Bishop Robert E. Hayes Jr. is the episcopal leader for the Oklahoma Area of The United Methodist Church. As bishop, he presides over 530 churches in the Oklahoma Conference and almost 90 churches of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference (OIMC).
Bishop Hayes says he felt called to preach at an early age. “When I was about 4 years old, I would pull up a chair to my father’s pulpit after church on Sundays and bang my hands on the pulpit, imitating my father. By the time I was 8, I was conducting elaborate funerals for deceased cats, birds, and other pets of friends. I preached my first sermon when I was 14. I’ve always felt like God wanted me to be a minister. It’s part of my life,” he said.
Hayes is the author of “Strength for the Journey,” a devotional collection published in 2007. He is a contributing writer in the Fall 2008 issue of Cokesbury’s Adult Bible Studies series. He also regularly writes an inspirational column for the bimonthly Oklahoma Conference Contact newspaper and for the Advocate, published by OIMC.
He is a third-generation preacher. His father, the Rev. Robert Hayes of Houston, also served as president of a Methodist college. His grandfather, too, was a Methodist minister.
