Father Jonathan Kell knows he has big shoes to fill at St. Stephen\u2019s Reformed Episcopal Church of Flowood. He\u2019s replacing the late Father Fred Basil, the parish\u2019s beloved pastor who died of cancer last year.<\/p>\n
But Kell, a former schoolteacher, wanted the position badly enough to move his family from Pennsylvania \u201d\u201d a family that includes Kell and his wife, Annie’s, 15-month-old daughter and a son who was born last month. He\u2019ll enter the pulpit focused not on growing membership but maintaining the overall health of the parish.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d\u009d Kell said of relocating to a different part of the country. \u201cWe\u2019re leaving behind our families and one of my best friends from college \u201d\u201d a minister in a different denomination. But my wife, Annie, and I decided long ago that we were going to give our lives to the ministry and go where the Lord leads us.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n