LAKELAND — Tampa District Superintendent David Brazelton may soon carry the title of bishop. He was named the conference’s nominee for the episcopacy Feb. 5 by the Florida Conference’s General and Jurisdictional Conference delegates.

Brazelton will go before members of the conference for their approval at the Dare to Share Jesus 2000 Florida Annual Conference Event May 30-June 2. Bishops for the Southeastern Jurisdiction will be elected in July at the region’s jurisdictional conference.

Brazelton said the nomination "really shocked" him because the delegation had not decided whether to have a second nominee after the Rev. Dick Wills declined the nomination last December.

"I never dreamt I’d get that honor," he said, adding he was in a no-lose situation. "If I go and become bishop, what an honor. But if not, I get to go back to Tampa…and in another year back to a local church in answer of God’s highest calling."

Brazelton said he wants to bring vision and focus to the United Methodist Church. "The church is dysfunctional," he said. "The United Methodist Church is going off in so many directions, but it has no focus."

The church should center itself on God and focus on the tasks of making disciples for Jesus Christ and dealing with social issues, like racism, he said. That can be accomplished by making the local church a more caring place.