The following letter from Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe was sent earlier today to leaders throughout The Episcopal Church.
November 4, 2024
Dear Friends in Christ,
Our ministry together has officially begun, and I first want to thank you for the warm and generous welcome that so many of you extended to me and my family over the investiture weekend. Your video greetings and messages are reminders that we are, as I said on Saturday, one church. I am grateful for each of them and for you.
Today, as we begin the work before us, I want to share with you several announcements about changes on the senior staff of the church center. Each of these changes is the result of discernment on the part of the people involved, and I give thanks for their dedication and love for our church.
These three faithful ministries are now concluding:
- Bishop Todd Ousley will conclude his ministry in the Office of Pastoral Development at the end of 2024 and will spend the time between now and the end of December assisting me by transitioning the work he has done so faithfully for the last seven years. In early 2025, Todd will take a sabbatical, and we will assess the structure of the Office of Pastoral Development and plan for the future.
- The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, who has served the church center with energy and commitment for nine years as canon to the presiding bishop for evangelism, reconciliation, and creation care, has resigned from this role in order to devote time to research on a new book and a period of discernment and reflection. She will conclude her ministry on the churchwide staff on Nov. 30.
- The Rev. Canon Ann Hallisey, who has served as canon to the presiding bishop for ministry within The Episcopal Church for the last year, will conclude her time on the staff at the end of the year. Between now and then, she has generously agreed to consult with me and my senior team.
I am also glad to say that three experienced leaders have joined me on the church center staff in new positions:
- Vanessa Butler, executive coordinator to the presiding bishop: Vanessa Butler has served with me since 2007 as my executive assistant and canon for administration in the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania and, since 2019, in the Diocese of Western New York. In October, she joined the church center staff as administrator in my office. In this new role, she will manage my calendar and serve as point person for any questions or concerns you might have for me.
Vanessa began her ministry in The Episcopal Church as a teenager as a student assistant at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Erie. After earning her bachelor’s degree in English with minors in Africana studies and history at Wittenberg University, she returned to the cathedral as assistant for congregational life and development until she joined the diocesan staff shortly after I became bishop.
Vanessa and her husband, Tim, now live in Washington, D.C. You can reach her at vbutler@episcopalchurch.org.
- The Rev. Lester V. Mackenzie, Associate of the Holy Cross, chief of mission program: Lester Mackenzie, whom you may know from his work as chaplain to Executive Council and the House of Deputies, joined our staff on Friday as chief of mission program. In this new role, he will support bishops and dioceses, diocesan networks, and church organizations by strategizing, coordinating, and building capacity for ministries of racial reconciliation, creation care, formation, and evangelism, and other key mission priorities. Lester will also use his gifts and experience at bridge building and reconciliation to support bishops and diocesan leaders in times of strategic change and conflict.
Lester, a graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary in 2007 and 2023, has been rector of St. Mary’s, Laguna Beach, in the Diocese of Los Angeles since 2016 and has served in many diocesan leadership roles, including as president of the standing committee. He is a native of South Africa and a third-generation Anglican priest, and as he often says, he was nurtured in the womb of freedom, the South African Anglican Church, during the time of apartheid in Johannesburg and Cape Town. He was raised by his grandfather, Bishop Edward Mackenzie, a suffragan of Cape Town who served in ministry with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Lester and his wife, Angela, will continue to live in Los Angeles with their three children. You can reach him at lmackenzie@episcopalchurch.org.
- Rebecca Wilson, chief of strategy: Rebecca Wilson, whom you may know from her work as a partner at Canticle Communications, joined our staff on Friday as chief of strategy. In this new role, she will support me in developing and implementing mission strategy and our structural realignment; coordinating governance ministry; and supporting dioceses experiencing crises and discerning new models for ministry. She will also coordinate staff alignment with mission strategy.
Rebecca has worked with me on a variety of strategic projects and initiatives since 2010. Over the last 15 years, she has consulted in scores of dioceses, including assisting with the recent reunion of the Diocese of Wisconsin, and with a number of churchwide organizations and networks, including Bishops United Against Gun Violence. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Duke University, a master’s degree in English from Kent State University, an executive certificate in nonprofit management from Georgetown University, and a certificate in business Spanish from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Rebecca is the mother of a young adult son and lives with her husband, Jim Naughton, in Akron, Ohio, where she has been a member of Church of Our Saviour for 24 years. You can reach her at rwilson@episcopalchurch.org.
At the investiture on Saturday, I said that the days are over, if they ever existed, that our dioceses could go it on their own without acknowledging our mutual interdependence and our need to do ministry together. All of the church center restructuring and realignment now underway is in the service of becoming one church that is even more committed to supporting the participation of our dioceses and congregations in God’s mission. Thank you for your patience as we devote ourselves to this work.
Faithfully,
