The Rt. Rev. David Jones, a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Virginia, began serving as a consulting bishop on October 23 to assist the diocese in its rebuilding efforts. A special meeting of the diocesan convention was held on December 13. Twenty-seven congregations actively participated in the convention. The convention voted unanimously that the recent canonical changes were null and void and affirmed the diocese's communion in the Episcopal Church. The Rt. Rev. Robert Hodges Johnson, the retired Bishop of Western North Carolina, accepted the call to serve as assisting bishop and to lead the diocese, for the near term. At the October 2009 convention, the Episcopal Diocese approved the call of the Rt. Rev. Kenneth Price, Bishop Suffragan of Southern Ohio as provisional bishop.