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Reuben Yeakel (1827-1904) was an American Evangelical Association editor and bishop. His pastoral ministry began in 1853 in the East Pennsylvania Conference of the Evangelical Association. In 1855 he married Sarah Schubert. After Sarah's death he married Caroline Schloser Klein, widow of John Klein.

Yeakel was elected the first corresponding secretary of the missionary society in 1859. In 1863 he became an editor of Sunday school literature, including The Sunday School Messenger. Subsequently, he edited two general church periodicals: The Evangelical Messenger (1871) and (as assistant editor) Der Christliche Botschafter (1833). He supported holiness teachings and was a prominent member of the National Holiness Association, working with John Inskip and W. MacDonald. In 1870 he co-founded The Living Epistle, the first and only holiness magazine of his denomination. Yeakel became bishop in 1871, a position he held until 1879. He was principal of Union Biblical Institute (later named Evangelical Theological Seminary) from 1879 to 1883.

Yeakel published several important works: Jacob Albrecht und seine Mitarbeiter, 1879 and 1883 (English); The Church Discipline, Doctrine, and Confession of Faith, 1899; The Genius of the Evangelical Church, 1900; "Geschichte der Evangelischen Gemeinschaft, Vol. I, 1890 and 1894 (English), Vol. II, 1895 (English); and Bishop Joseph Long, 1897.

Hazen G. Werner (1895-1988), American bishop, was born on July 29, 1895, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Samuel E. and Emma E. (Graff) Werner. From Albion College he received the A.B. degree in 1920; from Drew Theological Seminary, B.D., 1923. On May 22, 1924, he married Catherine Stewart of New York City. They had two children. Hazen Werner was admitted on trial in the Michigan Conference in 1920, ordained deacon, 1922, and Elder in 1924. He was pastor of Westlawn Church, Detroit, 1924-1928; Cass Avenue Church, Detroit, 1928-1931; Court Street Church, Flint, Michigan, 1931-1934; Grace Church, Dayton, Ohio, 1934-1945. From 1945 to 1948 he taught practical theology at Drew Theological Seminary. Werner was elected bishop of The Methodist Church in 1948 by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference, and was appointed resident bishop of the Ohio Area. In 1951 he was a delegate to the Ecumenical Methodist Conference, Oxford, England, and in 1956 a speaker at the ninth World Methodist Conference. He was chairman of the National Methodist Family Life Conferences in Chicago, 1951; Cleveland, 1954; Chicago, 1958; and Chicago, 1962. In 1964 he was appointed chairman of the World Family Life Committee as well as chairman of the General Committee on The Advance. As a Bishop for the United Methodist Church, he served as a member of the Board of Education, the Board of Trustees, and the Commission on Promotion and Cultivation. He also served as a member of the Ewha University (Korea) Foundation from 1972 to 1982.

Paul Arthur Washburn (1911-1989) was an American bishop and former Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) minister, and executive secretary of the Commission on Church Union of the EUB Church. He was born in Aurora, Illinois, on March 31, 1911, the son of Eliot Arthur and Lena (Burhnsen) Washburn. He was a graduate of North Central College and of Evangelical Seminary. Ordained by the Illinois Conference of The Evangelical Church, he served as pastor of congregations in Eppards Point Township, Rockford, and Naperville, Illinois. He has served on the following General Boards and Agencies of the former EUB Church: The General Program Council, Council of Administration, Council of Executive Officers, and the Commission on Church Union, of which he was the executive secretary. Bishop Washburn was a delegate to every General Conference of his Church from 1946 to 1962. He was a member of his Church's Commission on Federation and Church Union beginning in 1958, and a representative of the denomination to the Consultation on Church Union. He was a trustee of North Central College and of Evangelical Theological Seminary. He also served as Guest Lecturer in Religion and Pastoral Theology at Rockford College, Rockford, Illinois; North Central College; and Evangelical Theological Seminary. In 1959, and again in 1960, he served as Lecturer in Homiletics at the Rural Leadership School of Michigan State University. He was married to Kathryn Fischer and was the father of two daughters and two sons. At the Uniting Conferenc of the Methodist and EUB Churches held in Dallas, Texas, in 1968, Dr. Washburn was elected a bishop on the first ballot in an election held at the last session of the General Conference of the EUB Church on Monday, April 22, 1968. He was solemnly set apart that same day for the duties of the episcopacy by the bishops of the EUB Church, with Bishop Roy H. Short of the former Methodist Church participating at the invitation of the EUB bishops. Bishop Washburn was assigned to the North Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church and at the Jurisdictional Conference held at Peoria, Illinois, was assigned to the Minneapolis Area.

