Is the church growing?<\/p>\n
We have 18 congregations, including six on the Gulf Coast destroyed by Katrina, that have completed or are in the midst of capital campaigns for expansion. That’s a pretty good sign out of approximately 90 congregations. We are challenged in those parts of the state where the population is decreasing and, of course, the Coast has its own set of concerns. However, I think it is safe to say that the Episcopal Church is very healthy in Mississippi.<\/p>\n
Your father and grandfather were bishops. Did you know you would be following that path?<\/p>\n
Hardly. Though my experience with the church had been very positive and foundational, I went to college intending to be a teacher and a coach. My old football coach, Bob Tyler, talked me out of that career, and I tested other vocations – civil rights law and politics, in particular, while in college. Something kept being called out of me, I trust by God, that addressed societal reform, but that was far more intimate and personal than politics. After a year and a half working on Capitol Hill, I returned to seminary to complete my training for ordination. Only then did I fully understand that I was being called by God to the ordained ministry.<\/p>\n