Three days after Highland Park United Methodist Church's members voted to leave the denomination, the United Methodist bishop for North Texas has put a new senior pastor in charge of the church, setting up competing claims to its leadership heading into Sunday.
Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. of the Horizon Texas Conference said in a news release that Andy Lewis became senior pastor Thursday, Oct. 29, and that Matt Tuggle and Paul Rasmussen were reassigned "to other duties," People Newspapers reported. Saenz said on social media that Lewis, an ordained elder, had been working as his assistant.
The conference also said University Park United Methodist Church has agreed to temporarily host Highland Park members, beginning Sunday, Nov. 1.
"We will not walk away from you," Saenz wrote, adding that the conference's goal remains a United Methodist congregation at Hillcrest and Mockingbird that is connected to the wider church. "This is not the end of the story."
The council's response
The church council responded that the appointment "changes nothing" for the congregation. It said Tuggle, whom it calls its senior minister, will preach this Sunday at the church on Mockingbird and Hillcrest, and that it will keep standing behind Tuggle and Rasmussen, who it said never sought this conflict.
