responses are indicators of one’s personal relationship with God and the depth of commitment to God and the work of ministry in and through The United Methodist Church.”