Biography - The Right Reverend Joe G. Burnett

Bishop Burnett was ordained and consecrated Bishop of Nebraska on September 13, 2003. A native Mississippian, he attended public schools, and graduated from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, with a B.A. in 1970. He later earned an M.Div. and D.Min. Degree from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, in Dallas. Drawn to the Episcopal Church during his seminary years, he was confirmed in 1972, and became a postulant and then candidate for holy orders from the diocese of Mississippi. He was ordained deacon in 1974, and priest in 1975. In Mississippi, he served a succession of parishes for twenty-five years before becoming Professor of Pastoral Theology at the School of Theology of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, in 1999.



In the diocese of Mississippi, he served as a vestry and parish consultant, a convocation dean, diocesan liturgical coordinator, and chair of committees in evangelism, liturgy and music, and mission strategy. He was a member of the diocesan executive committee, as well as committees for AIDS ministry, church building and development, and ministry development. He served as an instructor in the school for vocational deacons, and in the Leadership Program for Musicians (LPM). He was also a frequent faculty member of the annual Preaching Excellence Program for Episcopal seminarians, and regularly participated as a chaplain for church music and liturgy conferences in Mississippi and Sewanee. An alternate deputy to four general conventions, Bishop Burnett has been a member of regional and national committees in evangelism, renewal, liturgy, and music. For several years he led evangelism and church growth workshops and training events in the Southeast and beyond, and was active in ecumenical and interfaith relations, strategic planning for community public schools, racism, adopt-a-school programs, and adoption advocacy. He has numerous published sermons and articles on pastoral theology, liturgy, and pastoral care.



Bishop Burnett is married to Marty Wheeler Burnett, a native Texan who has degrees in music from Rice University. She currently serves Director of Fine Arts for the College of St. Mary in Omaha, and organist/choirmaster of Trinity Cathedral. They have three grown sons.