The Rev. Dr. Richard Franklin Norris, distinguished pastor of St. Matthew A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia, and past pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church, the "Mother Church" of African Methodism, has announced his candidacy for Bishop.
Rev. Dr. Norris, the son of Rev. David Norris and Mable E. Brown Norris, is married to Mary Ann Hill Norris and is the father of Richard Franklin Norris II and the Reverend Marcellus Alexander Norris, who pastors in Shippensburg, PA.
Rev. Norris received his undergraduate training from Morris Brown College and Rutgers University. He persued his Graduate work at New Brunswick Theological Seminary and received his S.T.M. from New York Theological Seminary and also received his D.Min from the new York Theological Serminary.
Aside from St. Matthew and Mother Bethel, Rev. Dr. Norris has made his indelible mark at many other A.M.E. Churches throughout the denomination's landscape. Included in that number are St. James A.M.E. Church in Chambersburg, PA; St. Luke A.M.E. Church in St. Davids, Bermuda; Union Chapel A.M.E. Church in Newark, New Jersey; and Macedonia A.M.E. Church in Flushing New York.
At every stop along the way, Rev. Dr. Norris brought strong leadership, financial responsibility and resultant growth and church advancement. He is a plant builder and a spiritual enricher.
Rev. Dr. Norris headed the Board of Examiners and Ministerial Training for the Philadelphia Annual Conference for a number of years, bringing an emphasis on training and preparation coupled with high-spirited praise and worship to a new generation of A.M.E. preachers.
He is a scholar well versed with African Methodist Epsicopal history and polity but he has a vision that will allow the past to be a springboard for the future.
Although from the Philadelphia Annual Conference of the First Episcopal District, Rev. Dr. Richard Franklin Norris stands ready and poised to take his place in the great annals of African Methodism as a textbook definition of the characteristics, skills, gifts and graces an A.M.E. Bishop should possess. Rev. Dr. Norris, thus stands amongst the giants of the denomination, not just as the candidate for just a District, but as the annointed and well appointed Bishop candidate for the Denomination.
