Robert E. Fannin served in the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in Lake Alfred, Gainesville and Stuart, Florida before being appointed to District Superintendent of the Miami District in 1991. 

He has served the Florida Annual Conference in the past as Chairperson of the Board of Ordained Ministry, President of the Credit Union and Chairperson of the Board of Higher Education. He has also served as a member of the General Council on Ministries, Vice-Chair of GCFA and President of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Court of Appeals. 

Bishop Fannin was elected to the episcopacy from the Southeastern Jurisdiction in 1992, and served the Birmingham Area until his retirement in 2004. He has participated on the faculties of Schools of Christian Mission around the Southeastern United States and is presently vice-chair of the Division of World Evangelism of the World Methodist Council and Bishop-in-Residence at Florida Southern College.