Bishop William T. (Bill) McAlilly was elected a bishop in the United Methodist Church during the quadrennial Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church in Western North Carolina in July, 2012.
His first assignment, effective Sept. 1, 2012, is to the Nashville Episcopal Area which includes the Memphis and Tennessee Conferences.
Bishop McAlilly’s ministerial career began in 1978 as a youth minister in Gainesville, Ga. He went on to serve United Methodist Churches in New Albany, Miss.; Lambert, Miss.; Southaven, Miss.; Philadelphia, Miss.; Madison, Miss.; and Tupelo, Miss.
As pastor of Tupelo First United Methodist Church from 2000 to 2006, he led the congregation in an expansion of its outreach ministry and a building program that included a 36,000-square-foot addition for ministry.
In 2006, McAlilly was appointed superintendent of the coastal Seashore District of the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church. Under his leadership in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many homes and churches were rebuilt and restored, and the District created a space and services for displaced persons.
Working closely with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the humanitarian aid and disaster response organization of the United Methodist Church, McAlilly was involved in improving hurricane preparedness through the construction of buildings to store relief supplies and house volunteers. Also while serving the Seashore District, McAlilly helped form a partnership with the Methodist Church of Nicaragua.
Throughout his career, McAlilly has served on many committees, boards and initiatives at all levels of the United Methodist Church. He is a contributor to the book, Staying at the Table: The Gift of Unity for United Methodists (2008), edited by United Methodist Bishop Scott Jameson Jones. Born in Tupelo, MS, McAlilly is a 1978 graduate of Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., where he received the Pendergrass Medal for Preaching. He earned his Master of Divinity degree in 1981 from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.
McAlilly and his wife, Lynn, have two married children and one grandson.
Visit Bishop McAlilly’s blog at bishopbillmcalilly.com.