PRESIDING BISHOP
Bishop Talmadge J. Gardner
Talmadge Gardner has served the International Pentecostal Holiness Church in many capacities since 1988. He grew up the son of IPHC missionaries in South Africa before moving to the United States to attend Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia. He then continued his education at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received a Master of Divinity degree in 1986. After graduation in 1988, Talmadge moved to Oklahoma City to work in the Executive Offices of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. He has served in the General Christian Education Department, Evangelism USA, and the General Superintendent’s Office as Chief Operating Officer. In July 2005, at the 25thGeneral Conference, Bishop Gardner was elected to serve as the Executive Director of Church Education Ministries. In July 2009, he was elected to serve as the Executive Director of the restructured Discipleship Ministries Division and the IPHC Corporate Treasurer. In a special session of the Council of Bishops in July 2012, he was elected to serve as the Executive Director of the World Missions Ministries Division and the IPHC Corporate Secretary. In 2022, he was reelected at the 29th General Conference in Jacksonville, Florida,to continue his service in World Missions Ministries and serve as the Vice-Chairman of the IPHC. In 2026, at the 30th General Conference in Mobile. Alabama, he was elected to serve as the General Superintendent of the IPHC. He is the first General Superintendent to have been born outside of the USA.
Talmadge was ordained as a minister of the gospel in the Cornerstone Conference of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church in 1983. He is married to Stephanie Price Gardner, and they have three children, Addison – who is married to Lorena Trevino, KatieBeth – who is married to Thomas Reese, and Gabriella – who is married to Braden Beasley. The greatest blessing is their granddaughter – Miss Eliana Kate Gardner.
