Bishop Costen Harrell Papers

Costen Jordan Harrell (1885-1971), American Bishop, was born on February 12, 1885 in Gates, Colorado. Harrell was a Methodist Bishop and Seminary Professor. He began his ministry as student sully pastor at Park Avenue (Nashville, Tennessee). In 1910 he joined the North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Harrell was ordained deacon in 1911 while serving the Epworth Church (Raleigh, North Carolina). He served the Trinity Church of Durham, North Carolina (1916-1919); First Church, Wilson, North Carolina (1919-1920); First Church, Atlanta, Georgia (1920-1925); Epworth Church, Norfolk, Virginia (1929-1933); West End Church, Nashville, Tennessee, 1933-1944. Harrell was fraternal messenger from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South to the General Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, Columbus, Ohio (1932). He served as a member of the Commission on Budget and the Commission on Course of Study of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He was an alternate to the World Conference on Faith and Order. Harrell was the secretary of the General Commission on World Service from 1940-1944; In 1944 he was elected to the Episcopacy by the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference and assigned to the Birmingham area. As Bishop he beceame the Chairman of the Commission on the Study of the Local Church (1948-1952). He was also a member of the Board of Pensions and chairman of the Legislative Committee (1948-1952). Harrell was assigned to the episcopacy of the Charlotte area in 1949. Bishop Harrell was the vice-chairman of the Advance For Christ and His Church (1948-1956) and the Week of Dedication Program. He was elected as a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of Bishops (1952-1953). Bishop Harrell retired in 1956 from the Episcopacy and accepted a position as visiting professor of Homiletics and Methodist Polity and Discipline (1956). His parents were Samuel Isaac and Isa Costen Harrell. He received an A. B. degree in 1906 from Trinity College (Duke University). He then went on to receive a Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Arts Degree in 1910. Randolph-Macon College awarded him the Doctory of Divinity Degree in 1929. He also earned a Litt. D. from Birmingham-Southern in 1945 and the LL.D. Degree from American University in 1953. He married Amy Patton Walden of Athens, Georgia on June 6, 1917. They had one son. Bishop Harrell passed away in 1971.