Robert T. Hoshibata

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Worship

The Sunday Service of the Methodists
Covenant Renewal Service
Camp meeting
- Tabernacle
Tent revival
Brush arbour revival
Lovefeast
Watchnight service

People

- John Wesley
- Charles Wesley
Richard Allen
Francis Asbury
Thomas Coke
John William Fletcher
William Law
William Williams Pantycelyn
Howell Harris
Albert Outler
James Varick
Countess of Huntingdon
Phoebe Palmer
Richard Watson
George Whitefield

Bishops
Theologians

Groups
Churches

Methodist Church of Great Britain
Free Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
World Methodist Council
Other Methodist denominations

Organization

Connexionalism
General Conference
Methodist Circuit
Pastoral charge
Cl* meeting
- Penitent band

Related groups

Holiness movement
Conservative holiness movement
Holiness Pentecostalism
Evangelicalism

Birth and family

Hoshibata was born 11 October 1951 in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Wahiawa, Hawaii. He married Greta Goo on 10 August 1974. They have three children: Courtney, Lauren and Blake.

Education

Hoshibata earned a B.A. degree in 1973 from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, graduating with high honors. He was a Crusade Scholar (1974–77) while pursuing his D.Min. degree from Claremont School of Theology, graduating in 1977. He also completed post-graduate study at the Pacific School of Religion (1979) and the Vancouver School of Theology (1984).

Ordained ministry

Hoshibata's first position was as the youth minister of the First Congregational Church of Portland, Connecticut (1970–71). He then served as a ministerial intern at Kahalu'u U.M.C., Parker U.M.C. and Palolo U.M.C. in Hawaii (1974–75). He was the Youth Minister of the North Gardena U.M.C. in Gardena, California, (1973–74, 1975–77), then appointed as senior pastor of the same congregation (1977–84). He served 1984-98 as senior pastor of Blaine Memorial U.M.C., Seattle, Washington. He was appointed superintendent of the Seattle District of the U.M.C., a position he held until elected to the episcopacy. Dr. Hoshibata also served as Co-superintendent of the Tacoma District. He served as the Dean of the Cabinet of the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference (2002–04).

Episcopal election and service

Bishop Hoshibata was the first of two Bishops elected in 2004 in the Western Jurisdictional Conference of the U.M. Church, meeting in San Jose, California. He was *igned to the Portland Episcopal Area (the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference), from 2004 through 2012. In 2012, he began his episcopal service to the Phoenix Area (Desert Southwest Conference.)

Advocacy

In early 2011, he endorsed a call by a group of retired bishops for ending the United Methodist Church’s ban on *sexual clergy:

… in the context where I am doing ministry, there are many persons that I know – gay and lesbian and transgender – who are good people, good Christians, who the church is neglecting or turning away from.

In December, 2012, Bishop Hoshibata visited over a dozen offices in the United States Senate and House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., in support of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and as part of the UMC's Imagine No Malaria campaign.

In May, 2013, Bishop Hoshibata was also signatory to a letter advocating immigration reform to Arizona's Senators.

Writings

— (1977). The Sermon on the Mount in Calligraphy: Calligraphy as a Tool in Church Ministry (Thesis). Claremont, CA: Claremont School of Theology. OCLC:10281734.

References

External links

"Meet Our Bishop". desertsouthwestconference.org. Phoenix, AZ: Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church. Archived from the original on 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2013-12-12.