LAKELAND — The United Methodist Council of Bishops named Bishop J. Lloyd Knox head of the Florida Annual Conference following the Dec. 7 death of Bishop Cornelius L. Henderson.

Knox, 71, will lead the conference until a permanent bishop is chosen to serve the remainder of Henderson’s term, which ends in August 2004. The decision was made Dec. 8, according to the Rev. Dr. Keith Ewing, administrative assistant to the Florida Conference bishop.

Henderson, 66, died Dec. 7 in a hospice center in Atlanta after a two-year battle with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells. He was appointed bishop of the Florida Conference in September 1996.

The Southeastern Jurisdiction’s College of Bishops submitted Knox’s name for approval to the Council of Bishops, which comprises all active and retired United Methodist bishops. The jurisdiction’s college consists of all active and retired bishops in the Southeast region.

Ewing said he is very positive about the decision. "Bishop Knox knows the conference well. He has been through the appointment process, and he is well known throughout the church," Ewing said. "Those in leadership positions feel very good because of the stability Knox brings."

Knox served as interim bishop of the conference for six months beginning in March 1999 while Henderson was on disability leave receiving treatment for the cancer.

A member of the Florida Conference throughout his ministry, Knox served as pastor of churches in Tampa, West Palm Beach and St. Petersburg and as district superintendent of the DeLand District in 1977 and Miami District in 1980. Knox also served as a missionary to Cuba and Argentina and as coordinator of the conference’s Methodist Spanish Ministry in 1965.

Knox was elected a bishop in 1984 and appointed to the Birmingham Area from 1984 to 1992 and the Atlanta Area from 1992 to his retirement in 1996.

Currently, Knox is serving as chairman of a Florida Conference task force to coordinate cooperative ministries with the Cuba Methodist Conference through the Cuba Florida Covenant, which was approved by representatives of both conferences in 1997.

Knox said he is willing to serve as bishop in the short term. "My hope is that by the first of April this is resolved and a new bishop could move to Florida," Knox said. "For Florida’s sake, we need a full-time, active bishop."

This is not the first time United Methodists in Florida have experienced the death of their appointed bishop, according to Knox. Bishop John W. Branscomb died in 1959 at age 53 while serving as bishop of what was then the Jacksonville area, comprising the Florida and Cuba Methodist conferences. Bishop Arthur J. Moore was assigned to lead the Florida Conference, and Bishop Roy H. Short was assigned as bishop of the Cuba Conference.