El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-05-05
The Southern Methodists
CHURCH ENJOYING RAPID GROWTH;
HAS LARGEST REPRESENTATION IN TEXAS

! control of the university. with all the
rights accorded to the church and bish-
ops under the university charter and
the findings of the Vanderbilt COM
mission"
Vanderbilt university, while acknoWi-
edging the control of the church. has
developed the nonsectarian idea in all
its branches, save the theological de-
partment In its capacity a non
UNCONVENTIONAL school il is proposed to
federate the university with a college
for teachers to be endowed by seVeraI
million dollars by the George Peabody
education fund. Those who wish to
preserve the strictly Methodist charac-
ter of the university are opposed to this
federation. The discussion on this
question promises to be very acrimoni-
Gus. Vanderbilt university has thou
sand students. 125 instructors and an
endowment of approximately $2.O0O.OO0-
1t is one of the largest educational IN
situations in the entire south
Women Want Privileges
Another question which will create
great interest will come up on the pc
tition of the women of the church for
the extension Of the full rights accord
ed TO laymen- The women's question,
the Vanderbilt dispute and the proposal
Official name of the church will be the
three live issues of the conference No
important theological or doctrinal dis
cussions are anticipated
Under the Methodist policy the bish-
OPS have almost complete control or
the affairs of the church. and the cleo
ton OF new bishops always is an inter
esting and important part Of the duties
of a general conference There are now
only eight bishops in the church, and
one of them is superannuated- fhree
active bishops have died since the gen
.ral conference of 1906. which met in
Birmingham, Ala 1t is probable that
two of the present active bishops will
ask to be superannuated at this time
One is Bishop A W. Wilson. of Balti-
more. who is the dean of the college
Of bishops. and who has been in active
service ever since 1882. The other Is
bishop ]. s. Key, of Sherman, Texas.
who was elected in 1886 Bishop o. T.
Fitzgerald. of Nashville, Tenn, is now
in retirement
The other active bishops are e r.
Hendrix, of Kansas City, Mo-: W. A
Gambler, OF Atlanta. Ga; H. c. Morrison,
Of New Orleans, La: E E. Mess, OF
Monteagle. Tenn. and James Atkins OF
Waynesville. n. c.
It is probable that this conference
will elect six new bishops. possibly
eight The new bishops probably will
be chosen from among the following
eminent divines of the church: W. F.
Tirett Of Tennessee: Walter r. Lam
buth. of Tennessee. Collins Denny, OF
Virginia; J. c. Kilgore. of North Caro-
lima: W. E. Murrah, Of Mississippi; W.
F. McMurray Of Louisville, Ky; j. A
Canpon.Nof Virginia; H. H DuBose. OF
Mississippi; Gross Alexander, OF Ken
lucky: s. H wainwright, of ST. Louis;
John A. Rice OF New Orleans; r q.
WaterhouSe. of Tennessee: Frank N
Parker. of Louisiana: w c. Mccoy, OF
Alabama. and F. B. Chappell, OF Ten
neSSee-
Office by Majority Vote
The bishops are elected by q major
ity vote In the conference, ministerial
and Law delegates having equal voice
The episcopal election always is the
most exciting feature of the work OF a
general conference, and already the
whole of southern MethOdism is alive
with interest on account of the fact
that such an unusually large number OF
btsheDs is TO be chosen at the Asheville
conference
The Methodist Episcopal church,
south is fourth in point Of membership
among the individual Protestant bodies
of the United States. The Methodist
EniscopaI church is the largest, the
National Baptist convention (negro) is
second. the Southern Baptist convention
is third. Next following the Methodist
Episcopal church. south. is the Presoy-
terrain church in the United States OF
America
StrougeSt in Texas.
The Methodist Episcopal church.
south has 1.S5O.OOO members, of which
40 nercent are men and SO percent are
women. 1t has over 16,e90 church
buildings. valued at s40.000.oo0. upon
which there is . debt OF Sl,2SOOOO- IL
owns 5000 parsonages valued at $1,000
400. II IS strongest in the state OF
Texas. where it has a quarter OF mill
lion members Outside Of the south
il has its largest membership in Cali
fornia. where it has more than lV,VoO
members. The church has enjoyed
rand growth in the past two decades.
increasing its membership by more than
500. 600 since 1890. Many Methodlsts ex-
meet that this general conference VIII
mark the beginning of positive move
ment for an aggressive evangelical
campaign based on a return to the doc
trines and methods which characterized
the earlier periods Of the Wesleyan
movement