The Rev. Frank Neff Powell was consecrated fifth Bishop of Southwestern Virginia Oct. 26 in Burruss Auditorium on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg.

More than 2,000 persons were in attendance, including 27 bishops. Among them were the Rt. Rev. David J. Smith, Bishop of Bradford in the Church of England, and the Rt. Rev. Daniel Deng, Bishop of Renk in Sudan, the two dioceses which share a companion relationship with Southwestern Virginia.

The Rt. Rev. Robert L. Ladehoff, Bishop of Oregon, where Bishop Powell had been executive assistant to the bishop, delivered the sermon. He said the focus of the day, and the rest of the new bishop's ministry, was that God is in control.

Bishop Richard Bansemer of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Virginia Synod participated in the laying on of hands.

Bishop Powell succeeds the Rt. Rev. A. Heath Light, who was diocesan bishop for 17 years.