David Graves 90T

Resident Bishop, Alabama-West Florida and South Georgia Episcopal Areas
Southeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church
Montgomery, Alabama

David Graves is a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a bachelor of science in business administration.  He received his master of divinity from Emory’s Candler School of Theology. He is the recipient of the 2013 Holston Denman Evangelism Award.

Graves has been an ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church for more than 28 years. He began his ministry at the Fountain City United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. His first appointment was as youth director and associate pastor for Hixson United Methodist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He served as pastor for two Kingsport-area churches, Saint Matthew’s United Methodist Church and Mountain View United Methodist Church. He was senior pastor for the Ooltewah United Methodist Church, a large membership church.

Graves was appointed district superintendent for the Kingsport District of the Holston Conference, where he served for six years and was dean of the cabinet. He comes to the Alabama-West Florida Conference from Church Street United Methodist Church in Knoxville. He was appointed to the Alabama-West Florida Conference as resident bishop on July 14, 2016, at the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. He also currently serves as the bishop of the South Georgia Conference.

He and his wife, Nancy, have been married for 35 years. They have two children. Gregg, their son, lives and works in the Chattanooga area. Their daughter, Casey, is married to Bryan Johnson and resides in Kingsport with their son, Brooks, and daughter, Lucy.

He was elected trustee in 2020.