Bishop Laura Merrill is announcing the planned retirement of Rev. Jim Polk, effective July 1, 2025. Rev. Polk has served as the Assistant to the Bishop and Director of Connectional Ministries since 2016.
Following his retirement, Bishop Merrill has also announced her intention to appoint Rev. Judy Rudd as Assistant to the Bishop and Director of Connectional Ministries, effective July 1, 2025.
“Jim Polk has served this annual conference with skill, wisdom, and grace, blessing us and the future of our church. I have relied on these gifts in him, and I look forward to celebrating his legacy well,” noted Bishop Merrill.
“I am also grateful for Judy Rudd’s willingness to serve in this role. She brings deep insight and a commitment to serving our communities that will help guide our work in the coming season. I am glad to welcome her to the Cabinet team.”
Rev. Rudd is a native Arkansan who grew up in Little Rock, attending Pulaski Heights and later Trinity United Methodist Churches. She attended Hendrix College and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. She later received a Juris Doctorate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. Judy practiced law for twenty-three years before accepting God’s call into vocational ministry.
In 2014, Rev. Rudd graduated from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity and was ordained an elder in the United Methodist Church in 2019. She has pastored Bland Chapel UMC, Bella Vista First UMC, and West Memphis First UMC. She served as senior pastor at St. Paul UMC in Searcy and is currently the senior pastor of Lakeside UMC in Pine Bluff. She has also served as Conference parliamentarian.
Judy is married to Terry Wynne. When she is not attending to the ordering, pastoring, spiritual development, and outreach of the local church, she enjoys playing golf, hiking, walking, and generally being outdoors with her husband. She also cherishes spending time with family and friends and enjoying great food, theater, and movies. She is passionate about discerning and following the movement of the Holy Spirit within the United Methodist Church as we receive and live into a new revelation of God’s beloved church.