Bill’s 13th Anniversary of Ordination to the Diaconate (Rector’s Letter for 6/07)

Dear Redeemer Family:
I give praise to the Lord Jesus Christ today, as I celebrate the 13th anniversary of my ordination to the Diaconate (2008). In the Anglican tradition, all those called to the priesthood are first ordained as Deacons and later ordained a second time as Priests (my ordination to the Priesthood was Nov. 2008). I think it is important to note here as an FYI, that some in the Anglican Tradition, like our own Jeanne Higgins, are called to be ordained Vocational Deacons, or permanent Deacons.
Today I also celebrate all of the graduates that we mentioned yesterday during Graduate Sunday. We celebrate ten of our students who graduated from High School: Natalie Blazs, Craig Brown Jr., Sarah Grace Drew, Regan Hardage, Kyle Higginbotham, Joel (Kit) Nichols, Ashton Penrod, Jonathan Salek, Joshua Wright, and Hunter Yeager. We also celebrate Joshua Krug (Bob & Marion Zeiner’s grandson), and the following graduates of higher education: Morgan Combs (UNF), Emma Thompson (UNF), Johnson Sarber (Samford), Annabel Fust (UGA, Arnie Fust’s granddaughter), and Melissa Salek (Masters in Music from UNF). Please be praying for our graduates as they move into this new season of their lives.
As an FYI, I will be traveling to Pittsburgh this Sunday after church, to participate in my next week-long intensive doctoral class. Please pray for me this week as I complete the pre-class reading and papers, for my travel, and for my family as I will be away. This will be my fourth class in two years, and I hope to have my DMIN (doctorate in ministry) completed by 2025.
Peace to you in this new week, and I hope to see you soon (whether in-person or Zoom)!
Fr. Bill