Bishop Gary E. Mueller was elected an episcopal leader of the United Methodist Church on July 19, 2012, and is assigned to lead the Arkansas Area.
 
After a friend invited him to attend UMYF his sophomore year of high school, Mueller came to a point of being ready to profess his faith in Christ. His call to ministry began to emerge a few years later, while he attended the University of Kansas. He went on to receive his theological education at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colo., and at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He became an ordained elder in the North Texas Conference in 1981.
 
Mueller remained in North Texas, serving pastoral appointments at First UMC Richardson, Brewster Memorial UMC, McKenzie Memorial UMC, First United Methodist Church Roanoke-Trophy Club-Westlake, First UMC Denton and First UMC Plano. He also served for eight years outside of the local church as director of the North Texas Conference Council on Ministries.
 
Before his election to the episcopacy, he held a number of leadership roles, including as a North Texas Conference delegate to the 2012 General Conference; a four-time delegate to the South Central Jurisdictional Conference; chair of the North Texas Conference Ministry Center Building Committee during the design and construction of a new Conference Ministry Center; a representative on the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry Task Force that designed the residency period during provisional membership for commissioned deacons and elders; and chair of the North Texas Conference Board of Ordained Ministry from 2008 until his election.
 
He has been married to Wink since 1984, and they have two adult children: Nick, who lives in Los Angeles, and Hailey, who lives in Houston.

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