William Ralph Ward (1908-1988), an American bishop, was born in Boston on October 16, 1908, the son of William Ralph and Janie (Johnston) Ward. He received the A.B. from Baker University and the S.T.B. and S.T.M. degrees from Boston University.

On June 3, 1933, he married Arleen Burdick (1909-2000). They were the parents of three sons.

William Ralph Ward was ordained to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1932. His pastorates included Waldoboro, Maine, 1931; Porter Church, East Weymouth, Massachusetts., 1932-1933; Hingham, Massachusetts., 1933-1934; First Church, East Weymouth, 1934-1940; Newport, Rhode Island, 1940-1941; Manchester, Conn., 1941-1948; and Mt. Lebanon Church, Pittsburgh, 1948-1960.

In 1960 he was elected bishop and assigned bishop of the Syracuse Area. In 1972 he was became bishop of the New York Area, which post he held until his retirement in 1980. During his tenure in the New York Area he served as President of the Council of Bishops. After Bishop Ward's retirement he continued to serve in leadership posts, including the Board of Global Ministries and as Bishop in Residence at Drew University.

Ward's activities included the General Board of Christian Social Concerns; vice-president of the General Board of Missions; president, Division of National Missions; honorary life member, Women's Society of Christian Service, president of the Pittsburgh Area Council of Churches, 1957-1958; chairman of the Denominational and Interdenominational Staff Conference, 1964; director of the New York State Council of Churches; a delegate to the Oxford Institute on Methodist Theological Studies, London, 1958; member of the World Methodist Council; member of the Commission on Promotion and Cultivation, and president of the denomination's Program Council, 1968-1972. In 1970 he was also a member of the Quadrennial Emphasis Committee, the Social Principles Study Commission, the Interboard Committee on Town and Country Work, the International Methodist Historical Society, and the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches. He was an Edmund Beebe Fellow at Boston University, a trustee of Hartford Seminary Foundation, 1944-1949; and a trustee of the following: Syracuse University, Bethune-Cookman College, Drew University, Folts Home for the Aged, Methodist Home for Children, Williamsville; Clifton Springs Sanatorium, and Blocher Homes. He was the recipient of the Freedom Foundation award, 1951 and man of the year award, B' nai B'rith, Pittsburgh, 1954. He was a member of the Newcomen Society in North America, Zeta Chi, Theta Chi Beta. He was heavily involved in the 1970's in establishing a TV and Radio Presence for the United Methodist Church. In the late 1970's Ward as bishop of the New York Area was engaged in dealing with the racial conflict that engulfed our nation.

Ward was a prolific writer of articles and sermons. He contributed articles to The Upper Room, Prayers for Today, Christian Advocate, and to numerous other publications. He is the author of Authentic Man Encounters God's World. His latest work was in 1986 entitled, Faith In Action, a history of Methodism in New York State.

Raymond J. Wade (1875-1970), American Bishop, was born in LaGrange, Indiana, on May 29, 1875. He was educated at DePauw University and held honorary degrees from DePauw University, Taylor University, and Albion College. Wade joined the North Indiana Conference in 1894 and had pastorates in several Indiana churches. From 1915 to 1920 he was district superintendent of the Goshen District. Wade also served as corresponding secretary of the Commission on Conservation and Advance (1920-1924), was executive secretary of World Service Commission (1924-1928), and was secretary of the Methodist Episcopal General Conference (1920-1928).

Elected bishop in 1928, Wade was assigned to the Stockholm area which included the entire Kingdom of Sweden at that time. While in Europe, he was president of the University of Scandinavia's School of Theology at Gothenburg, Sweden, from 1928 to 1939. Wade supervised the work of the Methodist Church in several European countries until his return to the United States in 1940. He retired in 1948 after eight years of service to churches in the Detroit area. Wade died in 1970.

Myrtle L. Wade (1889-1969) was president of the World Federation of Methodist Women during the time her husband, Bishop Raymond J. Wade, was in Sweden. Myrtle Wade was the second wife of Bishop Wade. They were married in 1913.

Emily Smith (1865-1963) was an English born missionary who served in northern Africa. She began her mission work in 1892 with Dora Welch under the auspices of the English Society North Africa Mission. In 1908 they transferred to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Smith and Welch did evangelistic and educational work with Moslems in Kabylia and Algiers until their retirement in 1933 whereupon they returned to England. The history of their work is recounted in Stranger Than Fiction: Adventure in a Moslem Land, a book they co- authored.

