Bishop Carlo A. Rapanut
Bishop Carlo A. Rapanut
Carlo Axibal Rapanut is the eldest of two sons of Jose, a government employee, community organizer and ordained deacon of the UMC and Teofina, a university professor. He was born and raised in Baguio City, Philippines and was nurtured in faith in the Baguio City First United Methodist Church where, as a youth, he felt a call to serve.
Carlo went to the University of the Philippines (UP) where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1994. After college, he served as president of his annual conference United Methodist Youth Fellowship for four years and it was during that time that he discerned a call to ordained ministry.
After a brief stint working as a scriptwriter, anchor and voice-over talent for a local TV station and serving on staff managing databases for Bishop Daniel C. Arichea, Carlo answered the call. He was first appointed to serve Philex Mines UMC in Benguet, Philippines in 1998 while he was finishing his Master of Management, major in Business Management (MBA equivalent), also from UP.
Carlo attended Wesley Divinity School in Cabanatuan City, Philippines where he finished his Master of Divinity, magna cum laude, in 2003. He served the Baguio City First UMC for 6 years, first as associate pastor while he was in seminary and then as senior pastor after his graduation.
In 2006, Carlo was ordained elder in the Northwest Philippines Annual Conference by Bishop Benjamin A. Justo who also appointed him to serve as his Assistant to the Bishop in the Baguio Episcopal Area. In 2008, Carlo and his family answered the call to serve in the Alaska Missionary Conference and was appointed to the UMC of Chugiak where he served for six years.
Bishop Grant J. Hagiya invited Carlo in 2014 to serve on the cabinet of the Greater Northwest Area as Conference Superintendent and Director of Connectional Ministries of the Alaska Conference. He also served as one of the deans of the cabinet, representing Alaska. Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky continued this appointment and then eventually invited Carlo to be her Assistant to the Bishop in 2021. It was from that role that he was elected to the episcopacy by the Western Jurisdiction on November 4, 2022 in Salt Lake City, UT.
Carlo’s leadership in the church included service as delegate to the Philippines Central Conference (1996 as a layperson & 2008 as clergy), Western Jurisdictional Conference (2016 as head of delegation) and General Conference (2016 & 2019 as head of delegation). He also was a director of the General Board of Global Ministries (2016-2022) where he served on the Mission Engagement and the Policy and By-laws committees. In both the Northwest Philippines Annual Conference and the Alaska Conference, Carlo served on various boards and agencies as member and chair.
Carlo is joyfully married to Zoraida “Radie” Sanchez Rapanut, a certified public bookkeeper. They make a home with their two sons Karl Caleb and Titus Carl. Carlo fell in love with long-distance running as an adult and has done many races in the past 10 years from 10Ks to Ultra marathons. He also enjoys cycling, photography, and hiking with Radie.