In the presence of Almighty God, in the borrowed sanctuary of First United Methodist Church, 1411 Broadway Ave., and turned out in their Sunday best on a Saturday, a near-capacity crowd of Episcopal clergy and laity welcomed the Rev. James Scott Mayer as the new Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas late Saturday morning.
Mayer is a 1992 graduate of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, and a 1977 graduate of Texas Tech.
On Nov. 22, 2008, he was elected by a constitutional majority of electors inside the sanctuary of St. Paul’s-on-the-Plains Episcopal Church, 1510 Ave. X.
The first ballot earned him 34 of the 47 clergy votes, but only 65 of the 141 votes cast by the lay electorate – six shy of the necessary majority. The results of the second ballot weren’t even close: 38 votes from the clergy order, and 90 from the lay.