The Presiding Prelate of the First Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME) and former Lane College administrator and faculty member will serve as the keynote speaker for the Opening Convocation at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, August 17, 2022, in the Lane College gymnasium.
The Opening Convocation service marks the official beginning of the College’s new academic year. The speaker for this solemn occasion will be Bishop Marvin Frank Thomas Sr., who was recently assigned as the presiding bishop of the First Episcopal District which includes Arkansas; East Tennessee; and West Tennessee regions. He also has served as the Vice President for Student Affairs and a member of the Religion faculty at Lane.
Bishop Thomas, a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has served as pastor in the CME Church and presiding elder in the states of Illinois, Alabama and Tennessee. Prior to his appointment to the First Episcopal District, Bishop Thomas served as the presiding bishop of the Second Episcopal District of the CME Church which includes the Kentucky and Ohio Central Indiana Regions.
Bishop Thomas earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History with a minor in Sociology from Stillman College; Master of Divinity from The Phillips School of Theology at the ITC and Doctor of Ministry from United Theological Seminary.
Bishop Thomas serves as chair of the denomination’s Department of Lay Ministry and was recently elected chair of the Lane College Board of Trustees. He is the second of six children born to Mrs. Minnie Thomas Brown. He has two children, Kourtney Lea Thomas and Marvin Frank Thomas Jr.; and a grandson, Kameron.
The public is invited to attend the Convocation service and asked to be seated no later than 10:15 a.m.