The idea for the World Federation of Methodist Women (W.F.M.W.) began in 1923 when Ohio Wesleyan University student Helen Kim, later President of Ewha University in Seoul, Korea, was asked to speak before the Des Moines, Iowa, branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. During her preparation she had a vision of a world fellowship of Christian women. When she presented her address entitled, "To the Women of the World," Kim outlined her plan to bring together delegates from all kinds of women's international organizations.

In 1927 during the tenth anniversary celebration of the China Woman's Society, Chinese women began to develop plans for an international organization. Two years later the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society acted on the plan and organized its International Department. On October 26, 1939, the first assembly of the W.F.M.W. met with delegates from twenty- seven lands signing the charter and constitution. The W.F.M. W. was officially recognized by the 1940 General Conference of the Methodist Church. Other assemblies were held in 1944, 1948, and 1952. Reorganization took place in 1956, and a new constitution was signed by forty-one units. At that time the W.F.M.W. became affiliated with the World Methodist Council and continued to advocate for women and provide leadership and training.

John Samuel Stamm (1878-1956) was born in Elida, Kansas in 1878. After only five grades in public school, at the age of twenty he applied to the Evangelical College and Seminary. Not qualifying for advanced academic work, he took sub-academy courses, and twelve years later graduated from both the college and the seminary. After several parish appointments, he served the Glasgow Evangelical Mission in Missouri.

Stamm married Priscilla Wahl on March 19, 1912. He was elected to teach systematic theology at the Evangelical Seminary in Naperville, Illinois, and remained in this post until he was elected bishop in 1922. During his first eight years as bishop, Stamm served as General Secretary of Evangelism. Following his episcopal assignment he was President of the School of Theology in Reading, Pennsylvania until 1941. After this assignment , he served as President of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches 1945-1949, and then the Federal Council of Churches from 1948-1950. Stamm retired in 1950. He then moved back to Kansas City, Missouri, where he continued to preach. Bishop Stamm died on March 5, 1956.

John McKendree Springer (1873-1963), a pioneering Methodist Episcopal Church missionary and bishop, was instrumental in developing Methodism in Africa. He graduated from Northwestern University (1895 and 1899) and received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Garrett Biblical Institute (1901). In 1901 he was appointed a missionary.

From 1901 to 1906 he was a pastor and the superintendent of the Old Umtali Industrial Mission in Rhodesia. During 1907 he and his wife journeyed across the continent of Africa. His first furlough was taken from 1907-1909, and when he returned to Africa in 1910, he was stationed in the Lunda country of Angola and Congo. Between 1910 and 1915 Springer had various appointments: Kalalua in North Western Rhodesia ( 1910-1911); Lukoshi in Belgian Congo (1911-1913); and Kambove (1913- 1915). A second furlough, taken in 1915, lasted until 1916.

Upon return to Africa, Springer became superintendent of the Congo Mission Conference but returned to the United States in 1918 to work on the Centenary and Inter-Church World Movement projects. In 1920 he was appointed superintendent of the Elisabethville-Luba District but was transferred to the Rhodesia Mission Conference in 1921 to serve as superintendent of the Mutumbara District. Another transfer occurred in 1924 when Springer joined the Congo Mission Conference a second time and was appointed superintendent. During this time he was stationed at Panda-Likasa. From 1925 to 1928 he was in the United States on furlough.

Returning to Africa in 1928, Springer continued his work as superintendent of the Congo Mission Conference but was stationed on the Likasi Circuit. His missionary work there would continue until 1935 when he was granted a fourth furlough. In 1936 Springer was elected Missionary Bishop for Africa and began travels through the continent. He retired in 1944 and returned to the United States in 1950.

Helen Emily Chapman Springer (1868-1949) was a pioneer Methodist Episcopal Church missionary to Rhodesia and the Congo. She graduated from Holyoke High School in Massachusetts and Women's Medical College in Philadelphia. In 1890 she sailed for Africa and soon married William Rasmussen (n.d.-1895). The Rasmussens arrived in Lower Congo, Africa, in 1891. Due to ill health they were forced to return to the United States after only a year and a half.

