I am pleased to announce that I intend to appoint the Rev. Mark M. Nakagawa as the next Superintendent of the West District of the California-Pacific Conference, effective July 1, 2016.

Rev. Nakagawa has served as Senior Pastor of Centenary United Methodist Church (Los Angeles, CA) since 2000.  Centenary UMC holds a special place in his heart as it was the church of his childhood and youth.  Prior to serving Centenary UMC, Rev. Nakagawa served West Los Angeles and Sacramento Japanese United Methodist Churches.

Rev. Nakagawa has served extensively throughout the United Methodist connection.  He was the first Chair of the Asian American Language Ministry Task Force (AALM) established in 2000.  He has experienced and influenced four General Conferences through his work with the Inter-Ethnic Strategy and Development Group (IESDG).  Currently, Rev. Nakagawa serves as the Chair of the National Japanese American United Methodist Caucus.  In addition, Rev. Nakagawa serves on our California-Pacific Conference Board of Trustees as well as its representative to the California-Pacific Conference United Methodist Foundation.  Over the past 25 years he has served on the Board of Directors of the United Methodist Federal Credit Union distinguishing himself as both Vice-Chair and Chair of this board. Over this quadrennium he has assisted in the review being done of the United Methodist Social Principles in the hopes of determining what would truly represent social principles for a world-wide church.

Rev. Nakagawa is an active community and interfaith leader in the city of Los Angeles and in southern California. He is a past President of the Nisei Week Foundation and currently serves on the Little Tokyo Community Council, the Nikkei Interfaith Group, and the Christian-Muslim Consultative Group of Southern California.

Rev. Nakagawa earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Master of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion (Berkeley, CA).

The gifts and grace God has blessed our brother Mark with will strengthen our Cabinet and I have no doubt that he will be a faithful extension of the episcopal office as the spiritual and temporal leader and missional strategist of the West District.  I give God thanks for our sister Rev. Dr. Kathey Wilborn and for her years of faithful service as our West District Superintendent, and more recently as Dean of our Cabinet as well.  Let us hold them both in our prayers in this time of transition.

Peace,

Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño
Los Angeles Area Resident Bishop
The United Methodist Church