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Four Episcopal bishops elected on same day, including in one diocese for the first time

October 26, 2026

  [Episcopal News Service] Four Episcopal dioceses – Great Lakes, Kansas, New Hampshire and Tennessee – held bishop elections on Oct. 24 during their diocesan conventions. These four dioceses are among the 19 currently undergoing leadership transitions. The Grand Rapids-based Diocese of the Great Lakes, which formed in 2024 following the juncture of the dioceses of Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan, elected the Rev. Zachary “Zack” Nyein as its first bishop diocesan on the second ballot. Nyein, who serves as senior associate rector and pastor of Imagine Worship at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York, New York, is scheduled to be ordained and consecrated on May 8, 2027. “It is a rare and unique privilege to serve as the first bishop of a new diocese, and I am extraordinarily honored to accept the call,” Nyein said in the diocese’s election announcement. “The Holy Spirit is at work in the Great Lakes, and I look forward to our years of ministry together.” As bishop of the Diocese of the Great Lakes, Nyein will lead 98 congregations, including four seasonal chapels, across 58 counties in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Bishop Anne Hodges-Copple has been serving the diocese as an assisting bishop since 2025. The Rev. Whitney Rice, the Diocese of Missouri’s canon to the ordinary, was elected the 11th bishop of the Diocese of Kansas on the first ballot. Her ordination and consecration are scheduled for April 17, 2027, at Grace Episcopal Cathedral in Topeka. The diocese’s former bishop, the Rt. Rev. Cathleen Bascom, resigned on Jan. 31 to serve as a consultant to The Episcopal Church to help create eco-region networks in the United States and Province IX. On the second ballot, the Concord-based Diocese of New Hampshire elected the Rev. Ed Cardoza to be its 11th bishop, succeeding Bishop Robert Hirschfeld. Cardoza’s ordination and consecration are scheduled for March 6, 2027, at Rollins Chapel in Hanover.  Cardoza, who currently serves as priest-in-charge of Grace Episcopal Church in Manchester, New Hampshire, will lead some 10,000 Episcopalians in 46 congregations and eight seasonal chapels statewide.  “To be called to this ministry is a sacred privilege that I accept with a humbled heart, deeply aware of both the immense responsibility and the extraordinary work that lies ahead,” he said in the diocese’s bishop election announcement. “I look forward to ministering across our diocese, united in one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” The Rev. Colin Moore Ambrose, vice rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tennessee, was elected the 12th bishop of the Diocese of Tennessee on the third ballot. Upon his ordination and consecration, which are scheduled for April 10, he will succeed the current Tennessee Bishop John C. Bauerschmidt, who has led the diocese since 2007. “I look forward to sharing this life with all of you, being with you in your congregations, worshiping with you, praying with you, serving with you and discerning together what God is making possible among us,” Ambrose said in the diocese’s bishop election announcement. Last month, the Diocese of Florida elected the Rev. J. Randolph Alexander Jr. as its ninth bishop, nearly three years after its previous bishop, the Rt. Rev. John Howard, retired. In August, the dioceses of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Lexington also held bishop elections. -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.