This Week in Texas Methodist History May 22 Bishop Holt Dedicates Dallas Church, Announces Grueling Summer Travel Schedule, May 10941 Ivan Lee Holt was one of the bishops who served Texas Methodists in the mid 20th Century. Albea Godbold, Methodist historian, describes him as the most-travelled Methodist bishop of his era. He claimed to have visited 90 countries. He was born in Arkansas in 1886 . His father died in 1892 and his mother was determined to give Ivan and his younter brother a good education. That resulted in a move to Nashville so Ivan could enter Vanderbilt at age 15. He distinguished himself as a scholar and sought a graduate degree in Semetic languages at the University of Chicago. He had numerous academic offers, but felt his place was in the local church ministry until Edwin Mouzon enticed him to SMU as the founding chair of the theology department and university chaplain. He became a major figure in Dallas as a popular speaker at many clubs, churches, and associations. When he left to go back to the local church ministry in Missouri after only three years, fifty-six organizations combined to give him a farewll party. Holt served in Missouri until his election to the episcopacy in 1938. There had been no bishops elected by the MECS General Conference of 1934 because of economic conditions and only three in 1930 (Smith, Moore, and Kern). Everyone knew merger was on the horizon and the MECS elected 7 bishops in 1938 in anticipation of that event. Holt was elected on the first ballot. W. C. Martin was elected on a subsequent ballot. Holt came back to Dallas from Missouri in 1938, this time as bishop of the Dallas area which included the North Texas, Northwest Texas, Central Texas, and New Mexico Conferences. This was a vast geographic expanse, stretching from Red River County, Texaas to the New Mexico-Arizona state line. His penchant for travelling was powerful, and in the six years he was bishop in the Dallas area, he vowed to visit the parsonage of every one of the 750 churches in his episcopal area. He did so by asking the District Superintendent to drive him to all of the parsonages. Inn 1944 he was able to move back to Missouri as bishop and spent the rest of his career in St. Louis. The Southwestern Advocate for May 29 reported on Holt’s travel for the coming months, starting with a new church dedication in Dallas (Wesley), On June 1 he was to preach a commencement sermon in Macon, Georgia, and on June 2 another one at Texas Tech in Lubbock (one shudders at the flight arrangements to make that possible in 1941). By June 4 he would be addressing the Ecumenical Conference in Toronto, On June 9 he was to be in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, for another commencement address and June 11-13 back in Texas for Pastor’s School at Southwestern University in Georgetown. Sunday June 15 he would preach at First Methodist Fort Worth in support of Dr. Score’s fundraising campaign. Later than week he would be speaking at another pastor’s school at SMU. He would round out the month of June by going to Mexico on June 30 and then on to Central America. After spending July in Central America, in August he would go on to Peru and Bolvia. We have to agree with Godbold’s assertion---he was the certainly the most travelled bishop of his era.