NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)—Following a year-long celebration of its centennial anniversary, the agency responsible for men’s ministry elected Bishop James King as president of the 25-member board.

Meeting August 21-24 in the agency’s Nashville offices, the General Commission on United Methodist Men asked King to lead the agency for the next four years.

After his election, King said the commission should focus its attention on nurturing boys. “We keep expecting fruit from men, but we have neglected the roots of boys,” said King. He told the commission that the most teachable time in a person’s life is four years of age and the fourth grade. “We are giving the church a gift of nurturing men, beginning with boys.”

The commission is responsible for United Methodist relations with Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, Camp Fire USA and 4-H. The agency also entered into a partnership with Big Brothers/Big Sisters to encourage men to mentor children of incarcerated adults.

At the same time, King assumes office with United Methodist Men, he will be moving from Kentucky to Georgia. After presiding over the Kentucky Annual Conference for the past eight years, he begins a new assignment with the South Georgia Annual Conference on September 1.

King, 61, is returning to the state where he received his undergraduate and graduate education. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Clark College in Atlanta and a Master of Divinity degree from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. He was ordained a deacon in the Central Alabama Conference in 1970 and an elder in 1972. He served churches in Alabama and California before moving to Nashville where he served as pastor, council director and district superintendent. He was serving as pastor of the 5,000-member Brentwood (Tenn.) United Methodist Church when he was elected bishop in 2000.

He is married to Margaret Rosetta “Rose” Hayden, and they have three children: Jothany of Atlanta, James of Athens, Ga., and Robert Samuel of Brentwood, Tenn.