Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary 1983

Bishop, Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church

Bishop Julius Calvin Trimble was born in Chicago, the fourth of six children born to John Trimble and Marybelle Pryor Trimble, both of Montgomery, Alabama. He is a graduate of Illinois State University, received his M.Div. from Garrett-Evangelical, and his D.Min. from Ashland Theological Seminary.

An ordained deacon and elder in the Northern Illinois Conference, Bishop Trimble served two churches in the Chicago area before transferring to the East Ohio Conference in 1988. In 1996, he became the District Superintendent of the Cleveland District (Ohio). From 2003 to July 2008, he served as Senior Pastor of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Warrensville Heights, Ohio.

Bishop Trimble was a delegate to General and Jurisdictional Conferences in 2000, 2004 and 2008. He was elected Bishop by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2008 and was assigned to serve the Iowa area. Currently, he serves as a member of the United Methodist Immigration Task Force and as chairperson of the Africana Hymnal Study Committee authorized by the 2008 General Conference.

Recipient of many honors and awards, Bishop Trimble remains a Life Trustee of the St. Luke’s Foundation of Cleveland. He received the Outstanding Alumni Award in 1998 from Garrett-Evangelical and the 2007 Bishop James S. Thomas Social Action Award from the Methodist Federation for Social Action at Lakeside, Ohio. He continues to promote faith-based responses to domestic violence and has encouraged the establishment of mental-health ministries at the local church and conference level.