When they returned to the mission field in 1894, they were assigned to Isangila, Congo, but she was forced to leave Africa again due to failing health. In 1901 she returned to Africa and was stationed in Rhodesia at Old Umtali where she started a girls' boarding school. On January 2, 1905, she married John McKendree Springer, and they continued to work as missionaries in Africa. Helen Springer's work focused on translating Christian literature and scriptures into native languages. She also assisted her husband in his duties as bishop and missionary.

Helen Newton Everett Springer was the second wife of Bishop John McKendree Springer. She was a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Massachusetts General Hospital where she received a B.A. and a nursing degree. Springer arrived in Africa in 1921 and began work as a nurse in Kapanga, Congo. She also worked in Kanene and Elisabethville, Congo, as well as in Mount Silinda, Southern Rhodesia. Springer served as a missionary for twenty-one years.

W. Maynard Sparks (1906-1999) was an Evangelical United Brethren bishop. He graduated from Lebanon Valley College in 1927, United Theological Seminary in 1930, and from the University of Pittsburgh in 1936. He was licensed as a Quarterly Conference minister in 1919, granted a license to preach in 1923 by the Allegheny Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and ordained by that conference in 1930. In 1931 he married Blanche M. Frank. Sparks pastored for sixteen years in western Pennsylvania and then elected Superintendent of the Allegheny Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1946. He served in this position until 1950. In 1950 he was elected to the faculty of Lebanon Valley College to serve as Assistant Professor of Religion. In 1958 he was elected bishop and assigned to the Western Area where he resided in Sacramento, California. Sparks later served in the Seattle Area. Sparks also served overseas in Sierra Leone (1961-1967), Germany and Switzerland (1965), and Brazil (1967). He was also a member of the Commission on Church Union. Sparks died August 17, 1999.

William Angie Smith (1894-1974), American Methodist bishop, was born December 21, 1894 in Elgin, Texas. He graduated from Southwestern University in 1917 and was ordained elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1924. Smith served charges in several places, including El Paso, Texas; Shreveport, Louisiana; Nashville, Tennessee; Washington, DC; Birmingham, Alabama, and Dallas, Texas. In 1944, he was elected bishop by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference and assigned to the Oklahoma-New Mexico Area, which comprised of the Oklahoma, Oklahoma Indian Mission, and New Mexico Annual Conferences. Smith served these conferences for twenty-four years. He also served as president of the Board of Evangelism from 1952 to 1964 and as president of the Council of Bishops in 1957. Smith was also heavily involved with the World Methodist Council and the United States military chaplaincy program. Smith married Bess Owens in 1920 and had 3 sons: William III, Bryant, and Shelby. Mrs. Smith was also very active in the Methodist Church, particularly with the Bishops Wives Association. Bishop William Angie Smith died on March 15, 1974 at the age of 79.

John Balmer Showers (1879-1962) was an Evangelical United Brethren Church bishop and church leader. He was born near Paris, Ontario, Canada, son of the Reverend Joseph and Margaret Showers. His childhood was spent in the small towns and open country of Onotario Province where his father served as pastor of United Brethren churches. John Showers was educated in Canada at an early age. He obtained a license to preach in United Brethren church at eighteen. Showers graduated from Lebanon Valley College (B.A., 1907) and Bronebrake (now United) Theological Seminary (B.D., 1910). He did graduate study at Chicago University (1910-1911) and Berlin University (1911-1912). A research trip was taken to the Far East in 1922. Showers married Justina Lorenz in April 1911.

He was licensed to preach by a local church in 1898 and by the Ontario Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ in 1899. In 1902 he was ordained by the Erie Conference. Showers served several pastorates including Dechard circuit (1900-1903) and Bradford Station (1903-1904) in Pennsylvania. He was at Westfield College (1906-1907) in Illinois and Belmont Mission in Ohio (1908-1910). From 1910 to 1926 Showers was professor of New Testament Literature and Interpretation at Bonebrake Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. In 1926, Showers became the associate editor of the "Religious Telescope." He remained in that position until 1933. From 1931-1933 he was an associate publishing agent for the denomination. In 1933, he became publisher of "The Otterbein Press," a position he held until 1945. The General Conference of 1945 elected John Showers to the episcopacy and he was assigned to be bishop in the Eastern Area. He was later assigned to supervise the North Central Area. In 1954, Showers retired as emeritus bishop. From 1954 to 1962, he lived in Dayton, Ohio. He died on September 25, 1962 and was buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Dayton Ohio.

In 1933, he became publisher of "The Otterbein Press," a position he held until 1945.