L. Jonathan Holston

Resident Bishop, Alabama Panhandle Episcopal Area
North Alabama and Alabama-West Florida Conferences of The UMC
Birmingham, Alabama

Bishop L. Jonathan Holston became resident bishop of the North Alabama and Alabama-West Florida Conferences on September 1, 2024. His assignment is to the Alabama Panhandle Episcopal area, which includes these two conferences. Prior to his assignment, he faithfully served the South Carolina Annual Conference from 2012 to 2024. The most favored episcopacy candidate in the elections at the 2012 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference, he was overwhelmingly elected on the first ballot.

Bishop Holston earned his master of divinity in biblical studies from the Interdenominational Theological Center at Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta in 1983. He also holds a bachelor of arts in religion from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.

Before his assignment in South Carolina, Bishop Holston served as senior pastor of St. James United Methodist Church in Atlanta for seven years before his episcopal election. Prior to that, he served as superintendent of the Atlanta-Decatur-Oxford District from 1997 to 2005.

Bishop Holston possesses extraordinary knowledge gained by his presence throughout the years on numerous boards and committees of The United Methodist Church at the conference and general church level. He has served as chairperson of the General Council on Finance and Administrative Legislative Committee and as a member of the General Council on Finance and Administration, the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, the Southeastern Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy, the Hinton Rural Life Center, the Appalachian Development Committee, and the Southeastern Jurisdictional Association for Native American Ministries, among other noted roles.

Bishop Holston's love for missions has taken him around the world and gained him recognition as a mission specialist in the North Georgia Conference Council of Ministries. In his work as conference disaster relief coordinator, Bishop Holston served as a member of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, a member of the Catastrophic Disaster Response Team, and a disaster consultant for Church World Service in Georgia.

He has traveled extensively as a specialist in missions to Uganda, Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, Zimbabwe, Kenya, India, China, and Hong Kong.

Bishop Holston was a delegate to General Conference in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012. He served as a delegate to Jurisdictional Conference in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012. In 2001 and 2005, he was a delegate to the World Methodist Conference. Previous appointments include associate director of the North Georgia Conference Council on Ministries (1992-97), senior pastor of Clifton United Methodist Church (1986-92), and senior pastor of Marietta Street United Methodist Church (1983-86).

Bishop Holston is married to the former Felecia Brown and they have two adult children, Karlton and Brittany.

He was elected trustee in 2020.