The Rt. Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells was ordained and consecrated as the eleventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi on July 20, 2024 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Ridgeland. She was seated in St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Jackson, on July 21, 2024.
Bishop Wells was elected on February 3, 2024 at the 197th Annual Council of the Diocese, and succeeds the Rt. Rev. Brian R. Seage, tenth bishop, who served from 2014 until his passing of the crozier to Bishop Wells.
Bishop Wells, who was ordained to the transitional diaconate and priesthood in the Diocese of West Tennessee, served as rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church, Germantown, Tennessee, from 2013 until arriving in the Diocese of Mississippi in May, 2024.
A native of Mobile, Alabama, Bishop Wells completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Rhodes College, and her Juris Doctor degree from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. She practiced employee benefits law for 18 years, at FedEx Corporation, and at Waring Cox, PLLC, before she left the practice of law to follow God's call to ordained ministry. She received her M.Div. from Memphis Theological Seminary, and her D.Min. from Candler School of Theology, Emory University.
Bishop Wells has been committed to the work of community dialogue, racial healing, and justice and equity for all of God's people. She is an award-winning freelance essayist, and many of her works can be found at muckrack.com/dorothy-wells
Bishop Wells and her husband, Herb, have two daughters.
Bishop Sharma D. Lewis Logan was born and raised in Statesboro, Georgia in a loving Methodist family. Before coming to Mississippi, she served as bishop for six years in the Richmond area of the Virginia Annual Conference. In 2016, she was the first African American woman to be elected bishop in the Southeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church.
Prior to her election, she held a distinguished record of service in the North Georgia Conference serving as a district superintendent of the Atlanta-Decatur-Oxford District. Before becoming a district superintendent, she served as senior pastor at both Wesley Chapel and Powers Ferry United Methodist Churches and as senior associate pastor of Ben Hill United Methodist Church. Her ministry at Wesley Chapel culminated as she received the Harry Denman Award for Evangelism in 2010 as well as the G. Ross Freeman Leadership Award.
Offering her gifts to The United Methodist Church in a variety of ways, Lewis Logan is currently ex-officio on the boards of Rust College and Millsaps College, and is a key member of organizations supporting women and African Americans in ministry. She is the liaison to the Interagency Sexual Ethics Task Force (IASETF), a taskforce of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women. Lewis Logan formally served as vice chair and personnel chair of the board at Gammon Theological Seminary. She currently serves as board chair of trustees for Gammon and as a trustee of the Interdenominational Theological Center. Additionally, Lewis Logan is on the executive committee and is the finance chair for the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church.
Lewis Logan received the Pastor/Preacher Scholar Award in 2019 which was presented by the Wesleyan Theological Society and the Scouting Silver Torch Award. She is the recipient of the 2014 Gammon Theological Seminary Distinguished Alumna and Trailblazer Award given by The National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inc., Metropolitan Atlanta Chapter. Lewis Logan is a member of the Jackson Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and has received the Delta Sigma Theta Pinnacle and Torch Award.
She is the author of “Journey to Transformation” and “Struggle to the Cross”—both Lenten studies—and “Advent in Four Words: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love,” an Advent study by four United Methodist bishops.
Lewis Logan is a graduate of Mercer University, the University of West Georgia and Gammon Theological Seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center.
Bishop Lewis Logan is married to Rev. Dr. Lewis E. Logan II.
Eric R. Schmidt holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University and M.A. from Duke University, both in political science. He has taught at Millsaps College since fall 2023, as an Assistant Professor of Government and Politics. Dr. Schmidt's research involves the overlap in American politics between partisanship, ideology, and social group attachments; most recently, he co-authored (with Ted Carmines and Paul Sniderman) The Political Dynamics of Partisan Polarization (Cambridge University Press, 2025). At Millsaps, Dr. Schmidt teaches courses on American government, political philosophy, constitutional law, and campaigns and elections; serves as faculty supervisor to the College's Pre-Law Society and Legislative Fellows Program; and co-coordinates the Millsaps Civil Discourse Project. Inside and outside the classroom, he encourages students to dialogue across political difference — and to develop their voices as critical, creative democratic participants.
Lester Ruth is a historian of Christian worship with particular interests in the early church and the last 250 years, especially the history of contemporary praise and worship. He is passionate about enriching the worship life of current congregations, regardless of style. He believes that careful reflection on the worship of other Christians—whether past or present, whether Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox—can serve to enrich the church today.
Dr. Ruth is a member of the North American Academy of Liturgy and the Society for Pentecostal Studies. He is also the former president of the Charles Wesley Society. Able to range across the entire breadth of Christian liturgical history, his most recent studies have been on the band-based worship known as contemporary praise and worship. Along this line, he has recently co-authored with Dr. Lim Swee Hong A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship and Lovin’ On Jesus: A Concise History of Contemporary Worship. He has also edited both popular (Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship) and academic studies (Essays on the History of Contemporary Praise and Worship) on this worship phenomenon, each of these volumes featuring essays by Duke doctoral students. Dr. Ruth’s works exist in Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, and (soon) Ukranian translations.
Joey Shelton is a United Methodist pastor whose membership is with the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church. After graduation from Millsaps College, Shelton received his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law. After 10 years in general law practice, Joey attended Duke University Divinity School where he received his Master of Divinity Degree. He returned to Mississippi where he served the Mississippi United Methodist Conference in rural and inner-city congregations.
During Joey's tenure at Court St. UMC in Hattiesburg, MS, the church was selected as one of 10 churches across the United States to serve as a "Teaching Congregation" for a Lilly funded initiative at Duke Divinity School. At Court Street UMC, Duke Divinity students served as summer interns where they experienced ministry opportunities with mentally challenged children and adults, at-risk children and youth, and persons across the spectrum of racial and socio-economic backgrounds.
Shelton received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary with an emphasis on Generative Ministry. He eventually returned to Duke Divinity School as Director of Field Education. While in that capacity, Joey expanded field opportunities to Central America where students participate in language school (Guatemala) and ministry (El Salvador) among thriving Salvadoran Methodist communities who mirror those of early Methodists in their emphasis of piety converging with acts of mercy.
Shelton returned to Mississippi as Senior Pastor of historic Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church in Jackson, MS. While at Galloway, Shelton pursued his passion for generative ministry where, as part of a multi-million dollar capital project, Galloway procured the Mississippi United Methodist Headquarters building adjacent to the main Galloway structure. Remodeled as "The Foundery” the building was named for John Wesley’s first preaching house in London, a hub for various ministries with impoverished Londoners. The ministries of Galloway’s Grace Place ministry thrive in its mirroring of the original ministries of Methodism at the Foundery. (See https://www.gallowayumc.org/grace-place)
After a decade of service at Galloway UMC, Shelton was appointed Chaplain, Director of Church Relations, and as a professor at Millsaps College. Upon completion of the renovation of the Millsaps College Christian Center and construction of the Yates Interfaith Chapel, Shelton was named Dean of the Chapel and Director of the Center for Ministry.
While at Millsaps, Shelton taught courses entitled Wesleyan Theology and History, Race and American Christianity through a Wesleyan Lens, Liberation Theology as Methodist Expression, and Christian Nationalism Through a Wesleyan Lens.
After his spouse, Connie, was elected to the episcopacy and appointed as the Bishop of the North Carolina United Methodist Conference, Joey completed his duties at Millsaps College and relocated to North Carolina where he continues to teach and facilitate conversations regarding issues of race and Christian nationalism.