Feb. 1, 2005 – During a special convention Saturday, Rev. Edward Ambrose Gumbs was elected to be bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Virgin Islands.
Gumbs, who now serves as rector for the St. Andrews Episcopal Church and has done so for the past 14 years, was selected by the clergy and lay delegates of various congregations in the diocese, which is made up of Episcopal and Anglican churches on St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, Tortola and Virgin Gorda.
The convention was the first of its kind to take place in several years, a release from the St. Andrews Episcopal Church stated.
Gumbs, 55, was one of two individuals nominated for the position and will serve as chief pastor and spiritual leader of the diocese.
In June Gumbs will replace Bishop Frank Griswald, who current serves the diocese, in a consecration ceremony.
Gumbs, an Anguilla native, migrated to St. Thomas in the 1960s. He earned a bachelor's degree from the College of the Virgin Islands in 1984. Gumbs then went on to earn a Master's of Divinity degree from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1987.
Upon returning to the Virgin Islands, Gumbs began his religious career at the St. Andrews Episcopal Church where he still serves today.